Caledonian Locomotives Football Club are a Scottish football club based in the north of

Glasgow Glasgow ( ; sco, Glesca or ; gd, Glaschu ) is the most populous city in Scotland and the fourth-most populous city in the United Kingdom, as well as being the 27th largest city by population in Europe. In 2020, it had an estimated popul ...

Petershill Park Petershill Park is a leisure centre and football stadium located in the Springburn suburb of Glasgow, the largest city in Scotland. It has a third generation full-size outdoor football pitch, and has floodlights. It is host to the men's West ...

Springburn Springburn ( gd, Allt an Fhuairainn) is an inner-city district in the north of the Scottish city of Glasgow, made up of generally working-class households. Springburn developed from a rural hamlet at the beginning of the 19th century. Its ind ...

, and currently playing in the . The club was previously known as Rossvale Juniors Football Club prior to the 2023–24 season and originally from the town of

Bishopbriggs Bishopbriggs ( sco, The Briggs; gd, Achadh an Easbaig) is a town in East Dunbartonshire, Scotland. It lies on the northern fringe of Greater Glasgow, approximately from the city centre. Historically in Lanarkshire, the area was once part of ...

East Dunbartonshire East Dunbartonshire ( sco, Aest Dunbartanshire; gd, Siorrachd Dhùn Bhreatainn an Ear) is one of the 32 council areas of Scotland. It borders the north of Glasgow and contains many of the affluent areas to the north of the city, including Bea ...

History

Originally formed in 1976 by John Grey as Woodhill Boys Club, Rossvale run youth football teams from under 5 to over 35 level. The decision was taken by Rossvale in early 2010 to enter an adult team in the Junior football set up, with the aim of allowing ex-youth players to remain in the game at a decent standard. Rossvale joined the Central District Second Division for the start of the 2011–12 season.Rossvale aiming for seasons in the sun
''Kirkintilloch Herald'', 13 July 2010 The club clinched their first Junior honour in March 2015 by winning the 2014–15 Central District Second Division title. A notable player in their victorious squad was former

Aberdeen Aberdeen (; sco, Aiberdeen ; gd, Obar Dheathain ; la, Aberdonia) is a city in North East Scotland, and is the third most populous city in the country. Aberdeen is one of Scotland's 32 local government council areas (as Aberdeen City), and ...

and

Scotland Scotland (, ) is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. Covering the northern third of the island of Great Britain, mainland Scotland has a Anglo-Scottish border, border with England to the southeast ...

striker

Robbie Winters Robert Winters (born 4 November 1974) is a former Scottish footballer who played as a striker. He made one appearance for the Scotland national team in 1999. Winters started his career in Scotland and played for Dundee United between 1992 a ...

. Three years later the club won the Central District First Division title, and then immediately gained promotion to the West Region Premiership the following season. In 2020, like all West Region clubs, Rossvale moved to the senior pyramid by joining the West of Scotland Football League. The team are based at Petershill Park in Glasgow (also home of Petershill and Glasgow City), having initially been based at Huntershill, where the owners,

East Dunbartonshire Council East or Orient is one of the four cardinal directions or points of the compass. It is the opposite direction from west and is the direction from which the Sun rises on the Earth. Etymology As in other languages, the word is formed from the f ...

, were unwilling to invest in upgrading its facilities. They moved for the 2017–18 season initially, with a groundsharing arrangement for first team fixtures also in place at New Tinto Park in

Govan Govan ( ; Cumbric?: ''Gwovan'?''; Scots: ''Gouan''; Scottish Gaelic: ''Baile a' Ghobhainn'') is a district, parish, and former burgh now part of south-west City of Glasgow, Scotland. It is situated west of Glasgow city centre, on the south ba ...

(home of

Benburb Benburb ()) is a village and townland in County Tyrone, Northern Ireland. It lies 7.5 miles from Armagh and 8 miles from Dungannon. The River Blackwater runs alongside the village as does the Ulster Canal. History It is best known, in ...

). The team was managed from November 2017 to September 2019 by former Albion Rovers defender Gordon Moffat. The management team of manager David Gormley and assistant manager Sean Higgins took over in September 2019 but left just before the new 21/22 season start. In February 2022, Rossvale announced new co-owners, shareholder and directors to their structure, subject to SFA approval. Mark Tivey and Andrew Pritchard, co-owners of Europa Point F.C. in the

Gibraltar National League The Gibraltar Football League is the only senior tier of association football in Gibraltar, founded in 2019 as the Gibraltar National League after a merger of the Gibraltar Premier Division, which served as the top division of football on the ...

, would join chairman Dom McInally in forming the new structure of Rossvale with the aim to provide new pathways into further European competition. Ultimately the partnership never came to fruition and was ended just four months later in June 2022. In April 2023, Rossvale announced their intention to change their name to Caledonian Thistle Football Club. However, this led to controversy, as the planned name was seen to be to similar to

Inverness Caledonian Thistle Inverness Caledonian Thistle Football Club, commonly known as Caley Thistle, is a professional football club based in Inverness, Scotland. The team currently competes in the Scottish Championship, the second tier of the Scottish Professional ...

. The Inverness club announced they would take it forward to the SFA to determine the viability of the name change. Ultimately after amicable talks between both the boards of the two clubs, it was decided that Rossvale would change their name to Caledonian Locomotives FC, chosen to represent the rail industry in Springburn where the club play their home matches.

Managers

* Ian Grey (Jul 2010 – Nov 2013) * Alan Jack (Nov 2013 – Apr 2014) * Martin Lauchlan (May 2014 – Feb 2016) * Brian McGinty (Mar 2016 – Oct 2017) * Gordon Moffat (Nov 2017 – Sep 2019) * David Gormley (Sep 2019 – Aug 2021) * Bill Reside (Aug 2021 - Aug 2021) (Caretaker Manager) * Iain Diack (Aug 2021 - Nov 2021) * Jamie Sandilands (Nov 2021 - July 22) * Alan Bateman + Alex Miller (Assistant Manager) - (June 2022 - August 2022) * Kevin Kelly (August 2022 – Present)

Honours

''As Rossvale'' * West Region Central District First Division winners: 2017–18 * West Region Central District Second Division winners: 2014–15

References

External links

{{coord, 55.877761, -4.229803, region:GB, display=title Football in East Dunbartonshire Football clubs in Scotland Scottish Junior Football Association clubs Association football clubs established in 1976 Organisations based in East Dunbartonshire 1976 establishments in Scotland Football clubs in Glasgow Bishopbriggs West of Scotland Football League teams Springburn