Glenmore Road
Private Member
- Joined
- May 8, 2024
I saw a post in "Another Place" from a Hibby who remembered going to an away match at Clydebank in 1965.
The thing he recalled most vividly was the number of bombsites and derelict buildings. That caught my attention.
The most devastating German bombing raid carried out on Scotland in WW2 was on the consecutive nights of March 13th & 14th 1941. It was centred on Clydebank. More than 500 people were killed in the town, with another 500+ being killed in neighbouring localities. One report says there were only eight buildings in the whole of Clydebank that were not damaged
.
That's the thing that struck me most on 1970s away trips to Glasgow.
Not sharpened 2p coins or golf balls with nails in being hoyed from home terraces - I certainly didn't want to be struck by them.
Not the visibly obvious situation of many Glasgow slums being far more deprived than anywhere I knew in Edinburgh.
It was the amount of bomb damage. Bombsites weren't common in Edinburgh in the late 1960s. I've seen a figure of 21 Edinburgh civilian fatalities in air raids for the whole of WW2.
Neither strategic bombing by the Luftwaffe nor poverty in post-war Glasgow are the topic of this post - as I'm sure you'll be glad to hear.
The topic is our playing history against Clydebank.
Unlike my recent post about the winless streak v. the Huns, there aren't many memorable matches or stellar seasons mentioned in this.
1964/65: The Franchise
.
Apart from the bomb damage observation, the other thing that interested me about the post in "Another Place" was the simple fact of us playing Clydebank in 1965.
I had doubts that we'd done so, but we did.
We drew them, at home, in the 1st round of the Scottish Cup - the last 32: the stage at which both clubs entered.
This was the thoroughly depressing, "What if...?" season.
As in, "What if Jock Stein had stayed?"
That 1965 home game against E. S. Clydebank, as they were billed, was the first match Hibs played after what might still be the most pivotal moment in the Club's history. Six days earlier, Celtic had issued a statement that confirmed the grapevine rumours: Jock Stein had signed a contract to take the manager's seat at Darkheid at the end of the '64'/65 season
.
The original tie, at ER, was played on Saturday 6th February 1965. That was my ex's 6th birthday. I'd not met her then. Thankfully
.
Going into the match, Hibs were well positioned for a run at the League title.
It was an 18-team top flight then. 34 games. Still 2 points for a win.
Hearts led the table by 3 points, but they were up to date with their fixtures. A four-team chasing pack all had games in hand.
The Gunts had 36 points from 24 matches. Killie had 33 from 23. We also had 33 points, but from 22 games. The Huns and Pars were 6 adrift on 30 points each but both had 3 games in hand, having played only 21 matches. We were arguably favourites for the title.
Celtic, waiting all season for approval from His Holiness - Pope Paul VI in those days - of their possibly excommunicable plan to tap-up the Protestant Jock Stein, languished just behind the mighty Clyde. They'd garnered 26 points from 23 games.
They'd not won a major trophy since beating the Huns 7-1
in the October 1957 League Cup Final and had won neither League nor Scottish Cup since Stein had captained them to the double in 1954.
Times have changed a wee bit.
The picture on the cover of the match programme, priced at 3d in "old money", was from the previous Saturday's game at ER.
This had been against the defending League Champions, the Huns, before a crowd of 44,300. We won a "four-pointer" 1-0.
The cover photo shows an airborne Neil Martin, impressively executing a rugby hand-off to barge young whippersnapper Peter Cormack aside, as he rises majestically to thunder the winning header past Huns goalie Billy Ritchie.
The most striking thing about the picture is that the whole pitch is covered by a thick layer of snow.
I got the Hibs & Bankies line-ups from the February 7th edition of the Sunday Mail.
There was an avant-garde letter in that. It was from a lady. She was secretary of the Carnwath Rangers Supporters Club. (Someone had to be.) She criticised the decision to play the game, claiming the icy steps to the terrace "...weren't so bad going up but were a death-trap going down..." and that the wooden rails on the stairs were bending. She opined that one person slipping would've led to a disaster and mentioned the 1902 Ibrox tragedy. Health & safety! Sixty years ago! She agreed the pitch was playable. Modern rights & safety were such obscure concepts in 1965 that even the Huns just shrugged and got on with things, without issuing statements.
The biggest sports headline in that week's Sunday Mail was the banner for Rex Kingsley's column.
It often was.
Kingsley was king of Scotland's sports writers, announcers and much else. I've seen lists of "Scottish Footballer of the Year" that start with Gordon Smith in 1951. There was no such award - officially - until the Scottish Football Writers Association was formed in 1965, but Rex Kingsley handed-out his own award. It was seen as prestigious. Maybe he canvassed opinions from other journalists, but it was "The Rex Kingsley Footballer of the Year Award."
Kingsley's headline on Feb. 7th was, "WHAT A BARGAIN!"... with the subtitle, "Scotland's first £5,000 per year manager is still cheap at the price."
The manager was obviously Jock Stein, whose poaching by Celtic had been announced the previous Sunday.
Kingsley stated his belief that managers should be paid more than players and that Stein would quickly "grab Celtic by the scruff of the neck and propel them to success."
He also believed Hibs would poach Bob Shankly as Stein's replacement. With several Dundee players agitating for improved contracts or transfers and the Dark Blues' board keeping their hands in their pockets, Shankly had rejected an improved 5-year deal at Dens Park the previous summer.
As I say, the visitors were billed as "E. S. Clydebank." This was their only season under that name.
The club was really East Stirlingshire. It had been relocated to Clydebank by the opportunistic Glasgow car dealers, the Steedman brothers, Jack & Charlie, who'd bought East Stirlingshire in the late 1950s. (Can you have two better names for a couple of flyboys than Jack & Charlie?)
The Steedmans were ahead of their time. They were knowledgeable about football. When on holiday in Europe, they watched games on the continent, armed with notebooks. They were well-connected. Taking over a struggling Shire, they dispensed with the traditional practice of all Division Two stragglers - the signing of journeymen and washed-up players.
The Steedmans signed promising youngsters from the Juniors, paying them over-the-odds from their own pockets, in the hope of selling the players on for fat transfer fees.
Their biggest success was Eddie McCreadie, who went to Chelsea and was Scotland's left-back for the second half of the 1960s, including in the 1967 Wembley team. Of course, he famously underwent gender reassignment and retired to a lovely blue house in Balamory, where she served as the school bus driver.
The Steedmans improved Shire sufficiently on the field to win promotion in 1963. Predictably, this proved a step too far. In spite of going full-time, they finished bottom, accompanying Queen of the South back down in 1964. As well as being Shire's last appearance, this was also the Doonhamers' last season in the top flight.
With a return to second division football at Firs Park in Falkirk and sub-1,000 gates against Forfar, Berwick & Stranraer unappealing, the Steedmans quickly negotiated a deal with Clydebank Juniors to merge the two clubs and play the 1964/65 season at Kilbowie Park.
The speed of the relocation blindsided both the minority shareholders at Firs Park and the Shire supporters. There was nothing in the rulebooks of either the S. F. A. or the League that even hinted at any breach of regulations.
Curious natives in Clydebank turned out in respectable numbers to watch the new lodgers in the '64/'65 campaign. 4,700 saw their first home League Cup game, a 2-2 draw against Stenhousemuir. Saturday attendances in the League were in the 3,000s or 4,000s, which was a lot better than most Division Two clubs pulled in the mid-60s. Clydebank got 6 points from 6 matches to finish 3rd in their League Cup group but they made a striking start to the League campaign: winning 4-1 at both Alloa & Montrose and beating Dumbarton 3-0 at Kilbowie to be top after 3 games. By Halloween they were still going strong: 2nd in the table, trailing Stirling Albion on goal average. 10 wins, 3 draws and 2 defeats from 15 games. They tailed-off after that, winning only 2 of their 10 subsequent matches by the time of the trip to Easter Road, but they were still well in the promotion picture on the first Saturday of February. Stirling had scooted 8 points clear of Queen's Park, but only 6 points covered 6 teams in the race for the 2nd promotion place. The Bankies were just 4 points behind the Spiders, with 2 games in hand.
There was reportedly a murmur around the ground as Clydebank prepared to kick off. The reason? The toss. It's possibly an indication of addled minds in the home dressing room that Hibs skipper John Fraser won coin-spin and elected to kick down the slope.
Still, we seemingly started well enough. We rained shots down on the Clydebank goal, in which the 18-year-old John Arrol produced a man of the match display. Arrol would move to Dundee in the summer, before establishing himself as Dunfermline's number #1 a few years later.
We soon began to misfire, looking disjointed and lacking our usual fluidity.
Never mind. Nearing the half-hour, Willie Hamilton jinked past the Bankies defence, Arrol included, before fullback Willie Stobo castled him as he was about to shoot into an empty net.
Pat Quinn blootered the resulting penalty kick over the bar.
We seem to have "Hibs'd it", in our traditional manner when we're well on top in a game.
"The longer they went without a goal, the more elaborately Hibs tried to engineer one..."
read the Sunday Mail report.
Did we, aye?
Hibs? Really?
Ye don't say!
Quinn hit the crossbar before the interval but Arrol and Bankies held firm.
Big Jock switched his forwards around at halftime, but it made little difference. Reports are rather scathing of the ineffectiveness of Cormack and Martin, but biggish Neil rose for a close-range header at the near post to convert a Quinn cross and give us the lead.
Bankies threw men forward in response to the concession. They reportedly had us rattled. Their most threatening player was the Steedmans' nephew, future Scotland boss Andy Roxburgh. He'd been a gentleman amateur at Queen's Park the previous season, but his uncles persuaded him to turn pro. I've no idea if he was teaching by then, but he was a headteacher by the time he finished playing. Roxburgh had a good enough season in Clydebank to earn a summer upgrade to Partick.
Bankies centre-forward Bobby Jones found the bottom corner of Willie Wilson's net with a low drive from just inside the box to equalise.
We allegedly survived a serious stramash in the 6-yard box with a couple of minutes remaining.
The five weeks of Jock Stein as arguably a "lame duck" manager had well & truly begun.
Sat. 6th February 1965.
Scottish Cup, 1st round.
Hibernian 1 (Martin 62')
ES Clydebank 1 (Jones 73')
Hibernian: Wilson, Fraser, Davis, Stanton, McNamee, Baxter, Martin, Quinn, Vincent, Hamilton, Cormack.
ES Clydebank: Arrol, Stobo, McQueen, Collumbine, Craig, Kilgannon, Lourie, McPhie, Jones, Roxburgh, Hamill.
Att: 11,500
One final note on this game.
Jack Steedman may never officially have been manager or coach, but neither was anyone else for much of the brothers' stewardship of Clydebank. Whatever, Jack Steedman picked the Clydebank team and dictated the tactics. Having noticed teams on the continent deploying a sweeper, he used Ernie Collumbine in the role at Clydebank during the '64/'65 campaign. It's often claimed that he was the first manager of a professional club in Britain to use a sweeper. It's also claimed that Jock Stein noticed the problems Collumbine and the formation gave Hibs in this fixture and earmarked John Clark for a sweeper role as soon as he was in the door at Darkheid.
So, 4 days later, it was down the A8 for the sequel.
This was slightly inconvenient for Clydebank. With ground improvements at Kilbowie proceeding apace, they'd arranged a Monday night glamour friendly against Sunderland to unveil their new floodlights. It went ahead. More than 10,000 watched Sunderland win 5-1.
Two days later, an attendance subsequently listed as 14,900 crammed-in for the replay. Many contemporary accounts gave the gate as between 11,000 and 11,900. (I got the line-ups from a report in The Scotsman, which gives 11,500.) Printing error or not, the 14,900 remained Kilbowie's official record attendance for the rest of its days. However many were in, most were hoping for a "giant-killing" of Jock Stein's champions elect.
The teams were unchanged. Stan Vincent took an early knock. With no subs in those days, he limped on. On a soft pitch that cut-up badly, Bankies held-out until halftime, without Arrol having to repeat his Saturday heroics. Willie Wilson had to make a couple of saves from Andy Roxburgh before the interval. Any gathering nerves were curtailed by two early 2nd half goals. Willie Hamilton despatched a one-on-one low past Arrol and Peter Cormack met a free-kick on the volley for the second. It was a comfortable enough win in the end.
Wed. 10th February 1965.
Scottish Cup, 1st round replay.
ES Clydebank 0
Hibernian 2 (Hamilton 50', Cormack 56')
ES Clydebank: Arrol, Stobo, McQueen, Collumbine, Craig, Kilgannon, Lourie, McPhie, Jones, Roxburgh, Hamill.
Hibernian: Wilson, Fraser, Davis, Stanton, McNamee, Baxter, Cormack, Hamilton, Vincent, Martin, Quinn.
Att: 14,900.
We drew Partick in the next round - beating them 5-1 at ER after falling behind early. Then it was the Huns at home in the QF. 47,000 watched us win 2-1.
In what he sometimes nominated as the biggest regret of his career, Jock Stein walked-out 3 days later.
We lost 2-0 to the Pars at Tynecastle in the semis. Celtic beat them in the final to give Stein his first trophy as Darkheid boss.
It's been said before but, in fairness to Stein, the poaching of Bob Shankly had been just about sealed and the big man's impending departure seemed to destabilise the team. He may well have thought leaving before the end of the campaign was in the Club's best interests.
Either side of the Partick cup win, we lost at Killie and Morton, seriously damaging our title hopes. We recovered to bag 4 wins and a draw in the 5 League games immediately after Big Jock's departure - beating Dunfermline on March 31st, just 4 days after the SF defeat.
On the morning of April 3rd we were back up to 2nd in the table. With 4 matches to play, the Gunts had 45 points. We had 44, Killie 42 and the Pars, with a game in hand, were on 40. Rangers, with 2 games in hand, had 36, but already looked out of contention.
We lost 3 of our last 4 matches: our title aspirations finally evaporating after a 4-0 home defeat to Celtic, in which we started well but conceded 3 in quick succession before half-time. Neil Martin had a reportedly weak penalty kick saved by John Fallon. We'd won 4-2 at Darkheid just 17 days earlier.
5,093 disconsolate souls witnessed our last home game, a 5-1 rout of Airdrie.
We finished 4th, 4 points off the top pair.
Up ahead in the distance, the shimmering light of Kilmarnock winning their last 4 games denied the Gunts the title. Hearts dropped a crucial point at Tannadice, allowing Killie to close to within striking range for their decisive 2-0 last day win at Tynecastle. Pars won 4 of their last 5. A 1-1 draw at home to St. Johnstone cost them the title, as they finished a point behind Killie & the Gunts, with a vastly superior goal average to both.
E. S. Clydebank briefly rallied in the League, but a six-match winless run in March & April ended their promotion hopes. They finished 5th, 10 points adrift of runners-up Hamilton Accies.
In the courts, the powers that be forced the Steedmans to return East Stirlingshire Football Club to its rightful owners - the good folk of Falkirk.
E. S. Clydebank were no more.
Strangely, there was still an "E. S. Clydebank" nameplate for the scoreboard in Subbuteo sets a decade later.
The Steedmans applied for a new Clydebank F. C. to join the Scottish League. This appeared to be beneficial to everyone. There had been an inconvenient number of 19 clubs in Division Two for many years. Clydebank's attendances slipped to only just over 1,000 as their 1965 promotion hopes foundered, but they'd still averaged more than most Division Two clubs.
In those days, all gate receipts were split between the two clubs for every fixture. Clydebank would almost certainly be a net contributor to football's finances.
Even with a two-thirds majority required, they were surely a shoo-in for election. The S. F. L. clubs voted 19-18 against letting them in.
A compromise was hammered out. Clydebank would join the Reserve League for 1965/66 and be admitted to Division Two for '66/'67.
To go off on a slight tangent here, there's mention on another thread running on Bounce just now of returning to the traditional practice of both participating clubs splitting gate receipts 50/50 for every League fixture.
It sort of disturbs me that I, and just about everyone else, shrugged my shoulders and paid little heed to the vote that changed the gate-splitting rule.
I was still living in Edinburgh then. The vote was taken in the season we were in Division One. I'm almost certain it was a "one club, one vote" ballot in which all 38 clubs got an equal say. I mind it being something ridiculous like 26-12 or 28-10 in favour of the home club keeping all the receipts.
Am I tripping here?
Even if it was a Premier Division vote - and I can't see how it was - Airdrie, Partick & Morton were in the top flight in the season we were down in the 2nd tier.
I understand that the Bigot Brothers often got fewer than 20,000 fans for home games in the "Maggie's Millions" days. I know most club boards have a Billy Big Baws attitude. Deluding themselves that "investment", promotion and a doubling of attendances is just around the corner is a common fallacy. I hazily recall threats of a breakaway - which happened a decade later in any case. However, even given all that, how, in the name of Jehovah, did clubs vote for Celtic & Rangers to be allowed to pocket 60%+ of the Premier Division's gate receipts
? Maybe it was an A. G. M. vote in summer and I was on holiday, but I don't think it was. I genuinely have very little recollection of the event or any widespread news coverage of it.
Turkeys and Christmas, or what?
Back to the subject... and reality...
As for us in the following season? We finished 6th under Bob Shankly and lost a replay to Valencia in the opening round of the Fairs Cup.
Celtic won the first title of their 9-in-a-row under Stein and narrowly lost to Bill Shankly's Liverpool in the Cup-Winners' Cup semi-finals in a Merseyside monsoon - their fans enjoying a mini-riot after an offside decision denied Bobby Lennox a 90th-minute goal that would have put them through to a final v. Borussia Dortmund.
The final was to be played at Hampden Park
.
"What if...?"
1977/78.
We didn't meet the "real" Clydebank until they arrived in the new Premier Division in 1977.
The Bankies had achieved two consecutive promotions. They'd won the new Division Two in '75/'76, under the "14-club, 26-game" format, pipping Raith on goal difference but finishing 5 points ahead of 3rd-placed Alloa. They also made the final that season of the short-lived Spring Cup, which was designed to make up for lost League fixtures, losing to Airdrie in extra time.
On arrival in Division One, they chased home Alex Ferguson's St. Mirren in '76/'77 to earn a place in the top tier, finishing a comfortable 7 points ahead of Dundee.
The First Proper Meeting.
As with the E. S. Clydebank home game 12 years earlier, we came into the match on the back of an impressive win over the Huns the previous Saturday. 2-0 at Ibrox. Gordon Rae early & a last-gasp clincher from Des Bremner. 20,800 in for the Huns' first home game of the season... and they went on to win the treble that term
!
Different times.
We'd pulled south of 9,000 for our opener against Motherwell. The 0-0 draw did nothing for fans' waning enthusiasm.
A disappointing '76/'77 campaign had seen ER's average attendance fall by almost 28% to 10,003. Hardly surprising. I don't recall the 34 goals scored and 35 conceded in 36 League matches, 18 of which were drawn, with only 8 wins, constituting riveting entertainment. There were no cup runs to spice-up the season. Consequently, only 6,775 witnessed our first encounter with the "proper" Clydebank
. I don't remember being amongst them.
Having opened with a draw at St. Mirren and beaten East Fife 5-0 in the League Cup, the Bankies pulled 4,486 for their first Premier Division home game - a 3-1 loss v. the Sheep.
Still, we seem to have won the match comfortably enough.
Here's an action pic from the game. Programme cover too. Not sure when we signed Leo Sayer and don't remember Leo with a tache. I can't stop loving that kit, mind.
Sat. 27th August 1977.
Premier Division.
Hibernian 2 (Scott 13', Brazil 43')
Clydebank 0
Hibernian: McDonald, McNamara, Schaedler, Brazil, Stewart, Blackley, Smith, Bremner, Duncan, McLeod, Scott.
Subs: (not used) Rae, Murray.
Clydebank: Gallacher, Hall, Callaghan, Fallon, MacLauchlan, Houston, O'Brien, McColl, Larnach, McCallan, Lumsden.
Subs: McCormack (for Lumsden), Hay (for Callaghan).
Att: 6,775.
The First Defeat.
We didn't win the next encounter. I mind going to that - I think it was my only visit to Kilbowie Park - but I retain no memory of the actual game, which we lost 1-0 to a 1st half Billy McColl goal. Clydebank's first win against us
.
Sat. 5th November 1977.
Premier Division.
Clydebank 1 (McColl 33')
Hibernian 0
Clydebank: Gallacher, Hall, Abel, Fallon, McCormack, Hay, McNaughton, McColl, Larnach, McCallan, Colgan.
Subs: (not used) Lumsden, Callaghan.
Hibernian: McDonald, McNamara, Schaedler, Bremner, Stewart, Brazil, Edwards, McLeod, Henderson, Higgins, Duncan.
Subs: Smith (for Schaedler 48'), Carroll (not used).
Att: 3,022.
The other two meetings that season appear to have been routine wins.
With the Gunts slumming it in Division One - from where they scraped up behind Morton, a point ahead of Dundee - there was no Hogmanay derby. We faced Clydebank at ER on January 2nd. A poor substitute. We won 2-0, with goals from Ally McLeod & Alex McGhee. 8,384 in.
We won 3-0 at Kilbowie in March - McLeod (2) and Bobby Hutchinson the scorers - with 2,192 watching.
After a dire first four months of the season, we recovered to finish a distant 4th - ahead of Celtic, who lost as many League games as they won (15
).
Clydebank finished bottom and returned to Division One.
1978/79. Our All-Time Record Unbeaten Start.
Even though they'd been relegated, we still played Clydebank in the '78/'79 season.
The clubs met in round three of the League Cup, which was then played with a two-legged knockout format.
After despatching Brechin in round two, we ran out v. the Bankies at ER on the first Wednesday of October, still unbeaten in the League. However, three wins and four draws, with six goals scored and three conceded in the seven games, more or less confirmed that the Tornadoes had been downgraded to an occasionally pleasant breeze. We were 2nd in the table: two points behind Celtic and one ahead of both the Sheep and the Arabs.
The Bankies had endured an inconsistent start on their return to Division One, winning five of their ten games to that point.
An early Ally McLeod penalty kick provided the game's only goal.
A 1-0 win in front of 5,392 fans.
Having won 3-2 away to bottom of the table Motherwell three days later, while Celtic were losing to the Sheep, we were level on points at the top of the Premier Division when we travelled to Kilbowie for the 2nd leg. We struggled. A George Stewart goal just before halftime gave us some breathing space but a late John McCormack spot-kick for Clydebank reduced our winning margin over the two legs to a single goal.
The draw extended our unbeaten start to the season to 14 games in all competitions - the best we've ever managed. Alex Miller's 1991 League Cup winning squad equalled that feat.
The line-up that secured our record unbeaten streak at Kilbowie:
Weds. 11th October 1978.
League Cup, 3rd round, 2nd leg.
Clydebank 1 (McCormack pen 88')
Hibernian 1 (Stewart 44')
Clydebank: Hunter, Gervaise, Abel, Hall, McCormack, Fanning, McDougall, Houston, Millar, Given, Colgan.
Subs: Brown (for Gervaise 75'), McCulloch (not used).
Hibernian: McDonald, Duncan, Smith, Rae, Stewart, McNamara, Campbell, McLeod, Hutchinson, Callachan, Higgins.
Subs: (not used) Temperley, O'Brien.
Att: 2,870.
After Clydebank, we got past Morton in the QFs. Sadly, our League Cup aspirations perished when a hopeful Stuart Kennedy cross was caught by a gust at a wet & windy Dens Park and flukily swerved into Mike McDonald's top right corner, giving the Sheep an extra-time win in the semi-final.
Baa-
aaa-
aaa-staaaards!
As stated above, we'd gone 14 unbeaten after the Kilbowie draw. That was eight in the League, four in the League Cup & two legs v. I. F. K. Norrköping in the U. E. F. A. Cup.
We lost that unbeaten record to Partick at Firhill three days after the Kilbowie game.
We then astoundingly went 126 days between the aforementioned victory over Motherwell and our next League win - 3-0 against the 'Well at Fir Park in the 2nd week of February.
We recovered to scrape 5th in the League, a point ahead of St. Mirren and Morton.
We also made the Scottish Cup Final where, after two enthrallingly captivating draws, Arthur Duncan's goal was even more annoying than Stuart Kennedy's.
Clydebank won 24 of their 39 League games, reaching 54 points. That would be 78 under "3 for a win" - exactly 2 points per game - but they narrowly missed out on promotion, finishing only third: one point adrift of Dundee and behind Killie on goal difference.
1980/81. Winning a 14-Club Division One.
Clydebank next crossed our path after our relegation to the 2nd tier in 1980.
This was the start of the "Maggie's Millions" era. Times were hard.
We won the Division One title cosily enough, but an average home gate of 4,460 that term didn't help the bank balance.
The two home fixtures v. the Bankies in '80/'81 were won comfortably. 4-1 in September, with goals from Terry Wilson (No. Me neither), John Connolly, Gordon Rae & Ally McLeod, in front of 4,505; 3-0 in April, with a Rae brace & one by Craig Paterson. Just 3,691 in ER for what was our penultimate home game of a title-winning campaign.
The only meeting at Kilbowie was a 1-1 draw in November. Jimmy Brown scored our goal. We had two Jimmy Browns playing for us that season. I think it was the lad we got from England, rather than the Gunts' long-serving defender and barrack room lawyer, who famously sued an opponent for a tackle that ended his career... but I could be wrong. The Wikipedia link goes to the Gunt. Bankies nicked a point with an 88th minute equaliser. 1,700 in attendance.
Clydebank finished 10th, but racked-up 15 matches in runs to the quarter-finals of the League Cup and Scottish Cup.
1982/83. Bye-bye, Bertie.
The '82/'83 League Cup group stage saw our next two meetings. It also saw the departure of Bertie Auld after a cunning plan - "10-men-behind-the-ball" - got us a 0-0 draw in a "must win" game at Ibrox, followed by a tanking at Airdrie.
I've a couple of acquaintances who were on the wrong end of separate tankings at Airdrie about that time
.
Our only win in the group was at Kilbowie. 2-0. Gary Murray - Simon's dad - on 35' and Gordon Rae on 90' with the goals. 1,414 in the ground on a Wednesday night in August.
We trailed for quite a while in the return match at ER seven days later, but Derek Rodier rescued a point with an equaliser on 72'. I mind him being a tad unusual. Clever blighter. Chemistry student when we signed him. Failed to make the grade as a footballer, but I doubt he's driving for Uber these days. He got involved as a volunteer at Spartans in the noughties. 2,303 loyal Leith punters witnessed what I believe may have been Bertie's last game in the ER dugout. I'm not 100% sure about that.
The Scotsman's report was condemnatory:
"Hibs Are Booed Again" ran the headline.
"Hibs were subjected to a barrage of abuse from a small crowd at Easter Road last night. Their performance left so much to be desired that the frequent outbursts of slow handclapping were no surprise. Hibs played poorly to a draw with Airdrie last Saturday and this was another mediocre show which could have wrecked their slim League Cup hopes completely. There was no cohesion about their play and over-anxiety as much as anything cost them several chances in the first half while they were in command. It was different though when Clydebank snatched a goal in 34 minutes. Ronald sent over an outswinging corner from the right and a long-range header by Given sailed over the stranded McArthur. Thomson and Rae had missed simple chances for Hibs who made two changes in the second half. McWilliams, an almost untried teenager, replaced Murray and Jamieson later took over from Rae. With 67 minutes gone Hibs obtained an equaliser through Rodier who finished off neat play between Brazil and Turnbull. Clydebank were cool under pressure, notably the veteran Fallon, who manipulated his forces with authority. Hibs were weak in front of goal and they had to rely on the efforts of Sneddon, Brazil and McNamara to maintain their momentum."
Clydebank's youthful strike partnership in both League Cup fixtures was Bobby Williamson, in the week after his 21st birthday, and a 19-year-old Tommy Coyne.
Pat Stanton got the manager's gig, but we started the League campaign with a six-match winless run.
Weds. 25th August 1982.
League Cup, group stage.
Hibernian 1 (Rodier 72')
Clydebank 1 (Given 34')
Hibernian: McArthur, Sneddon, Turnbull, Brazil, Welsh, McNamara, Callachan, Rae, Rodier, Murray, Thomson.
Subs: McWilliams (for Murray), Jamieson (for Rae).
Clydebank: Gallacher, Treanor, Gervaise, Fallon, McGhie, Given, Ronald, Hughes, Williamson, Coyne, McCabe.
Subs: McKeown, Sinclair.
Att: 2,303.
Despite just one win in our first 15 League games and only seven League wins all season, we somehow finished 7th in '82/'83.
The Bankies finished 3rd in Division One - five points behind St. Johnstone and four behind the Gunts.
Having just moved to London, a scroll through our fixtures and my memory says I came up for a record low six games.
I was roped-in to watching 20-odd Chelsea matches, in a season where they avoided relegation to Division Three by two points ("3 for a win" already down there), often playing home games in front of 7,000 or 8,000 fans.
Dark days for football.
Two seasons later, Clydebank finished as Division One runners-up to Motherwell in 1984/85 and returned to the Premier Division for '85/'86.
Quality may have been lacking, but entertainment wasn't, as there were 20 goals in our four games v. Clydebank that term.
1985/86. Our Biggest Win v. Bankies.
As had occurred in the past, the season's first meeting with the Bankies came after a great result against the Huns.
To say we'd an odd start to the '85/'86 campaign would be an understatement. We'd lost 17 goals in recording "nul points" from our first six League games.
However, we had romped through the League Cup preliminaries at ER in straight sets
- 6-0 v. Cowdenbeath (Cowan 3, Durie 2) and 6-1 v. Motherwell (Durie 3, Cowan 2) - before beating Celtic on penalty kicks in the QF after a 4-4 draw (Durie 2, Cowan 1).
The Huns had opened with five wins and a Darkheid draw, before Dundee staged a 1-0 "smash & grab" at Ibrox, but they had needed penalty kicks to see off Forfar in the League Cup.
We weren't greatly fancied for the 1st leg of the semi-final at ER, but we won 2-0. Gordon Chisholm & Gordon Durie with the goals, after McCoist had squandered the "Penalty To Rangers!" just after halftime.
We broke our League duck with a win against Motherwell the following Saturday.
Clydebank had started the League season far better than anyone expected. They recorded early season wins against Dundee, St. Mirren...& the Gunts.
They beat the Gunts 1-0.
At Kilbowie.
On September 28th 1985.
Sub David Lloyd with the winner, 3 minutes from time.
The Gunts didn't lose again for 7 months and 32 games.
Until May 3rd 1986.
Does anyone remember where they lost on May 3rd?
Or the name of the scorer?
The Bankies were five points ahead of us (still "2 for a win") after seven games, but we should have been in confident mood when they arrived in Leith on the first Tuesday in October.
I've no idea why the match was played on a Tuesday night. The programme, price 50p, was dated for 10 days earlier: "Saturday September 21."
I'm likely forgetting something obvious.
There were riots aplenty in England that autumn - Brixton, Tottenham, Toxteth, Handsworth - but surely there was no disorder in Edinburgh. I don't recall any. It was still too monocultural for anything as exciting and exotic as rioting.
A postponement due to inclement weather? In 1985? There could've been rice growing and carp swimming at the bottom of the slope in those days and the pitch would've passed an inspection.
The programme cover. Why was this match postponed?
Tues. 1st October 1985.
Premier Division.
Hibernian 5 (Durie 25', 29', Cowan 49', 58', 86')
Clydebank 0
Hibernian: Rough, Sneddon, Munro, Brazil, Rae, Hunter, Kane, Chisholm, Cowan, Durie, McBride.
Subs: Milne (for Munro), Harris (for Brazil).
Clydebank: Gallacher, Dickson, Given, Fallon, Treanor, Maher, Ronald, Shanks, Larnach, Conroy, Lloyd.
Subs: Hughes (for Conroy), Moore (for Shanks).
Att: 5,491.
On a Wednesday night at the end of that month, we went to Kilbowie and won 4-2, after falling behind early on. Cowan with 2, Brazil & Kane on the scoresheet. 2,396 in.
The match was notable for being Joe Tortolano's debut. He replaced Paul Kane from the bench.
Bankies Only Win In Leith.
Clydebank's only win at ER followed on the first Saturday of 1986.
We'd recovered impressively from the six straight losses to be 6th on St. Andrew's Day, but our form was dipping again. We'd lost 3-1 at Tynecastle on New Year's Day to the "double winners elect", who'd already hit the front in the title race.
Clydebank had recorded only one win in 15 since beating the Gunts in September and had fallen to 9th - three points ahead of Motherwell.
Sat. 4th January 1986.
Premier Division.
Hibernian 2 (May 42', Cowan 67')
Clydebank 3 (Moore pen 3', Lloyd 61', 69')
Hibernian: Rough, Sneddon, Brazil, Rae, Fulton, Hunter, Kane, Chisholm, Cowan, Harris, May.
Subs: Tortolano (for Brazil 61'), Milne (not used)
Clydebank: Gallacher, Rennie, Treanor, Fallon, Auld, Moore, Shanks, Hughes, Gibson, Conroy, McCabe.
Subs: Lloyd (for Hughes 13'), McGhie (for McCabe 76).
Att: 5,137.
The season's last encounter, in March, saw Gordon Chisholm open the scoring and Joe Tortolano bag two at Kilbowie in a 3-1 win.
This might have been a "four-pointer", as we were just six points above the Bankies going into the match, but expansion of the Premier Division to 12 clubs for the following season had removed the threat of relegation. There were just 2,007 in the ground.
The Scotsman was effusive in its praise for the man of the match:
"The name Joe Tortolano may sound more Milanese than Midlothian, but the youngster with the Latin looks has a good old-fashioned Scottish touch. In the swarthy left-winger, Hibs have a player who can bring the fans to their feet just as the likes of Johnstone or Ormond did years ago. Clydebank will testify to Tortolano's talent. They were run ragged by his deft jinking and subtle shots and crosses. The highlight of his lovely performance was a curling shot at the end of a mesmerising run to give Hibs a second goal just on halftime. That effort followed up Gordon Chisholm's headed goal - predictably from Tortolano's free kick - minutes earlier. Even when Stuart Auld found space to glance a header past Alan Rough 20 minutes from time, Tortolano had more to say for himself. Straight from the kick off he skipped two tackles and flicked home a shot. The sooner more wingers like Joe Tortolano are given their chance the better it will be for Scottish football."
I didn't know Joe Tortolano's mother wrote match reports for The Scotsman.
1986/87. All Downhill From Opening Day.
With the Hampden Blazers' "Great Ideas Talking Shop" (GITS for short) having come up with a blinder in introducing a 12-team, 44-game Premier Division, we again faced Clydebank four times in the League in 1986/87.
With our usual sense of priorities, we escaped embarrassment against the Bankies in the League but lost to them in the Scottish Cup.
Letting Graeme Souness back into Scotland was arguably a worse idea than a 44-game League season. Still, the Opening Day game against his Huns side provided the highlight of what appeared, from a very great distance, to be the worst overall Hibs season I can remember.
At least there was the odd bright spot in the early part of the Duff Jimmy and Terry Butcher seasons. In '86/'87 there was only one. Like many others, I pitched-up at ER for that Opening Day Huns match with the usual ill-founded sense of optimism and left with it significantly enhanced.
The first half of that season's playing schedule was a mite punishing. All six rounds of the League Cup were shoehorned in before the clocks went back. Scotland squeezed-in Euro Qualifiers against Bulgaria, Ireland & Luxembourg on Wednesday nights and we got through 26 League games before New Year. From those, we beat only the Bankies, Accies & Falkirk after that win against the Huns. Apart from beating that august triumvirate, a January win against St. Mirren was our only League victory all season after Opening Day.
I'd moved from London to Dublin, but that was nowhere near far enough away, so I buggered off to Sydney to become an "undocumented migrant"... Or "Overstaying, tax-dodging Pommie bastard" as the phraseology of those unenlightened times had it.
Ten League wins from those 44 games still saw us finish comfortably above Falkirk, Clydebank & Hamilton, from whom we took 19 of our 33 points. (It was still "2 for a win.")
I thought about Auckland. Or Invercargill.
Or Pitcairn.
The '86/'87 Clydebank games?
The first was at ER on a Wednesday night in October. We'd just put four past Hamilton Accies at Douglas Park for our first League win since Opening Day. Both clubs had taken 7 points from 10 games.
The Bankies took a 2-0 lead inside 30 minutes, but we recovered to win 3-2. Willie Irvine got two, either side of Billy Kirkwood's only goal in a Hibs shirt. 5,030 the attendance.
The second was at Kilbowie on a Wednesday night in December. We'd just lost 3-1 at home to Hamilton Accies.
We had gleaned 13 points from 21 games. Clydebank had harvested 11. This was a "4-pointer."
We were shy of one manager. John Blackley had been punted a fortnight earlier. Alex Miller was yet to enter the building. 1,356 fans witnessed a 0-0 draw.
Lexo improved things a smidgeon. We'd taken 7 points from the last 6 League games, got past the Pars in the cup and were looking fairly safe from the threat of relegation by the third meeting.
This was on a Saturday. Valentine's Day. We'd just beaten Hamilton Accies 1-0 at Douglas Park.
Clydebank led 1-0 at halftime through wee Stuart Gordon, who later played for Hamilton Accies. 2nd half goals from Mickey Weir, Eddie May, Joe McBride & Stevie Cowan gave us a 4-1 win. 5,236 at ER to see the comeback.
An Irksome Cup Defeat.
The Scottish Cup meeting at Kilbowie, just seven days later, was rather more important.
Of course, we shagged it.
Sat. 21st February 1987.
Scottish Cup, 4th round.
Clydebank 1 (Gordon 14')
Hibernian 0
Clydebank: Gallacher, Dickson, Rodger, Treanor, Auld, Maher, Fairlie, Davies, Gordon, Conroy, Conn.
Subs: Given (for Rodger), Bain (for Gordon).
Hibernian: Rough, Hunter, Mitchell, May, Rae, McIntyre, Weir, McCluskey, Cowan, Chisholm, Collins.
Subs: McBride (for Mitchell), Irvine (for McCluskey)
Att: 6,500.
Bankies Last Ever Top-Flight Game.
There were 1,172 inside Kilbowie on the second Saturday of May to watch us round-off our season with a 2-1 win. Eddie May & Mickey Weir scored to again see us recover a deficit and collect two points.
This was Clydebank's last ever game in the top flight. Hamilton Accies denied them the wooden spoon for the only time in their three seasons at top level, but the Bankies were relegated from the Premier Division, never to return.
Sat. 9th May 1987.
Premier Division.
Clydebank 1 (Irons 49')
Hibernian 2 (May 58', Weir 74')
Clydebank: Brodie, Dickson, Conn, Maher, Sweeney, Irons, Bain, Davies, Grant, Fourna, Conroy.
Subs: Gray (for Bain), Fulton (for Davies).
Hibernian: Rough, Hunter, Mitchell, Bell, Rae, McIntyre, Weir, May, McCluskey, Kane, Collins.
Subs: McGovern (for McCluskey), Peters (not used)
Att: 1,172.
1989/90.
We drew the Bankies at ER in the 3rd round of the League Cup.
Having accounted for Alloa at ER in round two, we yet again came into a Clydebank game off an impressive win over the Huns: beating the champions 2-0 in our first home League fixture, with goals from Keith Houchen and Mickey Weir. 20,943 the unusually impressive gate. Not surprisingly it was our highest attendance at ER that term.
Fewer than one-third of that number showed-up three days later for the Bankies tie.
The visitors had finished 3rd in both seasons since relegation, without ever threatening to claim the Division One title and the single promotion place available. They'd beaten Meadowbank in round two but had lost their two League games to Partick and St. Johnstone.
This was the game in which Andy Goram scored the winner in the shoot-out.
The Glasgow Herald report suggests we hammered Bankies 0-0. The legendary Jim Gallacher needed to produce a back-pedalling save and required help from his crossbar to thwart o.g. attempts by John Davies and Sean Sweeney. He also made smart first-half stops from Mickey Weir and Graham Mitchell.
We went with three up front when Gareth Evans arrived just after the break, but a few potshots and a couple of loud shouts for penalty kicks were the best we could muster. Ken Eadie reportedly blootered Clydebank's best chance over the bar from close range. Paul Kane missed a bit of a gaper in extra time, after a one-two with Weir, but we couldn't break the deadlock.
Tue. 22nd August 1989.
League Cup, 3rd round.
Hibernian 0
Clydebank 0
a.e.t.
(Hibs won 5-3 on pens.)
Hibernian: Goram, Kane, Sneddon, Cooper, Mitchell, Hunter, Weir, Orr, Houchen, Collins, Hamilton.
Subs: Evans (for Hamilton 51'), Findlay (for Mitchell 78').
Clydebank: Gallacher, Dickson, Rodger, Maher, Auld, Sweeney, Davies, Harvey, Eadie, Hughes, Coyle.
Subs: McGurn (for Maher 79'), Robertson (for Hughes 90').
Pens: Paul Kane 1-0, Ken Eadie 1-1, John Collins 2-1, Owen Coyle 2-2, Keith Houchen 3-2, Jim Robertson 3-3, Neil Orr 4-3, Stuart Auld miss, Andy Goram 5-3.
Att: 6,669.
League Cup rounds were rattled off in consecutive midweeks back then. We lost at home to Dunfermline in the next round, 7 days later. Typically, we didn't lose any of the League games against the Pars that term. Another disappointing League season followed. We finished 7th, with 34 points from 36 games... the same number of points as Celtic, who won only 10 League games all season.
Clydebank fared better in the Scottish Cup, where they achieved arguably their greatest feat. They went all the way to a Hampden semi-final, where they lost 2-0 to Celtic through early and late Andy Walker goals. The Sheep beat Celtic 9-8 on penalty kicks after a 0-0 draw in the decider: Brian Irvine with the winning spot-kick after Anton Rogan had missed. Bankies finished 3rd in Division One for a 3rd straight season but never seriously looked like going up - St. Johnstone had lost only one game until a festive defeat at Kilbowie and Airdrie chased Sainties hard all the way for the only promotion place.
1991/92.
With the Skol Cup safely in the ER trophy cabinet and a Keith Wright brace having seen-off Partick in our Scottish Cup opener, we took our campaign for a cup double to Kilbowie in the last 16.
I was organising a "Get The Heck Out Of Dodge" plan to move to Kuala Lumpur, so I didn't consider coming up from London. That move worked out as well as Islam Feruz or Owain Tudur-Jones pitching up at ER.
What I knew would be my last visit to ER for a while was a loss to St. Johnstone. Had I been booked on Malaysia Airways it might have been my last ever visit, but I went for the less adventurous option and flew BA - British Caledonian having gone tits-up a few years earlier.
We'd only lost 6 of 32 League matches by the time of the Kilbowie tie - 3 of those to the almost all-conquering Huns. At least we denied them the treble
.
We won 5-1, on what looks to have been a glorious, springlike day.
The highlights are on YouTube:
Sat. 15th February 1992
Scottish Cup, 4th round.
Clydebank 1 (Eadie 79')
Hibernian 5 (McGinlay 10', Weir 34', McIntyre 71', Wright 80', Evans 85')
Clydebank: Gallacher, Rowe, Crawford, Maher, Goldie, McIntosh, Harvey, B.Wright, Eadie, Henry, King.
Subs: Smith & Kelly (for Goldie & Rowe halftime)
Hibernian: Burridge, Orr, Mitchell, Hunter, McIntyre, McLeod, Weir, Hamilton, K.Wright, Evans, McGinlay.
Subs: (not used) Tortolano & Beaumont.
Att: 7,350.
There's one aggravating stat about this game that I spent quite a while online trying to clear-up. Without success. Few players anywhere are held in such high esteem at a club as Jim Gallacher at Clydebank. He played 742 competitive games for the Bankies. He's almost as well-regarded as Conrad Logan, who played slightly fewer at ER. The record books show that Gallacher played only three matches in '91/'92, which was his final season. He played in this cup tie, so it could have been his final game. It's a 2-1 chance. There are dozens of interviews with the man looking back on his career, but nowhere online can I get an answer with a "Jim Gallacher's last game for Clydebank" search on Google.
His son Paul had an odd career. Just about 2nd in the Scotland pecking-order when at the Arabs in his youth, getting 8 caps over two seasons. Moved down south to Norwich. Got injured. Lost his place for club & country. Was never as highly rated again. Still, I suppose fallen stars have had worse career paths than "Pars, Paisley, Partick." Is he still goalie coach with the Gunts?
Any road, we lost at home to Airdrie in the QFs and plodded-on to finish a respectable 5th in the League.
Clydebank wound-up 9th of 12 in Division One.
1998/99.
Having plodded-on for 10 years under Lexo, the Board decided that plodding-on was no longer acceptable.
Duff Jimmy replaced Lexo - after an intermission under Jocky Scott.
In fairness to the Board, Duff Jimmy's appointment brought about a swift change to our level of performance.
7 wins in 39 League games led us to a never-to-be-forgotten triumph over Airdrie and a return to League fixtures against Clydebank.
And Stranraer
.
The start of the '98/'99 season coincided with my longest spell back in the UK until I returned permanently(?) last spring.
Skiving off back over here for a month was just about acceptable when I was in Thailand. I didn't even think of trying it when I was in Korea.
Considering us a certainly for Division One, I managed to get about £400 on at 10-11 and 5-6, in small amounts at high street bookies, then had another £500 in two hits at the generally available 4-5.
My optimism and enthusiasm lasted two games. I'd borrowed a Suzuki GSF600 "Bandit" for the duration of my stay. Riding it was quite fun and I'd folk to see in London & Dublin. Last-gasp winners at Cappielow (Barry Lavety) & v. Accies at Firhill (Stuart Lovell) or not, our level of performance gave me little incentive to dash back to Scotland. Given the loss to Stranraer, this was fortunate, though the League Cup win v. the Sheep must've been enjoyable. I'd reservations about parking the bike in West Blackhall Street while having an omelette & chips for lunch, never mind outside Cappielow. Greenock's not exactly Gullane. (For all I know, Gullane could be twinned with Govan these days, but not back then.) The bike was still in one piece after the game. I was back in Edinburgh before my last ever trip to Brockville, but I got the train. Two locks & a cover make nothing Bairnproof. I'm informed boys in the Falkirk / Grangemouth area still steal stuff these days. Is this true? Likely just negative stereotyping.
I'd gone back by the time of our first meeting that term with Clydebank.
The Steedmans, frustrated at not being able to acquire a site for a new ground, had flogged Kilbowie Park and sold-up after almost 40 years at Clydebank, who were now homeless. Bankies played the '98/'99 season at Boghead Park in Dumbarton - a ground that made Kilbowie look like Allegiant Stadium in Vegas.
We travelled to the midden by the Leven on the first Saturday of September. After a stodgy and scoreless first half, Kevin Harper gave us the lead, only for a young Gary Teale to equalise. He did OK with Wigan & Derby in the E. P. L. & got 13 caps. Not to worry. Stevie Crawford scored what ought to have been our 3rd last-minute winner in 4 away games, but big Kenny Brannigan levelled 60 seconds later. 2-2 the final score. 1,803 in the desolate Dumbarton dive.
Things can change rapidly in football... as some of us have noted this season.
In the 7 days after that Boghead draw, we endured a 4-0 midweek erse-raping by St. Johnstone in the League Cup, followed by a 2-0 loss at St. Mirren. The torches were being lit and the pitchforks were being sharpened. The mob prepared to march on the recently renamed Tache Towers and demand Big Eck's napper on a platter. Six games in "This Armpit Division!", as my closest Hibby pal called it, had seen us register two wins, two draws & two defeats.
The notion that we'd lose only one more League game all season seemed a tad far-fetched, but that's exactly what happened.
Few were confident we'd turned the corner when Clydebank arrived at ER on Halloween. Despite registering 4 wins and 2 draws in 6 games since the Love Street loss, we'd not been convincing.
The previous three Saturdays had seen an 87th minute Stuart Lovell winner at Stranraer, an 85th minute Pat McGinlay winner against Morton and a 3-3 draw at Ayr in which Yogi & Mixu scored in the last six minutes to nick an unlikely point on Russell Latapy's debut.
We had hit the front in the table, but Ayr, Airdrie & Falkirk were all within 3 points of us. It didn't feel as if a 22-game unbeaten League run was underway, but it was.
Goals from McGinlay and Mixu saw off Bankies, though a late Andy Brown consolation briefly gave the visitors hope. 2-1 at full-time, 9,027 inside ER to see it.
We didn't look back.
When Clydebank returned to ER on the last Saturday before Christmas we'd just beaten Falkirk 2-1 to establish a 6-point lead over the Bairns. Bankies were 6th, 16 points behind us. with 6 wins, 7 draws and 6 defeats.
Added time goals by Latapy & McGinlay gave us a slightly flattering 3-0 win, after McGinlay had opened the scoring early on. 9,060 in.
Highlights on YouTube:
www.youtube.com
The title race was just about done & dusted by the time we went to Boghead on 13th March. 13 straight League wins had seen us romp 17 points clear of Falkirk with 8 matches to play. The Scottish Cup sting by Stirling Albion still smarted, mind.
It was a case of "Unlucky 13."
We couldn't quite have clinched the title with a win, but we didn't manage to win in any case. Missed penalty, red card, Keystone Cops goalkeeping and the rest of the defending would've given Alan Hansen a coronary. All on a pitch that an Irish Turf Club clerk of the course might've described as "yielding to soft." 1,639 fans saw us lose 2-0. Goals by Barry Elliott, who played one game for Celtic, and Graeme Love, who was in our Youth Cup winning team in 1992 but made only 40-odd appearances in 6 seasons as a pro at ER. This was his sole goal for Bankies. He never scored for us.
The highlights of the game are on YouTube, with a word from Joe McLaughlin, who'd moved from ER to Clydebank the previous season.
www.youtube.com
Sat. 13th March 1999.
Division One.
Clydebank 2 (Elliott 44', Love 58')
Hibernian 0
Clydebank: Scott, Wishart, Love, Ritchie, McLaughlin, Taggart, Nicholls, Elliott, McDonald, Docherty, Miller.
Subs: Gardner (for McDonald 75'), Brown (for Elliott 80'), Anthony (for Docherty 87').
Hibernian: Gottskalksson, Collins, Lovering, Lovell, Marinkov, Dennis, Crawford, Sauzee, Paatelainen, Latapy, Miller.
Subs: Lavety (for Paatelainen 75'), Renwick & Holsgrove (not used).
Att: 1,695.
We recovered to win our last 7 in the League, making it 20 wins from 21 games. We finished 23 points ahead of Falkirk.
Clydebank dipped to 7th, but were still 18 points clear of the relegation places, occupied by Stranraer & Accies.
Livi & Caley Thistle replaced them.
Ross County won Division 3.
1999/2000.
Promotion or not, we faced Clydebank home and away again in the following season. "Home" for Bankies was now Cappielow Park.
Having beaten Pars 4-1 (Miller, Brebner, I.Murray, D.Collins) in the opening round we came out of the hat at home to the Bankies in the last 16 of the Scottish Cup.
Clydebank were in desperate trouble. Having opened their season with a "home" League Cup loss to East Stirlingshire, who'd finished 8th in Division 3 the previous term and were to finish 7th in the millennium campaign, Bankies arrived at ER with just 4 points, gained from 4 draws, in 24 League matches.
We'd just drawn 2-2 with the Huns at ER, being pegged back after Kenny Miller had twice given us the lead. The Huns were on their way to the double - winning the League by 21 points and losing just 2 matches all season.
This should have been a "gimme."
It was no such thing. Ex-Bankie Tam Smith marched on 37', for nothing more malicious than performing a B. S. I. Kitemark test on an opponent's shinpad, and we were looking at an embarrassment on an Andorran scale when Lee Gardner converted a penalty kick just after the hour. Paul Hartley rescued us with an equaliser.
YouTube highlights:
Hibernian v Clydebank - 19th February 2000 Scottish Cup 4th Round at Easter Road
Sat. 19th February 2000.
Scottish Cup, 4th round.
Hibernian 1 (Hartley 66')
Clydebank 1 (Gardner pen 63')
Hibernian: Colgan, Collins, Smith, Hughes, Jack, I.Murray, Brebner, Sauzee, Hartley, Paatelainen, K.Miller.
Subs: Lehmann (for Paatelainen 75'), Lovell (for Hartley 81'), Lovering (not used).
Clydebank: Scott, S.Murray, Sutherland, Murdoch, Brannigan, Wishart, G.Miller, Gardner, McKelvie, McWilliams, Cameron.
Subs: McKinstrey (for Murdoch 66'), O'Neill (for McKelvie 68'), Hunter (for McKinstrey 86')
Att: 9,827.
Ten days later, a pleasingly complete length of the whole of the A8 brought us to an eerily underpopulated Cappielow for the replay.
There had been nothing pleasant about our two games in between: a 1-0 loss in Perth and an inexplicable 4-0 tanning at bottom-of-the-table Aberdeen.
Clydebank boss Steve Morrison had to play in goals for this. I've been unable to discover why. He seems to have done a decent job.
www.youtube.com
Tue. 29th February 2000.
Scottish Cup, 4th round replay.
Clydebank 0
Hibernian 3 (Lovell 39', Lehman 73', Sauzee 81')
Clydebank: Morrison, S.Murray, Oliver, Murdoch, Brannigan, Wishart, G.Miller, Gardner, McKelvie, Cameron, McWilliams.
Subs: O'Neill (for Gardner), Hunter (for Miller), McKinstrey (not used).
Hibernian: Colgan, Collins, Smith, Hughes, Sauzee, Lovell, Brebner, Latapy, McGinlay, Lehmann, K.Miller.
Subs: Dennis, Hartley, Paatelainen (not used).
Att: 2,225.
We beat Falkirk in the QFs, before squandering a lead and losing to the Sheep in the Hampden semi. The Huns thrashed them 4-0 in the final. We finished 6th in the League, which wasn't too bad in our first season back up.
Clydebank finally won a League game on 7th March - beating Raith 2-1 in Greenock. It was their only win. They finished the season with 10 points, 19 adrift of Airdrie.
Two years later, after finishing 5th and 4th in Division Two, the old Clydebank were gone.
Massive thanks to the almost incomparably excellent Bankies Archive site for the quick links to YouTube and a lot of the info in this piece... and a shout out to the stats section of the London Hearts S. C. site, which is as useful a repository of obscure info as can be easily found online.
The thing he recalled most vividly was the number of bombsites and derelict buildings. That caught my attention.
The most devastating German bombing raid carried out on Scotland in WW2 was on the consecutive nights of March 13th & 14th 1941. It was centred on Clydebank. More than 500 people were killed in the town, with another 500+ being killed in neighbouring localities. One report says there were only eight buildings in the whole of Clydebank that were not damaged
.That's the thing that struck me most on 1970s away trips to Glasgow.
Not sharpened 2p coins or golf balls with nails in being hoyed from home terraces - I certainly didn't want to be struck by them.
Not the visibly obvious situation of many Glasgow slums being far more deprived than anywhere I knew in Edinburgh.
It was the amount of bomb damage. Bombsites weren't common in Edinburgh in the late 1960s. I've seen a figure of 21 Edinburgh civilian fatalities in air raids for the whole of WW2.
Neither strategic bombing by the Luftwaffe nor poverty in post-war Glasgow are the topic of this post - as I'm sure you'll be glad to hear.
The topic is our playing history against Clydebank.
Unlike my recent post about the winless streak v. the Huns, there aren't many memorable matches or stellar seasons mentioned in this.
1964/65: The Franchise
.Apart from the bomb damage observation, the other thing that interested me about the post in "Another Place" was the simple fact of us playing Clydebank in 1965.
I had doubts that we'd done so, but we did.
We drew them, at home, in the 1st round of the Scottish Cup - the last 32: the stage at which both clubs entered.
This was the thoroughly depressing, "What if...?" season.
As in, "What if Jock Stein had stayed?"
That 1965 home game against E. S. Clydebank, as they were billed, was the first match Hibs played after what might still be the most pivotal moment in the Club's history. Six days earlier, Celtic had issued a statement that confirmed the grapevine rumours: Jock Stein had signed a contract to take the manager's seat at Darkheid at the end of the '64'/65 season
.The original tie, at ER, was played on Saturday 6th February 1965. That was my ex's 6th birthday. I'd not met her then. Thankfully
.Going into the match, Hibs were well positioned for a run at the League title.
It was an 18-team top flight then. 34 games. Still 2 points for a win.
Hearts led the table by 3 points, but they were up to date with their fixtures. A four-team chasing pack all had games in hand.
The Gunts had 36 points from 24 matches. Killie had 33 from 23. We also had 33 points, but from 22 games. The Huns and Pars were 6 adrift on 30 points each but both had 3 games in hand, having played only 21 matches. We were arguably favourites for the title.
Celtic, waiting all season for approval from His Holiness - Pope Paul VI in those days - of their possibly excommunicable plan to tap-up
the Protestant Jock Stein, languished just behind the mighty Clyde. They'd garnered 26 points from 23 games.They'd not won a major trophy since beating the Huns 7-1
in the October 1957 League Cup Final and had won neither League nor Scottish Cup since Stein had captained them to the double in 1954. Times have changed a wee bit.
The picture on the cover of the match programme, priced at 3d in "old money", was from the previous Saturday's game at ER.
This had been against the defending League Champions, the Huns, before a crowd of 44,300. We won a "four-pointer" 1-0.
The cover photo shows an airborne Neil Martin, impressively executing a rugby hand-off to barge young whippersnapper Peter Cormack aside, as he rises majestically to thunder the winning header past Huns goalie Billy Ritchie.
The most striking thing about the picture is that the whole pitch is covered by a thick layer of snow.
I got the Hibs & Bankies line-ups from the February 7th edition of the Sunday Mail.
There was an avant-garde letter in that. It was from a lady. She was secretary of the Carnwath Rangers Supporters Club. (Someone had to be.) She criticised the decision to play the game, claiming the icy steps to the terrace "...weren't so bad going up but were a death-trap going down..." and that the wooden rails on the stairs were bending. She opined that one person slipping would've led to a disaster and mentioned the 1902 Ibrox tragedy. Health & safety! Sixty years ago!
She agreed the pitch was playable. Modern rights & safety were such obscure concepts in 1965 that even the Huns just shrugged and got on with things, without issuing statements.The biggest sports headline in that week's Sunday Mail was the banner for Rex Kingsley's column.
It often was.
Kingsley was king of Scotland's sports writers, announcers and much else. I've seen lists of "Scottish Footballer of the Year" that start with Gordon Smith in 1951. There was no such award - officially - until the Scottish Football Writers Association was formed in 1965, but Rex Kingsley handed-out his own award. It was seen as prestigious. Maybe he canvassed opinions from other journalists, but it was "The Rex Kingsley Footballer of the Year Award."
Kingsley's headline on Feb. 7th was, "WHAT A BARGAIN!"... with the subtitle, "Scotland's first £5,000 per year manager is still cheap at the price."
The manager was obviously Jock Stein, whose poaching by Celtic had been announced the previous Sunday.
Kingsley stated his belief that managers should be paid more than players and that Stein would quickly "grab Celtic by the scruff of the neck and propel them to success."
He also believed Hibs would poach Bob Shankly as Stein's replacement. With several Dundee players agitating for improved contracts or transfers and the Dark Blues' board keeping their hands in their pockets, Shankly had rejected an improved 5-year deal at Dens Park the previous summer.
As I say, the visitors were billed as "E. S. Clydebank." This was their only season under that name.
The club was really East Stirlingshire. It had been relocated to Clydebank by the opportunistic Glasgow car dealers, the Steedman brothers, Jack & Charlie, who'd bought East Stirlingshire in the late 1950s. (Can you have two better names for a couple of flyboys than Jack & Charlie?)
The Steedmans were ahead of their time. They were knowledgeable about football. When on holiday in Europe, they watched games on the continent, armed with notebooks. They were well-connected. Taking over a struggling Shire, they dispensed with the traditional practice of all Division Two stragglers - the signing of journeymen and washed-up players.
The Steedmans signed promising youngsters from the Juniors, paying them over-the-odds from their own pockets, in the hope of selling the players on for fat transfer fees.
Their biggest success was Eddie McCreadie, who went to Chelsea and was Scotland's left-back for the second half of the 1960s, including in the 1967 Wembley team. Of course, he famously underwent gender reassignment and retired to a lovely blue house in Balamory, where she served as the school bus driver.
The Steedmans improved Shire sufficiently on the field to win promotion in 1963. Predictably, this proved a step too far. In spite of going full-time, they finished bottom, accompanying Queen of the South back down in 1964. As well as being Shire's last appearance, this was also the Doonhamers' last season in the top flight.
With a return to second division football at Firs Park in Falkirk and sub-1,000 gates against Forfar, Berwick & Stranraer unappealing, the Steedmans quickly negotiated a deal with Clydebank Juniors to merge the two clubs and play the 1964/65 season at Kilbowie Park.
The speed of the relocation blindsided both the minority shareholders at Firs Park and the Shire supporters. There was nothing in the rulebooks of either the S. F. A. or the League that even hinted at any breach of regulations.
Curious natives in Clydebank turned out in respectable numbers to watch the new lodgers in the '64/'65 campaign. 4,700 saw their first home League Cup game, a 2-2 draw against Stenhousemuir. Saturday attendances in the League were in the 3,000s or 4,000s, which was a lot better than most Division Two clubs pulled in the mid-60s. Clydebank got 6 points from 6 matches to finish 3rd in their League Cup group but they made a striking start to the League campaign: winning 4-1 at both Alloa & Montrose and beating Dumbarton 3-0 at Kilbowie to be top after 3 games. By Halloween they were still going strong: 2nd in the table, trailing Stirling Albion on goal average. 10 wins, 3 draws and 2 defeats from 15 games. They tailed-off after that, winning only 2 of their 10 subsequent matches by the time of the trip to Easter Road, but they were still well in the promotion picture on the first Saturday of February. Stirling had scooted 8 points clear of Queen's Park, but only 6 points covered 6 teams in the race for the 2nd promotion place. The Bankies were just 4 points behind the Spiders, with 2 games in hand.
There was reportedly a murmur around the ground as Clydebank prepared to kick off. The reason? The toss. It's possibly an indication of addled minds in the home dressing room that Hibs skipper John Fraser won coin-spin and elected to kick down the slope.
Still, we seemingly started well enough. We rained shots down on the Clydebank goal, in which the 18-year-old John Arrol produced a man of the match display. Arrol would move to Dundee in the summer, before establishing himself as Dunfermline's number #1 a few years later.
We soon began to misfire, looking disjointed and lacking our usual fluidity.
Never mind. Nearing the half-hour, Willie Hamilton jinked past the Bankies defence, Arrol included, before fullback Willie Stobo castled him as he was about to shoot into an empty net.
Pat Quinn blootered the resulting penalty kick over the bar.
We seem to have "Hibs'd it", in our traditional manner when we're well on top in a game.
"The longer they went without a goal, the more elaborately Hibs tried to engineer one..."
read the Sunday Mail report.Did we, aye?
Hibs? Really?
Ye don't say!
Quinn hit the crossbar before the interval but Arrol and Bankies held firm.
Big Jock switched his forwards around at halftime, but it made little difference. Reports are rather scathing of the ineffectiveness of Cormack and Martin, but biggish Neil rose for a close-range header at the near post to convert a Quinn cross and give us the lead.
Bankies threw men forward in response to the concession. They reportedly had us rattled. Their most threatening player was the Steedmans' nephew, future Scotland boss Andy Roxburgh. He'd been a gentleman amateur at Queen's Park the previous season, but his uncles persuaded him to turn pro. I've no idea if he was teaching by then, but he was a headteacher by the time he finished playing. Roxburgh had a good enough season in Clydebank to earn a summer upgrade to Partick.
Bankies centre-forward Bobby Jones found the bottom corner of Willie Wilson's net with a low drive from just inside the box to equalise.
We allegedly survived a serious stramash in the 6-yard box with a couple of minutes remaining.
The five weeks of Jock Stein as arguably a "lame duck" manager had well & truly begun.
Sat. 6th February 1965.
Scottish Cup, 1st round.
Hibernian 1 (Martin 62')
ES Clydebank 1 (Jones 73')
Hibernian: Wilson, Fraser, Davis, Stanton, McNamee, Baxter, Martin, Quinn, Vincent, Hamilton, Cormack.
ES Clydebank: Arrol, Stobo, McQueen, Collumbine, Craig, Kilgannon, Lourie, McPhie, Jones, Roxburgh, Hamill.
Att: 11,500
One final note on this game.
Jack Steedman may never officially have been manager or coach, but neither was anyone else for much of the brothers' stewardship of Clydebank. Whatever, Jack Steedman picked the Clydebank team and dictated the tactics. Having noticed teams on the continent deploying a sweeper, he used Ernie Collumbine in the role at Clydebank during the '64/'65 campaign. It's often claimed that he was the first manager of a professional club in Britain to use a sweeper. It's also claimed that Jock Stein noticed the problems Collumbine and the formation gave Hibs in this fixture and earmarked John Clark for a sweeper role as soon as he was in the door at Darkheid.
So, 4 days later, it was down the A8 for the sequel.
This was slightly inconvenient for Clydebank. With ground improvements at Kilbowie proceeding apace, they'd arranged a Monday night glamour friendly against Sunderland to unveil their new floodlights. It went ahead. More than 10,000 watched Sunderland win 5-1.
Two days later, an attendance subsequently listed as 14,900 crammed-in for the replay. Many contemporary accounts gave the gate as between 11,000 and 11,900. (I got the line-ups from a report in The Scotsman, which gives 11,500.) Printing error or not, the 14,900 remained Kilbowie's official record attendance for the rest of its days. However many were in, most were hoping for a "giant-killing" of Jock Stein's champions elect.
The teams were unchanged. Stan Vincent took an early knock. With no subs in those days, he limped on. On a soft pitch that cut-up badly, Bankies held-out until halftime, without Arrol having to repeat his Saturday heroics. Willie Wilson had to make a couple of saves from Andy Roxburgh before the interval. Any gathering nerves were curtailed by two early 2nd half goals. Willie Hamilton despatched a one-on-one low past Arrol and Peter Cormack met a free-kick on the volley for the second. It was a comfortable enough win in the end.
Wed. 10th February 1965.
Scottish Cup, 1st round replay.
ES Clydebank 0
Hibernian 2 (Hamilton 50', Cormack 56')
ES Clydebank: Arrol, Stobo, McQueen, Collumbine, Craig, Kilgannon, Lourie, McPhie, Jones, Roxburgh, Hamill.
Hibernian: Wilson, Fraser, Davis, Stanton, McNamee, Baxter, Cormack, Hamilton, Vincent, Martin, Quinn.
Att: 14,900.
We drew Partick in the next round - beating them 5-1 at ER after falling behind early. Then it was the Huns at home in the QF. 47,000 watched us win 2-1.
In what he sometimes nominated as the biggest regret of his career, Jock Stein walked-out 3 days later.
We lost 2-0 to the Pars at Tynecastle in the semis. Celtic beat them in the final to give Stein his first trophy as Darkheid boss.
It's been said before but, in fairness to Stein, the poaching of Bob Shankly had been just about sealed and the big man's impending departure seemed to destabilise the team. He may well have thought leaving before the end of the campaign was in the Club's best interests.
Either side of the Partick cup win, we lost at Killie and Morton, seriously damaging our title hopes. We recovered to bag 4 wins and a draw in the 5 League games immediately after Big Jock's departure - beating Dunfermline on March 31st, just 4 days after the SF defeat.
On the morning of April 3rd we were back up to 2nd in the table. With 4 matches to play, the Gunts had 45 points. We had 44, Killie 42 and the Pars, with a game in hand, were on 40. Rangers, with 2 games in hand, had 36, but already looked out of contention.
We lost 3 of our last 4 matches: our title aspirations finally evaporating after a 4-0 home defeat to Celtic, in which we started well but conceded 3 in quick succession before half-time. Neil Martin had a reportedly weak penalty kick saved by John Fallon. We'd won 4-2 at Darkheid just 17 days earlier.
5,093 disconsolate souls witnessed our last home game, a 5-1 rout of Airdrie.
We finished 4th, 4 points off the top pair.
Up ahead in the distance, the shimmering light of Kilmarnock winning their last 4 games denied the Gunts the title. Hearts dropped a crucial point at Tannadice, allowing Killie to close to within striking range for their decisive 2-0 last day win at Tynecastle. Pars won 4 of their last 5. A 1-1 draw at home to St. Johnstone cost them the title, as they finished a point behind Killie & the Gunts, with a vastly superior goal average to both.
E. S. Clydebank briefly rallied in the League, but a six-match winless run in March & April ended their promotion hopes. They finished 5th, 10 points adrift of runners-up Hamilton Accies.
In the courts, the powers that be forced the Steedmans to return East Stirlingshire Football Club to its rightful owners - the good folk of Falkirk.
E. S. Clydebank were no more.
Strangely, there was still an "E. S. Clydebank" nameplate for the scoreboard in Subbuteo sets a decade later.
The Steedmans applied for a new Clydebank F. C. to join the Scottish League. This appeared to be beneficial to everyone. There had been an inconvenient number of 19 clubs in Division Two for many years. Clydebank's attendances slipped to only just over 1,000 as their 1965 promotion hopes foundered, but they'd still averaged more than most Division Two clubs.
In those days, all gate receipts were split between the two clubs for every fixture. Clydebank would almost certainly be a net contributor to football's finances.
Even with a two-thirds majority required, they were surely a shoo-in for election. The S. F. L. clubs voted 19-18 against letting them in
.A compromise was hammered out. Clydebank would join the Reserve League for 1965/66 and be admitted to Division Two for '66/'67.
To go off on a slight tangent here, there's mention on another thread running on Bounce just now of returning to the traditional practice of both participating clubs splitting gate receipts 50/50 for every League fixture.
It sort of disturbs me that I, and just about everyone else, shrugged my shoulders and paid little heed to the vote that changed the gate-splitting rule.
I was still living in Edinburgh then. The vote was taken in the season we were in Division One. I'm almost certain it was a "one club, one vote" ballot in which all 38 clubs got an equal say. I mind it being something ridiculous like 26-12 or 28-10 in favour of the home club keeping all the receipts.
Am I tripping here?
Even if it was a Premier Division vote - and I can't see how it was - Airdrie, Partick & Morton were in the top flight in the season we were down in the 2nd tier.
I understand that the Bigot Brothers often got fewer than 20,000 fans for home games in the "Maggie's Millions" days. I know most club boards have a Billy Big Baws attitude. Deluding themselves that "investment", promotion and a doubling of attendances is just around the corner is a common fallacy. I hazily recall threats of a breakaway - which happened a decade later in any case. However, even given all that, how, in the name of Jehovah, did clubs vote for Celtic & Rangers to be allowed to pocket 60%+ of the Premier Division's gate receipts
? Maybe it was an A. G. M. vote in summer and I was on holiday, but I don't think it was. I genuinely have very little recollection of the event or any widespread news coverage of it.Turkeys and Christmas, or what?
Back to the subject... and reality...
As for us in the following season? We finished 6th under Bob Shankly and lost a replay to Valencia in the opening round of the Fairs Cup.
Celtic won the first title of their 9-in-a-row under Stein and narrowly lost to Bill Shankly's Liverpool in the Cup-Winners' Cup semi-finals in a Merseyside monsoon - their fans enjoying a mini-riot after an offside decision denied Bobby Lennox a 90th-minute goal that would have put them through to a final v. Borussia Dortmund.
The final was to be played at Hampden Park
."What if...?"
1977/78.
We didn't meet the "real" Clydebank until they arrived in the new Premier Division in 1977.
The Bankies had achieved two consecutive promotions. They'd won the new Division Two in '75/'76, under the "14-club, 26-game" format, pipping Raith on goal difference but finishing 5 points ahead of 3rd-placed Alloa. They also made the final that season of the short-lived Spring Cup, which was designed to make up for lost League fixtures, losing to Airdrie in extra time.
On arrival in Division One, they chased home Alex Ferguson's St. Mirren in '76/'77 to earn a place in the top tier, finishing a comfortable 7 points ahead of Dundee.
The First Proper Meeting.
As with the E. S. Clydebank home game 12 years earlier, we came into the match on the back of an impressive win over the Huns the previous Saturday. 2-0 at Ibrox. Gordon Rae early & a last-gasp clincher from Des Bremner. 20,800 in for the Huns' first home game of the season... and they went on to win the treble that term
! Different times.
We'd pulled south of 9,000 for our opener against Motherwell. The 0-0 draw did nothing for fans' waning enthusiasm.
A disappointing '76/'77 campaign had seen ER's average attendance fall by almost 28% to 10,003. Hardly surprising. I don't recall the 34 goals scored and 35 conceded in 36 League matches, 18 of which were drawn, with only 8 wins, constituting riveting entertainment. There were no cup runs to spice-up the season. Consequently, only 6,775 witnessed our first encounter with the "proper" Clydebank
. I don't remember being amongst them.Having opened with a draw at St. Mirren and beaten East Fife 5-0 in the League Cup, the Bankies pulled 4,486 for their first Premier Division home game - a 3-1 loss v. the Sheep.
Still, we seem to have won the match comfortably enough.
Here's an action pic from the game. Programme cover too. Not sure when we signed Leo Sayer and don't remember Leo with a tache. I can't stop loving that kit, mind.
Sat. 27th August 1977.
Premier Division.
Hibernian 2 (Scott 13', Brazil 43')
Clydebank 0
Hibernian: McDonald, McNamara, Schaedler, Brazil, Stewart, Blackley, Smith, Bremner, Duncan, McLeod, Scott.
Subs: (not used) Rae, Murray.
Clydebank: Gallacher, Hall, Callaghan, Fallon, MacLauchlan, Houston, O'Brien, McColl, Larnach, McCallan, Lumsden.
Subs: McCormack (for Lumsden), Hay (for Callaghan).
Att: 6,775.
The First Defeat.
We didn't win the next encounter. I mind going to that - I think it was my only visit to Kilbowie Park - but I retain no memory of the actual game, which we lost 1-0 to a 1st half Billy McColl goal. Clydebank's first win against us
.Sat. 5th November 1977.
Premier Division.
Clydebank 1 (McColl 33')
Hibernian 0
Clydebank: Gallacher, Hall, Abel, Fallon, McCormack, Hay, McNaughton, McColl, Larnach, McCallan, Colgan.
Subs: (not used) Lumsden, Callaghan.
Hibernian: McDonald, McNamara, Schaedler, Bremner, Stewart, Brazil, Edwards, McLeod, Henderson, Higgins, Duncan.
Subs: Smith (for Schaedler 48'), Carroll (not used).
Att: 3,022.
The other two meetings that season appear to have been routine wins.
With the Gunts slumming it in Division One - from where they scraped up behind Morton, a point ahead of Dundee - there was no Hogmanay derby. We faced Clydebank at ER on January 2nd. A poor substitute. We won 2-0, with goals from Ally McLeod & Alex McGhee. 8,384 in.
We won 3-0 at Kilbowie in March - McLeod (2) and Bobby Hutchinson the scorers - with 2,192 watching.
After a dire first four months of the season, we recovered to finish a distant 4th - ahead of Celtic, who lost as many League games as they won (15
).Clydebank finished bottom and returned to Division One.
1978/79. Our All-Time Record Unbeaten Start.
Even though they'd been relegated, we still played Clydebank in the '78/'79 season.
The clubs met in round three of the League Cup, which was then played with a two-legged knockout format.
After despatching Brechin in round two, we ran out v. the Bankies at ER on the first Wednesday of October, still unbeaten in the League. However, three wins and four draws, with six goals scored and three conceded in the seven games, more or less confirmed that the Tornadoes had been downgraded to an occasionally pleasant breeze. We were 2nd in the table: two points behind Celtic and one ahead of both the Sheep and the Arabs.
The Bankies had endured an inconsistent start on their return to Division One, winning five of their ten games to that point.
An early Ally McLeod penalty kick provided the game's only goal.
A 1-0 win in front of 5,392 fans.
Having won 3-2 away to bottom of the table Motherwell three days later, while Celtic were losing to the Sheep, we were level on points at the top of the Premier Division when we travelled to Kilbowie for the 2nd leg. We struggled. A George Stewart goal just before halftime gave us some breathing space but a late John McCormack spot-kick for Clydebank reduced our winning margin over the two legs to a single goal.
The draw extended our unbeaten start to the season to 14 games in all competitions - the best we've ever managed. Alex Miller's 1991 League Cup winning squad equalled that feat
.The line-up that secured our record unbeaten streak at Kilbowie:
Weds. 11th October 1978.
League Cup, 3rd round, 2nd leg.
Clydebank 1 (McCormack pen 88')
Hibernian 1 (Stewart 44')
Clydebank: Hunter, Gervaise, Abel, Hall, McCormack, Fanning, McDougall, Houston, Millar, Given, Colgan.
Subs: Brown (for Gervaise 75'), McCulloch (not used).
Hibernian: McDonald, Duncan, Smith, Rae, Stewart, McNamara, Campbell, McLeod, Hutchinson, Callachan, Higgins.
Subs: (not used) Temperley, O'Brien.
Att: 2,870.
After Clydebank, we got past Morton in the QFs. Sadly, our League Cup aspirations perished when a hopeful Stuart Kennedy cross was caught by a gust at a wet & windy Dens Park and flukily swerved into Mike McDonald's top right corner, giving the Sheep an extra-time win in the semi-final
. Baa-
aaa-aaa-staaaards!As stated above, we'd gone 14 unbeaten after the Kilbowie draw. That was eight in the League, four in the League Cup & two legs v. I. F. K. Norrköping in the U. E. F. A. Cup.
We lost that unbeaten record to Partick at Firhill three days after the Kilbowie game.
We then astoundingly went 126 days
between the aforementioned victory over Motherwell and our next League win - 3-0 against the 'Well at Fir Park in the 2nd week of February. We recovered to scrape 5th in the League, a point ahead of St. Mirren and Morton.
We also made the Scottish Cup Final where, after two enthrallingly captivating draws, Arthur Duncan's goal was even more annoying than Stuart Kennedy's.
Clydebank won 24 of their 39 League games, reaching 54 points. That would be 78 under "3 for a win" - exactly 2 points per game - but they narrowly missed out on promotion, finishing only third: one point adrift of Dundee and behind Killie on goal difference.
1980/81. Winning a 14-Club Division One.
Clydebank next crossed our path after our relegation to the 2nd tier
in 1980. This was the start of the "Maggie's Millions" era. Times were hard.
We won the Division One title cosily enough, but an average home gate of 4,460 that term didn't help the bank balance.
The two home fixtures v. the Bankies in '80/'81 were won comfortably. 4-1 in September, with goals from Terry Wilson (
No. Me neither), John Connolly, Gordon Rae & Ally McLeod, in front of 4,505; 3-0 in April, with a Rae brace & one by Craig Paterson. Just 3,691 in ER for what was our penultimate home game of a title-winning campaign.The only meeting at Kilbowie was a 1-1 draw in November. Jimmy Brown scored our goal. We had two Jimmy Browns playing for us that season. I think it was the lad we got from England, rather than the Gunts' long-serving defender and barrack room lawyer, who famously sued an opponent for a tackle that ended his career... but I could be wrong
. The Wikipedia link goes to the Gunt. Bankies nicked a point with an 88th minute equaliser. 1,700 in attendance.Clydebank finished 10th, but racked-up 15 matches in runs to the quarter-finals of the League Cup and Scottish Cup.
1982/83. Bye-bye, Bertie.
The '82/'83 League Cup group stage saw our next two meetings. It also saw the departure of Bertie Auld after a cunning plan - "10-men-behind-the-ball" - got us a 0-0 draw in a "must win" game at Ibrox, followed by a tanking at Airdrie.
I've a couple of acquaintances who were on the wrong end of separate tankings at Airdrie about that time
.Our only win in the group was at Kilbowie. 2-0. Gary Murray - Simon's dad - on 35' and Gordon Rae on 90' with the goals. 1,414 in the ground on a Wednesday night in August.
We trailed for quite a while in the return match at ER seven days later, but Derek Rodier rescued a point with an equaliser on 72'. I mind him being a tad unusual. Clever blighter. Chemistry student when we signed him. Failed to make the grade as a footballer, but I doubt he's driving for Uber these days. He got involved as a volunteer at Spartans in the noughties. 2,303 loyal Leith punters witnessed what I believe may have been Bertie's last game in the ER dugout. I'm not 100% sure about that.
The Scotsman's report was condemnatory:
"Hibs Are Booed Again" ran the headline.
"Hibs were subjected to a barrage of abuse from a small crowd at Easter Road last night. Their performance left so much to be desired that the frequent outbursts of slow handclapping were no surprise. Hibs played poorly to a draw with Airdrie last Saturday and this was another mediocre show which could have wrecked their slim League Cup hopes completely. There was no cohesion about their play and over-anxiety as much as anything cost them several chances in the first half while they were in command. It was different though when Clydebank snatched a goal in 34 minutes. Ronald sent over an outswinging corner from the right and a long-range header by Given sailed over the stranded McArthur. Thomson and Rae had missed simple chances for Hibs who made two changes in the second half. McWilliams, an almost untried teenager, replaced Murray and Jamieson later took over from Rae. With 67 minutes gone Hibs obtained an equaliser through Rodier who finished off neat play between Brazil and Turnbull. Clydebank were cool under pressure, notably the veteran Fallon, who manipulated his forces with authority. Hibs were weak in front of goal and they had to rely on the efforts of Sneddon, Brazil and McNamara to maintain their momentum."
Clydebank's youthful strike partnership in both League Cup fixtures was Bobby Williamson, in the week after his 21st birthday, and a 19-year-old Tommy Coyne.
Pat Stanton got the manager's gig, but we started the League campaign with a six-match winless run
.Weds. 25th August 1982.
League Cup, group stage.
Hibernian 1 (Rodier 72')
Clydebank 1 (Given 34')
Hibernian: McArthur, Sneddon, Turnbull, Brazil, Welsh, McNamara, Callachan, Rae, Rodier, Murray, Thomson.
Subs: McWilliams (for Murray), Jamieson (for Rae).
Clydebank: Gallacher, Treanor, Gervaise, Fallon, McGhie, Given, Ronald, Hughes, Williamson, Coyne, McCabe.
Subs: McKeown, Sinclair.
Att: 2,303.
Despite just one win in our first 15 League games and only seven League wins all season, we somehow finished 7th
in '82/'83.The Bankies finished 3rd in Division One - five points behind St. Johnstone and four behind the Gunts.
Having just moved to London, a scroll through our fixtures and my memory says I came up for a record low six games.
I was roped-in to watching 20-odd Chelsea matches, in a season where they avoided relegation to Division Three by two points ("3 for a win" already down there), often playing home games in front of 7,000 or 8,000 fans.
Dark days for football.
Two seasons later, Clydebank finished as Division One runners-up to Motherwell in 1984/85 and returned to the Premier Division for '85/'86.
Quality may have been lacking, but entertainment wasn't, as there were 20 goals in our four games v. Clydebank that term.
1985/86. Our Biggest Win v. Bankies.
As had occurred in the past, the season's first meeting with the Bankies came after a great result against the Huns.
To say we'd an odd start to the '85/'86 campaign would be an understatement. We'd lost 17 goals
in recording "nul points" from our first six League games. However, we had romped through the League Cup preliminaries at ER in straight sets
- 6-0 v. Cowdenbeath (Cowan 3, Durie 2) and 6-1 v. Motherwell (Durie 3, Cowan 2) - before beating Celtic on penalty kicks in the QF after a 4-4 draw (Durie 2, Cowan 1). The Huns had opened with five wins and a Darkheid draw, before Dundee staged a 1-0 "smash & grab" at Ibrox, but they had needed penalty kicks to see off Forfar
in the League Cup.We weren't greatly fancied for the 1st leg of the semi-final at ER, but we won 2-0. Gordon Chisholm & Gordon Durie with the goals, after McCoist had squandered the "Penalty To Rangers!" just after halftime
. We broke our League duck with a win against Motherwell the following Saturday.
Clydebank had started the League season far better than anyone expected. They recorded early season wins against Dundee, St. Mirren...& the Gunts.
They beat the Gunts 1-0.
At Kilbowie.
On September 28th 1985.
Sub David Lloyd with the winner, 3 minutes from time.
The Gunts didn't lose again for 7 months and 32 games.
Until May 3rd 1986
. Does anyone remember where they lost on May 3rd?
Or the name of the scorer?
The Bankies were five points ahead of us (still "2 for a win") after seven games, but we should have been in confident mood when they arrived in Leith on the first Tuesday in October.
I've no idea why the match was played on a Tuesday night. The programme, price 50p, was dated for 10 days earlier: "Saturday September 21."
I'm likely forgetting something obvious.
There were riots aplenty in England that autumn - Brixton, Tottenham, Toxteth, Handsworth - but surely there was no disorder in Edinburgh. I don't recall any. It was still too monocultural for anything as exciting and exotic as rioting.
A postponement due to inclement weather? In 1985
? There could've been rice growing and carp swimming at the bottom of the slope in those days and the pitch would've passed an inspection.The programme cover. Why was this match postponed?
Tues. 1st October 1985.
Premier Division.
Hibernian 5 (Durie 25', 29', Cowan 49', 58', 86')
Clydebank 0
Hibernian: Rough, Sneddon, Munro, Brazil, Rae, Hunter, Kane, Chisholm, Cowan, Durie, McBride.
Subs: Milne (for Munro), Harris (for Brazil).
Clydebank: Gallacher, Dickson, Given, Fallon, Treanor, Maher, Ronald, Shanks, Larnach, Conroy, Lloyd.
Subs: Hughes (for Conroy), Moore (for Shanks).
Att: 5,491.
On a Wednesday night at the end of that month, we went to Kilbowie and won 4-2, after falling behind early on. Cowan with 2, Brazil & Kane on the scoresheet. 2,396 in.
The match was notable for being Joe Tortolano's debut. He replaced Paul Kane from the bench.
Bankies Only Win In Leith.
Clydebank's only win at ER
followed on the first Saturday of 1986. We'd recovered impressively from the six straight losses to be 6th on St. Andrew's Day, but our form was dipping again. We'd lost 3-1 at Tynecastle on New Year's Day to the "double winners elect", who'd already hit the front in the title race.
Clydebank had recorded only one win in 15 since beating the Gunts in September and had fallen to 9th - three points ahead of Motherwell.
Sat. 4th January 1986.
Premier Division.
Hibernian 2 (May 42', Cowan 67')
Clydebank 3 (Moore pen 3', Lloyd 61', 69')
Hibernian: Rough, Sneddon, Brazil, Rae, Fulton, Hunter, Kane, Chisholm, Cowan, Harris, May.
Subs: Tortolano (for Brazil 61'), Milne (not used)
Clydebank: Gallacher, Rennie, Treanor, Fallon, Auld, Moore, Shanks, Hughes, Gibson, Conroy, McCabe.
Subs: Lloyd (for Hughes 13'), McGhie (for McCabe 76).
Att: 5,137.
The season's last encounter, in March, saw Gordon Chisholm open the scoring and Joe Tortolano bag two at Kilbowie in a 3-1 win.
This might have been a "four-pointer", as we were just six points above the Bankies going into the match, but expansion of the Premier Division to 12 clubs for the following season had removed the threat of relegation. There were just 2,007 in the ground.
The Scotsman was effusive in its praise for the man of the match:
"The name Joe Tortolano may sound more Milanese than Midlothian, but the youngster with the Latin looks has a good old-fashioned Scottish touch. In the swarthy left-winger, Hibs have a player who can bring the fans to their feet just as the likes of Johnstone or Ormond did years ago. Clydebank will testify to Tortolano's talent. They were run ragged by his deft jinking and subtle shots and crosses. The highlight of his lovely performance was a curling shot at the end of a mesmerising run to give Hibs a second goal just on halftime. That effort followed up Gordon Chisholm's headed goal - predictably from Tortolano's free kick - minutes earlier. Even when Stuart Auld found space to glance a header past Alan Rough 20 minutes from time, Tortolano had more to say for himself. Straight from the kick off he skipped two tackles and flicked home a shot. The sooner more wingers like Joe Tortolano are given their chance the better it will be for Scottish football."
I didn't know Joe Tortolano's mother wrote match reports for The Scotsman.
1986/87. All Downhill From Opening Day.
With the Hampden Blazers' "Great Ideas Talking Shop" (GITS for short) having come up with a blinder in introducing a 12-team, 44-game Premier Division, we again faced Clydebank four times in the League in 1986/87.
With our usual sense of priorities, we escaped embarrassment against the Bankies in the League but lost to them in the Scottish Cup
.Letting Graeme Souness back into Scotland was arguably a worse idea than a 44-game League season. Still, the Opening Day game against his Huns side provided the highlight of what appeared, from a very great distance, to be the worst overall Hibs season I can remember.
At least there was the odd bright spot in the early part of the Duff Jimmy and Terry Butcher seasons. In '86/'87 there was only one. Like many others, I pitched-up at ER for that Opening Day Huns match with the usual ill-founded sense of optimism and left with it significantly enhanced.
The first half of that season's playing schedule was a mite punishing. All six rounds of the League Cup were shoehorned in before the clocks went back. Scotland squeezed-in Euro Qualifiers against Bulgaria, Ireland & Luxembourg on Wednesday nights and we got through 26 League games before New Year
. From those, we beat only the Bankies, Accies & Falkirk after that win against the Huns. Apart from beating that august triumvirate, a January win against St. Mirren was our only League victory all season after Opening Day. I'd moved from London to Dublin, but that was nowhere near far enough away, so I buggered off to Sydney to become an "undocumented migrant"... Or "Overstaying, tax-dodging Pommie bastard" as the phraseology of those unenlightened times had it.
Ten League wins from those 44 games still saw us finish comfortably above Falkirk, Clydebank & Hamilton, from whom we took 19 of our 33 points. (It was still "2 for a win.")
I thought about Auckland. Or Invercargill.
Or Pitcairn.
The '86/'87 Clydebank games?
The first was at ER on a Wednesday night in October. We'd just put four past Hamilton Accies at Douglas Park for our first League win since Opening Day. Both clubs had taken 7 points from 10 games.
The Bankies took a 2-0 lead inside 30 minutes, but we recovered to win 3-2. Willie Irvine got two, either side of Billy Kirkwood's only goal in a Hibs shirt. 5,030 the attendance.
The second was at Kilbowie on a Wednesday night in December. We'd just lost 3-1 at home to Hamilton Accies.
We had gleaned 13 points from 21 games. Clydebank had harvested 11. This was a "4-pointer."
We were shy of one manager. John Blackley had been punted a fortnight earlier. Alex Miller was yet to enter the building. 1,356 fans witnessed a 0-0 draw.
Lexo improved things a smidgeon. We'd taken 7 points from the last 6 League games, got past the Pars in the cup and were looking fairly safe from the threat of relegation by the third meeting.
This was on a Saturday. Valentine's Day. We'd just beaten Hamilton Accies 1-0 at Douglas Park.
Clydebank led 1-0 at halftime through wee Stuart Gordon, who later played for Hamilton Accies. 2nd half goals from Mickey Weir, Eddie May, Joe McBride & Stevie Cowan gave us a 4-1 win. 5,236 at ER to see the comeback.
An Irksome Cup Defeat.
The Scottish Cup meeting at Kilbowie, just seven days later, was rather more important.
Of course, we shagged it.
Sat. 21st February 1987.
Scottish Cup, 4th round.
Clydebank 1 (Gordon 14')
Hibernian 0
Clydebank: Gallacher, Dickson, Rodger, Treanor, Auld, Maher, Fairlie, Davies, Gordon, Conroy, Conn.
Subs: Given (for Rodger), Bain (for Gordon).
Hibernian: Rough, Hunter, Mitchell, May, Rae, McIntyre, Weir, McCluskey, Cowan, Chisholm, Collins.
Subs: McBride (for Mitchell), Irvine (for McCluskey)
Att: 6,500.
Bankies Last Ever Top-Flight Game.
There were 1,172 inside Kilbowie on the second Saturday of May to watch us round-off our season with a 2-1 win. Eddie May & Mickey Weir scored to again see us recover a deficit and collect two points.
This was Clydebank's last ever game in the top flight. Hamilton Accies denied them the wooden spoon for the only time in their three seasons at top level, but the Bankies were relegated from the Premier Division, never to return.
Sat. 9th May 1987.
Premier Division.
Clydebank 1 (Irons 49')
Hibernian 2 (May 58', Weir 74')
Clydebank: Brodie, Dickson, Conn, Maher, Sweeney, Irons, Bain, Davies, Grant, Fourna, Conroy.
Subs: Gray (for Bain), Fulton (for Davies).
Hibernian: Rough, Hunter, Mitchell, Bell, Rae, McIntyre, Weir, May, McCluskey, Kane, Collins.
Subs: McGovern (for McCluskey), Peters (not used)
Att: 1,172.
1989/90.
We drew the Bankies at ER in the 3rd round of the League Cup.
Having accounted for Alloa at ER in round two, we yet again came into a Clydebank game off an impressive win over the Huns: beating the champions 2-0 in our first home League fixture, with goals from Keith Houchen and Mickey Weir. 20,943 the unusually impressive gate. Not surprisingly it was our highest attendance at ER that term.
Fewer than one-third of that number showed-up three days later for the Bankies tie.
The visitors had finished 3rd in both seasons since relegation, without ever threatening to claim the Division One title and the single promotion place available. They'd beaten Meadowbank in round two but had lost their two League games to Partick and St. Johnstone.
This was the game in which Andy Goram scored the winner in the shoot-out.
The Glasgow Herald report suggests we hammered Bankies 0-0. The legendary Jim Gallacher needed to produce a back-pedalling save and required help from his crossbar to thwart o.g. attempts by John Davies and Sean Sweeney. He also made smart first-half stops from Mickey Weir and Graham Mitchell.
We went with three up front when Gareth Evans arrived just after the break, but a few potshots and a couple of loud shouts for penalty kicks were the best we could muster. Ken Eadie reportedly blootered Clydebank's best chance over the bar from close range. Paul Kane missed a bit of a gaper in extra time, after a one-two with Weir, but we couldn't break the deadlock.
Tue. 22nd August 1989.
League Cup, 3rd round.
Hibernian 0
Clydebank 0
a.e.t.
(Hibs won 5-3 on pens.)
Hibernian: Goram, Kane, Sneddon, Cooper, Mitchell, Hunter, Weir, Orr, Houchen, Collins, Hamilton.
Subs: Evans (for Hamilton 51'), Findlay (for Mitchell 78').
Clydebank: Gallacher, Dickson, Rodger, Maher, Auld, Sweeney, Davies, Harvey, Eadie, Hughes, Coyle.
Subs: McGurn (for Maher 79'), Robertson (for Hughes 90').
Pens: Paul Kane 1-0, Ken Eadie 1-1, John Collins 2-1, Owen Coyle 2-2, Keith Houchen 3-2, Jim Robertson 3-3, Neil Orr 4-3, Stuart Auld miss, Andy Goram 5-3.
Att: 6,669.
League Cup rounds were rattled off in consecutive midweeks back then. We lost at home to Dunfermline in the next round, 7 days later. Typically, we didn't lose any of the League games against the Pars that term
. Another disappointing League season followed. We finished 7th, with 34 points from 36 games... the same number of points as Celtic, who won only 10 League games all season.Clydebank fared better in the Scottish Cup, where they achieved arguably their greatest feat. They went all the way to a Hampden semi-final, where they lost 2-0 to Celtic through early and late Andy Walker goals. The Sheep beat Celtic 9-8 on penalty kicks after a 0-0 draw in the decider: Brian Irvine with the winning spot-kick after Anton Rogan had missed. Bankies finished 3rd in Division One for a 3rd straight season but never seriously looked like going up - St. Johnstone had lost only one game until a festive defeat at Kilbowie and Airdrie chased Sainties hard all the way for the only promotion place.
1991/92.
With the Skol Cup safely in the ER trophy cabinet and a Keith Wright brace having seen-off Partick in our Scottish Cup opener, we took our campaign for a cup double to Kilbowie in the last 16.
I was organising a "Get The Heck Out Of Dodge" plan to move to Kuala Lumpur, so I didn't consider coming up from London. That move worked out as well as Islam Feruz or Owain Tudur-Jones pitching up at ER.
What I knew would be my last visit to ER for a while was a loss to St. Johnstone
. Had I been booked on Malaysia Airways it might have been my last ever visit, but I went for the less adventurous option and flew BA - British Caledonian having gone tits-up a few years earlier.We'd only lost 6 of 32 League matches by the time of the Kilbowie tie - 3 of those to the almost all-conquering Huns
. At least we denied them the treble.We won 5-1, on what looks to have been a glorious, springlike day
.The highlights are on YouTube:
Sat. 15th February 1992
Scottish Cup, 4th round.
Clydebank 1 (Eadie 79')
Hibernian 5 (McGinlay 10', Weir 34', McIntyre 71', Wright 80', Evans 85')
Clydebank: Gallacher, Rowe, Crawford, Maher, Goldie, McIntosh, Harvey, B.Wright, Eadie, Henry, King.
Subs: Smith & Kelly (for Goldie & Rowe halftime)
Hibernian: Burridge, Orr, Mitchell, Hunter, McIntyre, McLeod, Weir, Hamilton, K.Wright, Evans, McGinlay.
Subs: (not used) Tortolano & Beaumont.
Att: 7,350.
There's one aggravating stat about this game that I spent quite a while online trying to clear-up. Without success. Few players anywhere are held in such high esteem at a club as Jim Gallacher at Clydebank. He played 742 competitive games for the Bankies. He's almost as well-regarded as Conrad Logan, who played slightly fewer at ER. The record books show that Gallacher played only three matches in '91/'92, which was his final season. He played in this cup tie, so it could have been his final game. It's a 2-1 chance. There are dozens of interviews with the man looking back on his career, but nowhere online can I get an answer with a "Jim Gallacher's last game for Clydebank" search on Google.
His son Paul had an odd career. Just about 2nd in the Scotland pecking-order when at the Arabs in his youth, getting 8 caps over two seasons. Moved down south to Norwich. Got injured. Lost his place for club & country. Was never as highly rated again. Still, I suppose fallen stars have had worse career paths than "Pars, Paisley, Partick." Is he still goalie coach with the Gunts?
Any road, we lost at home to Airdrie in the QFs and plodded-on to finish a respectable 5th in the League.
Clydebank wound-up 9th of 12 in Division One.
1998/99.
Having plodded-on for 10 years under Lexo, the Board decided that plodding-on was no longer acceptable.
Duff Jimmy replaced Lexo - after an intermission under Jocky Scott.
In fairness to the Board, Duff Jimmy's appointment brought about a swift change to our level of performance.
7 wins in 39 League games led us to a never-to-be-forgotten triumph over Airdrie and a return to League fixtures against Clydebank.
And Stranraer
.The start of the '98/'99 season coincided with my longest spell back in the UK until I returned permanently(?) last spring.
Skiving off back over here for a month was just about acceptable when I was in Thailand. I didn't even think of trying it when I was in Korea.
Considering us a certainly for Division One, I managed to get about £400 on at 10-11 and 5-6, in small amounts at high street bookies, then had another £500 in two hits at the generally available 4-5.
My optimism and enthusiasm lasted two games. I'd borrowed a Suzuki GSF600 "Bandit" for the duration of my stay. Riding it was quite fun and I'd folk to see in London & Dublin. Last-gasp winners at Cappielow (Barry Lavety) & v. Accies at Firhill (Stuart Lovell) or not, our level of performance gave me little incentive to dash back to Scotland. Given the loss to Stranraer, this was fortunate, though the League Cup win v. the Sheep must've been enjoyable. I'd reservations about parking the bike in West Blackhall Street while having an omelette & chips for lunch, never mind outside Cappielow. Greenock's not exactly Gullane. (For all I know, Gullane could be twinned with Govan these days, but not back then.) The bike was still in one piece after the game. I was back in Edinburgh before my last ever trip to Brockville, but I got the train. Two locks & a cover make nothing Bairnproof. I'm informed boys in the Falkirk / Grangemouth area still steal stuff these days. Is this true
? Likely just negative stereotyping.I'd gone back by the time of our first meeting that term with Clydebank.
The Steedmans, frustrated at not being able to acquire a site for a new ground, had flogged Kilbowie Park and sold-up after almost 40 years at Clydebank, who were now homeless. Bankies played the '98/'99 season at Boghead Park in Dumbarton - a ground that made Kilbowie look like Allegiant Stadium in Vegas.
We travelled to the midden by the Leven on the first Saturday of September. After a stodgy and scoreless first half, Kevin Harper gave us the lead, only for a young Gary Teale to equalise. He did OK with Wigan & Derby in the E. P. L. & got 13 caps. Not to worry. Stevie Crawford scored what ought to have been our 3rd last-minute winner in 4 away games, but big Kenny Brannigan levelled 60 seconds later. 2-2 the final score. 1,803 in the desolate Dumbarton dive.
Things can change rapidly in football... as some of us have noted this season.
In the 7 days after that Boghead draw, we endured a 4-0 midweek erse-raping by St. Johnstone in the League Cup, followed by a 2-0 loss at St. Mirren. The torches were being lit and the pitchforks were being sharpened. The mob prepared to march on the recently renamed Tache Towers and demand Big Eck's napper on a platter. Six games in "This Armpit Division!", as my closest Hibby pal called it, had seen us register two wins, two draws & two defeats.
The notion that we'd lose only one more League game all season seemed a tad far-fetched, but that's exactly what happened.
Few were confident we'd turned the corner when Clydebank arrived at ER on Halloween. Despite registering 4 wins and 2 draws in 6 games since the Love Street loss, we'd not been convincing.
The previous three Saturdays had seen an 87th minute Stuart Lovell winner at Stranraer, an 85th minute Pat McGinlay winner against Morton and a 3-3 draw at Ayr in which Yogi & Mixu scored in the last six minutes to nick an unlikely point on Russell Latapy's debut.
We had hit the front in the table, but Ayr, Airdrie & Falkirk were all within 3 points of us. It didn't feel as if a 22-game unbeaten League run was underway, but it was.
Goals from McGinlay and Mixu saw off Bankies, though a late Andy Brown consolation briefly gave the visitors hope. 2-1 at full-time, 9,027 inside ER to see it.
We didn't look back.
When Clydebank returned to ER on the last Saturday before Christmas we'd just beaten Falkirk 2-1 to establish a 6-point lead over the Bairns. Bankies were 6th, 16 points behind us. with 6 wins, 7 draws and 6 defeats.
Added time goals by Latapy & McGinlay gave us a slightly flattering 3-0 win, after McGinlay had opened the scoring early on. 9,060 in.
Highlights on YouTube:
Hibernian v Clydebank 19th December 1998
Scottish League Division One Match between Hibernian and Clydebank at Easter Road on 19th December 1998
www.youtube.com
The title race was just about done & dusted by the time we went to Boghead on 13th March. 13 straight League wins had seen us romp 17 points clear of Falkirk with 8 matches to play. The Scottish Cup sting by Stirling Albion still smarted, mind
.It was a case of "Unlucky 13."
We couldn't quite have clinched the title with a win, but we didn't manage to win in any case. Missed penalty, red card, Keystone Cops goalkeeping and the rest of the defending would've given Alan Hansen a coronary. All on a pitch that an Irish Turf Club clerk of the course might've described as "yielding to soft." 1,639 fans saw us lose 2-0. Goals by Barry Elliott, who played one game for Celtic, and Graeme Love, who was in our Youth Cup winning team in 1992 but made only 40-odd appearances in 6 seasons as a pro at ER. This was his sole goal for Bankies. He never scored for us.
The highlights of the game are on YouTube, with a word from Joe McLaughlin, who'd moved from ER to Clydebank the previous season.
Clydebank v Hibernian (Scottish League Division One, 13th March 1999)
Scottish League Division One match between Clydebank and Hibernian at Boghead Park on the 13th March 1999
www.youtube.com
Sat. 13th March 1999.
Division One.
Clydebank 2 (Elliott 44', Love 58')
Hibernian 0
Clydebank: Scott, Wishart, Love, Ritchie, McLaughlin, Taggart, Nicholls, Elliott, McDonald, Docherty, Miller.
Subs: Gardner (for McDonald 75'), Brown (for Elliott 80'), Anthony (for Docherty 87').
Hibernian: Gottskalksson, Collins, Lovering, Lovell, Marinkov, Dennis, Crawford, Sauzee, Paatelainen, Latapy, Miller.
Subs: Lavety (for Paatelainen 75'), Renwick & Holsgrove (not used).
Att: 1,695.
We recovered to win our last 7 in the League, making it 20 wins from 21 games. We finished 23 points ahead of Falkirk.
Clydebank dipped to 7th, but were still 18 points clear of the relegation places, occupied by Stranraer & Accies.
Livi & Caley Thistle replaced them.
Ross County won Division 3.
1999/2000.
Promotion or not, we faced Clydebank home and away again in the following season. "Home" for Bankies was now Cappielow Park.
Having beaten Pars 4-1 (Miller, Brebner, I.Murray, D.Collins) in the opening round we came out of the hat at home to the Bankies in the last 16 of the Scottish Cup.
Clydebank were in desperate trouble. Having opened their season with a "home" League Cup loss to East Stirlingshire, who'd finished 8th in Division 3 the previous term and were to finish 7th in the millennium campaign, Bankies arrived at ER with just 4 points, gained from 4 draws, in 24 League matches.
We'd just drawn 2-2 with the Huns at ER, being pegged back after Kenny Miller had twice given us the lead. The Huns were on their way to the double - winning the League by 21 points and losing just 2 matches all season.
This should have been a "gimme."
It was no such thing. Ex-Bankie Tam Smith marched on 37', for nothing more malicious than performing a B. S. I. Kitemark test on an opponent's shinpad, and we were looking at an embarrassment on an Andorran scale when Lee Gardner converted a penalty kick just after the hour. Paul Hartley rescued us with an equaliser.
YouTube highlights:
Hibernian v Clydebank - 19th February 2000 Scottish Cup 4th Round at Easter Road
Sat. 19th February 2000.
Scottish Cup, 4th round.
Hibernian 1 (Hartley 66')
Clydebank 1 (Gardner pen 63')
Hibernian: Colgan, Collins, Smith, Hughes, Jack, I.Murray, Brebner, Sauzee, Hartley, Paatelainen, K.Miller.
Subs: Lehmann (for Paatelainen 75'), Lovell (for Hartley 81'), Lovering (not used).
Clydebank: Scott, S.Murray, Sutherland, Murdoch, Brannigan, Wishart, G.Miller, Gardner, McKelvie, McWilliams, Cameron.
Subs: McKinstrey (for Murdoch 66'), O'Neill (for McKelvie 68'), Hunter (for McKinstrey 86')
Att: 9,827.
Ten days later, a pleasingly complete length of the whole of the A8 brought us to an eerily underpopulated Cappielow for the replay.
There had been nothing pleasant about our two games in between: a 1-0 loss in Perth and an inexplicable 4-0 tanning at bottom-of-the-table Aberdeen.
Clydebank boss Steve Morrison had to play in goals for this. I've been unable to discover why. He seems to have done a decent job.
Clydebank v Hibernian - 29th February 2000 Scottish Cup 4th Round Replay at Cappielow
Clydebank v Hibernian - Scottish Cup 4th Round Replay at Cappielow on 29th February 2000
www.youtube.com
Tue. 29th February 2000.
Scottish Cup, 4th round replay.
Clydebank 0
Hibernian 3 (Lovell 39', Lehman 73', Sauzee 81')
Clydebank: Morrison, S.Murray, Oliver, Murdoch, Brannigan, Wishart, G.Miller, Gardner, McKelvie, Cameron, McWilliams.
Subs: O'Neill (for Gardner), Hunter (for Miller), McKinstrey (not used).
Hibernian: Colgan, Collins, Smith, Hughes, Sauzee, Lovell, Brebner, Latapy, McGinlay, Lehmann, K.Miller.
Subs: Dennis, Hartley, Paatelainen (not used).
Att: 2,225.
We beat Falkirk in the QFs, before squandering a lead and losing to the Sheep in the Hampden semi. The Huns thrashed them 4-0 in the final. We finished 6th in the League, which wasn't too bad in our first season back up.
Clydebank finally won a League game on 7th March - beating Raith 2-1 in Greenock. It was their only win. They finished the season with 10 points, 19 adrift of Airdrie.
Two years later, after finishing 5th and 4th in Division Two, the old Clydebank were gone.
Massive thanks to the almost incomparably excellent Bankies Archive site for the quick links to YouTube and a lot of the info in this piece... and a shout out to the stats section of the London Hearts S. C. site, which is as useful a repository of obscure info as can be easily found online.
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and as I remember it Steve Morrison had to go in goals as this was near the financial end for the club and their only goalie was injured and they had no one else on the books.
