During the 1997–98 English football season, Middlesbrough F.C. competed in the

Football League First Division The Football League First Division was a division of the Football League in England from 1888 until 2004. It was the top division in the English football league system from the season 1888–89 until 1991–92, a century in which the First ...

Season summary

Middlesbrough were promoted to the Premier League, also reaching the

League Cup final 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 t ...

, where the club lost its third domestic cup final in a year. Just reaching the final was a huge success, though, with the club not playing in the top flight and having lost international star players

Fabrizio Ravanelli Fabrizio Ravanelli (; born 11 December 1968) is an Italian football manager and former international player. A former striker, Ravanelli started and ended his playing career at hometown club Perugia Calcio, and also played for Middlesbrough, J ...

and Juninho following relegation. The season also saw the arrivals of well-known players such as

Paul Gascoigne Paul John Gascoigne (, born 27 May 1967), nicknamed Gazza, is an English former professional footballer who played as an attacking midfielder. He is described by the National Football Museum as "widely recognised as the most naturally talente ...

from

Rangers A Ranger is typically someone in a military/paramilitary or law enforcement role specializing in patrolling a given territory, called “ranging”. The term most often refers to: * Park ranger or forest ranger, a person charged with protecting and ...

, Marco Branca from Inter Milan and Paul Merson from

Arsenal An arsenal is a place where arms and ammunition are made, maintained and repaired, stored, or issued, in any combination, whether privately or publicly owned. Arsenal and armoury (British English) or armory (American English) are mostly ...

, with Boro bucking the trend of players only being attracted by top-flight clubs.

Final league table

Results

''Middlesbrough's score comes first''

Legend

Football League First Division

FA Cup

League Cup

Squad

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:1997-98 Middlesbrough F.C. season Middlesbrough F.C. seasons Middlesbrough