Cowlairs, 1876-1896

Cowlairs Football Club, founded in 1876, was one of the founder members of the Scottish Football League in 1890. The club was based in Cowlairs, in the Springburn area of Glasgow. The club was dissolved in 1896.

Cowlairs FC was formed in an area that was growing rapidly due to its importance to Glasgow's railway industry. In its early years it was a member of the West of Scotland FA and was looked on as a junior club. This was at a time when "junior" was merely a term used to describe smaller clubs of limited standing in the game, and prior to the establishment of a separate Junior grade of competition. The club entered the Scottish Cup for the first time in 1880–81, reaching the fourth round.

By the latter part of the decade, Cowlairs' reputation was growing. In 1886–87 they entered the English FA Cup (which was open to Scottish clubs at this time), ironically losing out to fellow Glaswegians Rangers in their only match. The club had players of sufficient standing in this period to have two of their number gain international recognition for Scotland: Tommy McInnes, capped once in 1889, and John McPherson, who won two of his nine caps while at Cowlairs, in 1889 and 1890.

Cowlairs was one of the clubs which together formed the Scottish League, but finished bottom of the table at the end of its first season, not helped by having four points deducted for fielding ineligible players. With the club also facing accusations of professionalism (which had yet to be legalised in Scottish football) following an inspection of clubs' books by the League, it was unsurprising that Cowlairs was unsuccessful in its re-election vote, losing out to Leith Athletic. Despite not being in any league competition the following season, the club enjoyed its longest Scottish Cup run, losing to Celtic in the quarter finals.

For season 1892–93, Cowlairs joined the Scottish Alliance, finishing as champions. Although they club failed to be elected back to the top flight of the Scottish League at the season's end, it was instead chosen to join the new Division Two for season 1893–94. Cowlairs lost 0-1 in the final of the 1894 Glasgow Cup to Rangers

Cowlairs' return to League football started well, securing runners-up spot that season, although it was not elected to Division One. It continued to be beset by financial and administrative problems, however, and after another last-placed finish in 1895, it was once again voted out of League membership. This effectively brought an end to Cowlairs' brief career, the club closing down in 1896.
[edit] Colours

Grounds:
1876–1890: Gourlay Park
1890–1895: Springfield Park
1895–1896: Arrol Park

Colours:
1876 Light blue shirts, white shorts.
1876–1880 White shirts, white shorts, black socks.
1880–1886 Royal blue shirts, white shorts, red socks.
1886–1887 Chocolate and light blue halved shirts, white shorts, chocolate socks with light blue trim.
1888–1892 White shirts, dark blue shorts, dark blue socks.
1892 Red shirts, white shorts.
1893–1895 Red shirts, navy blue shorts, navy blue socks.

In its early years, Cowlairs played home matches at Gourlay Park. Indicative of the more informal standards of the day, the club actually had no permanent home ground secured at the time of the co-founding the Scottish League, but soon after settled at nearby Springfield Park, home for the duration of its League membership.

Third Lanark AC, 1872-1967

Third Lanark Athletic Club was a football club that existed from 1872 to 1967. Third Lanark were known as 'Thirds', 'the Warriors', 'the Redcoats' or 'the Hi-Hi' (due to the "Hi, Hi, Hi!" chant of their fans).

Originally one of the great clubs of early Scottish football, Third Lanark were not the first major Scottish football club to be declared bankrupt and dissolved, but their end was considered a shock since the club had finished third in the Scotland’s top division, scoring 100 goals in the process, in 1960-61.

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

Third Lanark played at Cathkin Park. This stadium was previously known as Hampden Park (the second of three grounds to bear that name), before Queen's Park sold it to Thirds and moved to a new ground of the same name. Cathkin Park is currently owned by Glasgow City Council, and, on three sides of the ground, large areas of the terracing remain intact.

The last day of season 1960–61 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 the most competitive First Division league table. 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. Season 1965–66 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 25th April 1967. It ended in a 3-3 draw and was the second-last fixture that Third Lanark played in the old Second Division that season. The final Thirds game was a humiliating defeat at Boghead Park when Dumbarton won 5–1 on 28 April 1967. This game ended Thirds' existence 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 and was liquidated in 1967.

Following Thirds' demise, some of their fans began supporting Pollok in the Scottish Junior Leagues, but the vast majority of the club's 10,000 supporters that regularly went through the turnstiles in the early 1960s were lost to football for good.


Famous players
Jimmy Brownlie 1906–1923
John Ferguson 1912–1916
Neilly Dewar 1927–1934 & 1937–1940
Jimmy Blair 1931–1944 Also manager 1954–1955
Jimmy Denmark 1931–1936
Jimmy Carabine 1934–1945 Also manager 1946–1949
Jimmy Mason 1936–1952
Jack 'Soldier' Jones 1937–1946
Harry Mooney 1942–1955
Bobby Mitchell 1943–1949
Ally MacLeod 1949–1956 & 1963
Wattie Dick 1949–1955
John '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
Bob Shankly, George Young, Bobby Evans, Bobby Shearer.

Honours:
Scottish Football League: Winners: 1903–04
Scottish First Division: Winners: 1931–32, 1934–35
Scottish Cup: Winners: 1888–89, 1904–05
Scottish League Cup: Runners-up: 1959–60
Glasgow Cup: Winners: 1903, 1904, 1909, 1963. Runners-up: 1891, 1906, 1907, 1914, 1924, 1938, 1943, 1947, 1948, 1949, 1954, 1958
Glasgow Charity Cup: Winners: 1890, 1898, 1901, 1952. Shared winners: 1954, 1956

Ground: Cathkin Park

Colours:
Red shirts & navy shorts in 1872, evolving into the more traditional red shirts and white shorts by 1902.

(Third Lanark Athletic Club were re-formed as an amateur side in 1971, and currently play in the Greater Glasgow Amateur League.)

Parts of the terracing of Cathkin Park are still visible today