Airdrieonians F.C. (1878)

Airdrieonians Football Club, more commonly known as Airdrie, was a Scottish professional football team from the town of Airdrie, in the Monklands area of Lanarkshire.

The club became defunct at the end of the Scottish Football League 2001–02 season, despite the team finishing as runners-up in the SFL First Division to Partick Thistle and therefore only narrowly missing out on promotion to the Scottish Premier League.

During their 124-year existence the "Diamonds", as they were nicknamed, won the old Scottish Division Two three times, the Spring Cup once and the Scottish Challenge Cup to fold since 1967, when Third Lanark went bankrupt.

History

Formation and early years

The team was founded in Airdrie, North Lanarkshire in 1878 as Excelsior Football Club, changing its name to Airdrieonians in 1881. It was elected to the Scottish Football League in 1894.

The club enjoyed its most successful era in the 1920s, following the signing of Hughie Gallacher from Queen of the South in 1921. Airdrie challenged the dominance of Rangers, as they finished in second place in the Scottish League championship four years in a row between 1923 and 1926. They won the 1924 Scottish Cup Final beating Hibernian 2–0. Bob McPhail said, "The terror-like attitude of Gallacher caused havoc with the Hibs defenders. He and Russell were easily our best forwards". Willie Russell scored both goals.Hughie Gallacher on Queens Legends, www.qosfc.com
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Following this victory, in early summer 1925, the club visited Norway and Sweden, and made a big impression. Translations of local newspaper reports, and some photographs of the tour, are still available. This successful era came to an end after Gallacher in December 1925 and McPhail in 1927 were sold to Newcastle United and Rangers respectively.

Post war era and beyond

Airdrie spent much of the post war era " yo-yoing" between the top flight and Second Division. Airdrie entered the first Texaco Cup competition in 1970–71, defeating Nottingham Forest in the first round. That tie was decided by a penalty shootout and Airdrie became the first Scottish club to be involved in that method of deciding a contest. Airdrie reached the Texaco Cup Final in 1972, losing 2–1 on aggregate to Derby County. They also reached the 1975 Scottish Cup Final, losing 3–1 to Celtic. After the leagues were restructured in 1975, a competition called the Spring Cup was instituted for the teams in the lower divisions. Airdrie won this competition in 1976, but it was discontinued after one season as clubs preferred to play additional league games instead.

Alex MacDonald era

During the 1990s, with Alex MacDonald at the helm, Airdrie worked their way into the Premier Division in the 1991–92 and 1992–93 seasons, were regularly considered challengers for promotion and recognised as one of the bigger clubs in First Division.

MacDonald also guided the Diamonds to two Scottish Cup Finals. The first appearance coming on 9 May 1992 when the club faced Rangers in front of 44,045 strong crowd at Hampden Park. Unfortunately for Airdrie on this occasion however, a goal each from Mark Hateley and Ally McCoist earned the blue half of Glasgow a 2–1 victory.

Although Airdrie lost in the 1992 Scottish Cup Final they had already qualified for the 1992–93 European Cup Winners' Cup, as Rangers had also won the Scottish league championship in 1992. Airdrie were drawn against Czech side Sparta Prague in the first round. Airdrie lost 1–0 at Broomfield and 2–1 in Prague, losing 3–1 on aggregate. Kenny Black, who later went on to become manager of Airdrie United, scored the only Airdrie goal.

Airdrie also reached the 1995 Scottish Cup Final, where they faced the other half of the Old Firm, Celtic. Airdrie would once again fall at the final hurdle, as they lost 1–0 to a Pierre van Hooijdonk goal. Airdrie also won the Scottish Challenge Cup