Club Author Anthony Vickers isn’t sure what his favourite Boro shirt is – but it has a searing white band on it. Or a bib, a sash or a flash of neon that vividly marks out a unique colour combination in English football.
Here, in an extract from his soon-to-be-released comprehensive history of the Middlesbrough shirt, he makes the cultural case for red hot iron, white hot steel as being Boro’s default template.
Jack Charlton’s eye-catching innovation caught the zeitgeist. It became indelibly linked to a period of success as Boro played effective top flight football and challenged the elite. Several times they came agonisingly close to breaking through the historic glass ceiling and actually winning something.
OK, they did win ‘something’: the Anglo-Scottish Cup. But they were a whisker away from the biggest prizes. In 1974-75 Boro were pushing for a league and cup double. Seriously. They were realistic title contenders. In mid-March they beat Chelsea to go third. They were one of five teams locked in a scrum three points behind leaders Everton. Back-to-back away defeats at Leicester and Wolves cost them, they stuttered and finished the season seventh. In the FA Cup they reached the quarter-final only to stumble to a 1-0 defeat away at a Birmingham side they had spanked 3-0 home and away in the league.
The following season they had one hand on the League Cup after beating Manchester City 1-0 in the first leg of the semi-final just days after a 1-0 league victory at Ayresome. The return leg went horribly wrong. The team bus got caught in a snarl-up on the M62, arrived late and the team crashed to a stinging 4-0 Maine Road rout.
But despite the frustrations of those near misses, that team established itself as heroes. Their shadow looms large to this present day. And the shirt they wore is hard-wired into Middlesbrough’s sense of identity.
For fans of that era a ‘proper’ Boro shirt has a white band on it. There is no question about that. And that has been handed down as an article of faith. Now, whatever the topical tweaks, that is the subliminal default option for the vast majority. The band comes out top in every poll conducted by the club, the press or supporters’ sites. It is coded deep in our cultural DNA.
For the club, it has been an absolute gift. Branding is the key to success in the cut-throat modern marketplace. A unique visual device is key to winning the battle for hearts and minds. Ask leaders in any field from fashion to football and they will tell you the power of a product to be recognised in a heart-beat among its rivals in a shop-front hard-sell scrum is paramount to success.
A distinct logo helps build an identity and develop brand loyalty. It allows ‘synergy’ and cross-promotion. That’s why companies pay slick spin-doctors and image consultants fortunes in a bid to replicate the deep drilled market pulling- power of the three stripes, the swoosh or the golden arches.
Boro have just that: our Above Average White Band. That or a distinct flourish that echoes it. When Boro are plain red they are just that: plain. It leaves them in a bland Liverpool-lite league of identikit teams like Bristol City, Barnsley, Nottingham Forest and Charlton wearing shirts that blend into the background.
There is an argument that historically Boro DO wear plain red calculated by the number of years. That was true. The balance has now tipped. And most of those years are submerged in the black and white past. The band – or a flourish - has long since won the battle for hearts and minds.
Measured by media and market recognition, supporters’ self-image and the branding potential, that flash of white is amazing. Red hot iron, white hot steel, a subliminal symbolic colour scheme to unite and excite and to promote a sense of identity. You can’t buy that or contrive it. It is accumulated history.
Maybe there is an element of sentiment and rose-tinted nostalgia in making a fetish of fabric but sentiment is a powerful factor in football where emotional engagement is key. It is easy to adapt to modern multi-media marketing needs too - and not just on shirts. Look around the stadium, the family zone, the club shop, the tunnel. The mugs and t-shirts, scarves and retro shirts. The Big Cards at Old Trafford. The stirring banners unveiled by the Red Faction. The white band is everywhere. It is integral to our consciousness..
It is a unique ensemble in English football instantly recognisable across the country. And beyond. It is simple. And that’s a good thing. A child could reproduce a Boro shirt quickly and accurately and it would not just be a proud parent that could approvingly identify the subject matter.
“We play in red and white.” It is part of our matchday mentality and part of our song book. The band harnesses the Big Jack. It channels the Rioch revival and a phoenix club rising from liquidation. It taps into a Riverside promotion garnished with Merson magic. It was the uniform of exotic and unimagined glories as Boro stormed Europe to reach the UEFA Cup final.
“We play in red and white." With a band. Or a bib, a yoke, epaulettes, a swirl or even a sash. Red with a flourish. That IS Boro. It is who we are.
Threads of History: The story of the Middlesbrough Shirt is at the printers and will be available exclusively from MFC Official very soon, priced £15.