BERWICK RANGERS finished in 12th place of last season's Lowland League when the league was decided on points per game (PPG). It was the The Black and Gold's first season outside of the Scottish League since 1951. Rangers only won two titles in the Scottish League - In 1978/79 they finished top of Division Two and in 2006/07 they won Division Three when topping the table five points ahead of Arbroath.
Rangers have reached the Quarter-Final of the Scottish Cup on three occasions - In 53/54 (lost to Rangers), 79/80 (lost to Hibernian) and in 14/15 when Hibernian beat them once more.
The Wee Rangers are currently managed by Ian Little who is in his second spell as boss at Shielfield Park. He made 164 appearances for the club between 2004 to 2012. He is assisted by another former player in Kevin Haynes. Both played in the 06/07 Division Three title side.
Berwick Rangers were in 11th place of the table when football was put on hold North of the Border.
BO'NESS UNITED are new to the Lowland League this season having won the East of Scotland Premier Division by PPG last season. The BU's were formed in 1945 after the Second World War when "Bo'ness" a team who played in the Scottish football league in the 1920s merged with junior club "Bo'ness Cadora". The club have won the Scottish Junior Cup on three occasions in 1948, 1976 and 1984. The town is located on the Firth of Forth around 16 miles north-west of Edinburgh. Their Newtown Park ground has been in use since 1886.
The original Bo'ness team played in the top division of Scottish football in 1927/28 playing host to Celtic, Rangers, Hearts, Hibs, Dundee and Queens Park to name a few teams. A record crowd of 9,000 saw Celtic visit in the Scottish Cup Fourth Round in 1927.
BONNYRIGG ROSE were formed in 1881. Over the past few seasons they have moved up from the Scottish Junior football system and through the East of Scotland League (champions 2018/19) to join the Lowland League where they are one step away from promotion to the football league. They finished 2nd on their debut season in the Lowland League last season. The town of Bonnyrigg is around eight miles South of Edinburgh.
Nickednamed The Rosey Posey they play at New Dundass Park and have real ambition to move into the football league. Former Forfar Athletic and Berwick Ranger's player Robbie Horn in the manager and has been in charge since 2018.
They have reached the fourth round of the Scottish Cup on two occasions. In 16/17 they famously drawn to play Hibernian at home. The match was switched to Easter Road and Hibs won 8-1. They had defeated Championship side Dumbarton in the third round. In 19/20 they were beaten by Clyde at the same stage and this season they took Championship side Dundee to extra time before narrowly losing 3-2 in the second round.
Their 14-0 win against Burntisland Shipyard in 2016 was the biggest win the competition in recent times.
BROOMHILL SPORTS CLUB GLASGOW were only formed in 2014 as the name suggests in the Broomhill area of the west end of Glasgow. They were founded as a football club as a pathway into the adult game for players attached to the sports club which had been founded in 2004. Since joining the Scottish Lowland League for the 14/15 season and have since finished 10th, 7th, 7th, 3rd, 2nd and 3rd. This season they are currently in second place. Stephen Smith, 40, is the man in charge at present. He spent his playing career in the lower leagues representing Cowdenbeath, Stranraer and Irvine Meadow amongst other clubs. They have ground shared at Scottish League side Alloa Athletic which is around 40 miles from the area they represent. They previously shared at local rival's Maryhill Lochburn Park ground - the club's long term goal is to have a ground they can call home in Broomhill and a place in the Scottish Football League.
In the 2019/20 season they got the fifth round of the Scottish Cup beating Lochee United, East Fife and East Kilbride before losing 1-4 to Hibernian at Alloa in front of 2,120 people.
CALEDONIAN BRAVES are a new team being formed in 2011 as "Edusport Academy" with the aim of helping talented young French footballers to develop in the game, learn the English language with a view to gain opportunities within the British professional game.
The main training venues were originally based in Motherwell and Hamilton with another base opening in Edinburgh in in 2014 which was the same year they applied for membership of the semi-professional Scottish football system which made them the first privately owned football academy in the world to play in a FIFA recognised senior league.
The club made history in 2015 when fielding team made up entirely of French Nationals they won the South of Scotland League Cup - the trophy was displayed in the National Football Museum at Hampden Park from 2015 to 2017 as a highly important and interesting part football history.
In 2016/17 the club won the South of Scotland League to gain promotion to the Lowland League where they have since finished 10th, 9th and 8th.
With promotion the ambitious club re-jigged it's model in 2018 to create OUR FOOTBALL CLUB (OFC) with project aimed at separating the academy and senior side of the club. With over 800 fans on-line for all over the world a serious of votes created the Caledonian Braves with Edusport Academy continuing to be the academy for the club. The official name change took place in June 2019.
The club are looking to get promotion to and climb up the Scottish League.
Since their first season the first team have playing at the Hamilton Palace Sports Ground, ground shared at Annan Athletic and from the start on the 2019/20 season played at their own ground named Alliance Park which is in Bothwellhaugh which is a village just to the North of Hamilton and Motherwell. The name of the ground reflects the unity between the French and Scottish elements in the history of the club.
Ricky Waddell is the current head coach and has been since 2015. The 39 year old who represented Airdrie United, Clyde, Ayr United, Forfar Athletic, Partick Thistle, Hamilton Academical and Falkirk during his playing career is also a youth coach at SPFL side Rangers. He also played in Singapore and America during his time as a player.
CIVIL SERVICE STROLLERS were formed in 1908 and play in Edinburgh at Christie Gillies Park which has been their home since 1957. They finished in 5th place in 18/19 and were in 10th place when football was recently put on hold. The club has a huge youth section with over 100 children from aged four to sixteen taking part each weekend in normal times.
The club went into decline in the 1990s with a number of their teams disbanding but in 1999 the club was rebranded and reborn and now has both a large youth section of both boys and girls teams as well as the first team who play in the Lowland League after being awarded full Scottish FA membership in 2015.
The club, since playing in the Lowland League, have ground shared at Clyde's Broadwood Stadium.
This season they were knocked out of the Scottish Cup in the second round by Highland League side Huntly. In 15/16 they got to the Third Round but were well beaten by Stirling Albion. The Colts have never beaten a football league side in the Cup...yet?
DALBEATTIE STAR were originally formed in 1905 but folded in 1948 with the club reforming 1976 playing in the South of Scotland League. The town of Dalbeattie is located in Dumfries and Galloway midway between Gretna and Stranraer on the coast. Stat finished 3rd in their debut season in the Lowland League but over the past few seasons have struggled towards the bottom of the table.
EAST KILBRIDE FOOTBALL CLUB were formed in 2010 with the intention of bringing senior football to one of the Scotland's largest towns - With around 75,000 people living in East Kilbride it's the sixth largest city or town in the country. Only Paisley, Dundee, Aberdeen, Edinburgh and Glasgow are larger by population. The newly formed club were founder members of the Lowland League in 2013 after playing amateur football for the first few seasons. They became a full member of the SFA in 2014 allowing them entry in the Scottish Cup.
There had been a club formed in 1871 which took part in some of the earliest Scottish Cup competitions - It was formed prior to Rangers (1873) and Celtic (1888).
The modern day club was formed as a merger of local clubs Jackton Boys Club and Stewartfield with EK Diamonds and EK Wanderers incorporated into the structure.
They play at K-Park which was opened in 2011 and only has a very limited capacity of 660.
Since joining the Lowland League they have finished 8th, 2nd, 5th, 1st, 2nd, 1st and 7th.
In 16/17 they got through to the play-off final against Cowdenbeath and only lost on penalty kicks after a 1-1 draw on aggregate and extra time. In 18/19 they were defeated by Highland League champion's Cove Rangers who went on to beat Berwick Rangers for a place in the Scottish league.
They made worldwide headlines in 2016 when their 3-1 win over BSC Glasgow was their 27th consecutive victory beating Ajax's previous record of 26 wins in a row. Their winning streak ended at 30 games when they lost 0-1 to Spartans.
Since entering the Scottish Cup in 2014 they have beaten there league teams in Stenhousemuir and Cowdenbeath (x2). They got through to the fifth round in 15/16 when they hosted Celtic (the game was played at Airdreionian's ground) in front of 7,767 people. They only narrowly lost the game 0-2.
EAST STIRLINGSHIRE left the Scottish Football League after finishing bottom of League Two in the 2015/16 season and losing to Lowland League champion's Edinburgh City in the promotion/relegation play-off. They have only ever played in Scotland's top division in two seasons. In 1932/33 they finished bottom of the table and were relegated after just one campaign. They suffered the same fate in 1963/64 finishing 18th (of 18 clubs) with just five wins to their name. Their promotion season in the 62/63 Division Two campaign was partly funded after the sale of Scottish International defender Eddie McCreadie to Chelsea. The West London side later paid the record fee received for a player in 1978 for forward Jim Doherty who only played 3 games South of the Border before moving back to Dundee United.
In 1964 they controversially merged with Clydebank Juniors to form a new club named East Stirlingshire Clydebank often abbreviated to ES Clydebank. The new club relocated over 30 miles away to Kilbowie Park in Clydebank against fan's wishes who wanted to stay at Firs Park which had been the club's home since 1921. There was a series of legal battles and the merged club only last a year with the club reverting back to it's original name and moving back to Firs Park after just one season.
In their entire 140 year history The Shire only have two league titles to their name. In 1931/32 they were Division Two Champions on goal difference to St Johnstone. In 1947/48 they were Division C (then the third tier of the game) champions - A division which included the 'A' sides of many clubs from Division B.
The club moved out of Firs Park in 2008 due to cost of refurbishing the stadium to meet the SFA criteria. They shared with Stenhousemuir until 2018 and then moved to Falkirk Stadium to share with Falkirk FC.
The club are famous for launching the managerial career of Sir Alex Ferguson back in June 1974. He was with them for only a few months as he moved to St Mirren in October 1974.
I'm sure the then 32 year old would never have dreamed that he would have such a decorated highly successful career as he did and not just with Manchester United. He took St Mirren from the Scottish Second Division to a Premier Division in just three seasons along with three Premier Division titles, four Scottish Cups, One European Cup Winners Cup and one European Super Cup win whilst with Aberdeen.
No manager has ever won league title with the club as prior to 1966 all management decisions were made by the board of directors which was common in the Scottish game then. Manager Billy Lamont is a legend with the club as he led them to promotion to the First Division in 1981 after finishing runner's up in Division Two to local rival's Falkirk.
He also took the club to the Scottish Club Quarter-Finals in 80/81 where they visited Celtic. The run equalled the furthest they have ever got in the competition as in 1888/89 they beat Stenhousemuir 10-1, Vale of Bannock 11-2, King's Park 4-0, Dunblane 4-0 in a reply after a 4-4 draw before losing against Celtic. The Hoops were runner's up in the 1889 competition with the final being famously known as SNOWHILL as the original game against Third Lanark was lost 0-3 but replayed due to the poor conditions and snow at Hampden Park - heavy snow had fallen in the run up to kick off with the pitch being ankle deep with both teams playing under protest as the pitch was unplayable. Players even threw snowballs at each other as they came onto the pitch- Third Lanark won the replayed game 2-1.
Their run in the 80/81 competition saw then beat Inverness Thistle (then of the Highland League) and Cowdenbeath before losing to ironically Celtic again.
The game is remembered for Celtic fans chanting 'One Kenny Ashwood' at East Stirlingshire's number 10 who was in fact Bobby McCulley who stood at 5 feet 2 inches and was named as one of Scotland's smallest players ever. McCulley played over 200 games for the club and went on to be manager for a short period in 1992.
Since being relegated the club have finished 2nd, 4th, 6th and 4th in the Lowland League table. They also finished as runner's up in the 18/19 Lowland League Cup. Before football was put on hold below the second tier North of the Border they were in fifth place in the table.
EDINBURGH UNIVERSITY ASSOCIATION FOOTBALL CLUB to give them their full name were officially formed back in 1878 although their are reports that as early as 1851 a group of players from the University played in three matches. This is sometime before the Sheffield AFC the oldest club in the world were formed in 1857. The club has been a full member of the Scottish FA since 1878.
The club joined the Lowland League in 14/15 and have a best placed finish in 15/16 when they ended in 6th.
GALA FAIRYDEAN ROVERS are one of two Scottish football clubs who have stands that are protected as category A listed buildings. The other being The Bill Struth Main Stand at Ibrox with is category B listed. The cantilevered main stand at their Netherdale home was designed by archietect Peter Womersley and built between 1963 and 1965. Womersley lived in the Scottish borders where much of his work is still located.
The modern day club were formed in 2013 but can trace it's history back to 1894 when a club called Gala Fairydean Rovers was first formed in Galashiels. The original club seperated into two clubs Gala Fairydean and Gala Rovers. The clubs ceased operations in 1914 due to the First World War with Rovers only reforming in 1947. Rovers stayed Amateur with Fairydean semi-professional who made unsuccessful applications to join the Scottish Football League in 1966, 1994, 2000 and 2002.
The two clubs merged in 2013 to form the new club just before it was accepted into the Lowland League where their best placed finish has been eighth place.
Netherdale is most definitely a ground I would like to visit when life eventually returns to normal.
GRETNA 2008 FC were formed after the bankruptcy and demise of Gretna FC who were formed in 1946 and spent the large part of the history in the English non-league structure as the town is just two miles over the north-south border. Gretna has a population of just under 3,000 and the club at the third attempt gained entry into the Scottish League in 2002 and the financing of the club heavily relied on businessman Brooks Mileson. The club incredibly achieved promotion to the top tier in 2007 and also reached the Scottish Cup Final in 2006 losing in a penalty shoot out to Hearts in front of 51,232 at Hampden Park.
Hearts had already qualified for the Champions League as a result of the league position so Gretna entered the 06/07 UEFA Cup where they lost to League of Ireland side Derry City in the Second Qualifying Round. The home leg at Fir Park was watched by 6,040.
The club struggled badly in the in their one season in the Scottish Premier League when they ground shared at Motherwell's Fir Park as their Raydale Park ground didn't meat the league's requirements. The club's financial position became dire and it was reported they had accumulated debts of £4,000,000. Mileson withdrew his support due to ill health - He sadly never recovered and passed away in November 2008.
In the February of 2008 it was revealed the club's staff had not received wages with saw manager Davie Irons, who had been only officially appointed in place of Rowan Alexander in November 2007, and his assistant to resign.
The club went into administration in March 2008 and suffered a 10 point deduction with the SPL paying the player's wages to ensure fixtures were completed for the 07/08 season.
In June 2008 the club formally resigned from the league and were liquidated only a few weeks later.
Happily a new club was formed and entered into the East of Scotland Football League First Division for the 08/09 season - the new club spent it's first season playing at Annan Athletic's ground but good news followed in May 2009 when the new owners of Raydale Park allowed Gretna 2008 to move back home and the club now own the site having purchased it in 2011.
The club were founding members of the Lowland League with a top placed finish of 3rd in 14/15.
Rowan Alexander is currently manager of the club - He was boss of the old club from November 2000 when they were still playing in the English non-league system and continued to be in charge until 2007 and their promotion to the Premier League.
It's great to see such an historic name as Gretna FC survived and maybe one day The Anvils will make a return to the Scottish League.
KELTY HEARTS were formed in 1975 and moved in the Scottish Junior Football system a few years later. As a junior club they got to the Scottish Junior Cup twice in 1999 and 2007 being defeated both times. They were East Region Super League campions in 2015 and 2017. They applied for full membership of the Scottish Football Association and moved to the East of Scotland Football League for the 17/18 season where they were champions at the first time of asking moving up to the Lowland League for 18/19 where they finished in third place - BSC Glasgow and champion's East Kilbride were above them. Last season they were crowned champions on a PPG basis but no promotion play-offs were played due to the pandemic.
Nathan Austin, who started his career with East Fife and has played for Falkirk, East Fife, Inverness Caledonian Thistle, scored an amazing 37 goals in just 25 goals for Kelty in the 19/20 season. He has scored another 10 goals in 13 league games this season up until football was halted.
Former Rangers and Scotland captain Barry Ferguson has been managed since October 2018.
This season they were knocked out of the Scottish Cup at the second round stage by Stranraer who scored their winner in injury time via the penalty spot.
Kelty is a village located in Fife with a population of around 6,000. It around a 22 mile drive (and 35 minute) South via Dunfermline to Edinburgh.
THE SPARTANS FC are based in Edinburgh and were formed in 1951 originally as a team to field graduates of the city's University. They were one of the East of Scotland league's most successful clubs winning the title an incredible nine times and being runner's up on a further seven occasions. They have entered the Scottish Cup since 1978 and have beaten nine football league sides in East Stirlingshire, Alloa Athletic, Arbroath, Berwick Rangers, Queens Park, Annan Athletic, Elgin City, Clyde and Greenock Morton.
They have reached the fourth round three times and in 14/15 got to the fifth round losing to Berwick Rangers who were then League Two side.
Since joining the Lowland League they have finished 1st, 5th, 2nd, 3rd, 1st, 4th and 5th.
The play offs didn't exist when they won the title in 13/14 but in 17/18 they lost to Highland League winner's Cove Rangers who lost to Cowdenbeath in the play-off final.
UNIVERSITY OF STIRLING FC were formed in 1969 and have played in the Lowland League since 2013 with a best placed finish of second in their first season. They currently ground share at Stirling Albion's Forthbank Stadium.
The club made National headlines in 2014 when they appointed Shelley Kerr as manager becoming the first senior club in British football to appoint a female boss. When Kerr left she was appointed manager of the Scottish women's national team. She recently left her role just before Christmas after the side failed to qualify for the UEFA Women's Euro 2021 competition. Long serving player Chris Geddes took over after assisting Kerr and is now full time manager.
As expected the first team squad has a youthful look to it - This season they also include Spanish goalkeeper Yan Gromov Godik and Uzbek strikerBuronbek Mirzasalimov in their line up.
VALE OF LEITHEN FC are not be confused with Vale of Leven who play in the SJFA West Region League Two. Vale of Leven are a reformed version of the famous club which won the Scottish Cup three times in succession from 1877 and were one of the best clubs in the United Kingdom at the time. Vale of Leithen also have lots of history being formed in 1891 and representing the border town of Innerleithen which is around 30 miles South of Edinburgh.
They were founding members of the Lowland League with their highest finishing position being 6th in their first season. They finished bottom of PPG last season but were not relegated. This season has seen much of the same for the club as they have, prior to football being put on hold, lost all twelve Lowland League games and let in 58 goals already. They were also knocked out of the Scottish Cup by Scottish Junior Club Banks O' Dee who beat them 6-1 in the first round!
FORMER CLUBS OF THE LOWLAND LEAGUE
In 1966 a club named Postal United were formed and played in the East of Scotland League with THE EDINBURGH CITY FOOTBALL CLUB LTD who had continued to trade as a social club gave their approval to use the name in 1986 and hence the modern day club were born. They were founding members of the Lowland League winning the title in 2015 and 2016. Their first attempt at the play-offs saw them lost to Brora Rangers but they were more successful the second time around beating Cove Rangers and then East Stirlingshire to gain a place in League Two for the 16/16 season - the last time City played in the league was the 1948/49 season. City's home has been Meadowbank Stadium since 1996 which is the former home of Meadowbank Thistle. The ground is currently being redeveloped so they are currently ground sharing with The Spartans at their Ainslie Park stadium.
PRESTON ATHLETIC were members of the Lowland League for four seasons from 2013 to 2017 when they were relegated to the East of Scotland League Premier. For the 20/21 season they are members of the First Division Conference B which is two levels below the Lowland League.
HAWICK ROYAL ABLERT UNITED play alongside Preston Athletic in the East of Scotland League First Division Conference B for the 20/21 season.
Hawick Royal Albert spent two seasons in the Lowland League between 2016 to 2018 finishing 14th and 16th.
In 2019 the club, formed in 1947, merged with Hawick United to create the newly named club.
WHITEHILL WELFARE were the most successful club in East of Scotland League history winning the title an incredible 16 times between 1980 and 2013 when they joined the Lowland League.
It's not been a great over the past few seasons for Welfare as they were relegated from the Lowland League in in 2019 when they finished bottom of the table and moved back to the East of Scotland League.
They finished 15th (of 16) in the Premier Division last season but were spared relegation due to the PPG situation and the ending of football due to the pandemic.
This season they haven't won a game so far with one draw and nine defeats from ten games played.
Welfare have been long associated with the Scottish Cup - I have fond memories of seeing their name appear on the vidiprinter on Grandstand.
They only league team they have beaten is Albion Rovers in the 86/87 season. They famously played Celtic in the Third Round of the 95/96 competition. Welfare were drawn at home but switched the game to Easter Road where 13,313 people saw Celtic win 0-3. They held out for 39 minutes and gave the Glasgow giants a very good game.
THREAVE ROVERS were founding members of the league but struggled in their three season stay finishing 11th, 14th and 15th.
Rovers have since played in the South of Scotland League finishing 4th, 1st (losing to Kelty Hearts in the Lowland League play-off) and 9th. Last season they were top of the table but the league was declared null and void.
They are currently in second place of the 20/21 table below Stranraer Reserves but they have 4 games in hand should football be re-started.
SELKIRK joined the league in 2013 and had finished in 6th position in the 17/18 season.
For the 14/15 season the club had Garry O'Connor playing for them who had had a successful career as a professional with Hibs, Lokomotiv Moscow and Birmingham City to name a few clubs as well as gaining 16 caps for the National side.
Following financial problems the club resigned from the league in August 2018 and unfortunately the club formed in 1880 were dissolved.
Selkirk Victoria (formed in 1979) currently play at Yarrow Park (the former home of Selkirk) in the Border Amateur League Group C.
No comments:
Post a Comment