Boro finally had their man.
Just three days after it had appeared the deal to bring Terry Venables to the Riverside was dead in the water , the former England boss was unveiled as Boro's new manager on this day in 2000.
The mission to keep the side in the Premier League started now.
It would be no simple task. The defeat at West Ham the weekend previous was Boro's eighth game in the league with a win.
The side was lacking the quality and fight required to pick up results in the top tier.
And it was blatantly obvious they were lacking belief.
Venables felt he could help and Steve Gibson was clearly convinced.
The Boro supremo was confident the deal was done earlier in the week before a last minute hitch.
But El Tel opened the door for talks to begin again when he revealed in his News of the World column that he was still interested in taking charge at the Riverside.
Bryan Robson and Terry Venables"I have told Middlesbrough that I would be delighted to help them out for six months," he wrote.
"I have told Bryan that I will take it to the end of the season and he can have a break for six months and concentrate on other matters.
"I will take the Press, I will take the team, I'll do this and I'll do that.
"Talks between Venables and Steve Gibson and Keith Lamb had rumbled on for more than two months. Media obligations looked to have scuppered any deal.
But Boro were getting drawn into an increasingly desperate situation, hence agreeing to Venables' short term offer of assistance."
Bryan wasn't convinced it was a good idea when I put it to him because he didn't think it was settling to his players, to his staff and no-one would know what was going," added Venables.
"I understand all of that but I still believe I can help."
He was true to his word.Venables watched on from the stands as Boro's wretched run continued at the Stadium of Light the following week but took charge for the first time against Chelsea in mid-December.
The response was remarkable. A 1-0 win kick-started a 10-match unbeaten run in the league.
In fact, Boro would go on to only lose four more games in the whole campaign.
The turnaround was staggering.
It was a run that pulled Boro away from the drop zone and guaranteed survival.
The complex talks to convince Venables to help his former England assistant Robson had been well and truly worth their while.
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