Clyde F.C.
Clyde Football Club is a Scottish semi-professional football club who play in. Formed in 1877 at the River Clyde in Glasgow, the club host their home matches at New Douglas Park in Hamilton, South Lanarkshire, having played at Broadwood Stadium from 1994 until 2022.
Their biggest accomplishments were winning the Scottish Cup on three occasions: 1939, 1955 and 1958; they reached the final a further three times, all during a long period based at Shawfield. They have not played in the top division of Scottish football since 1975.
The club have been managed by Darren Young since October 2024.
History
1877–1898
The Clyde Football Club was founded and played on the banks of the River Clyde at Barrowfield. Documentary evidence from the SFA and indeed match reports in the Glasgow press clearly show it all began in 1877, and the thread continues unbroken to this day. This is how the SFA recorded Clyde's origins:Sitting on the edge of Bridgeton, Barrowfield Park lay in a triangle of land enclosed by Carstairs Street, Colvend Street and the river Clyde. The area was an intense mix of chemical, engineering and textile work with a high population density to provide the labour. Although no stadium photographs have emerged, it appears the ground consisted of a grandstand running north–south, a pavilion and tennis courts at the southern end and a bicycle track surrounding the pitch.
Today this area is dotted with industrial units, but also contains a large grassed area, so it may be possible to stand upon a corner of the original Barrowfield pitch. Barrowfield got initially shared with a short-lived team called Albatross.
The club founded then has no resemblance to a modern professional football club. Clyde F.C. was a private members club more akin to a present-day golf or bowling club. Clyde's Secretary, John Graham, was also a noted rower and it seems the club had other sporting and cultural activities besides football.
The first mention of Clyde was in Monday's Evening Times of 17 September 1877:
Although most fixtures were informal, the Scottish Cup had existed since 1873. Soon there would also be the Glasgow Merchants Charity Cup and the Glasgow Cup which in their time were hotly contested major competitions. Clyde entered the 1st round of the Scottish Cup on 29 September 1877 along with one hundred and one other teams. Third Lanark were the visitors once again, and triumphed 1–0.
On 6 March 1883, the Glasgow Football Association was established, with Clyde one of the six clubs represented at that first meeting. The club are one of only three founding members clubs still in existence today.
Clyde joined the Scottish Football League in 1891, its second edition. Following acceptance, Vale of Leven provided the opposition for Clyde's first League fixture on Saturday, 15 August 1891. In a dream introduction to the format Clyde triumphed 10–3, and a mid-table finish saw the club complete a confident season in League football. While it was an undoubted success, Barrowfield revealed its limitations and could not cope with the crowds as many gained illegal entry. Opposition teams complained about the facilities, and it was clear that Clyde would have to do something to appease the League. The club had the pitch dug up in the off season in 1893 to have the clayey surface replaced by ashes to lend additional facilities to the draining powers of the field.
The club enjoyed cup success in local competitions as the 19th century drew to a close. The team won the North Eastern Cup and Graham Cup four times apiece. Both tournaments featured teams from the East End of Glasgow. However, Clyde endured a terrible final season at Barrowfield, finishing bottom of Division 1 with only 5 points, but remained in the top division. The last action at Barrowfield was a friendly against crack opposition in the form of Sunderland on 30 April 1898, ending in a 3–3 draw.
1899–1919
The club left Barrowfield in 1898 and purchased some open ground directly across the river between the Glasgow neighbourhood of Oatlands and the Lanarkshire town of Rutherglen. The move was largely financed by the club becoming incorporated and issuing shares in "The Clyde Football Club Limited". On the eve of a new season, Clyde F.C. Ltd had an enclosed area of about. A grandstand seating of 1500 was nearing completion and embankment works around the pitch were well underway.Local rivals Celtic provided the first opposition at Shawfield Stadium on 27 August 1898. An attendance of 10,000 witnessed a goalless draw and return gate receipts of £203. The 1899–1900 season saw the team relegated by finishing bottom of top division.
They were Division Two champions in 1904–05, but there was no promotion until the latter second-place finish. Automatic promotion and relegation was not established until 1921. The following seasons up to World War I would be far more successful and represented the most consistent period of success for the club.
From 1908 to 1913, Clyde were at the top end of Division One and reached the Scottish Cup final in 1910 and 1912. The team placed third in 1908–09 and in 1911–12 and reached further semi finals.
The 1910 final was a bitter disappointment. For 83 minutes Clyde held a 2–0 lead. However, Robertson fluffed a clearance off Blair and into his own net. Dundee then netted a last minute equalizer from Langlands. The replay was far more cagey and ended goalless after extra time, but with Dundee looking physically stronger. Chalmers struck after three minutes to give Clyde a 1–0 lead in the third match. Dundee equalized before half time, and as Clyde looked jaded, John Hunter won the cup for Dundee. The 1912 final was a 2–0 defeat to Celtic.
International honours were awarded to Clyde for the first time in March 1909, as William Walker represented Scotland against club mate Jack Kirwan of Ireland at Ibrox. The Glasgow Charity Cup and Glasgow Cup were won for the first time. Both were highly prestigious competitions before European football was introduced. All six clubs were more often than not resident in Division One.
In September 1914, a fire destroyed the grandstand, and with it much of the club's early history. After the war broke out in November 1914, the Scottish League would continue playing. Many players signed up for 'King & Country' – some never returned, such as C. Clunas, T. Cranston and W. Sharp – and teams like Clyde found it increasingly difficult to field competitive sides and the League eventually reduced back to a single division.
1920–1945
The club had managed to sustain football through the war years, but the Scottish League continued through 1919–21 with only one division. Division Two restarted in 1921–22, with automatic promotion and relegation adopted. Benefits were evident for ambitious teams, but the financial penalties for falling out of the top tier were extremely severe.Relegated in 1923–24, Clyde spent two seasons playing teams like Armadale, Arthurlie, Bathgate, Bo'ness, Broxburn, and King's Park until promotion in 1925–26. From 1926 to 1939, Clyde remained a Division One club, as the team maintained a respectable mid-table status. International honours returned to Shawfield, as Danny Blair was a prominent Scotland full back of this era and leading goalscorer Billy Boyd earned two international caps.
Liquidation was narrowly averted in 1930. Greyhound racing was booming in the 1920s and many clubs used this a way to supplement their income. A company offered to lease Shawfield in 1926 and also give a percentage of the gate money to Clyde, but animal racing was forbidden in the deeds of Shawfield and the League was dead set against the sport in general. Chairman John McMahon would not let go of the idea. After years of wrangling, the Shawfield Greyhound Racing Company Ltd started racing in 1932 and a few years later purchased the stadium from Clyde.
The team conceded a solitary goal on the run to the 1939 Scottish Cup final. Clean sheets were kept against St Johnstone, Dundee, city rivals Third Lanark, and the Hibernian semi final match. The single goal against came at Rangers in the 3rd round, where prolific centre forward Willie Martin set a record for an opposition at Ibrox by scoring all four goals in a 4–1 win.
Clyde faced Motherwell, who had scored the most goals on route to the final, in front of 94,000 at Hampden on 22 April 1939. After losing the coin toss, Clyde goalkeeper Brown was under the most pressure early on. Assisted by a Robertson delivery, Wallace fired the opener in the roof of the net. Despite further opposition pressure before the interval, Martin doubled the lead with an opportunistic strike after the break. Late goals from Noble and Martin sealed an emphatic 4–0 win and a maiden Scottish Cup triumph.
War with Nazi Germany caused the suspension of the Scottish League in 1939–40, and all players' contracts declared void. Unofficial competitions soon restarted with an East/West regional split. The geographical separation meant Clyde were placed in the Southern League. Runners up behind champions Rangers in 1940–41, the team would continue to perform relatively well in wartime competitions.
A second major cup competition, the Scottish League Cup would be inaugurated in 1946. It was the then Clyde and SFL chairman John McMahon who donated the trophy that is still awarded to the winners of the competition to this day.
1946–1969
The club ventured on a 20-match tour of South Africa in 1947 and recorded 16 wins, 2 draws and 2 defeats. Also in 1953, future Ballon d'Or winner Stanley Matthews turned out for Clyde against Everton in a benefit match at Celtic Park in Belfast.Leslie Johnston, a then Scotland internationalist, twice broke the Scottish transfer record as a Clyde player in the 1940s.
The team showed steady league form just after the war and reached a fourth Scottish Cup final in 1948–49. In only the fourth edition of the competition since Clyde won it in 1938–39, their opponents Rangers ran out comfortable 4–1 winners in front of a crowd of 108,000 at Hampden, with Peter Galletly scoring Clyde's consolation goal. It was claimed that both Rangers penalties were of a dubious nature.
The 1950s began with relegation from Division A in 1950–51, but returned as Division B champions in 1951–52. The team repeated the feat in 1955–56 and 1956–57. Each occasion saw the team bounce back to solid finishes in Division A. Floodlighting was introduced at Shawfield in March 1954. The first opposition was Huddersfield Town in a friendly match. Huddersfield won 3–2. Domestic cup success came readily in the 1950s. They won the Scottish Cup in 1954–55 and 1957–58 and were beaten semi-finalists in 1955–56 and 1959–60. They also reached Scottish League Cup semi-finals in 1956–57 and 1957–58, but lost on both occasions to Celtic.
The route to the 1954–55 Final began with three straight home victories in the competition against Albion Rovers, Raith Rovers and Falkirk. Aberdeen provided Clyde's semi-final opponents. After a 2–2 draw at Easter Road, a solitary goal in the replay sent Clyde into the final. On 23 April 1955 at Hampden in front of over 96,000, Celtic, installed as firm favourites, provided the opposition in the final, in a match that was also the first to be televised live. Without forward McPhail and goalkeeper Wilson, Clyde lined up:- Hewkins, Murphy & Haddock; Granville, Anderson & Laing; Divers & Robertson; Hill; Brown & Ring. Celtic held a 1–0 lead with three minutes left until Robertson scored direct from a corner kick to earn a replay. A crowd of over 68,000 gathered for the replay, with the same Clyde line up, a Tommy Ring goal was enough to win a more open affair.
The first half of the League Cup tie with Aberdeen at Shawfield on 3 September 1955 was also televised live by the BBC as an experiment.
Back at Hampden on 26 April 1958 in front of a crowd of 94,000 to face a strong Hibernian team, Clyde lined up:- McCulloch, Murphy & Haddock; Walters, Finlay & Clinton; Herd & Currie; Coyle; Robertson & Ring. A deflected strike from Coyle in poor conditions gave Clyde a 1–0 win and a second Scottish Cup in four seasons and third overall. Fourth place in the final league table and another League Cup semi-final spot completed an impressive season in 1957–58. Haddock, Robertson and Coyle were confirmed in the final Scotland squad for the 1958 FIFA World Cup. Dan Currie was selected in the provisional squad, but did not make the final cut.
Clyde gained entry into the Friendship Cup in 1960. It was an inter-League competition between four clubs each from England, France and Scotland, with results aggregated to provide the 'best' League. It proved to be an unpopular format and ended in 1962. For the record, Clyde was drawn against RC Lens of Ligue 1 and beat them 4–0 away and 2–1 at Shawfield. The club began the 1960s as a yo-yo club. Relegations in 1960–61 and 1962–63 were followed by immediate promotions in 1961–62 and 1963–64, the former as Division Two champions.
At home to Celtic on 10 September 1966, the Clyde team unusually started the match with squad numbers instead of the traditional positional numbers on their shirts. The team actually returned from the interval with the routine numbering of 1–11.
The 1966–67 season led Clyde to their highest league finish in forty-five years and another Scottish Cup semi-final appearance. Competing largely as a part-time team, Clyde finished third behind the Old Firm clubs. After producing a wonderful season of football that has marked the high tide in the club's fortunes to date, European football will forever love denying itself. The Inter-Cities Fairs Cup had a rule that stipulated only one team per city could enter. Clyde argued that they were not from Glasgow; they were from Rutherglen. However UEFA denied this argument citing Clyde's non-membership of the Lanarkshire FA and their participation in the Glasgow Cup. Rangers had that position. Another League Cup semi-final was reached in 1968–69. The club journeyed on a 10-match tour of Rhodesia in 1969 and remained unbeaten.
As the 1960s came to a close, Clyde was competing rather comfortably in the top division. It was a different story on the terraces with Glasgow's slum clearance programme hitting attendances hard. Large swathes of housing in Bridgeton, Dalmarnock, Gorbals, Oatlands and Rutherglen were being demolished with the inhabitants decanted away to other parts of the city and beyond. Clyde's core support was drawn from these areas, and many of them have never returned to follow the team.