The 2018–19 season was Middlesbrough's second consecutive season in the Championship in their 143rd year in existence; the club also competed in the FA Cup and the

EFL Cup The EFL Cup (referred to historically, and colloquially, as the League Cup), currently known as the Carabao Cup for sponsorship reasons, is an annual knockout competition and major trophy in men's domestic football in England. Organised by the ...

Season overview

The 2018–19 transfer window is club manager Tony Pulis' first official summer transfer window as Middlesbrough manager. Pulis' first signing of the window was a defensive

Paddy McNair Patrick James Coleman McNair (born 27 April 1995) is a Northern Irish professional footballer who plays as a defender or a midfielder for Championship club Middlesbrough and the Northern Ireland national team. McNair signed for Manchester Uni ...

, arriving from rivals

Sunderland Sunderland () is a port city in Tyne and Wear, England. It is the City of Sunderland's administrative centre and in the Historic counties of England, historic county of County of Durham, Durham. The city is from Newcastle-upon-Tyne and is on t ...

for £5 million.

Bristol City Bristol City Football Club is a professional football club based in Bristol, England, which compete in the , the second tier of English football. They have played their home games at Ashton Gate since moving from St John's Lane in 1904. The ...

star defender

Aden Flint Aden Flint (born 11 July 1989) is an English professional footballer who plays as a defender. Club career Early career Flint began his career in the Central Midlands Football League with Pinxton before stepping up to the Conference North in ...

subsequently joined the club for a fee of £7 million.

Sam Stubbs Samuel Alan Stubbs (born 20 November 1998) is an English professional footballer who plays as a centre-back for Bradford City. Club career Wigan Athletic Stubbs joined Wigan Athletic in 2013, after progressing through the Everton youth ranks. ...

and Djed Spence then joined the reserves, both on free transfers, arriving from

Wigan Athletic Wigan Athletic Football Club () is an English professional association football club based in Wigan, Greater Manchester, England. The team competes in the Championship, the second tier of the English football league system. Founded in 1932, ...

and

Fulham Fulham () is an area of the London Borough of Hammersmith & Fulham in West London, England, southwest of Charing Cross. It lies on the north bank of the River Thames, bordering Hammersmith, Kensington and Chelsea. The area faces Wandsworth ...

respectively. As August emerged,

Andy Lonergan Andrew Michael Lonergan (born 19 October 1983) is an English professional Association football, footballer who plays as a Goalkeeper (association football), goalkeeper for Premier League club Everton F.C., Everton. Lonergan is a former England ...

joined the club on a free transfer from rivals Leeds United. On 8 August 2018, Middlesbrough completed the signing of

Jordan Hugill Jordan Thomas Hugill (born 4 June 1992) is an English professional footballer who plays as a forward for club Rotherham United. A relative late comer to the professional game, he had spells with non-League sides Seaham Red Star, Consett, W ...

from West Ham United on a season-long loan deal.

Tomás Mejías Tomás Mejías Osorio (born 30 January 1989) is a Spanish professional footballer who plays as a goalkeeper for AD Ceuta FC. Club career Real Madrid Mejías was born in Madrid. In 2001, aged 12, he joined local Real Madrid's youth academy from ...

Martin Cranie Martin James Cranie (born 26 September 1986) is an English professional association football, footballer who is currently a free agent. He most recently played as a centre back and right back for EFL Championship, Championship club Luton Town F. ...

, Tom Brewitt, Liam Cooke, Liam Hegarty, Jakub Sinior, Keiran Storey, Robbie Tinkler, Jay Wilson and Matthew Elsdon were all released at the end of the 2017–18 season.

Antonio Barragán Antonio Juan Barragán Fernández (born 12 June 1987) is a Spanish professional footballer who plays as a right-back. Having started out at Liverpool, he spent most of his career in the two highest divisions of Spanish football, playing for De ...

then left the club to join Real Betis permanently, having spent the previous season on loan there, while

Mikael Soisalo Mikael Soisalo (born 24 April 1998) is a Finnish professional footballer who plays as a right-winger for Hungarian club Puskás Akadémia. He has also represented the Finland national under-21 football team. Soisalo was born in Helsinki, Finl ...

and Fábio left to join

Zulte Waregem Sportvereniging Zulte Waregem (), commonly known as Zulte Waregem or by their nickname Essevee (), is a Belgian professional football club based in Waregem, West Flanders. Zulte Waregem plays in the Belgian First Division A. Their highest finish a ...

and

Nantes Nantes (, , ; Gallo: or ; ) is a city in Loire-Atlantique on the Loire, from the Atlantic coast. The city is the sixth largest in France, with a population of 314,138 in Nantes proper and a metropolitan area of nearly 1 million inhabita ...

respectively. Players who were loaned out included Joe Fryer to

Carlisle United Carlisle United Football Club ( , ) is a professional association football club based in Carlisle, Cumbria, England. The team compete in , the fourth tier of the English football league system. They have played their home games at Brunton Par ...

, Hayden Coulson to St Mirren, Luke Armstrong to

Gateshead Gateshead () is a large town in northern England. It is on the River Tyne's southern bank, opposite Newcastle upon Tyne, Newcastle to which it is joined by seven bridges. The town contains the Gateshead Millennium Bridge, Millennium Bridge, Sage ...

, George Miller to

Bradford City Bradford City Association Football Club is an English professional football club in Bradford, West Yorkshire. The team competes in League Two, the fourth tier of the English football league system and are currently managed by Mark Hughes. Th ...

. The club then said their goodbyes to their team superstars: striker

Patrick Bamford Patrick James Bamford (born 5 September 1993) is an English professional footballer who plays as a striker for club Leeds United and the England national team. Bamford began his career at Nottingham Forest, making his debut in December 2011, ...

to Leeds, centre-back Ben Gibson and winger Adama Traoré.

Squad

First team squad

* L = Player on Loan

Competitions

Pre-season friendlies

As part of their pre-season preparations, Middlesbrough faced Sturm Graz,

Spennymoor Town Spennymoor Town Football Club is a football club based in Spennymoor, County Durham, in the North East of England. They currently compete in and currently play their home matches at The Brewery Field. The club began playing in the Northern ...

SV Sandhausen Sportverein Sandhausen 1916 e.V., commonly known as simply SV Sandhausen or Sandhausen, is a German association football club that plays in Sandhausen, immediately to the south of Heidelberg in Baden-Württemberg. The club's greatest success ...

, Accrington Stanley, Rochdale and Hartlepool United. Their match against

was abandoned at half-time because of storm conditions.

Championship

League table

Results by matchday

Result summary

Matches

On 21 June 2018, the Championship fixtures for the forthcoming season were announced.

FA Cup

The third round draw was made live on BBC by Ruud Gullit and Paul Ince from

Stamford Bridge Stamford Bridge may refer to: * Stamford Bridge, East Riding of Yorkshire, a village in England ** Battle of Stamford Bridge, 25 September 1066 * Stamford Bridge (bridge), a bridge in the village of Stamford Bridge * Stamford Bridge (stadium), in L ...

on 3 December 2018. The fourth round draw was made live on BBC by

Robbie Keane Robert David Keane (born 8 July 1980) is an Irish professional Association football, football coach and former Football player, player who played as a Forward (association football)#Striker, striker. Keane served as Captain (association football ...

and Carl Ikeme from Wolverhampton on 7 January 2019.

EFL Cup

On 15 June 2018, the draw for the first round was made in Vietnam. The second round draw was made from the

Stadium of Light The Stadium of Light is an all-seater football stadium in Sunderland, England, and the eighth and current home to Sunderland A.F.C. With space for 49,000 spectators, the Stadium of Light is the ninth largest football stadium in England. ...

on 16 August. The third round draw was made on 30 August 2018 by David Seaman and

Joleon Lescott Joleon Patrick Lescott (born 16 August 1982) is an English former professional footballer who played as a centre-back. He currently works as a coach with the England U21s. Lescott is a graduate of the Wolverhampton Wanderers youth academy. H ...

. The fourth round draw was made live on

Quest A quest is a journey toward a specific mission or a goal. The word serves as a plot device in mythology and fiction: a difficult journey towards a goal, often symbolic or allegorical. Tales of quests figure prominently in the folklore of ever ...

Rachel Yankey Rachel Aba Yankey, OBE (born 1 November 1979) is an English former footballer who played for the England national team. She played as a left winger or forward. She left Arsenal after 13 years in December 2016 at the end of her contract. She is ...

and Rachel Riley on 29 September. The draw for the quarter-final was made live on Sky Sports by Jamie Redknapp and Jimmy Floyd Hasselbaink on 31 October.

Transfers

Transfers in

Transfers out

Loans in

Loans out

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:2018-19 Middlesbrough F.C. season Middlesbrough F.C. seasons Middlesbrough