2004–05 Middlesbrough F.C. season explained

Club:	Middlesbrough
Season:	2004–05
Manager:	Steve McClaren
Chairman:	Steve Gibson
League:	FA Premier League
League Result:	7th
League Topscorer:	Jimmy Floyd Hasselbaink (13)
Season Topscorer:	Jimmy Floyd Hasselbaink (16)
Highest Attendance:	34,836 v Norwich (Premier League) Away: 67,988 v Manchester United (Premier League)
Lowest Attendance:	29,603 v Charlton Athletic (Premier League) Away: 17,759 v Fulham (Premier League)
Cup1:	FA Cup
Cup1 Result:	Fourth Round
Cup2:	League Cup
Cup2 Result:	Fourth Round
Cup3:	UEFA Cup
Cup3 Result:	Round of 16
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Pattern Ra1:	_whiteborder
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Prevseason:	2003–04
Nextseason:	2005–06

During the 2004–05 season, Middlesbrough participated in the FA Premier League.

Final league table

See main article: 2004–05 FA Premier League.

Kit

During this season, Middlesbrough had a new sponsor, 888.com. The team's kit was produced by Errea. The home shirt included a white band on it for the first time since the 2000–01 season. The away strip was mainly white with maroon sleeves, navy blue shorts and white socks. Away to Southampton, white shorts and navy socks were worn with the away shirt.

Season review

After the triumph in the League Cup final the previous season and a solid 11th-place finish in the league, Boro fans were optimistic that this season would be a success. Steve McClaren signed Boudewijn Zenden and Doriva on permanent deals following their loan spells, as well as adding high-profile signings Ray Parlour, Mark Viduka, Jimmy Floyd Hasselbaink and Michael Reiziger to the squad. With these new additions, the supporters felt that, come the end of the season, Boro would be pushing for a league place good enough to qualify for Europe.

The season started well and Middlesbrough found themselves in fourth position following only one loss in the first 5 games. Despite a slight drop in their form, Boro kept in and around the top four until mid-November.

However, the UEFA Cup took its toll on the small Boro squad and their form stuttered towards Christmas. The team seemed to consist of more and more young players who were deputising for more senior players such as Gaizka Mendieta and Malcolm Christie who were ruled out for the season with injuries.

Following a 2–0 win at home to Norwich City on 28 December, Boro were in fifth place. However, not helped by an injury to George Boateng, after only one win in the next ten games the team found themselves in ninth and seemed to have undone their good work at the start of the season.

Things did finally pick up and, following only three losses in the final 12 games of the season, they found themselves up against Manchester City in the final game of the season. Both teams were in direct contest for the seventh place that Boro occupied, and a win for either side would mean qualification for the UEFA Cup. A last-minute penalty save by Mark Schwarzer gave Boro a 1–1 draw and the all important seventh-placed finish. For the first time in their history, Middlesbrough had qualified for Europe through the league.

The season was full of highs and lows for the Boro fans. The disappointment of losing their early strong position due to the injury crisis was offset against the emergence of several promising youngsters such as Stewart Downing, James Morrison and Anthony McMahon.

Both domestic cups were disappointing for the Boro team and the draws weren't favourable towards them. They only lasted two rounds in each competition, going out in the fourth round of both cups, to Manchester United in the FA Cup and to a young Liverpool side in the League Cup. The UEFA Cup run - Middlesbrough's first foray into Europe, having won the first major trophy of their history, the League Cup, the previous season - held greater joy. The first round was a two-legged knockout match against Baník Ostrava - Boro's first ever European match, with the first leg was at home. With a fantastic atmosphere at the Riverside, Middlesbrough cruised through the first leg 3–0; with a comfortable 1–1 draw in the away leg, they had qualified for the group stages and were guaranteed another 4 matches.

Middlesbrough were drawn in Group D, along with Villarreal, Lazio, Egaleo and Partizan Belgrade. The fans were confident that the team could earn at least a third-place finish in the group and therefore qualify for the knockout stages.

Boro went on to exceed all expectations, beating Egalio and Partizan Belgrade as expected and also achieving a fantastic 2–0 victory over Lazio - the only blot being a 2–0 away loss to Villarreal. This was enough to earn them a second-place finish and qualification for the next round, where Middlesbrough were drawn against Grazer AK. Middlesbrough managed a 2–2 draw against the then Austrian champions in the first leg, away. The team duly built on this in the return leg and progressed to the next round following a 2–1 win.

The round of 16 saw Boro face Sporting Lisbon for a place in the quarter finals. However, luck wasn't with Middlesbrough and they found themselves in the middle of an injury crisis. The first leg was at home and remained goalless at half time. Sporting then proceed to show their class and scored 3 in a thirty-minute spell after the break. Boro looked like they were to exit the competition, but a spectacular overhead scissor kick from Joseph Desire-Job and a late Chris Riggott goal gave a weakened Boro team a fairly respectable 3–2 loss. The second leg didn't go to plan though; despite fantastic support from 3,000 travelling fans, Middlesbrough went down 1–0, losing 4–2 on aggregate. The Boro fans took the defeat in good heart, however, and partied late into the night in Lisbon.

Middlesbrough's UEFA Cup run was seen as a huge success by the fans, and expectations were high for the following year's campaign.

First-team squad

The following are all the players who were involved the Middlesbrough F.C. first team at some point during the 2004-05 season.^{[1] [2]}

Transfers

In

width=20%	Date	width=25%	Player	width=30%	Previous club	width=15%	Cost
6 July 2004	Michael Reiziger	Barcelona	Free^[3]
8 July 2004	Mark Viduka	Leeds United	£4,500,000^[4]
9 July 2004	Jimmy Floyd Hasselbaink	Chelsea	Free
23 July 2004	Ray Parlour	Arsenal	Free
3 August 2004	Boudewijn Zenden	Chelsea	Free^[5]

Out

width=20%	Date	width=25%	Player	width=30%	Buying club	width=15%	Cost
22 April 2004	Ricardinho	Released	Free^[6]
23 June 2004	Michael Ricketts	Leeds United	Free^[7]
23 June 2004	Robbie Stockdale	Rotherham United	Nominal^[8]
Allan Johnston	Released	Free
29 June 2004	Jonathan Greening	West Bromwich Albion	£1,250,000^[9]
25 August 2004	Juninho	Celtic	Free^[10]
23 March 2005	Carlo Nash	Preston North End	£175,000

Results

Premier League

Results per matchday

Note: Results are given with Middlesbrough score listed first. Man of the Match is according to mfc.co.uk.

Game	Date	Venue	Opponent	Result F–A	Attendance	Boro goalscorers	Man of the match
1	14 August 2004	H	Newcastle United	2–2	34,268	Downing 73', Hasselbaink 90'	Reiziger
2	22 August 2004	A	Arsenal	3–5	37,415	Job 43', Hasselbaink 50', Queudrue 53'	Queudrue
3	25 August 2004	A	Fulham	2–0	17,759	Viduka 54', Németh 79'	Parlour
4	28 August 2004	H	Crystal Palace	2–1	31,560	Popovic (o.g.) 61', Hasselbaink 78'	Mendieta
5	11 September 2004	H	Birmingham City	2–1	30,252	Viduka (2) 27', 48'	Boateng
6	19 September 2004	A	Everton	0–1	34,078		Schwarzer
7	25 September 2004	H	Chelsea	0–1	32,341		Schwarzer
8	3 October 2004	A	Manchester United	1–1	67,988	Downing 33'	Southgate
9	16 October 2004	A	Blackburn Rovers	4–0	20,385	Hasselbaink (3) 46', 57', 90', Boateng 50'	Hasselbaink
10	24 October 2004	H	Portsmouth	1–1	30,964	Downing 74'	Parlour
11	30 October 2004	A	Charlton Athletic	2–1	26,031	El Karkouri (o.g.) 21', Zenden 58'	Zenden
12	7 November 2004	H	Bolton Wanderers	1–1	29,656	Boateng 90'	Boateng
13	14 November 2004	A	West Bromwich Albion	2–1	24,008	Purse (o.g.) 32', Zenden 52'	Schwarzer
14	20 November 2004	H	Liverpool	2–0	34,751	Riggott 36', Zenden 62'	Parlour
15	28 November 2004	A	Tottenham Hotspur	0–2	35,772		Riggott
16	6 December 2004	H	Manchester City	3–2	29,787	Viduka (2) 9', 54', Hasselbaink 65'	Viduka
17	11 December 2004	A	Southampton	2–2		29,018	Higginbotham (o.g.) 89', Downing 90'	Downing
18	18 December 2004	H	Aston Villa	3–0	31,338	Hasselbaink 20', Job 68', Reiziger 88'	McMahon
19	26 December 2004	A	Birmingham City	0–2	29,082		Reiziger
20	28 December 2004	H	Norwich City	2–0 34,836 Job (2) 52', 54' Downing 21 1 January 2005 H Manchester United 0–2 34,199 Downing 22 4 January 2005 A Chelsea 0–2 40,982 Parlour 23 16 January 2005 H Everton 1–1 31,794 Zenden 26' Zenden 24 22 January 2005 A Norwich City 4–4 24,547 Hasselbaink (2) 34', 78', Queudrue (2) 49', 55' Downing 25 1 February 2005 A Portsmouth 1–2 19,620 Christie 35' Parlour 26 5 February 2005 H Blackburn Rovers 1–0 30,564 Queudrue 35' Zenden 27 12 February 2005 A Bolton Wanderers 0–0 24,322 Schwarzer 28 27 February 2005 H Charlton Athletic 2–2 29,603 Riggott 74', Graham 86' Riggott 29 5 March 2005 A Aston Villa 0–2 34,201 Parnaby 30 20 March 2005 H Southampton 1–3 30,082 Hasselbaink 41' Doriva 31 2 April 2005 A Crystal Palace 1–0 24,274 Queudrue 35' Queudrue 32 9 April 2005 H Arsenal 0–1 33,874 Boateng 33 19 April 2005 H Fulham 1–1 30,650 Zenden (pen.) 90' Queudrue 34 23 April 2005 H West Bromwich Albion 4–0 32,951 Németh (2) 27', 37', Hasselbaink 33', Downing 90'+3 Németh 35 27 April 2005 A Newcastle United 0–0 52,047 Jones 36 30 April 2005 A Liverpool 1–1 43,250 Németh 4' Southgate 37 7 May 2005 H Tottenham Hotspur 1–0 34,766 Boateng 11' Boateng 38 15 May 2005 A Manchester City 1–1 47,221 Hasselbaink 23' Southgate League Cup !Round!!Date!!Opponent!!Venue!!Result!!Attendance!!Goalscorers 3 27 October 2004 Coventry City Home 3-0 11,833 Nemeth, Morrison, Graham 4 10 November 2004 Liverpool Away 2-0 28,176 FA Cup !Round!!Date!!Opponent!!Venue!!Result!!Attendance!!Goalscorers 3 8 January 2005 Notts County Away 2-1 13,671 Doriva, Job 4 29 January 2005 Manchester United Away 3-0 67,251 UEFA Cup !Round!!Date!!Opponent!!Venue!!Result!!Attendance!!Goalscorers!!Referee 1 Leg 1 16 September 2004 Baník Ostrava Home 3-0 29,746 Hasselbaink, Viduka (2) Pascal Garibian (France) 1 Leg 2 30 September 2004 Baník Ostrava Away 1-1 (3–1 agg) 15,351 Morrison Matteo Trefoloni (Italy) Grp E 21 October 2004 Egaleo Away 1-0 4,000 Downing Attila Hanacsek (Hungary) Grp E 4 November 2004 Lazio Home 2-0 33,991 Zenden (2) Yuri Baskakov (Russia) Grp E 25 November 2004 Villarreal Away 2-0 14,250 Jan Wegereef (Netherlands) Grp E 15 December 2004 Partizan Home 3-0 20,856 Nemeth, Job, Morrison Grzegorz Gilewski (Poland) 3 Leg 1 17 February 2005 Grazer AK Away 2-2 13,000 Zenden, Hasselbaink Edo Trivković (Croatia) 3 Leg 2 24 February 2005 Grazer AK Home 2-1 (4–3 agg) 20,371 Morrison, Hasselbaink Eduardo Iturralde González (Spain) 4 Leg 1 10 March 2005 Sporting Home 2-3 23,739 Job, Riggott Stefano Farina (Italy) 4 Leg 2 17 March 2005 Sporting Away 1-0 (4–2 agg) 21,217 Éric Poulat (France) Player statistics Goalscorers Goalscoring statistics for 2004-05.^[11] !Name!!League!!FA Cup!!League Cup!!Europe!!Total Hasselbaink 13 0 0 3 16 Job 5 1 0 2 8 Viduka 5 0 0 2 7 Zenden 4 0 0 3 7 Downing 5 0 0 1 6 Németh 4 0 1 1 6 Queudrue 5 0 0 0 5 Morrison 0 0 1 3 4 Boateng 3 0 0 0 3 Riggott 2 0 0 1 3 Graham 1 0 1 0 2 Reiziger 1 0 0 0 1 Christie 1 0 0 0 1 Doriva 0 1 0 0 1 Own Goals 4 0 0 0 4 Appearances and discipline Appearance and disciplinary records for 2004-05 league and cup matches. Yellow cards!!style="background: #CC0000" Red cards Schwarzer 43 0 0 Jones 5 0 0 Nash 4 0 0 Parnaby 20+4 1 0 Queudrue 43 8 2 Ehiogu 11+1 1 0 Riggott 31+1 4 0 Southgate 47 6 0 Reiziger 21+4 1 0 Bates 0+2 0 0 Davies 4+1 0 0 McMahon 16+3 3 0 Cooper 17+4 0 0 Wheater 0+1 0 0 Mendieta 7+1 1 0 Boateng 29 8 0 Wilson 1 0 0 Downing 40+8 1 0 Morrison 12+11 2 0 Johnson 0+1 0 0 Doriva 26+12 6 0 Parlour 40+1 13 1 Zenden 48+1 9 0 Kennedy 0+1 0 0 Viduka 19+2 0 0 Christie 2+1 0 0 Hasselbaink 43+2 3 0 Graham 1+16 0 0 Németh 25+15 1 0 Job 17+16 0 0 References and notes

Notes and References

1. Web site: ESPNsoccernet: Middlesbrough Squad Statistics . 7 June 2007 . https://web.archive.org/web/20110711102759/http://soccernet-akamai.espn.go.com/team/squad?id=369&season=2004&cat=starts&view=1&cc=5739 . 11 July 2011 . dead .
2. Web site: Middlesbrough FC 2004-05 . 7 June 2007 . https://web.archive.org/web/20040831165156/http://www.eufo.de/football/eng/2004/middh_fc.htm . 31 August 2004 . dead.
3. Web site: Reiziger unveiled by Boro. 6 July 2004. RTÉ . www.rte.ie.
4. Web site: Middlesbrough sign Parlour. 23 July 2004. BBC Sport.
5. Web site: Boudewijn Zenden . Sky Sports . 7 June 2007 . https://web.archive.org/web/20070519185951/http://home.skysports.com/player.aspx?plid=4073&clid=14&cpid=8 . 19 May 2007 . dead.
6. News: Boro release Ricardinho. 22 April 2004. news.bbc.co.uk.
7. Web site:
   1. OnThisBoroDay 2004: Michael Ricketts ends his Boro nightmare
   . Dominic. Shaw. 24 June 2015. TeessideLive.
8. Web site: Archive news from The Northern Echo. www.thenorthernecho.co.uk.
9. News: Transfers - July 2004. 29 July 2004. news.bbc.co.uk.
10. News: Juninho takes Larsson shirt. 25 August 2004. news.bbc.co.uk.
11. Web site: BORO 2004–05 Premiership . 7 June 2007 . https://web.archive.org/web/20070810004802/http://boroscoreforecast.co.uk/200405.htm . 10 August 2007 . dead.