Clydebank Football Club are a Scottish

football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kicking a ball to score a goal. Unqualified, the word ''football'' normally means the form of football that is the most popular where the word is used. Sports commonly ...

club based in the town of

Clydebank Clydebank ( gd, Bruach Chluaidh) is a town in West Dunbartonshire, Scotland. Situated on the north bank of the River Clyde, it borders the village of Old Kilpatrick (with Bowling and Milton beyond) to the west, and the Yoker and Drumchapel ...

West Dunbartonshire West Dunbartonshire ( sco, Wast Dunbairtonshire; gd, Siorrachd Dhùn Breatann an Iar, ) is one of the 32 local government council areas of Scotland. The area lies to the west of the City of Glasgow and contains many of Glasgow's commuter to ...

. Formed in 2003, they are currently a member of the West of Scotland Football League. The current Clydebank are a phoenix club formed after the previous

were bought out by

Airdrie United Airdrieonians Football Club is a Scottish professional football team in Airdrie, North Lanarkshire, who are members of the Scottish Professional Football League (SPFL) and play in Scottish League One. They were formed in 2002 as Airdrie United ...

and moved to Airdrie. Supporters currently fund this club.

History

Background

In 1888 the first club by the name of Clydebank F.C. was formed. This team played home matches at Hamilton Park and competed in the Scottish Federation from 1891 to 1893. They folded in 1895, and were followed by another Clydebank F.C. in 1899 who soon became defunct in 1902. In 1900, Junior Football team, Duntocher F.C., based in the neighbouring village of

Duntocher Duntocher ( Scottish Gaelic: ''Dùn Tòchair'' or ''Druim Tòchair'') is a village in West Dunbartonshire, Scotland. It has an estimated population of 6,850. The etymology of the name of the village indicates that its name means "the fort on th ...

, moved to Clydebank and changed name to Clydebank Juniors. A third club named Clydebank F.C. were formed in 1914. Playing their home games at

Clydeholm Clydeholm was a football and greyhound racing stadium in Clydebank, Scotland. It was the home ground of the first Clydebank F.C. to play in the Scottish Football League. History Clydebank F.C. was founded in 1914, and acquired a ten-year lease ...

they immediately joined the Scottish Football League, but by 1931 they had disbanded. In 1964 the owners of East Stirlingshire F.C., Jack and Charlie Steedman, merged the

Falkirk Falkirk ( gd, An Eaglais Bhreac, sco, Fawkirk) is a large town in the Central Lowlands of Scotland, historically within the county of Stirlingshire. It lies in the Forth Valley, northwest of Edinburgh and northeast of Glasgow. Falkirk had ...

-based team with Clydebank Juniors, naming the new entity East Stirlingshire Clydebank F.C.. ES Clydebank inherited East Stirlingshire's place in Division Two and played their home games at New Kilbowie. The merge, which was opposed by fans of both clubs, lasted only one season, with East Stirlingshire

shareholder A shareholder (in the United States often referred to as stockholder) of a corporation is an individual or legal entity (such as another corporation, a body politic, a trust or partnership) that is registered by the corporation as the legal o ...

s winning several court cases against it. East Stirlingshire reverted to its original legal status and moved back to

, parting company with the Steedman brothers. The fourth Clydebank F.C. were formed in 1965 by the Steedman Brothers. The club joined the Scottish Football League in 1966 and by 1978 had reached the Premier Division, becoming the first club to play in all Scottish League divisions after league reconstruction in 1975. Clydebank spent most of the following seasons in the First Division, but their fortunes changed around 1996 when the Steedman brothers sold their New Kilbowie ground with no new stadium to replace it. Following the sale of Kilbowie the club played "home" games at Boghead Park in

Dumbarton Dumbarton (; also sco, Dumbairton; ) is a town in West Dunbartonshire, Scotland, on the north bank of the River Clyde where the River Leven flows into the Clyde estuary. In 2006, it had an estimated population of 19,990. Dumbarton was the ca ...

, then Cappielow Park in

Greenock Greenock (; sco, Greenock; gd, Grianaig, ) is a town and administrative centre in the Inverclyde council area in Scotland, United Kingdom and a former burgh within the historic county of Renfrewshire, located in the west central Lowland ...

. After the liquidation of

Airdrieonians Airdrieonians Football Club is a Scottish professional football team in Airdrie, North Lanarkshire, who are members of the Scottish Professional Football League (SPFL) and play in Scottish League One. They were formed in 2002 as Airdrie United ...

, a consortium led by Jim Ballantyne put forward a bid to fill the vacancy in the SFL and build a new club in Airdrie from scratch. This effort failed, so instead the group bought the ailing Clydebank, renamed them Airdrie United, and moved the club to Airdrie.

Founding of the phoenix club

During the 2002–03 season, the remaining Clydebank supporters were left without a team to follow as the transformation into Airdrie United 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 agreed to voluntarily transfer their unwanted ownership of the name and insignia of Clydebank F.C. to UCS, and a venue for matches in the Clydebank area was secured following an agreement to ground share with Drumchapel Amateurs at Glenhead Park,

. For the 2002–03 season, Clydebank FC was the name used by the club's supporters team in the Scottish Supporters League. The UCS group re-established Clydebank Football Club in 2003–04, entering the West Region structure of the

Scottish Junior Football Association The Scottish Junior Football Association (SJFA) is an affiliated national association of the Scottish Football Association and is the governing body for the junior grade of football in Scotland. The term "junior" refers to the level of football ...

. The club won the league and gained promotion from Central League Division Two that season playing in front of up to 1,000 fans. In 2004–05 Clydebank finished third in

Division One 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 Div ...

, missing out on a second successive promotion by one point on the last day of the season. 2005–06 saw record crowds since the rebirth of the club, with up to 1,600 watching Clydebank come within

penalty kicks A penalty shot or penalty kick is a play used in several sports whereby a goal is attempted during untimed play. Depending on the sport, when a player commits certain types of penalties, the opposition is awarded a penalty shot or kick attempt. ...

of reaching the last four of the

Scottish Junior Cup The Scottish Junior Cup is an annual football competition organised by the Scottish Junior Football Association. The competition has been held every year since the inception of the SJFA in 1886 and, as of the 2022–23 edition, 108 teams compet ...

– beaten after two 1–1 draws against Tayport. In 2006–07 the club were promoted to Super League Division One. In June 2008, Clydebank and Drumchapel agreed to terminate their groundsharing agreement, with ''the Bankies'' moving across the town to share Holm Park with

Yoker Athletic Yoker Athletic Football Club are a Scottish football club based in Clydebank near Glasgow. Yoker is an area of Glasgow adjacent to Clydebank, however Yoker's stadium lies just outside the Glasgow boundary. Nicknamed the ''Whe Ho'', the club we ...

. Many ground improvements have already taken place at the long time established Junior ground. 2008–09 proved to be the most successful Clydebank season since reformation in 2003. A successful run to the final of the 2008–09 Scottish Junior Cup saw Clydebank defeat Petershill and Pollok, before falling at the final hurdle by two goals to one against Auchinleck Talbot. Around 3,700 Clydebank fans travelled to

Rugby Park Rugby Park, also known as The BBSP Stadium Rugby Park for sponsorship reasons, is a football stadium situated in the Scottish town of Kilmarnock. It was first used in 1899 and is the home of Kilmarnock F.C. Rugby Park has also been used for co ...

for the final, contributing to the total crowd of 8,122. In 2011, the club won promotion to the West Super League Premier Division.Dons and Bankies stand up against the franchises
FourFourTwo, 10 August 2011 In

2015 File:2015 Events Collage new.png, From top left, clockwise: Civil service in remembrance of November 2015 Paris attacks; Germanwings Flight 9525 was purposely crashed into the French Alps; the rubble of residences in Kathmandu following the April ...

, they were relegated to the Super League Division One. In 2017, the club won promotion back to the Super League Premier Division, where they remained until leaving Junior football. The team were managed from their return to the Junior grade in 2003 until December 2016 by former Clydebank player Billy McGhie. Following McGhie's thirteen-year tenure, the club appointed former St Johnstone player Kieran McAnespie as their new manager in January 2017. Due to ground improvements taking place at Holm Park, Clydebank agreed a short-term groundshare with Maryhill F.C. at Lochburn Park in

Maryhill Maryhill ( gd, Cnoc Màiri) is an area of the City of Glasgow in Scotland. Maryhill is a former burgh. Maryhill stretches over along Maryhill Road. The far north west of the area is served by Maryhill railway station. History Hew Hill, ...

, Glasgow, for the 2018–19 season. In the 2019–20 season they returned to the newly refurbished and renamed Holm Park Community Football Academy for the foreseeable future. Holm Park pitch

In June 2020, Clydebank opted not to retain their SJFA membership after all

SJFA West Region The Scottish Junior Football Association, West Region was one of three regions of the SJFA which organised its own distinct league and cup competitions. The SJFA used to be split into six regions, but in 2002 they took the decision to reform into t ...

teams moved to the newly formed West of Scotland League.

Current squad

Management team

Honours

* West Super League First Division Runners-up: 2010–11, 2016–17 * Central League Division Two: 2003–04 *

Runners-up: 2006–07 *

Runners-up: 2008–09 *Central League Cup Winners: 2009–10, 2011–12 *Sectional League Cup Winners: 2013–14, 2017–18 **Runners-up: 2006–07

References

Bibliography

* *

External links

Official Website
* *
The Bankies ArchiveResults and statistics for SFL entity 1966-2002
at ''Fitbastats'' {{Coord, 55.892535, -4.391876, region:GB, display=title Association football clubs established in 2003 Football clubs in Scotland Scottish Junior Football Association clubs Football in West Dunbartonshire Phoenix clubs (association football) F.C. West of Scotland Football League teams 2003 establishments in Scotland