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It remains one of the club’s darkest days. The day which could have very easily been the start of the end.

Boro’s off-the-field problems were no secret. Their struggles were common knowledge, their debts mounting.

Yet despite the grim outlook, the hope was Boro would find a way.

Those hopes were dashed when the club entered voluntary liquidation on this day in 1986.

As Eric Paylor later described it: “It meant they were being swept down the river without a paddle on their way to oblivion.”

Suddenly, the heartbreak of relegation from Division Two to Division Three seemed insignificant.

Yes, it was a huge blow, but compared to the prospect of the football club crumbling out of existence, it was a minor setback.

Just the day before the administrators were called in, Bruce Rioch, working with his hands tied, spoke of the incredibly difficult challenge ahead as he looked to build a team capable of launching a promotion push.

It appeared to be mission impossible.

“The decline of the past five years has been two-fold, first in the gradual fall from the First to the Third Division, and then also on the financial side of the club,” he told the Gazette

“A lot of people feel that we can turn it around immediately but the first thing we have to do is stop the fall.

“Finances dictate just how far you can go in terms of rebuilding the team.

“The only way we would buy players would be to sell first. But while we have some assets in the club, I am reluctant to sell young players that are of value here.”

This was just the start of it.

Yet the players insisted they would do all possible to help the club ride out the storm.

The 18-man squad, with bills to pay and uncertain about their futures, hadn’t received their fortnightly wages but pledged not to rock the boat.

Tony McAndrew, the team’s representative at the PFA, said: “We’ll see what happens over the next week or so and give the club a chance to sort it out.

“We don’t want people going in saying they are due a free transfer while the club has more pressing problems.”

It was the start of a long, dark summer.

It seemed Boro needed a miracle. Thankfully they found one.