Third Lanark A.C.

Third Lanark A.C.

Third Lanark display the Scottish Cup which they won in 1889
Full name	Third Lanark Athletic Club
Nickname(s)	Thirds The Warriors The Redcoats The Hi-Hi
Founded	1872
Dissolved	1967
Ground	Cathkin Park (Capacity: 50,000 )
Home colours

Third Lanark Athletic Club was a football club that originally existed between 1872 and 1967, 95 years in existence, based in Glasgow, Scotland. Third Lanark were known as Thirds, the Warriors, the Redcoats and the Hi Hi's. The last nickname was rumoured to have started during a match in the late 1890s, when a defender belted the ball so high out of the ground that the crowd started screaming "High High High" and that nickname stayed with the club ever since. The fans invariably started to sing "Hi Hi Hi!" as a battle cry to encourage the team to victory during the club's matches.

Originally one of the good clubs of early Scottish Football, Third Lanark were far from being the first major Scottish football club to be declared bankrupt and dissolved – former Scottish Cup winners Renton and their neighbours Vale of Leven suffered similar fates, although Vale of Leven were resurrected as a junior side later on.

Third Lanark's demise was considered even more remarkable as they finished third in Scotland's top division behind Rangers and Kilmarnock only six years before they folded, in season 1960-61, scoring 100 goals in the process.

History

Third Lanark started as the football team of the Third Lanarkshire Rifle Volunteers, part of the Volunteer Force. Known as 3rd LRV. The name was changed to Third Lanark AC in 1903, when official links with the military were severed. The club was a founder member of the Scottish Football League. They had also won the league championship in 1904, as well as winning the Scottish Cup in 1889 and 1905 and the Glasgow Cup in 1903, 1904, 1909 and 1963.

Third Lanark played in three grounds - Victoria Park from 1872 to 1875, the first Cathkin Park from 1875 to 1904 and New Cathkin Park from 1904 to 1967. New Cathkin Park was actually the first Hampden Park, before Queen's Park sold it to Third Lanark and moved to a new stadium of the same name in Mount Florida. New Cathkin Park is currently owned by Glasgow City Council, and on three sides of the ground large areas of the terracing remain intact.

The End

The last day of the 1960–61 season saw Third Lanark reach a historic landmark. They beat Hibernian 6–1 at Cathkin Park to reach 100 goals for the season, and their win secured third place in Scotland's top division. The 'scarlet' goalscoring machine of Goodfellow, Hilley, Harley, Gray and McInnes had done it again.

Only four years later, the club's ultimate agony began. The 1965–66 season found Thirds kicking off in the Second Division, having been relegated as a consequence of their most disastrous season ever, bringing the club only three wins from 34 matches in the league.

There followed yet another two seasons of mediocrity and discontent. The last Third Lanark home game was against Queen of the South and was played at Cathkin Park on 25 April 1967. It ended in a 3-3 draw and was the second last fixture that Third Lanark played in the old Second Division. Jimmy Davidson scored one for Queens and Brian McMurdo two, including the last ever goal at the Park. The final Thirds game was a humiliating defeat at Boghead Park when Dumbarton recorded a 5–1 score line, on 28 April 1967 (the final Thirds goal was scored by future Airdrie and Hearts star Drew Busby). This game ended the football involvement of Thirds as a senior professional club.

The following months brought a Board of Trade investigation, revealing constant player squabbles and bitter internal struggles for power. These events finally took their toll and, eventually a liquidator was appointed.

The club was declared bankrupt after a Board of Trade enquiry and was liquidated in 1967. Boardroom corruption allegedly played a role in this. On July 1, 1968 four former directors of Third Lanark were found guilty of contravening the Companies Act 1948 and fined £100 each. The investigation by the Board of Trade accused club chairman Bill Hiddleston of blatant corruption and that "the circumstances (merited) police inquiry". Hiddleston died of a heart attack in Blackpool in November 1967.

The role of chairman Hiddleston in the club's liquidation remains subject to intense debate. He may have wished to profit personally from the sale of Cathkin Park for property development. Cathkin Park was sold for housing during the 1967 close season, but Glasgow City Council refused building permission. On the other hand he built a new stand for the club in 1963, an unlikely thing to do if Hiddleston intended to put the club out of business. Another allegation was that Hiddleston wanted to force the club to move to either Cumbernauld or East Kilbride - the booming New Towns within the Glasgow commuter belt which at that time had no senior side of their own.

The report by the Board of Trade into Third Lanark's activities in 1967 found that players were paid tardily and often in silver; they had to make their own way to away matches; hot water was not available after matches; and every facet of the club's management was from a personal appointment by Hiddleston. In short, there was a wave of disincentive for anyone to remain working for, or even being a shareholder of, the club if they were not part of Hiddleston's clique.

Dead but dreaming

After Third Lanark went under, some Third Lanark fans began supporting Pollok in the Scottish Junior Leagues, but the vast majority of the club's 10,000 fans that went through the turnstiles at the start of the 1960s were lost to football for good. Third Lanark had long been seen specifically as the club of choice for those that objected to the sectarian connotations of Rangers and Celtic football clubs: the "Old Firm".

A youth team later adopted the name Third Lanark Athletic (playing at Rosebank Park), as did a ladies team. Occasionally exhibition matches are staged at Cathkin with a scratch Third Lanark team. Despite claims by others to the rights to the club's name, the actual legal owner of the name of the club that went bankrupt, Third Lanark Athletic Club Ltd, is former Glasgow MP Sir Teddy Taylor. He bought the name from the sequestrators in 1967, when there still appeared the possibility of the club continuing elsewhere. Ferranti Thistle had toyed with the idea of using the Third Lanark name upon their entry to the Scottish league in 1974, but instead settled for Meadowbank Thistle.

Rebirth as an amateur side

Thirds have returned to their now dilapidated Cathkin Park home, playing in Division 3 of the Greater Glasgow Amateur League.

On Monday 9 June 2008, a four-man delegation from the club made a surprise announcement, telling the press that Third Lanark AC would be interested in returning to Scottish Football League, after SPL team Gretna decided to withdraw from the SFL. The other contestants for the vacant league place were Spartans, Cove Rangers, Annan Athletic (selected), Preston Athletic and Edinburgh City., but there was no formal application from Third Lanark to enter the SFL, so they remained in Division 3 of the Greater Glasgow Amateur League.

In recent times, however, more moves have been progressed aimed at reviving the club.

Famous players

Player	Years
Jimmy Brownlie	1906–1923
John Ferguson	1912–1916
Neil Dewar	1927–1934 & 1937–1940
Jimmy Blair	1931–1944 & manager 1954–1955
Jimmy Denmark	1931–1936
Jimmy Carabine	1934–1945 & manager 1946–1949
Jimmy Mason	1936–1952
Jack "Soldier" Jones	1937–1946
Harry Mooney	1942–1955
Bobby Mitchell	1943–1949
Ally MacLeod	1949–1955 & 1963–1964
Wattie Dick	1949–1955
Jocky Robertson	1951–1963
Billy Houliston	1953
Dave Hilley	1958–1962
Joe McInnes	1956–1963
John McCormick	1959–1964
Hugh Curran	1962–1963
Drew Busby	1966–1967

Famous managers

Among the former managers were Bob Shankly, George Young, Bobby Evans and the man in charge for the last game, Bobby Shearer.

Honours

• Scottish Football League:
  • Winners (1): 1903–04

• Scottish First Division:
  • Winners (2): 1931–32, 1934–35
  • Runners-up (2): 1927–28, 1957–58

• Scottish Cup:
  • Winners (2): 1888–89, 1904–05
  • Runners-up (3): 1875–76, 1877–78, 1905–06, 1937–38

• Scottish League Cup
  • Runners-up (1): 1959–60

• Glasgow Cup
  • Winners (4): 1903, 1904, 1909, 1963
  • Runners-up (12): 1891, 1906, 1907, 1914, 1924, 1938, 1943, 1947, 1948, 1949, 1954, 1958

• Glasgow Charity Cup:
  • Winners (4): 1890, 1898, 1901, 1952
  • Shared (2): 1954, 1956
  • Runners-up (8): 1884, 1897, 1910, 1914, 1932, 1939, 1943, 1946

External links

• History of Third Lanark
• In-depth history of Third Lanark
• Photos of Cathkin Park
• The Guardian research on Third Lanark
• Historical Football Kits - Third Lanark