Clydebank F.C.

Clydebank Football Club was a Scottish football club based in the town of Clydebank, West Dunbartonshire. The fourth entity to carry the name, Clydebank were formed in 1965 following the relocation of East Stirlingshire Clydebank F.C., a club formed by a contentious merger of Clydebank Juniors and East Stirlingshire (based in Falkirk) in 1964 with the intention of creating a senior club for the town; this arrangement lasted only one year before East Stirlingshire continued alone as before and a new Clydebank team was formed. Playing their home games at Kilbowie Park, they were elected to the Scottish Football League in 1966. Clydebank had two short spells in the Scottish Premier Division, and reached the semi-final of the Scottish Cup in 1990, whilst a First Division club. After the club's ground was sold off in 1996, their matches were played in a series of groundshares in different towns in front of dwindling crowds. Moves to other locations were rejected, before the club was bought out in 2002 and moved to Airdrie and renamed Airdrie United to replace that town's previous club which had been liquidated. Airdrie United relinquished ownership of the Clydebank name a year later and it was transferred to a new phoenix club, also named Clydebank F.C., which began life in the West Region Junior Leagues. 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 team, Duntocher F.C., based in the neighbouring village of Duntocher, moved to Clydebank and changed name to Clydebank Juniors. A third club named Clydebank were formed in 1914; playing their home games at Clydeholm they immediately joined the Scottish Football League, but by 1931 they had disbanded.