Clydebank F.C.
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| Clydebank | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Full name | Clydebank Football Club | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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| Nickname(s) | The Bankies | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Founded | 2003 (present club) (1888) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Ground | Glenhead Park Duntocher, Clydebank (Capacity 1,500) |
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| Manager |  Billy McGhie |
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| League | Central District League Division 1 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| 2005-06 | Central District Lge Div. 1, 8th | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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Clydebank Football Club is a Scottish football club based in the town of Clydebank, West Dunbartonshire. The present club, formed in 2003, is a member of the Scottish Junior Football Association, and currently plays in Division One of the Central District League. They are not to be confused with either Clydesdale F.C. or Clyde F.C..
The town has been represented by several previous incarnations in both senior and junior football. The current club can directly trace their development from Clydebank Juniors F.C., who were founded in 1899. After a short lived merger with senior club East Stirlingshire during season 1964-65, they were reformed as a senior club in their own right in 1965 and went on to be members of the Scottish League from 1966 until 2002. Following chronic financial difficulties, the club was bought out by Airdrie United and relocated to play in Airdrie under the new identity. A year later, supporters of the former version of the club re-established its identity, once more at junior level.
The 1965-2002 incarnation of Clydebank F.C. was actually the third club of that name to represent the town in senior football. The first club was formed in 1888 but never competed at a high level. Of more significance was the second Clydebank F.C., formed in 1914 and a Scottish League member from then until 1931. Although these clubs are not directly connected to the present entity in a business sense, they are discussed here given their shared name and their relevance to the development of the town's footballing history and its community.
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[edit] Previous clubs
[edit] Clydebank F.C. (1888-1902)
The first senior club to represent the town was formed in 1888, playing home matches at Hamilton Park. They entered the Scottish Cup several times, making their last appearance in the competition proper in 1893-94. In addition they were members of the Scottish Federation (league) from 1891 to 1893. Although they retained their membership of the Scottish Football Association (SFA) as late as 1902, they were practically defunct by this stage.[1] The team competed in the Glasgow Cup for these four years.
[edit] Clydebank Juniors F.C. (1899-1964)
The junior club were formed in the village of Duntocher (now considered part of Clydebank) in 1899, under the name of Duntocher F.C.. This was as the result of a breakaway from another local junior club, Duntocher Hibernian.[1] [2] They changed their name to Clydebank Juniors in 1900 on moving to the town itself. They were based at the original Kilbowie Park prior to the construction of an upgraded ground (often called "New Kilbowie") in 1939. Around about this time they were one of Scotland's leading junior sides, winning the Scottish Junior Cup in 1942 as well as numerous other honours.
The club continued in junior football until 1964 when they were controversially merged with senior club East Stirlingshire, bring Scottish League football back to the town for the first time in over thirty years.
[edit] Honours
[edit] Scottish Junior Cup
- Winners: 1941-42
[edit] Other Honours
- West of Scotland Cup: 1929-30, 1949-50
- Intermediate League: 1929-1930
- Central League: 1934-1935, 1940-1941, 1941-1942, 1944-1945, 1949-1950
- Glasgow Dryburgh Cup: 1929-1930, 1932-1933, 1934-1935
- Pompey Cup: 1951-52, 1960-61
- Evening Times Cup: 1934-35, 1940-41, 1941-42, 1944-45, 1949-50 [3]
[edit] Clydebank F.C. (1914-32)
The first club to represent Clydebank — which was a rapidly developing industrial "boom town" at this time — in the Scottish League, the second senior Clydebank F.C. were newly formed when elected to Division Two in 1914. Unfortunately for them, the lower division closed down a year later due to the impact of the First World War, but after two years playing in the Western League they had better fortune when they were elevated directly to the top flight, three clubs from the north and east of the country having been forced to stand down for the duration of the war due to travel difficulties.[4] The economic boost the war had given to Clydebank's shipyards and factories was probably a contributory factor to the local team being chosen to fill the vacancy.[5]
The club lasted five seasons before being relegated in 1922. They were immediately promoted back to Division One but relegated again after one season. The economic downturn in the latter half of the 1920s affected the town and the club badly, to the extent that the club considered resigning from league football in 1929.[6] They chose to continue at that time but it proved to be only a stay of execution, with financial difficulties forcing the club to drop out of the League in July 1931.[7] The club was out of football completely within a year.
Throughout their existence, they played at Clydeholm Park, which continued to exist after their demise as a venue for greyhound racing up to the 1960s.[8] The most famous player to appear for the club was Jimmy McGrory, the Scottish League's all-time record goalscorer, who spent the 1923-24 season on loan to Clydebank from Celtic, scoring 13 of his 397 career league goals while at Clydeholm.
[edit] Honours
[edit] East Stirlingshire Clydebank F.C. (1964-65)
In 1964 the Steedman brothers, owners of East Stirlingshire, controversially merged their club with Clydebank Juniors. The new club (whose name was usually abbreviated to E.S. Clydebank) inherited Shire's place in Division Two, playing home matches at Kilbowie. After a year, a legal challenge by East Stirlingshire supporters led to them resuming their former identity back in Falkirk. The Steedmans elected to remain at Clydebank, establishing a new club at senior level.[9]
E.S. Clydebank's single season is generally considered by historians and statisticians as a contiguous part of East Stirlingshire's record, as the merged club was never elected to the SFA or League in its own right.
[edit] Clydebank F.C. (1965-2002)
The second Clydebank F.C. to play Scottish League football was formed in 1965 by the Steedman brothers, who were still convinced of the potential for senior football in the town despite the abortive merger. Although in many senses a resumption of Clydebank Juniors, albeit at a different level, they were technically a brand new club. Clydebank had to wait a year in the Combined Reserve League competing against Jordanhill Training College, Glasgow Transport, and the Third XI's of the Old Firm before being elected to the Scottish League in 1966.
Clydebank achieved considerable success in their 35 years as a Scottish League club. They spent three seasons in the Premier Division, becoming the first club to play in all three Scottish League divisions after league reconstruction in 1975. Clydebank also reached the Scottish Cup semi-final in 1990 while playing in the First Division.
They were also the first (and last) senior club of the Scottish international Davie Cooper, who went on to play for Rangers and Motherwell. Cooper was still a Clydebank player when he died in March 1995, aged 39, after suffering a brain hemorrhage. He was due to retire at the end of that season and become the club's first-team coach.
More recently, former Bankie Gary Teale who went on to play for Ayr United and, currently, Derby County has featured for Scotland. Other famous names to have played for the club at some point in their careers include Republic of Ireland international striker Tommy Coyne and Partick Thistle cult hero Chic Charnley. Most recently, former player Alan Gow joined Rangers F.C. in the summer of 2007, where he has yet to establish himself.
New Kilbowie was notable in this era as one of the first all-seater stadiums in British football, albeit largely due to the installation of wooden benches on the terracing.
[edit] Decline And Fall
The club's fortunes began to decline after New Kilbowie was sold by the Steedmans in 1996 and a promised new stadium in the town failed to materialise. Clydebank spent six years playing "home" games at first Boghead Park, Dumbarton, followed by Cappielow Park, Greenock, with the inevitable decline in support.
This latter part of the club's existence also saw them embroiled in a number of schemes by investors who had no interest in Clydebank FC whatsoever. In a graveyard echo of the events of 1964 (and some would argue that of Third Lanark in 1967), they saw the club merely as a "ticket" to get a club in the Scottish League that would be based elsewhere[citation needed].
The majority shareholder at the time, Mr John Hall, made a number of attempts to relocate the club as a franchise to a number of alternative towns - including Dublin, Galashiels and Carlisle. During this period, the club was reduced to operating from a single cramped portable cabin.
The club's SFL and SFA identity finally disappeared in 2002, when a new club Airdrie United bought over the ailing Clydebank and took over their place in the League.
[edit] Honours
- Scottish League First Division:
- Scottish League Second Division:
- Spring Cup:
- Runners-up (1): 1975-76
- Stirlingshire Cup:
- Winners (2): 1978-79, 1979-80
[edit] Current Squad
- Barry John Corr
- Stefan Gonet
- Barry Docherty
- Colin Sutherland
- John Cuningham
- Paul Allum
- Martin McInness
- Sinclair Soutar
- Gordon Lappin
- Alan Jack
- Andy Kenna
- Mark Hailstones
- David Fisher
- Mark Bowie
- Paul Craig
- Jerry Packham
- Peter Jordan
- Kevin Proctor
- James Lennox
- Brian Miller
[edit] Notable players
- Colin Scott
- Gary Teale
- Davie Cooper
- Jimmy McGrory
Tommy Coyne- Chic Charnley
- Ken Eadie
- Jim Fanning
- Alan Gow
[edit] Rebirth: the present Clydebank F.C. (2003- )
During the 2002-03 football season, the remaining Clydebank supporters were left without a team to follow, the transformation into Airdrie United having happened too close to the beginning of the season to make alternative plans. In the following months, members of the UCS supporters' group met with the purpose of creating a new Clydebank F.C. Airdrie United Ltd generously agreed to voluntarily transfer their unwanted ownership of the name and insignia of Clydebank FC to UCS, and venue for matches in the Clydebank area was secured with a ground sharing deal agreed with Drumchapel Amateurs at Glenhead Park in Duntocher.
The UCS group re-established Clydebank Football Club in 2003, entering the Central District League (Second Division) of the Scottish Junior Football Association. Since rejoining the Junior level the club has gained one promotion in the Central league Second Division in 2003-2004. In 2004-2005, Bankies were third in the Central League First Division, missing out on a second successive promotion by one point.
2005-06 saw record crowds since the re-birth of the club, with up to 1150 watching Clydebank come within penalty kicks of reaching the last 4 of the Scottish Junior Cup - beaten after two 1-1 draws against Tayport.
2006-2007 saw Clydebank promoted to the Super League Division 1 after beating Lanark United, 2-0
[edit] Honours
- Central League Division 2 Champions 2003-04
- Sectional League Cup Runners Up 2006-07
[edit] See also
[edit] Notes and references
- ^ a b Heaney, John (September 1983). "Bankies-All". Scottish Football Historian 10: pp.6–7
- ^ The current Clydebank F.C. play in Duntocher at Glenhead Park, which was previously Duntocher Hibs' ground.
- ^ History Clydebank F.C. official website. Retrieved on 8 October 2006
- ^ Crampsey, Bob (1990). The First 100 Years. Scottish Football League, Glasgow, pp.293–294. ISBN 0-9516433-0-4
- ^ Crampsey, p.63
- ^ Crampsey, p.83
- ^ Crampsey, p.88–90
- ^ Clydebank Greyhound Stadium, 1963 The Clydebank Story. Retrieved on 8 October 2006
- ^ Crampsey, pp.170–171
[edit] External links
- Clydebank F.C. - official website
- Clydebank F.C. at footballcrests.com
- Demise of the Bankies - BBC News story from 2002 recounts the history of Clydebank F.C.
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