A LOOK INTO HISTORY 226

A LOOK INTO HISTORY TWO HUNDRED AND TWENTY SIX

CLYDE’S FIRST GAME AT FIRHILL

Clyde FC were originally formed in 1877 and could call Shawfield Stadium as home since 27th August 1898 when they played Celtic in a 0-0 draw. On 28th April 1986 they played their final game at the stadium against Alloa Athletic with a 4-2 win as the owners, the Greyhound Racing Association had terminated their lease. Glasgow Tigers Speedway had also used the facility from 1988-1995 then Scottish Monarchs for one season in 1996 and back to the Tigers in 1997 and 1998.The Stadium is now closed for all sport.

It was 1986 and Clyde FC had to find a new venue for home matches in the Scottish First Division and made ground sharing arrangements with Partick Thistle at Firhill Stadium who were, in fact, erstwhile main rivals. This would prove to be a very unhappy five years before moving to New Douglas Park to share with Hamilton Academicals, then in 1994 a more permanent home was found at the brand new Broadwood Stadium in Cumbernauld where they stayed until 2022. Season 2022-23 saw a return to New Douglas Park.

This conveniently brings us to our Match Programme, their very first at Firhill for a Scottish First Division match with Queen of the South on Wednesday 13th August and priced at 40p. Called the Clyde View it was also the first game for new Manager and former Celtic favourite, John Clark who had taken over from Craig Brown in situ since 1977 and the newly appointed Scottish National Team Manager. A glossy production with an excellent pedigree of Top Divisional Programme of the Year since 1980 welcomed readers from Mr Clark various sidelines including £40 for a season ticket and that the final game at Shawfield had shown a real party spirit, events from 10 and 20 years ago, an appreciation of Craig Brown, Team Detail but no scorers as it was 0-0 ! Reserve review, everything about Queen of the South, a View on world soccer, meet the New Boys, Coach details for Q O S and East Fife, Players Stats and all fixtures. This was an excellent read and I would not be surprised if it had not been rewarded once again as Top Programme of Division One.

At the end of season 1986-87 Clyde were 9th of 12 in Division One, the second tier, with Partick Thistle a point above them, Morton champions and Montrose bottom. Clyde were beaten on penalties by Rangers in the Glasgow Cup semi-final, were beaten 3-1 by Aberdeen in the League Cup and also lost 2-0 to Peterhead, at the time a Highland League club!