Kilbowie Park
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
 |
This article does not cite any references or sources. Please help improve this article by adding citations to reliable sources. Unsourced material may be challenged and removed. (November 2006) |
Kilbowie Park, also known as New Kilbowie Park, was a football stadium in Clydebank, Scotland. It was the home ground of Clydebank F.C..
[edit] History
The old ground was formerly the home of Clydebank Juniors before Clydebank F.C. gained senior status in 1966.
The final game there was the testimonial match of all time top scorer Ken Eadie, with Rangers the visitors. The record crowd at Kilbowie was 14,900 for the visit of Hibernian.
New Kilbowie Park was one of the first all-seater stadia in Britain, its capacity of 9,900 due mostly to wooden bench seating, and a covered plastic-seated stand which was funded on the back of star player Davie Cooper's £100,000 transfer to Rangers in 1977.
The stadium was also unique in that most of its 'home' goal end was occupied by offices and the social club, "The Bankies Club".
Clydebank F.C. played its last competitive game against Hamilton Academical in 1996 (1-3), and hosted the last ever game that summer for club legend Ken Eadie's testimonial against Rangers (2-3).
The ground was sold by club owners, the Steedman family, and the club endured several groundshares at Morton F.C.'s Cappielow, and Dumbarton F.C.'s Boghead grounds. Land was purchased on Great Western Road on the outskirts of the town to allegedly construct a new stadium for the club, but the necessary approval had never been obtained.
The sale of New Kilbowie Park was the catalyst for the club's terminal decline - heralding its demise through the controversial purchase of Clydebank F.C. by Airdrie United in 2002.
Tragically, today the site of the stadium belongs to the Clyde Shopping Centre, where a Pound Stretchers and a McDonalds has been built over the park. A single piece of rubble of the old stadium is now on view at the Scottish Football Museum in Hampden Park.
Reformed by the United Clydebank Supporters, Clydebank now play at Holm Park in Yoker whilst competing in the West Region of the Scottish Junior Football Association, but did play upon re-forming at Glenhead Park, the former home of Duntocher Hibs who are now defunct. The ground was known as The Hibby as a result, despite being now owned by Drumchapel Amateurs
|
|||||||||||||||||
