Berwick Rangers
| Berwick Rangers | |||
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| Basic data | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Surname | Berwick Rangers Football Club | ||
| Seat | Berwick-upon-Tweed | ||
| founding | 1881 | ||
| president | Brian Porteous | ||
| Website | berwickrangers.com | ||
| First soccer team | |||
| Head coach |
 John Coughlin
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| Venue | Shielfield Park | ||
| Places | 4131 | ||
| league | Lowland Football League | ||
| 2018/19 | 10th place, Scottish League Two | ||
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The Berwick Rangers (officially: Berwick Rangers Football Club ) are an English football club from the city of Berwick-upon-Tweed, which borders on Scotland . Due to the great distance to other English cities - and the associated time-consuming travel journeys and high costs - the "Borderers" have been the only English club to have played in the Scottish league system since 1905, currently in the Lowland Football League , the fifth highest division.
history
Start-up phase and time outside of professional football
The club, which was founded in 1881 - according to the latest findings, perhaps not until 1884 - led a nomadic existence in its early years and played in various English and Scottish home venues until the completion of Shielfield Park in 1954. The "Wee Gers" acted from 1905 in the Scottish Border League and in 1927 joined the newly founded East of Scotland Football League . There the club won two championships in the seasons 1927/28 and 1946/47, before joining the Scottish Football League ("SFL") in 1951 and - amid many reserve teams from large clubs - a three-year stay in the Northeast Class of Division C 1955 first took part in the game operation of the second highest Scottish professional league.
An important milestone had previously been the march through the Scottish Cup competition to the quarter-finals in 1954 , where they had defeated FC Dundee 3-0, among others . In the round of the last eight teams they lost 4-0 to the Glasgow Rangers in Ibrox Park in front of 60,000 spectators , but the high financial income was helpful for the construction of a suitable venue in Shielfield Park. Former parts of the stands from the Valley Parade stadium were used, which had been purchased from Bradford City and transported north.
The first years in the SFL and the cup sensation
The club rarely got beyond mediocrity in the second division with changeable performances and at the end of the 1957/58 season finished only last with 109 goals conceded. It should be another cup success that should again attract more attention. After an 8-1 record win against Vale of Leithen and another 2-0 against Forfar Athletic in the preliminary round games, they faced the Glasgow Rangers again in the first main round of the 1966/67 season and defeated the seemingly overpowering opponent around team captain John Greig In front of the still valid stadium record crowd of 13,365 spectators with a goal by Sammy Reid sensational 1-0. This victory was preceded by a particularly intensive preparation and coach Jock Wallace , who later was to look after the big Glasgow club himself, had the team go through a three-week fitness program. The victory was also spicy because the Glasgow Rangers in the mid-1960s significantly pushed for a reduction in the number of teams participating in the SFL to 32 and the Berwick Rangers were among the five teams that were "on the hit list" if successful. In the second round of the Cup, Berwick finally retired after a 1-0 defeat at Hibernian Edinburgh .
League restructuring and financial problems
Until 1975, the Wee Gers were consistently active in the second division without being able to play seriously for promotion to the top division. The introduction of the Scottish Premier Division for the 1975/76 season as the new top Scottish league and the associated reduction in the participating teams from 18 to 10 (in the second division: from 20 to 14) ensured that the club, due to its twelfth place in the 1974/75 season was only eligible to start in the new third-class Division Two. Under the player- coach Davie Smith , the team was able to consolidate athletically in the late 1970s and rose in 1979 as a third division champion in the second-rate Division One.
The stay in the second division lasted only two years and in 1981 the club came as the bottom of the table to relegate to the third division. Like many clubs at that time, the Berwick Rangers increasingly had to struggle with existential financial difficulties in the 1980s, which could only be alleviated by the fact that the club sold its home ground to the city in order to then rent it back. The preliminary low point of this development was the season 1988/89, when the club was almost bankrupt, from which Shielfield Park was excluded and its home games had to be played elsewhere.
Even in the 1990s, the financial problems did not decrease and in 1994 the association only narrowly escaped bankruptcy proceedings. From a sporting point of view, at the end of the 1993/94 season, winning the runner-up in the third division was on the books, so the return to the second division was only just missed. Overall, however, the trend continued downwards and at the end of the 1996/97 season, the Berwick Rangers had to accept for the first time in their history relegation to the fourth-class Division Three, which has existed since 1994. Under the coach Paul Smith succeeded in 2000 on the fourth division championship of promotion to the third highest Scottish division. During the aegis of Smith, which lasted until 2004, the club was able to reactivate its former reputation as a cup team and forced both the Rangers and Heart of Midlothian in the Scottish Cup each to a replay.
In 2003 the association of supporters, sponsors and club banks, consisting of more than 150 people, merged to form a "Supporters' Trust" (official name: "Berwick Rangers Supporters Society"). A local consortium was supposed to take care of the repurchase of Shielfield Park.
Recent developments
At the end of the 2004/05 season, the Wee Gers rose again from the fourth division and missed direct promotion in the following season, as the team failed in the decisive play-off matches at Alloa Athletic . The team then lost some good players, but the new coach John Coughlin built a new team with whom he was able to far exceed expectations. By winning the fourth division championship in 2007, the club rose to the third-class Second Division , but in 2008 had to immediately go back to the third division.
Others
- Because the border is only a mile away and the fact that it belongs to England and Scotland, there are constant discussions about the identity of the city.
- The approach that an English club plays in the Scottish professional football league system, the Berwick Rangers, is unique in this specific form, but is generally more common in the British Isles. Two Welsh football clubs, Cardiff City and Swansea City , currently play in the English Football League and FC Wrexham in the English Conference National . Another example is Northern Irish club Derry City , who play in the Irish League of Ireland .
literature
- When Saturday Comes - The Half Decent Football Book , Penguin Books, London 2005, ISBN 0-14-051575-5
