📉 Their first NON LEAGUE season in 120 YEARS!!!
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- Опубликовано: 17 окт 2023
- I visited Coatbridge to watch Albion Rovers v University of Stirling in the Lowland League of Scotland.
Albion Rovers once beat Rangers in a Scottish Cup semi final and even played in the top tier of Scottish football for a number of years. They now compete in the non leagues for the first time in well over a century!
#football #soccer #scotland 
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Will Albion Rovers ever get back to the SPFL?
Yes
no be relistic san marino has mroe chance of wining th eueros@@arranmacintyre377
Hopefully yes,good friend Sam!!!🏋♂️
If I remember correctly, no club who has been relegated from League Two to non-league, under the SPFL format, has managed to get promoted back into the professional pyramid. Hopefully the Rovers change that, a good community-driven club
No they have a lot to do if they are to achieve it Sam
Alfie the dog is a legend at the club . He is often seen doing somersaults when rovers get a corner. When asked what he does when albion win his owner said "I dont know, we have only been coming here for 6 years"!
😂😂😂😂
HA HA Brilliant!! God bless Alfie!! 🤣🤣
Liverpool supporter here. Really enjoying your visits to these Scottish 'lower' league clubs. Especially those, like Albion Rovers, with such a rich history. Their fall is mirrored by small clubs here in England unfortunately. I remember as a lad hearing a lot of these clubs when they were in the higher divisions when the results were broadcast on ITV's World of Sport on a Saturday. Apart from showing my age it also shows the decline of British football for once proud and successful clubs.
I'm Nottingham born and bred and follow Nottingham Forest, but I really enjoy learning about the Scottish clubs at the lower end of the game. I love the atomosphere at the grounds and the interviews with the fans, and although you may not believe me, I'll say it anyway and that is I would honestly be watching a game like this, warts and all than an international. Sending my best to Albion Rovers and hope they get back in the league soon.
Agreed .
Forest are magic.
Trajic@@MichaelCook84
Even though i’m english, the work you have done broadcasting scottish football has been fantastic, you’ve done a better job than anything Sky or BT have ever done, fairplay
Sky and BT will never do anything like this.
Why would they? It's not up to Sky to pump money into a league with zero commercial returns.
If the Scottish Football league want a better deal, they need to make a better product. Simple as that. Sky don't owe you a TV deal. You need to attract them to your league by producing a better league.
@@sandersson2813 How can they make a better product if they have very little money to begin with? None of the “elite” clubs would be where they are if it hadn’t have been for an unfair financial advantage. It’s a negative feedback loop.
@@sandersson2813 If they don’t get any coverage, then less people know who they are they then get left further behind resulting in less views.
@@JuliusSeizure-tw6mi You aren't getting it. TV is a business. They don't owe Scotland TV coverage.
TV deals are given on the basis of whether they are a good financial investment from which a company can make money.
If Scotland want a better TV deal, the league HAS to be reformed to make it a product that TV companies want to invest in.
I don't see why you have a problem understanding this. Even Norway gets a deal which is worth twice of Scotland.
The Scottish Premier League is the least competitive league in the history of world football, and therein lies your problem.
Clubs like Celtic and Rangers need to use their influence to make changes but as usual they do nothing.
Being south of the border, I love how you bring the history of these clubs to a wider audience. I think there's a presumption that we don't care or dismiss Scottish football. Well I love watching and hearing about clubs like this. The passion of the people is plain to see.
Appreciate that mate thanks very much. I’ll be making lots more videos about lower league clubs very soon 🙌🏼
@FootyAdventures If ot wasn't for your channel I would have never known about the demise of Clydebank and it was allowed to happen. It just doesn't seem right. I'd really love to get up and see some of these beautiful grounds one day.
Went to an Albion Rovers vs Thistle game maybe 15 years ago (maybe a Cup game). Loved the bar below the stand, welcoming all supporters, and enjoyed chatting with relatives of an Albion player. For them it was the biggest match in many years. And they play in red and yellow, like the Jags, so I can only have a soft spot for them.
I think the reason why it's so fascinating with Scotland is that until recently the top four divisions were a closed shop. Teams like East Stirlingshire and Albion Rovers could be as bad as they wanted for such a long time and it didn't really matter because they were guaranteed to be in League 2.
Now the system is open, the competently run clubs in the lower leagues have started to replace them. It will be interesting to see whether these historic clubs fight back and revive themselves, or if they disappear completely.
Rovers showed ambition by winning the league in 2015. But with such a lack of local support it was always going to be difficult to maintain that and they were back down two seasons later and never really recovered. Similarly, Cowdenbeath were in the second tier ten years ago.
Also came close to a Scottish Cup semi-final in 2014 but has a questionable decision go against them away at Rangers. They’ve had some decent seasons but one bad campaign can spell disaster now.
Scottish football clubs finding their true level, now the closed shop is gone. I love visiting Cliftonville, but Rovers for most of my 64 years were a glorified pub team.
Thank you for this video. I watched Albion from 1980 till 1989. I saw every single game that decade, home, away, cup and league, including many friendlies. I didn't miss a single game. I even invented Albion,s famous chant. A.R.ARF.ARFC. O.K. I left Coatbridge in 1989 and still have my shirt when they won the league that year for the first time in 40 years. Up the Vers.❤
I played against the Rovers in 1989 Scottish cup, v Coldstream, we took Albion to a replay , beat us 1.0, but us being an East of Scotland side, were produced good performances, especially as Albion Rovers won the second division that season.
@@8busby I remember going to Coldstream but not the year, circumstances or result. Your memory is better than mine 😀
@@briankearney1619 1-1 at Home park Coldstream, our goal scored by highly acclaimed after dinner speaker Eric Davidson !!
@@8busby all I remember is getting back onto the bus after the game and not being too pleased with the result 😂
Watch your videos from here in Australia and it’s great too see some of the low leagues and teams get covered , a real breathe of fresh air compared to hearing about Celtic and Rangers or Englands top 6 all the time , keep up the good work mate!
As an Accies man I have a lot of time for The Rovers as they allowed us to play at Cliftonhill for two seasons during our homeless seven seasons.
Coatbridge is a bigger town than the likes of Perth or Kilmarnock but is probably the worst town in Scotland for the amount of glory hunters- especially to Parkhead.
Hope they get back up in The Leagues as folk who support Albion Rovers in Coatbridge are the real deal surrounded by sheep.
I love your videos mate, especially the looking back ones, absolutely superb! I particularly loved this Albion Rovers video coz they are my home town club! I am a Bolton Wanderers fan n I live in Bolton,but I was born in Coatbridge n I lived not far from Cliftonville, I'm 53 this year n moved to Bolton in 1973, when I visit family, I try to sort it when Albion are at home 😁 but we've not been back for a while! Keep doing your videos, especially the old grounds, the coverage about them is superb, keep up your top work mate! 👌
Appreciate that mate thank you. Hope you can get back to Coatbridge soon!
I always followed their results as a child, still do. Born and bred in Staffordshire, England but i have this fascination with Albion Rovers. Love to see them get back up.
As a lifelong supporter of the only Rovers’ now left in the SPFL, I’ve visited Cliftonhill a number of times down the years, it certainly has its charm’s! There isn’t a lot between sides in Scotland in terms of quality these days from League 2, to Lowland/Highland and even lower down the pyramid so introducing more opportunity for promotion is a must. There are ambitious amateur clubs struggling to progress several levels below where Albion are too, promotion into the Lowland league itself is super difficult due to lack of promotion/relegation. Good luck to the Wee Rovers in future!
I was totally devastated with one of my favourites ever in this world Albion Rovers but I hope to see them back to the Scottish Football League as soon as possible,good friends!!!LONG LIVE ALBION ROVERS!!!🏋♂️
Yeovil, Championship to National League South in ten years. Went there recently to see Didcot from The Southern League Premier South play them in an FA Cup third preliminary round match. Yeovil were so welcoming to us, absolute class and a club that deserves to be playing league football again soon.
Outstanding channel I love this , mrs is from Cowdenbeath so I follow them when I can even though I’m English and Watford , blue Brazil will always be my Scottish team
The best nickname in Scottish football by far!
@@FootyAdventures I’m 52 and that may ply apart in my opinions but these grounds are completely on another level absolutely fantastic proper old school and I love that
i remember an albion rover game v stranraer in about 86/87 it was a night game and the attendance was 100,, they have never had large crowds
I watch Bolton, but never miss your videos of Scottish football, even went to an Inverness game last year. Brilliant work mate, keep going 👍
Was class getting to be in the video great content as always Sam
Fun fact about Albion Rovers! There’s a book called Return of the Busby Babes where the Albion Rovers players are possessed by the spirits/ghosts of that 1958 Man Utd team and they go on to win the Scottish Cup!
Also I’ve been there once where I was at an Albion Rovers v St Johnstone (my Scottish team) & Saints went 2-0 down with 13 minutes to go & Saints went on to win the game 5-2 & go on to clinch the old Scottish Div One title!
Used to love going to Cliftonhill when they were the home team for the old Lanarkshire Cup many years ago. Many years later my dad went to see two games in a row and was amazed when the steward remembered him with a warm welcome back sir Where else do you get that nowadays
Brilliant!
Thank you so much for the insight into Albion Rovers,they are a team I follow in Scotland and always look for their results,even though I'm a West Ham supporter from Kent I even bought one of their shirts
Great show very well presented and absolutely fascinating as a semi pro footballer myself in the late 70s and 80s found this to be a fascinating history project. My wife saw the picture of the football team in yellow and red and remarked how all the players are almost the same height but the Manager (assuming he is the manager in the grey suit) must be at least 7-0ft plus in height.
Hiya Sam, Very informative vlog, back in the 1980s we thought there was a place called Albion and Albion Rovers played there, I think it was my sister convinced me of that, but now I know the town is called Coatbridge, I hope Albion Rovers get back into SPFL, maybe next season, I hope Berwick Rangers get back into The SPFL this season, this is Choppy in Whitehaven, Cumbria, England
I respect everyone of the fans that support their local team rather than being a glory hunter 👍
Throughly enjoyed this video listening to proper football people thank you chaps
Northampton town had the biggest rise and fall in probably the entirety of football in the 1960s they went from 4th tier to the top tier and back to 4th tier within like 7 years
Lucky I found this video. I work at a clothing factory where we get a lot of second hand clothes and since I collect shirts I took one and didn't know the club. I saw this video and see the same badge. Thanks
Tony Green started of at Albion then played for Newcastle where he was a fan’s favourite also played for Scotland until a bad injury sent him of to be a teacher. Lost touch a long time ago but enjoyed playing beside him, Christ where has the time gone 😢😢😢
Lovely show ! This is what football is all about !
The bread and butter teams ! It's great !
Great and interesting video .............. Always good content.
Quality video mate. Love it… ❤
3:02 what I find interesting as a Dunfermline fan is that our goal difference was a lot better than theirs and it was close. Only a single point in it…..and I mean Arbroath’s goal difference was also better and again they were on 44 points too. That sounds like an intense season
From a Rangers fan who are my local club btw, I hope that the Rovers can get promoted back up to league football again 🏴⚽
Nice one SAN Top vlog dude 🇾🇪✌️🔰
Rather strangely ,as a Tottenham fan, used to take an interest in Berwick Rangers and now Kelty Hearts. Have no idea why but my sons and myself send texts to each other re Kelty matches. Hope to visit one day.
Growing up in Airdrie in the 80s/90s we didn’t play the Rovers that often, but it was always special when we did. By the gods there was some fights on those old terraces in those days too 😂
Thanks for covering our great wee club Sam, shame it wasn’t the best result but hope to see you at Cliftonhill again one time
I want to see a Rovers goal next time! But will definitely be back soon :)
@@FootyAdventures should definitely cover the upcoming Lanarkshire derby between Rovers and EK in December, should be a good one
Quite small, but very good support. Seen them against Spartans at the end of last season and they brought plenty of atmosphere to the game.
Nice example at the Pie Shop!
Manners maketh the man!
Albion Rovers keeping it real.
I am first of a Killie fan but now live in Lanarkshire. Still go to all killie home games but support the wee rovers in between. They are a great wee club and I love wearing the scarf with pride. My wee daughter loves going to Cliftonhill. Just got her picture taken with her favourite player the mighty Joe Bevan. As I said. Great friendly club. Big game on Boxing Day against EK coming up
Thanks for this Sam
Highlight of the game was 16:02 "where's that goin ya fookin donut"
great content bro keep it up so happy i got in the video thansk bro
Brilliant job mate
Anyone remember when they did Speedway racing regularly at Cliftonhill back in the day?
Oh yes, like at Berwick Rangers. Another sad story of a team slipping out of the league into the non-league
Have you ever looked at Achilles 29 from Netherlands? They were relegated from the 2nd tier in 2017 and are currently playing in the 6th tier!
They got relegated in 2018 and again in 2019. In 2020 they were bottom of the 5th tier with 1pt but saved from relegation due to the league suspending due to Covid.
They finally got relegated in 2022 to the 6th tier where they currently play.
Sandy Clark was East Stirlingshires manager until he moved to Albion Rovers in March, hes also in that 4th tier victory photo as assistant. They also took some of Shires best players with them over the summer. Especially Ross Connolly, hes an excellent talent.
Another great video Sam, sad to see these clubs moving out of the league. However it gives another fan base a chance. Also instead of 5 leagues, why not add a couple of extra teams to the 2 bottom leagues?
I saw Rovers playing my club Killie in a cup tie in about 1978. Rovers scored after 30 seconds and it took us till the 89th minute to scramble an equaliser. About as much fun as a tooth extraction without anaesthetic. Now I live in New Milton Hampshire and our local club, New Milton Town Fc play in the Velocity League division 1, the lowest tier of English non league football. They are rock bottom and have the ultimate goal stat shocker: Played 10, goals for 7, goals against 57. I’ve been a couple of times, you can’t fault the endeavour.
I liked the bit with the lorry load of flatcaps 2:22
Loves bringing it back to himself this fella, sickner
My dad used to take me and my brother to watch Albion Rovers amongst others back in the mid 70's to early 80's when we lived at Longriggend ( now called Upperton ). Nothing much has changed to the stadium since then, i remember they used to have a cracking wee programme shop at the back of the stand , i wonder if its still there? Anyway good luck to the Wee Rovers in the lowland league on going forward 👍🏻
Your videos are really interesting
I live in Ireland where gaelic games predominates. Gaelic games are based on small community teams in each county. I have total respect for teams like Albion because in Scotland they carry that tradition in football. What is sport without grassroots level opportunites to cheer on the guys you know? Sport is not about mega clubs, sports tourism and commercialism, its about people and their local club
Interesting that they are getting a boost with their away support but really only helps their opponents monetary wise.
I totally agree liking this grounds more than the new ones
Can you wait a few years and do QPR in the National League South!
I started watching Bristol City after they dropped from the old 1st Division to the old 4th division in successive seasons !
1:54......what a great photograph!
I saw the name of my father's home town team, Brechin City, on the 1933-34 Div. 2 results table. Not as high achieving as Albion Rovers, they're now in the Highland League. Scottish boys used to be a far hardier lot than their English counter-parts. The name Caledonia being from Old Irish, Caladh = Hard + Latin -ia = land of and so, "Hard Land", it being cold, snowy, windy and full of wolves. Now they watch TV, play computer games and have gone "saft", preferring drug taking and wearing make-up in their youth to ticking a football about in the sleet which is what made Scottish football so competitive in bygone years. Damn sad, if you ask me. "Once were Warriors", indeed.
Albion Rovers will always be remembered by Middlesbrough fans because it was Bernie Slaven's club. Slave wrote letters to (I think) ALL the English league clubs and only Boro replied. Good job they did as Slaven ended up as Boro's top scorer for several seasons afterwards and is still held in high regard by Boro fans. In fact he still lives hereabouts and his Range Rover went past me at a Stokesley roundabout two days ago (I was waiting to join the roundabout, having been shopping at the big Co-op)!
When he cut the guy off as he was interviewing him 😂😂.
This is what I would do for the play offs between the lowland/highland leagues and league 2.
First of all the team finishing 10th would be relegated, I would then keep the play off between the winners of the highland league and the lowland league with the winners taking that spot in league 2. The next change is that the team finishing 9th will play the losers from the highland/lowland tie with the winners taking the final place in league 2
I'm aware this could make one of the divisions huge
When next in England you need to visit Hednesford Town. They were in danger of going out of business over the summer. But they were 'saved' and now play in the Northern Premier League West and are getting huge gates for that level.
Is Workington in the Northern Premier League
@@paulguise698 yes mate they are 👍
Proper football, proper fans
When’s the video on Gretna 2008 coming haha. Would be worth it just to show Alexander in his kilt on the touch line in the final 😂😂
I was here with Stirling Albion on the last day of the season in 22/23
Hopefully the club survives the non league. Grass pitch old school stadium is beautiful to me. I'll need to visit albion rovers never seen it before.
Some amazing club names in Scottish football even more so the non-lge as for me Civil Service Strollers ,like it. Just like these uploads.
Still something surreal about seeing my club being featured in these videos. I can only hope we can stabilize and return. Come on Rovers, be the first team to make the climb back up (won't be this season though sadly!)
I'm a Notts County supporter and, for a long time, we were on exactly the same trajectory as you, so I really feel your pain. We've got new owners and have scrambled back into the Football League, but our glory days are long gone.
I was actually surprised to see Edinburgh city at the bottom of leave two 1933-34. I had no idea they were a league club. Can you imagine having to travel to away games on that rickety old cart. You don’t want to sit behind the horses.
Not the same club as the present-day Edinburgh City who were originally Meadowbank Thistle who, in turn, were originally Ferranti Thistle.
That can’t be true surely Ferranti became Meadowbank became Livingston??
@@stevenmcghee6649That is NOT true. Ferranti/Meadowbank Thistle became Livingston FC. You are maybe confused because EC play their home games at Meadowbank Stadium.
The current Edinburgh City are not the same club as the 1928-55 one. They started out in 1966 as Postal United and changed their name to EC in 1986.
Always had a soft spot for the Wee Rovers. They finished as the 'worst' club in Scotland a few seasons in a row back in the 80s and my Dad used to take me and my Brothers to see them on occasion as he always taught us to back the underdog. We were lucky mascots for them, they seemed to win every time we went to see them.
I remember Bernie Slavin started at Cliftonhill. Later became a Middlesborough legend.
A pie and brown sauce can't be beat.
Was going to go a few weeks ago but we ended up going to Ayr Utd v Kelty Hearts instead as the appeal of the FA CUP drew us in n did Celtic v Buckie the day after
You spoke to my son Alexander last night at their game.
I agree old grounds are the BEST Crumbley old grounds rule
Cracking Ground with character. Chairman came across as a top guy and how was the pie ?
Great old fashioned historic Scottish ground is Cliftonhill 🏴⚽
I’m sure there’s a few clubs in England who you could review! Scunthorpe springs to mind!
I am a Scunny fan. Probably a good time to go now as there is the first feeling of a united fanbase and optimism for the first time in years after having our club saved by local people after the previous 2 prats nearly killed the club. One from incompetence, the other from being a dodgy fraud.
I like football grounds like Coatbridge far more than the claustrophobic steel-and-plastic playparks for the billionaires in the premierships. These are wide open, lots of sky above and views of the countryside beyond. They're more intimate and friendly. I get the same experience with minor league baseball grounds in America.
In a hundred years from now historians will after your video library Sam.
Looks like a great ground
It really is. You have to visit if you haven't before!
@@FootyAdventures you'll have to come and see us. We've joined the many teams doing behind the scenes videos from our games
@@WeAreWombwellMain Why don't Albion Rovers pull the stand down that's been condemned?
No point creating a new 5th tier - The SFA and SPL need to get together and re-arrange the four current divisions into three divisions of 16
SPL gains the Top Four from the Scottish Championship
The remaining six Scottish Championship teams are joined by the 10 Scottish League One teams.
The 10 Scottish League Two teams are joined by the Top 3 from the Highland League and the Top 3 from the Lowland League.
This reduces the Highland and Lowland Leagues to 15 teams each but they can be brought back up to 16, 17 or even 18 with promotions from lower down the non-league system.
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With 16 teams in each division you have a 30 game League season, You can push it up to 37 games with a 3rd game against the rest of the top 8 or bottom 8 depending on where you finish after 30 games.
Teams like Hearts, Aberdeen and Hibs get better opportunities to actually challenge Celtic and Rangers because a win against Celtic or Rangers actually becomes meaningful when you play less games against them each season.
The top of the Lowland League is clearly at least as strong if not stronger than League Two as it is now.
The likes of Brechin, Buckie Thistle and Formartine in the Highland League deserve a shot at Clyde, Peterhead and Elgin too.
i love what you do as i follow ex league clubs
Did I hear "Right, pub !!" immediately after the final whistle?
The pie looked quite appetizing. More so than the football anyway.
Great story
I’m on the video 2wice
It’s unfortunate to see a team within walking distance of my house fall so far. Hope they can get back up this year. Mon the airdrie but 😂
The 2 clubs couldn’t be far apart, Monklands derby is dead sadly 😢
They were pretty unlucky to be relegated last season as they only had a minus 3 goal difference which was the 5th or 6th best in the division bizarrely.
I was the kid that met you around the 30 minute mark
Please be aware that Stirling are no 'normal' university team, as the campus hosts various sporting centres of excellence.
Leaving aside all the people who don't support their local team, it has long surprised me how nearby Airdrieonians has fared so much better than Albion Rovers since WW2, as Coatbridge is actually larger than Airdrie. If there is going to be a Lowland League Division 2 (or whatever they call it), I fear that a lot of erstwhile junior clubs are going to be ahead of clubs like Albion Rovers and East Stirlingshire in the race for Scottish League places.
Can you do the fall of Berwick Rangers
Last Scottish ground I went to
Where were the Albion Rovers Ultras?
Been there with ayr a few times lovely ground to visit ......pie was horrendous last time ..oil and grease running out it🤢🤢🤢🤢
Sadly the ground was heavily vandalised last night 😪
Notts county ?