East Stirlingshire F.C.

East Stirlingshire

Full name	East Stirlingshire Football Club
Nickname(s)	The Shire
Founded	1880 as Bainsford Britannia
Ground	Ochilview Park, Stenhousemuir, Falkirk (Capacity: 3,776 (626 seated))
Head Coach	John Coughlin
League	Scottish Third Division
2010–11	Scottish Third Division, 9th
Website	Club home page
Home colours Away colours
Current season

East Stirlingshire Football Club is a Scottish football club originating in Falkirk. Founded in 1880, originally as Bainsford Britannia, the club changed to their current name a year later in 1881. The club's name is often abbreviated East Stirling, giving the impression the club is based in Stirling, fans therefore refer to the club by its nickname, The Shire.

In 2007–08 the club left Firs Park, their home since 1921, and currently ground share with local rivals Stenhousemuir F.C. at Ochilview Park. The club is currently a member of the Scottish Football League and competes in the Scottish Third Division.

The club has predominately played in the lower tiers of Scottish football. However, winning the Scottish League Division Two in 1931-32 brought top tier football to Firs Park, albeit for one season. The last 10 years has seen the club suffer financially, and frequently finishing bottom of Scottish football. Although, in 2000–01 the club reached the semi-finals of the Scottish Challenge Cup only to lose 2–1 to Livingston.

Club history

Early history

Although East Stirlingshire's official date of formation is 1881, their origins can be traced to the previous year, when Bainsford Bluebonnets Cricket Club formed a football section under the name Bainsford Britannia. In November the following year the footballers broke away to form a separate club under the name of East Stirlingshire. The first match was against Falkirk's second eleven, with the latter winning 7–0.

The Shire reached the quarter-finals of the Scottish Cup in season 1888–89, a run that included victories of 10–1 against local rivals Stenhousemuir and 11–2 against Vale of Bannock. The cup run was finally ended by a closely fought 2–1 defeat at the hands of Celtic.

Two years later the Shire once more reached the last eight of the Scottish Cup and again recorded some high-scoring wins, beating Grangemouth 8–2 and Camelon 10–6 in a replay, after an initial 3–3 draw. Eventual cup winners Heart of Midlothian ended the run with a 3–1 victory in what was to be the club's last appearance at that stage of the competition for ninety years.

Welsh international Humphrey Jones was a notable Shire player of the era. He won fourteen caps between 1885 and 1891, five of which were while he was an East Stirlingshire player; as of 2009, this remains a club record.

Early twentieth century

A record home crowd of 12,000 attended a third round Scottish Cup tie against Partick Thistle on 19 February 1921, which the visitors won 2–1 before going on to lift the trophy.

In 1931–32 East Stirlingshire won their biggest senior honour, the Division Two Championship. Although St. Johnstone matched their total of 55 points from 38 games, Shire's superior goal average secured them the title. However, the club were relegated the following year after finishing bottom of Division One with just seventeen points.

East Stirlingshire's heaviest defeat was recorded on 13 April 1936 , losing 12–1 to Dundee United in a Division Two match at Tannadice Park. However, a more positive record was set by Malcolm Morrison in the 1938–39 season when he became the club’s highest league scorer in one season with 36 goals.

1940–1970

In 1947–48, East Stirlingshire won the Scottish League Division ‘C’ (a division mainly composed of the reserve sides of top division teams), recording 18 victories in only 22 league games. Later, the Shire won promotion as Division Two runners-up to St. Johnstone in 1962–63, but as in the 1930s the club’s tenure in the top flight was brief and relegation followed in 1963–64.

This disappointment caused the club's owners, the Steedman brothers, to formulate a radical plan for the club's future that ultimately saw the Shire temporarily disappear for season 1964–65. Against the fans’ wishes, the Steedmans merged the club with Clydebank Juniors to create East Stirlingshire Clydebank (or E.S. Clydebank for short), a new club playing at Kilbowie Park in Clydebank. A year later East Stirlingshire regained its identity and independence after a successful court case brought by shareholders. The clubs were de–merged the following season and the Shire returned to their Firs Park home. Clydebank were reconstituted as a senior club and later secured a place in Division Two in 1966–67.

1966 saw the appointment of the Shire's first manager, Lawrence Binnie. Prior to this, the board of directors had been responsible for team selection.

Alex Ferguson's shortlived era

The club is perhaps best known in the wider football world for the appointment of 32-year-old Alex Ferguson to his first managerial post in 1974, on a part-time wage of £40 a week. Ferguson lasted only 117 days at Firs Park before accepting an offer to manage St. Mirren. Later he would go on to achieve huge success at Aberdeen and Manchester United.

Late 20th century

In 1980, a Scottish League Cup match against Albion Rovers was goalless after ninety minutes. East Stirlingshire won the penalty shoot-out to progress to the second round; however, the referee had forgotten to play extra time. A replay was held, despite East Stirling's objections, which Albion Rovers won 4–0.

21st century

East Stirlingshire's form in the early part of the 21st century was not good. In the 2003–04 season they gained a mere eight points, only reaching that total on the last day of the season and narrowly avoiding setting a new record lowest points total. Prompted by this performance, football journalist Jeff Connor spent the 2004–05 season following the Shire, an experience chronicled in his book Pointless (subtitled "A Season with Britain's Worst Football Team"). They again finished bottom of the division but gained 22 points. After a feature on the Norwegian channel TV2 programme Golden Goal, an East Stirlingshire fan club was established in Norway, growing to more than 6,000 members.^{[citation needed]}

As a result of East Stirlingshire's continued failures, in 2005 the Scottish League ruled that from the start of the 2005–06 season any club finishing bottom of the Third Division twice in succession would be reduced to the status of 'Associate Member', losing their voting rights. They would be allowed to play in the League for two further seasons, after which the members would vote on whether to allow the club to remain in the League. The club duly finished bottom again in 2005–06 and 2006–07, for a run of five consecutive last place finishes. The League voted against reducing the club to Associate Member status immediately, instead suspending the punishment for a year. This meant that so long as the club did not finish bottom in the 2007–08 season, they would carry on as full members. Otherwise, they would automatically be reduced to Associate Members without a vote.

Just after the start of the 2007–08 season, the Shire won six games in a row for the first time since 1968–69. The club sat third in the table after six matches, their highest league position for over a decade. Shire's winning run saw them reach the quarter finals of the Challenge Cup for the first time since 2000, and in the Scottish Cup the club reached the fourth round for the first time in over thirty years, being drawn away to Rangers and losing 6–0. Former Morton manager Jim McInally took charge in March 2008 and victory over Montrose on the final day of the season was enough to lift the team into ninth place, and secure their status as full League members, the first time they hadn't finished bottom in six years.

With the Firs Park pitch deemed too small to meet new ground criteria and the club unable to afford the necessary improvements, from the 2008–09 season Shire have played home games at nearby Stenhousemuir's Ochilview Park, whilst continuing to train at Firs Park until development of the site. The club is aiming to build a new stadium in Falkirk. In their first season playing at Ochilview, the club finished third in the league and played in the Second Division play-off, being eliminated in the semifinals by Cowdenbeath. In January 2011, they beat Buckie Thistle FC 1-0 in the 4th round of the Scottish Cup, but were disqualified for fielding an ineligible player in goalkeeper Michael Andrews as his loan extension from Falkirk FC had not been registered with the SFA. After two strong performance in the previous seasons, the 2010–11 season saw Shire's problems with league form return, and they spent the whole season near the bottom of the table. Only a last day win saw them avoid the humiliation of another bottom-place finish, but this did not save Jim McInally's job, and he was sacked on May 16 2011. On the Sat, 15th Oct 2011 the Shire got destroyed in an 7-1 away match at Broadwood by a strong Clyde team all scored by 7 different players.

League history

Main article: List of East Stirlingshire F.C. seasons

Current squad

As of 27 January 2012.

Note: Flags indicate national team as has been defined under FIFA eligibility rules. Players may hold more than one non-FIFA nationality.

No. Position Player GK Calum Antell (on loan from Hibernian) GK Craig Gordon GK Grant Hay DF David Cane DF Iain Chisholm DF Joe Dingwall DF Ryan Frances DF Steven Jackson MF Rhys Devlin (on loan from Airdrie United) MF Michael Hunter (on loan from Stenhousemuir)

No. Position Player MF Scott Maxwell MF Craig Scott MF Andy Stirling MF Ryan Wilkie FW Stuart Love (on loan from Stenhousemuir) FW Alex Lurinsky FW Graeme Ramage (on loan from Dumbarton) FW Jordyn Sheerin FW Kevin Turner FW Fraser Team

For recent transfers, see East Stirlingshire transfers in 2011–12 season.

Out on loan

Note: Flags indicate national team as has been defined under FIFA eligibility rules. Players may hold more than one non-FIFA nationality.

No. Position Player DF Stuart Beveridge (on loan to Bo'ness United) MF Jamie Benton (on loan to Maryhill)

No. Position Player MF Scott Fulton (on loan to Maryhill) MF Gary Pettigrew (on loan to Cumnock Juniors)

Players

Main article: List of East Stirlingshire F.C. players

Listed below are players who have played at full international level while with the club. They are ordered by nationality and number of caps earned while an East Stirlingshire player.

Scotland

• 1 Davie Alexander
• 1 James McKie
• 1 Archie Ritchie

Wales

• 5 Humphrey Jones

Managers

• Lawrence Binnie (1966)
• Ian Crawford (1966–1970)
• Jim Rowan (1970–1971)
• Bob Shaw (1971–1974)
• Sir Alex Ferguson (1974)
• Ian Ure (1974–1975)
• Dan McLindon (1975–1977)
• Billy Lamont (1977–1983)
• Billy Little (1983–1985)
• David Whiteford (1985–1987)
• Dennis Lawson (1987–1988)
• David Connell (1988–1989)
• Alan Mackin (1989–1990)
• Dom Sullivan (1990–1992)
• Bobby McCulley (1992–1993)
• Billy Little (1993–1997)
• John Brownlie (1997–1998)
• Hugh McCann (1998–1999)
• Brian Ross (2001–2002)
• Gordon Russell (2002)
• Danny Divers (2002–2003)
• Steve Morrison (2003–2004)
• Dennis Newell (2004–2006)
• Gordon Wylde (2006–2008)
• Jim McInally (2008–2011)
• John Coughlin (2011–)

Honours

League

• Scottish League First Division:
  • Winners: 1931-32
  • Runners Up: 1962-63

• Scottish League Second Division:
  • Winners: 1947–48
  • Runners up: 1923–24, 1979–80

Other

• Scottish Qualifying Cup:
  • Winners (2): 1998-99, 1910–11
  • Runners up(3): 1895-96, 1897–98, 1900–01

• Scottish Qualifying Cup Midlands:
  • Runners up(1): 1946-47, 1947–48

• Stirlingshire Cup:
  • Winners (22): 1885–86 1886–87, 1887–88, 1888–89, 1890–91, 1892–93, 1893–94,1896–97, 1900–01, 1902–03, 1906–07, 1913–14, 1923–24, 1924–25, 1927–28, 1928–29, 1931–32, 1935–36, 1961–62, 1968–69, 1984–85, 2000–01
  • Runners up (3): 1883–84, 1972–73, 2005–06

• Victory Qualifying Cup:
  • Winners: 1945-46

• Dewar Shield:
  • Winners: 1929-30
  • Runners up: 1900-01

• Midland Football League:
  • Winners: 1893-94

• Central Football Combination:
  • Winners: 1897-98
  • Runners up: 1898-99

• Falkirk District Football League:
  • Winners: 1888-99
  • Runners up: 1899-1900

• Falkirk and District Charity Cup:
  • Winners (5): 1884–85, 1885–86, 1886–87, 1887–88, 1895–96
  • Runners up (4): 1888–89, 1889–90, 1890–91, 1913–14

• Falkirk Cottage Hospitals Shield:
  • Winners (4): 1889–90, 1890–91, 1898–99, 1899–1900
  • Runners up (4): 1891–92, 1892–93, 1893–94, 1896–97

• Stirlingshire Coronation Tournament:
  • Winners: 1902-03

Club records

• Greatest competitive Victory: 12–1 vs. Moorpark, Scottish Midlands Qualifying Cup 1st Round on 7 September 1946 at Moorpark

• Greatest competitive Defeat: 1–12 vs. Dundee United, Scottish Division Two, 13 April 1936, at Tannadice

• Great Scottish Cup Victory: 10–1 vs. Stenhousemuir, 1st Round, 1 September 1888 at Merchiston Park, Bainsford and 11–2 vs. Vale of Bannock, 2nd Round, 22 September 1888 at Merchiston Park, Bainsford

• Greatest Victory in any game: 17–0 vs. Carron, Stirlingshire Cup 1st Round, 18th? October, 1884. Played at Carron.

• Most capped player: Humphrey Jones (Wales), 5 Caps

• Highest home attendance: 12,000 vs. Partick, Scottish Cup 3rd Round, 19 February 1921

• Most league goals in one season: 36 - Malcolm Morrison, 1938–39 & Henry Morris, 1947–48

• First match as Britannia (Bainsford): 0–7 vs. Falkirk 2nd XI, (Friendly match), 2nd ? December, 1880 at Burnhouse

• First known match as East Stirlingshire: 0–5 vs. Falkirk (Friendly match), 27 August 1881 at Randyford Park, Falkirk

• Most League Appearances: Gordon Russell 1983–2001, 415

• Record transfer fee received: £35,000 for Jim Docherty to Chelsea, 1978

• Record transfer fee paid: £6,000 for Colin McKinnon from Falkirk, 1991

Average home attendance

2010–11: 319 (Third Division)

2009–10: 407 (Third Division)

Source: Soccerway

2008–09: 450 (Third Division)

2007–08: 377 (Third Division)

2006–07: 270 (Third Division)

2005–06: 302 (Third Division)

2004–05: 293 (Third Division)

2003–04: 278 (Third Division)

2002–03: 239 (Third Division)

2001–02: 247 (Third Division)

Source: The League Insider

External links

• Official site
• Shire Trust
• Norwayshire