Albion Rovers F.C. (Scotland)

All you want to know about Albion Rovers F.C. (Scotland)

For the Welsh football team, see Albion Rovers F.C. (Wales).

Albion Rovers

Full name

Albion Rovers Football Club

Nickname(s)

The Wee Rovers

Founded

1882

Ground

Cliftonhill,
Coatbridge, Scotland
(Capacity: 1,249)

Chairman

Frank Meade

Manager

Paul Martin

League

Scottish Third Division

2007–08

Scottish Third Division, 7th




Home colours




Away colours

Albion Rovers Football Club are a Scottish football team from the North Lanarkshire town of Coatbridge, who are currently playing in the Irn-Bru Scottish Football League. Their home stadium is Cliftonhill, opened on Christmas Day 1919. The club are currently considering plans to redevelop their stadium.

Albion Rovers F.C. from Newport, Wales, playing in the Gwent County League, are named after Albion Rovers F.C. in Scotland, by "expats". There are also clubs of the same name in Australia (currently using the name Cairnlea but has changed to and from Albion Rovers several times over their 40 year history) and the Republic of Ireland.

Cliftonhill, home of Albion Rovers

A book covering the club's history 'The Boys From the 'Brig' by Robin Marwick was published in 1986. The book became notorious for its monotonous style of writing, with every season written up as a match-by-match summary (of up to three sentences but usually less) of every game from 1882 to 1986 - and for its relentlessly optimistic tone despite all evidence to the contrary; example: "...despite a poor season...the fans remained optimistic that it was only a matter of time before it fought itself out of Division B".

Famous players in the club's past include former Celtic and Scotland manager Jock Stein, Bernie Slaven, Peter Dickson, John "Jock" White (the only player capped for Scotland while with the club), Tony Green and Jim Brown as well as many more. In the 1970s The Rovers had a half-back line of Currie, Sage and Rice which raised a few smiles at the time.^{[citation needed]}

Rovers (as their fans prefer the team to be called, rather than "Albion") currently play in the Scottish Third Division and have twice in the last few years been denied promotion on the final day of the season.

In early 2005 a group of fans set up Albion Rovers Supporters' Trust with a view to raising money to benefit the club and local community.

The 2006–07 season saw the club celebrate its 125th anniversary and various events and souvenirs took place. 2006–07 also saw the club progress to the semi-finals of the Challenge Cup, their first semi-final since 1921, a match they lost 4–1 to Ross County in Dingwall.^[1]

The club's survival for 125 years in the shadow of bigger clubs and the devotion it attracts from its committed hardcore of fans is a reason for celebration in itself.

1 Honours
2 Club records
3 Current Squad
4 Backroom Staff
5 Famous Albion Rovers players
6 Managers
7 References
8 External links

Honours

Scottish First Division^[2]:
- Winners (1): 1934–35
- Runners-up (3): 1913–14, 1937–.38, 1947–48

Scottish Second Division:
- Winners (1): 1988–89

Scottish Cup:
- Runners-up (1): 1919–20

Scottish Qualifying Cup:
- Winners (1): 1913–14

Lanarkshire Cup:
- Winners (8): 1899–00, 1920–21, 1948–49, 1950–51, 1973–74, 1974–75, 1981–82, 1986–87

Scottish Football Combination:
- Winners (1): 1913-14

Club records

Biggest win: 12–0 v Airdriehill (Scottish Cup, 3 September 1887)

Biggest defeat: 1–11 v Partick Thistle (Scottish League Cup, 11 August 1993)

Biggest home attendance: 27,381 v Rangers (Scottish Cup, 8 February 1936)

Record Scorer: John Renwick (41, 1932–33)

Current Squad

No.		Position	Player
		GK	David Scott (on loan at Brechin City)
		GK	Chris McCluskey (on loan from Brechin City)
		GK	Tony Mitchell
		DF	Ciaran Donnelly
		DF	Alan Benton
		DF	Todd Lumsden (on loan from Raith Rovers)
		DF	Michael McGowan
		DF	Robert Walker
		DF	Martin McGoldrick
		DF	Alan Reid
		DF	Chris Hughes (on loan at Oakley United)
		MF	Danny Ferry

No.		Position	Player
		MF	Bobby Barr
		MF	Ross Harris
		MF	Callan Adam
		MF	Brian Smith (on loan at Clydebank)
		MF	Steven Canning (on loan from Brechin City)
		MF	Bert Wright
		MF	Brendan Crozier
		FW	Graeme Eaglesham (on loan from Partick Thistle)
		FW	Pat Walker
		FW	Marc Pollock
		FW	Gary McKenna
		FW	Tommy Coyne

Backroom Staff

Manager: Paul Martin
Assistant Manager: Paddy Connolly
Goalkeeping Coach: Tony Mitchell
Physio: John McMenemy
Kit Man: Jordan Campbell

Famous Albion Rovers players

This is a list of famous or notable sports persons with no clear inclusion or exclusion criteria. Please help to improve Wikipedia by ensuring that there is consensus on the inclusion criteria on the talk page, using guidance available at WP:notable players.
Please do not remove this message until the section contains only verifiable material.

Peter Dickson
John "Jock" White
Jock Stein
Tommy Keirnan
Willie Findlay
Johnny McIlhatton
Matt Carson
Danny Hegan
Tony Green
Jim Brown
Mick Green
Sam Malcolmson

Jeff King
John Brogan
Bernie Slaven
Victor Kasule
Kevin McAllister
Steve Evans
Tom Sermanni
(Alec Reid)
(Andy Murphy)
(Joe Gallagher)
(Kenny Jenkins), fastest hat trick, Clydebank 1967
Michael McGowan

Managers

This section does not cite any references or sources.
Please help improve this section by adding citations to reliable sources. Unverifiable material may be challenged and removed. (February 2008)