FC Airdrieonians

Airdrieonians
	Airdrieonians
Basic data
Surname	Airdrieonians Football Club
Seat	Airdrie
founding	1965 (as Clydebank ) ; 2002 (as Airdrie United ) ; 2013 Airdrieonians FC
president	Martin Ferguson
Website	airdriefc.com
First soccer team
Head coach	Ian Murray
Venue	Excelsior Stadium
Places	10.171
league	Scottish League One
2019/20	3rd place, Scottish League One
home	Away

Airdrieonians FC (officially: Airdrieonians Football Club ) - also known as The Diamonds (literally "the checks ") - is a Scottish football club from Airdrie in North Lanarkshire area. The club currently plays in Scottish League One , the third highest division in Scotland.

history

Prehistory of the (old) Airdrieonians FC

"Airdrieonians FC" was originally founded in North Lanarkshire in 1878 under the official name of "Excelsior Football Club" and three years later it was named "Airdrieonians Football Club". Although the club waited 16 years after its inception with a participation in the Scottish Football League, they made 1886 as a regional selection with a 10-2 win for the highest home defeat in the history of the Glasgow Rangers . After joining the Scottish league operation, the club rose in 1903 to the first division, in which the club should play for 33 years in a row.

The club experienced its most successful period in the 1920s, when it won four series runner-ups between 1923 and 1926. The club also made it into the final four times in the Scottish Cup and was even able to win the title in 1924 after beating Hibernian Edinburgh 2-0 in the final . The Airdrieonians FC was several times in the semi-finals of the Scottish League Cup and also won in the 1970/71 season in the first round of the Texaco Cup on penalties against Nottingham Forest ; in the following year there was even a final against Derby County . In the 1992/93 season Airdrieonians - after the previous final participation in the Scottish Cup (where they were defeated by the Glasgow Rangers) - took part in the European Cup Winners' Cup and lost in the first round to the Czech representative Sparta Prague .

On May 1, 2002, the association dissolved due to the resulting over-indebtedness. The last game against Ayr United had to be abandoned after supporters of the club stormed the pitch and damaged a goal post.

Clydebank FC history

The first birth of FC Clydebank took place in 1914. The club then played in the Scottish Football League until its dissolution in 1931.

In 1965, the club was raised back to "senior status" after previous "junior" status, after it had been taken over by the "East Stirlingshire Football Club" the year before and the name "ES Clydebank Football Club" was adopted after a merger would have. This union was not to last long, however, and supporters of East Stirlingshire obtained in court that the merger be reversed. After a year in the "Combined Reserve League" Clydebank returned in 1966 to the Football League.

Until 2002, the debt of the club to six million pounds and the club had accumulated bankruptcy login.

After the club was taken over by Airdrie United, the club was reorganized in the 2002/03 season with the help of its supporters and received from Airdrie the commitment of the club management to use the original naming rights to "Clydebank Football Club". In 2003, the new FC Clydebank then joined the "Central District League (Second Division)" in the "Scottish Junior Football Association".

Airdrie United founded

The club "Airdrie United" was created in May 2002 from the bankruptcy estate of the club "Airdrieonians FC", which had to be dissolved after the runner-up in the First Division with a debt of almost three million pounds. The withdrawal of Airdrieonians left a vacant place in the fourth-rate third division , but the Scottish Football League (SFL) took on FC Gretna - and not the new club "Airdrie United". In the following month, however, Airdries club chairman Jim Ballantyne took over the financially troubled third division club "FC Clydebank" and thus enabled "Airdrie United" to take its place. The SFL had formally approved that Clydebank FC had moved to Airdrie and changed its name to Airdrie United.

Airdrie United played its home games in the stadium "New Broomfield", as it is called by the fans, with the official name " Shyberry Excelsior Stadium " is. The home ground of the dissolved Airdrieonians FC club had meanwhile been sold to the British retail chain Safeway in order to build a supermarket there. The old stadium was then demolished several years before planning permission was granted for the new stadium, with the result that the money raised from the sale rather than investing in building the new stadium was wasted over time. This circumstance and the decision of the executive committee to have a stadium built for over 10,000 spectators and thus meet the criteria of the Scottish Premier League (SPL) ensured one for the club, which usually had fewer than 2,000 spectators bigger financial gap. Ironically, the SPL's stadium requirements - formulated as a “6,000-seat stadium with a seating capacity” - are now significantly lower, which at the time would probably have been sufficient for the club to survive under the lower financial pressure for the new stadium.

Main entrance to the new stadium

Airdrie United took over the club colors and the resulting nickname "The Diamonds", which in turn originated from the playing attire. This includes a white jersey with a red, diamond-shaped stripe, whereby the term "diamond" can mean both "diamond" and "diamond" (or "rhombus").

Airdrie United was able to achieve its first success in the 2003/04 season when it made it to the final of the Bells Challenge Cup - a cup competition in which all clubs in the Scottish Football League (excluding the SPL clubs) - but they were 0-2 the team from Inverness Caledonian Thistle was defeated. However, the promotion this season was far more important, with more than 5,000 spectators at times attending the games.

The club then established itself in the second division and was able to more than meet expectations with fifth place in the table in 2005. Although Airdrie United then gave up a number of key players, the club - contrary to many predictions by experts - moved well above the relegation zone and ended the 2005/06 season in a respectable sixth position. 2006/07 the Diamonds were penultimate and relegated to the Second Division. In the 2007/08 season Airdrie was second, but was eliminated in the playoffs against Clyde . After Gretna's financial collapse and the subsequent exclusion from the Scottish Football League , Airdrie was nevertheless awarded a place in the First Division as a successor.

In 2008/09, the club again occupied the penultimate place in the First Division and lost to Ayr United in the playoffs . After a 2-0 lead was lost in the first half after the first half - the match ended 2-2 - the last game was lost 0-1. Airdrie United would have had to go back to the Second Division, which could be prevented by the forced relegation of FC Livingston .