1988 Football League Second Division play-off final
Chelsea won the Second Division the following season and, as of 2024[update], remain in the top tier of English football.
[4] According to accountancy firm Deloitte, the match was worth £1 million to the promoted club through increases in matchday, commercial and broadcasting income.
[17] Bobby Campbell had been appointed as Chelsea's caretaker manager two weeks prior to the final, after the resignation of John Hollins.
[20] In the second leg, both sides missed chances early on before Kevin Wilson scored a volley for Chelsea after 26 minutes.
Middlesbrough equalised a minute later, through a header from Trevor Senior, but Bradford retook the lead almost immediately when Stuart McCall scored from close-range.
Going into extra time, Middlesbrough added a second goal almost immediately; the Bradford City defender Lee Sinnott missed a cross by Colin Cooper, which fell to Gary Hamilton who put it in the net.
Stephen Pears, the Middlesbrough goalkeeper made two saves from Ian Ormondroyd in the 111th minute, and his side held on to claim a 3–2 aggregate victory.
[23] In his history of the club, Richard Piers Rayner describes watching that match from the terraces as among his favourite moments as a Middlesbrough fan.
[27][28] Three minutes later, Slaven crossed the ball to Senior, who scored with a glancing header, to put Middlesbrough 1–0 ahead: Clive White of The Times described it as "a slightly flattering lead".
[25] In the second half, Stuart Ripley crossed the ball into the Chelsea penalty area, but there were no Middlesbrough forwards to convert the chance.
[28] Pallister had a shot after a Middlesbrough corner was palmed away from goal by Hitchcock, but he put the rebound straight back at the goalkeeper.
[29] Chelsea dominated play early on; within 90 seconds of kick-off, Nevin had a shot at goal which Pears "brilliantly" deflected onto the post, according to White.
[31] Nevin created Chelsea's goal in the 18th minute, finding Durie with a long pass, who curled the ball into the net from 10 yards (9 m) out.
[31] Chelsea continued to dominate possession for the rest of the game, and Nevin created more opportunities for his side, but they did not manage to have another shot on target after their goal.
[35] Seeing this, roughly 300 Chelsea supporters broke through a gate in the security fence at the Shed End to enter the pitch and ran towards the stand holding the Middlesbrough fans, while throwing a variety of projectiles, including stones.
According to them, around 1,000 members of Middlesbrough's "Frontline" mob had travelled to London for the match, and had marched provocatively en masse to the ground.
[39] The police continued to clear the Chelsea fans from the pitch and the terraces for 40 minutes,[34] doing so "under a constant hail of missiles" according to the Sunday Tribune.
They were fined £75,000 plus costs, the largest financial penalty given by the Football Association at the time, and had to close their terraces for the first six home games of the 1988–89 season.
[45] The second leg was his final appearance for Chelsea before moving to Everton, and he referred to his team's dominance in the match: "we absolutely battered them".
[4][46] Chelsea were Second Division champions in the 1988–89 season, regaining promotion to the top tier and, as of 2021[update], have remained there ever since.
[3] In June 1988, UEFA, the governing body for association football in Europe, had been due to meet to discuss whether to readmit English clubs to European competitions in the 1988–89 season.
In the wake of the post-match incident during the second leg between Chelsea and Middlesbrough, along with hooliganism at a match between England and Scotland, the English Football Association withdrew their request to be re-admitted.
