Scotland's Lost Clubs by Jeff Webb

Author:Jeff Webb
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Pitch Publishing
Published: 2021-06-15T00:00:00+00:00

Clydebank

THE TOWN of Clydebank is directly to the west of the city of Glasgow, in West Dunbartonshire. The town is world famous as a centre of shipbuilding and to be built in Clydebank was seen as a sign of quality. Clydebank grew with the shipbuilding buzz of the late-19th century, and that, plus the Singer sewing machine factory on the edge of the town, saw its population explode.

Football in Clydebank isn’t as straightforward as with most other clubs in this book. In fact, the town had three very different clubs playing in the league. Confusingly, two were known simply as Clydebank Football Club and the other was called East Stirlingshire Clydebank Football Club. Not only were there the three teams that featured in the league, but there were also some others. There was another one known as Clydebank Football Club, which was formed in 1888, folding seven years later due to money issues. Then yet another Clydebank Football Club in 1899 that played in the Scottish Cup until 1902, which folded after most of the supporters moved to watching Clydebank Juniors, who were also formed in 1899 and continued at that level until 1964.

Then in 1914 the first club from the town entered the SFL after having been formed earlier that year to have a team in senior football representing Clydebank. At the SFL’s 1914 AGM, Clydebank Football Club were voted into the Second Division.

Their time in the league was cut short when, after just one season in the Second Division, it was suspended due to the war. Clydebank then moved to the Western League, which they won in 1916/17. In the summer of 1917, the SFL held a meeting where the teams from the north-east of the country were removed from the First Division due to the travelling restrictions that were in place. As a result, Aberdeen, Dundee and Raith Rovers were all removed from the league, while Clydebank were brought in to make the league numbers even and because of their geographical position.

Clydebank’s time in the top flight during the war years was a mixed bag, with finishes in ninth, tenth, fifth and finally 20th. In the summer of 1921, the SFL announced that the Second Division would return, and unfortunately for Clydebank this came during the season that they finished in a relegation place. At the end of the 1921/22 season, they finished bottom of the First Division, having conceded 103 goals in the process.

Following relegation in the summer of 1922, Clydebank entered a period of four seasons when they would yoyo between the Second and First Divisions. In 1922/23 they finished in second place, allowing them to make an immediate return to the top flight at the first time of asking. This return was short-lived as they ended that season bottom of the league and went straight back down to the second tier. However, they improved and bounced straight back to the top flight after finishing second in the league again.

The 1925/26 season would be the last one for the club in the top flight.

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