Colin Warnek
Well-known member
Stoke and Sheff Utd fans must think about that season in a similar way. Although if I remember Stoke won the League Cup around then too.
Tell me about the 74/75 Boro team/season
- Thread starter PhillySpecial
- Start date
Wiseman_Vaughn
Well-known member
That season was my favourite as a Boro fan.
spot on!
HiredGun123
Well-known member
We finished 7th, basically mid table, so it’s a load of nonsense we were close to winning the league. The point gap in between the top side and Boro was quite significant in the era of two points per win.
Wiseman_Vaughn
Well-known member
Me too! So glad I was there - the season before was my first Season Ticket and what a season it was. As you say, it all seemed so normal at the time but being young, I didn't appreciate how special it was.
WindyNook
Well-known member
Nice try! Were you actually on the planet then HG?If so did you go to any matches that season
I was and like many posters on this thread I am basing things on facts
as has been said before 1 match against Derby and 2 consecutive defeats cost them dearly.
A great team who shook up the big boys at the time
Except for Man who were in the 2nd division
Michael_Vronsky
Well-known member
I knew someone would come on and rubbish this thread. Thanks for that rifle. As people pointed out, we were challenging for the title and fell away at the end. Which is exactly what happened if you were actually there.
And since we did 7th become mid table?!
And since we did 7th become mid table?!
WindyNook
Well-known member
Didn't finishing 7th result in a small team getting to a European final?
davidmills
Well-known member
only one team in european cup then so no
WindyNook
Well-known member
Sorry Dave I was fast forwarding a few years
Michael_Vronsky
Well-known member
Exactly! Strange that our own fans seem to take pleasure in knocking the fact that 74-75 was an incredible season. It's far and away the best season I've known in all my years of following Boro.
Redwurzel
Well-known member
74/75 - was my favourite season too - the same Boro team as 1973/74 were top 10 all season. I didn't get to many games as we moved away from the area in late October 1974.
I remember were linked with strikers for the last 2 years of Jack Charlton's reign.
What we didn't know was the damaged knee that Willie Maddren picked up and played on with, which ended his career, about 7 years early in 1977.
Stan Anderson signed some very useful players in the early 70s - Platt, Craggs, Boam, Foggon, Souness that really showed their worth in the 1973-75 period and in some cases right up to 1982.
I remember were linked with strikers for the last 2 years of Jack Charlton's reign.
What we didn't know was the damaged knee that Willie Maddren picked up and played on with, which ended his career, about 7 years early in 1977.
Stan Anderson signed some very useful players in the early 70s - Platt, Craggs, Boam, Foggon, Souness that really showed their worth in the 1973-75 period and in some cases right up to 1982.
Spikelangelo
Active member
I think it's a common reaction of the young to have zero interest in something that seems like ancient history to them. They did not experience it and so it means nothing to them and they dont want to have to listen to a bunch of old farts droning on about the good old days. I remember at the time my Dad being very cynical about the boro and going on about Clough, Mannion amd Hardwick. He might as well have been talking about the Henry VIII and the dissolution of the monasteries for all the relevance it had to me. In the same way, when I was a kid, the second world war was definitely in black and white but in reality it was only twenty years earlier. In contrast that great boro team and season was 45 years ago and yet it still seems so vivid to me now.
Michael_Vronsky
Well-known member
Which is ironic because the initial post was about a younger lad wanting to know about the 75 season. But yeah, you're right. My grand dad never got over the 50/51 season when we were top of the league with 8 leagues to play and didn't win another game! So I guess it's the same.
Just wanted to correct something above about being in the top 10 all season. We were pretty much in the top four all season then fell away.
Erimus74
Well-known member
WindyNook
Well-known member
As you can see the team was basically the same as the team that got promotion. No other player, even sooper cooper played more than 9 gamesI can still remember beating Birmingham 3-0 in the first game of the season. they didn't know what had happened to them. neither did a lot of teams that season!
974-75 season squad statistics
| Sqd | Player | From | Position | A | S | G | P | Y | R |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| David Armstrong |
| Midfielder | 53 | 0 | 7 | 1 | |||
| Stuart Boam |
| Defender/Centre back | 53 | 0 | 1 | ||||
| Peter Brine | Midfielder | 4 | 6 | ||||||
| Harry Charlton | Midfielder | 3 | 0 | ||||||
| Terry Cooper |
| Defender | 9 | 0 | |||||
| John Craggs |
| Defender/Right-back | 51 | 0 | 1 | ||||
| Peter Creamer |
| Defender | 1 | 0 | |||||
| Alan Foggon |
| Midfielder/Forward | 52 | 0 | 18 | ||||
| John Hickton |
| Forward | 50 | 0 | 11 | 4 | |||
| Willie Maddren |
| Defender/Centre-back | 53 | 0 | 3 | ||||
| Tony McAndrew | 
| Defender | 1 | 0 | |||||
| David Mills |
| Forward | 45 | 0 | 11 | ||||
| Bobby Murdoch |
| Midfielder | 47 | 0 | |||||
| Tom Paterson | Forward | 1 | 0 | ||||||
| Jim Platt | 
| Goalkeeper | 53 | 0 | - | - | |||
| Malcolm Smith | Forward | 6 | 7 | 2 | |||||
| Graeme Souness |
| Midfielder | 47 | 0 | 7 | ||||
| Frank Spraggon |
| Defender | 41 | 0 | |||||
| Brian Taylor | Central defender | 4 | 5 | ||||||
| Alan Willey | Forward | 9 | 12 | 3 | |||||
| Billy Woof |
| Forward | 0 | 1 | |||||
| Pat Cuff |
| Goalkeeper | - | - | |||||
| Own Goal |
Redwurzel
Well-known member
I remember been told in the 1970s about in the late 1950s of Clough and Peacock (England Internationals) and how the Boro scored for fun, but never got promoted or near it. The middle aged fans then were not complimentary about the 1950s at the Boro. Clough did imply later that some of the Boro defenders were betting against the team - witness 6-6 draws.
Cardiffdaffs
Well-known member
Behave. 7th isn’t “mid table” and 5 points off top isn’t significant notwithstanding the 2 pts for win. And if we had beaten Derby as we should have done (we gifted them the late equaliser) that gap would have only been 3 points off top.
HiredGun123
Well-known member
Could’ve, would’ve, should’ve. Every team can point at games and say things would be different if they won, but they didn’t.
5 points was a fair gap in those days, you would need pretty much a 3 game win and loss swing to take over the top side, which is unlikely. Especially when you would need all those above you to lose games too.
7th was nearer to mid table than it was to winning the league
So all in all, Boro weren’t even close to winning the league.
Cardiffdaffs
Well-known member
Yes they were. So it’s “fair” gap now not “significant”. And 6 points above 11th is “closer to mid table” than 5 pts off top? Right.
Let’s agree to differ.
Let’s agree to differ.
HiredGun123
Well-known member
It was a significant gap, as I gave in my explanation
Boro were never close to winning the league