Third Lanark A.C.

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Third Lanark display the Scottish Cup which they won in 1889

Third Lanark Athletic Club was a Scottish football club that existed from 1872 to 1967, based in Glasgow. Third Lanark were known as Thirds, the Warriors, the Redcoats or the Hi-Hi (the latter owing to the "Hi Hi Hi!" chant from their fans).

Originally one of the great clubs of early Scottish Football, Third Lanark were far from being the first major Scottish football club to be declared bankrupt and dissolved (former Scottish Cup winners Renton & their neighbours Vale Of Leven suffered similar fates - although the latter were resurrected as a Junior side later). But their demise was considered a shock due to the fact only a few years earlier they had finished third in the championship division, scoring over 100 goals in the process. Thus the death of Third Lanark has become the standard cautionary tale in world football of the danger to any club whose ground is on land ideally located for development by unscrupulous businessmen.

1 History
2 Famous Players
3 Honours
4 References
5 External links

[edit] History

Third Lanark started as the football team for the Third Lanarkshire Rifle Volunteers. Known as 3rd LRV the name was changed to Third Lanark A.C. when the official links with the military were severed. The club was a founder member of the Scottish Football League. They had also won the league championship in 1904, as well as winning the Scottish Cup in 1889 and 1905 and the Glasgow Cup in 1903, 1904, 1909 and 1963.

Third Lanark played at Cathkin Park. This was previously known as Hampden Park (the second of three grounds to bear this name) before Queen's Park sold it to Third Lanark and moved to a new stadium of the same name. Cathkin Park is currently owned by Glasgow City Council, and remains of the terracing can still be seen.

[edit] The End

The last day of season 1960/61 saw Third Lanark reach an historic landmark. They beat Hibernian 6-1 at Cathkin Park to reach a commendable 100 goals for the season, and their win secured an honourable third place in the most competitive First Division league table. The 'scarlet' goalscoring machine of Goodfellow, Hilley, Harley, Gray and McInnes had done it again.

Only a short four years later the club's ultimate agony began. One dismal chapter of events followed another, until season 1965/66 found Thirds kicking off in the Second Division, having been relegated as a consequence of their most disastrous season ever, bringing the club only three wins from 34 matches in the league.

There followed yet another two seasons of mediocrity and discontent, ending in the humiliating defeat at Boghead Park when Dumbarton recorded a 5-1 score line, on Friday, 28th April 1967 (the final Thirds goal was scored by future Airdrie and Hearts star Drew Busby). This game ended the football involvement of Thirds, as a senior professional club.

The following months brought a Board of Trade investigation, revealing constant player squabbles and bitter internal struggles for power. These events finally took their toll and eventually a liquidator was appointed. Shortly after this move the dreaded announcement was made.

The club was declared bankrupt after a Board Of Trade enquiry and was liquidated in 1967. Boardroom corruption allegedly played a role in this; the role of the chairman of Thirds, Bill Hiddleston, remains subject to intense debate: he may have wished to personally profit from the sale of Cathkin Park for property development (Cathkin was sold for housing during the 1967 close season, but Glasgow City Council refused building permission).

On the other hand he did build the club a new stand in 1963 - hardly in keeping with someone interested in running the club to a fold - and another allegation was that Hiddleston wanted to force the club to move to either Cumbernauld or East Kilbride, the booming "New Towns" within the Glasgow commuter belt which at that time had no Senior side of their own.

What was certainly the case was that the club was now in the hands of one man & his toadies, none of whom were up to the task of running a professional football club. This was evidence from the damning report by The Board Of Trade into Third Lanark's activities in 1967: players were paid tardily & often in silver, they had to make their own way to away matches, hot water was not available after matches; and every facet of the club's management was from a personal appointment by Hiddleston. In short, there was a wave of disincentive for anyone to remain working for or even being a shareholder of the club if they were not part of Hiddleston's clique, and to whatever plans they had for the Hi-Hi.

[edit] Dead But Dreaming

After Third Lanark went under, some Third Lanark fans began supporting Pollok in the Scottish Junior Leagues, but the vast majority of the club's 10 000 fans that went through the turnstiles at the start of the 1960s were lost to football for good: Third Lanark had long been seen specifically as the club of choice for those that objected to the sectarian connotations of the "Old Firm".

A youth team later adopted the name Third Lanark Athletic (playing at Rosebank Park), as did a ladies team. Occasionally exhibition matches are staged at Cathkin with a scratch "Third Lanark" team. Despite claims by others to the rights to the clubs name, the actual legal owner of the name of the club that went bankrupt, "Third Lanark Athletic Club Ltd" is former Glasgow MP Sir Teddy Taylor, which he bought from the sequestrators in 1967 when there still appeared the possibility of the club continuing elsewhere. Ferranti Thistle had toyed with the idea of using the Third Lanark name upon their entry to the Scottish league in 1974, but instead settled for Meadowbank Thistle.

Recently Billy Connolly announced that he was interested in either buying financially troubled Partick Thistle or reviving Third Lanark with fellow legendary Scots showman Sean Connery, however this proved to be merely celebrity idle talk on the back of the media interest surrounding tiny Gretna FC whose meteoric success was partly down to the backing of multi-millionaire Brookes Mileson. Also the return of Accrington Stanley to the Football League (they went bust just over five years before Third Lanark) had resurrected the notion of bringing Third Lanark back to life in the Scottish media.

Talk of a revival did spark up hope among loyal Thirds fans, especially considering the successful resurrection of Clydebank FC as a Junior side. It is no secret that Glasgow City Council is anxious to get rid of Cathkin Park, which has become notorious over the last decade as a haven for both drug addicts & for homosexuals looking for "rough trade"; however they would only sell the land on to someone interested in retaining the recreational use of Cathkin.

40 years since the demise of one of the founders of Scottish football, the story of Third Lanark still appears not to be quite over yet: ironically, their "web board" boasts more members than the official web boards of most current members of the Scottish League!

[edit] Greater Glasgow Amateur League - Rising from the ashes

Thirds have returned to their now dilapidated Cathkin Park home, playing in Division 3 of the Greater Glasgow Amateur League ^[1]. While still appearing on a 'defunct clubs' site ^[2], they may be rising from the ashes.

0n Monday 9th of June 2008 a four-man delegation from the club made a suprise announcement, telling the press that Third Lanark AC would be interested in returning to Scottish Football League after SPL team Gretna decided to withdraw from the SFL. The other contestants for the vacant league place are Spartans, Cove Rangers, Annan Athletic, Preston Athletic and Gala Fairydean.^[3]