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'Airdrieonians Football Club', more commonly known as 'Airdrie' were a
Scottish professional
football team from the town of
Airdrie, in the
Monklands area of
Lanarkshire.
The club became defunct at the end of the
Scottish Football League 2001/02 season, despite the team finishing as
runners-up in the
SFL First Division to
Partick Thistle and therefore only narrowly missing out on promotion to the
Scottish Premier League.
During their one hundred and twenty four year existence the "Diamonds", as they were nick-named, won the old
Scottish Division Two three times, the
Spring Cup once and the
Scottish Challenge Cup on three occasions. The club also competed in four separate
Scottish Cup finals; winning the competition in 1924.
Airdrieonians were the first club in the Scottish League to fold since 1967, when
Third Lanark went bankrupt.
Meadowbank Thistle disappeared in 1995, but were relocated and reformed as
Livingston.
History
Formation & Early Years
The team was founded in
Airdrie,
North Lanarkshire in 1878 as 'Excelsior Football Club', changing its name to Airdrieonians in 1881. The club enjoyed its most successful era in the 1920s, finishing in second place in the Scottish League Championship four years in a row in between 1923 and 1926 as well as winning the
Scottish Cup in 1924. Following this victory, in early summer 1925, the club visited Norway and Sweden, and made a big impression. Translations of local newspaper reports, and some photographs of the tour, are available on the
Airdrieonians in Norway/Sweden 1925 website.
Airdrie spent much of the post war era "yo-yoing" between the First and Second Divisions. They reached the Scottish Cup Final in 1975, losing 3-1 to Celtic, and also the Texaco Cup Final of 1972, losing 2-1 on aggregate to Derby County.
Alex MacDonald Era
During the 1990s with Alex MacDonald at the helm Airdrie, having been members of the Premier Division in the 1991/92 and 1992/93, were regularly considered challengers for promotion. MacDonald also guided the Diamonds to two
Scottish Cup finals. In the 1992/1993 season, having reached the
Scottish Cup final the previous year where they were beaten by that season's Premier League Champions
Rangers, the club competed in the
European Cup Winners Cup. The club's second appearance of the decade in the final came in 1995, a mere seven years before they went out of business, on this occasion they lost 1-0 to the other half of the
Old Firm in the form of
Celtic.
Stadium
For most of its history, Airdrieonians played at
Broomfield Park in
Airdrie town centre. The final game at Broomfield took place in May 1994 after which the ground, having been sold to
supermarket chain
Safeway, was demolished to make room for their new store. The club's intention was to make use of the funds generated from the sale to build a new ten thousand capacity, all-seated stadium and therefore make the club eligible for entry into the
top tier of Scottish Football should they win the
First Division. The plan was fraught with problems, however, and acquiring planning permission for the new ground proved difficult. As a result of this Airdrie went on to groundshare with
Clyde at
Broadwood Stadium in
Cumbernauld for four seasons with the club eventually moving into its new home, the
Shyberry Excelsior Stadium, in time for the 1998/99 season. Airdrieonians played their home games there until they were liquidated in 2002.
It is arguably this stadium re-location and the difficulties generated by it that was Airdrie's first step towards oblivion. The mismanagement of the entire situation by the club's board, as well as
North Lanarkshire Council's lengthy delay in granting planning permission caused Airdrieonians' financial situation to reach critical level. This was not helped by the low attendances at
Excelsior Stadium following the completion of the move which, obviously, would be directly related to the quality of football on display - the poor nature of this having much to do with the Diamonds lack funds available to be spent on the team.
The minimum stadium capacity for entry into the
Scottish Premier League has since been reduced from ten to six thousand following the controversy arising from the
Falkirk's 2003 denial of promotion (despite a proposed groundshare with Airdrieonians re-imbodiment
Airdrie United) and the possibility of the situation repeating itself with
Inverness Caledonian Thistle the next year. Ironically
Falkirk would have been relegated at the end of the 2002/3 season after finishing ninth in the First Division, but their status in this league was preserved because of the demise of Airdrieonians.
Such a change came far too late to benefit Airdrie who had long since gone out of business, due to what could be said was merely an inevitable consequence of their trying to comply with the rules put in place at the time regarding admission to Scotland's top football league, which have since been recognised by the league to be completely unfeasible.
Death of Joey Rowan
Airdrieonians' demise was personified by the sudden and unexpected death of Joey Rowan, the club's sole remaining director. Joey had a long and intimate association with the club and was son-in-law and advisor to Airdrieonians' long term benefactor Jake Dalziel (recognised by having the main stand named after him). Joey, already a popular figure with the club's supporters due to his passion, candour and trademark ponytail, gained even more respect by remaining with Airdrieonians and incurring substantial personal losses whilst trying to steer the club away from liquidation despite the fact that the rest of the board had resigned amid finger-pointing and acrimony in an attempt to avoid reproach and financial liabilities. He is considered the club's last great hero for his selfless sacrifice and unyielding loyalty.
Steve Archibald Attempted Takeover
In February of 2000, following the decision by the club's board to allow more private investment,
Steve Archibald put forth a bid for Airdrieonians Football Club. During the 2000-01 football season Archibald, while constantly at odds with Airdrie liquidators
KPMG brought in many foreign players who quickly became popular in Airdrie. The former
Scotland and
Barcelona star's reign at Airdrie came to and end early in 2001 when
KPMG terminated their deal with him citing that Archibald had not kept up to date with payment of fees as their reason.
Success in Face of Demise
Apart from Airdrie's prominent record for a club of their size in the
Scottish Cup the Diamonds were also notably successful in the
Scottish Challenge Cup which they won in both 2000/01 and 2001/02, the two seasons immediately prior to their liquidation. An interesting fact about these victories is that they were achieved under two different chairmen and managers and with radically altered teams. The first triumphant side was made up of
Steve Archibald's extremely popular 'Spanish Armada'; a talented set of players Archibald had brought in when he held preferred bidder status for Airdrieonians F.C. who's attacking, entertaining football had steadily won over the
New Broomfield crowd. Despite their aforementioned prowess, however, the side performed relatively poorly in the league finishing a disappointing 8th and therefore only narrowly avoiding relegation to the
Second Division. Confirming their potential the core of this squad went on, following Archibald's leaving the club, to play for
SPL sides with striker and goalkeeper
David Fernández and
Javier Sánchez Broto both eventually signing for
Celtic while midfielders
Jesus Sanjuán and
Antonio Calderón went on to play for
Kilmarnock
The next year when the club won the competition with
Ian McCall's assortment of free transfers, loan signings and the very few players from the previous season who remained at Airdrie beyond Archibald it seemed possible that Airdrie's long run of problems could be reaching their end; The club were chasing promotion and the financial conflict behind the scenes looked liked being resolved, but it was not to be.
Liquidation & Re-Incarnation
The club finally went out of business officially on
1 May,
2002 due to its overwhelming debts. The final match played by 'Airdrieonians Football Club' was an away game against
Ayr United at
Somerset Park. The match was abandoned by the referee after a crossbar was broken during a protest pitch invasion, and was never replayed.
After the club went out of business, a local fan,
Jim Ballantyne, attempted to gain entry to the
SFL with a team by the name of
Airdrie United F.C., effectively a direct replacement for Airdrieonians (similar to the way that
Fiorentina re-established themselves as
Florentia Viola following their own collapse under crippling debt).
Airdrie United's initial bid for league status was rejected, however, as the member clubs had already accepted the application of
Gretna Football Club, who were then playing in the
English UniBond League.
In desperation, Ballantyne opted to buy control of
Clydebank, another Scottish football club experiencing extreme financial hardship and, with SFL approval, the club's name was changed to
Airdrie United, the team relocated to Airdrie and the strip was altered to the famous diamond style of Airdrieonians. Airdrie United are predominantly viewed as a continuation of Airdrieonians, with the majority of the same supporters attending
Airdrie United matches and the new club taking up the position of rivals to clubs such as
Motherwell,
Hamilton,
Clyde, and
Partick Thistle who, historically, had had long standing enmity with Airdrieonians Football Club.
The Last Ever Airdrieonians Team
'2001/02 Squad'
Honours & Records
Honours
'
Scottish Division Two':
1902/03, 1954/55, 1973/74
'
Scottish Cup:'
1924
'
Scottish Challenge Cup:'
1994/5, 2000/01, 2001/02
'
Spring Cup:'
1976
General Club Records
League Record
'The Diamonds' Twelve Year League Record'
Airdrieoniansleague_record.PNG
Red =
Scottish Football League Premier Division (before
Scottish Premier League)
Yellow =
Scottish Football League First Division
Top League Goalscorers
Former Staff
Notable former Airdrieonians Football Club staff include:
'Managers'
★
Steve Archibald
★
Alex MacDonald
★
Don Mackay
★
Ally MacLeod
★
Ian McCall
★
Gordon McQueen
'Players'
Trivia
★ Were the victors in
Rangers' greatest ever defeat, having beaten them 10-2 in 1886. They remain the only football club to have scored ten goals against them.
★ First
Scottish Football Club to go out of business since
Third Lanark in 1967
See also
★
Airdrie United Football Club
★
Excelsior Stadium
★
Broomfield Park
External links
★
BBC Sport: Airdrieonians
★
The Broomfield Stomp
★
Airdrieonians & Airdrie United Results Archive
★
Airdrieonians R.I.P.
★
The Airdrieonians Page
★
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