Club Author Anthony Vickers will be in store at MFC Official ahead of tomorrow night's friendly against Marseille signing copies of his latest book.
The writer will be in the club shop from 5.30pm and 6.30pm, as well as for an hour ahead of Boro's first league match against West Brom on Saturday 30 July.
Here's a little from Anthony on the book, titled Threads of History.
Threads Of History is the comprehensive and previously untold story of the Middlesbrough shirt. And it is a story well worth telling.
The story is not just about a humble matchday uniform. It is about history and identity and memories and pride. Nothing identifies a club more vividly to the world than the striking symbolism of the shirt and nothing so visibly binds fans to the team and to each other.
Fashions and fabrics change, designs are tweaked and modern merchandising make it a product as much as a symbol but the basic colours are fixed and the cultural power to stir, inspire and unite deepens with every year.
The shirt is an important facet of modern football fandom but the story of its evolution is so little known. Digging down into the detail to tell the story reveals much about the social and cultural history of the club and the crowd.
The tale is told through archive material, some brilliant images, cracking anecdotes and behind the scenes insight from the people who shaped the story and it follows how this precious polyester has become key to the image, marketing and revenues of the club.
The story starts in a swirl of pre-history and roots in blue, in hoops, in white with polka dots and a couple of questionable diversions before settling on blood red almost by accident.
The key decisions in the formative years are revisited through old press cuttings, dusty Boro minute books and old reports of fiery AGMs to track the evolution of the colours and the unfolding story is followed through a century and more of glory, heart-ache and drama.
The book has a detailed look at the epoch-shaping rebranding of Charlton’s Champions that revived a white flourish as part of the emotional mix that has echoed down the ages ever.
It tells how a Boro fan with a flair for design got asked to sketch out a new strip in return for access to the fabled Ayresome 100 Club and how a small Linthorpe rag-trade unit saved the day in the post-padlocks chaos and created some of the most iconic and important kits in our history.
The top man at Errea recalls the perfect timing that meant the Italian challenger brand kitted out the Riverside Revolution and became permanently wedded to the images of a golden era.
There are chapters on the Adidas years, the Hummel search for identity with the Fabric of 86, on the away kit, the badge, the unstoppable rise of the replica, marketing, the collecting boom and fan designed concept kits and some luscious artwork portraying every Boro kit ever.
We all have our favourite shirt and every one of them is important to our history, with folklore and memories woven into the fabric. This book is a celebration of that and a comprehensive history of a cultural juggernaut.
Every fibre of every shirt across the ages encapsulates the emotions, pride, passion and drama of being a loyal supporter. This book celebrates that.