Airdrie United
Airdrie United Club Info
Airdrie United were formed after the death of Airdrieonians in 2002. Airdrieonians went out of business with debts of £3 million after liquidators KPMG pulled the club on the club following a failed takeover bid by Steve Archibald.
On the day Airdrieonians demise was confirmed, fans met at the local Tudor Hotel to discuss the future of Airdrie. The meeting was chaired by Les Jones, an Airdrie fan who had worked tirelessly to secure the future of the club and Jim Ballantyne, a local businessman and Airdrieonians supporter.
A plan was formulated for the creation of Airdrie United, a re-incarnation of Airdrieonians, who would attempt to gain a place in the Scottish Third Division - a space created by Airdrieonians closure. However, a vote by the chairmen of league clubs favoured Unibond league side Gretna, who brought their tiny fanbase and Brooks Mileson’s cheque books to the league - beginning one of the most irritating “fairytales” of all time.
With the door seemingly shut on professional football in Airdrie, the fans were left with only desperate alternatives. With nowhere else to turn, Ballantyne agreed a deal to purchase Clydebank - a homeless second division club for whom closure was inevitable. The move attracted much criticism within Scottish football from fans of other clubs. However, it would be interesting to see how many of those fans would adopt the same moral high ground should the club they lived for be faced with a similar threat of extinction. Unfortunately for Bankies fans, the business and real world are harsh places and Ballantyne did what he had to do to secure the future of football in Airdrie.
Clydebank were promptly renamed as Airdrie United, with SFL approval, and relocated to New Broomfield, the former home of Airdrieonians. The club continued to play in the famous white shirts with red Diamonds and, for all intents and purposes, were nothing more than a continuation of Airdrieonians.
As if to rubber stamp the continuation of the “new” Airdrie, the club appointed Sandy Stewart, a legendary player with Airdrieonians, as the manager of Airdrie United.
2002-03 Season
Airdrie United began their professional life with a 1-0 victory over Forfar Athletic at New Broomfield. The winning goal was scored late on by Steven Docherty, who would go on to be a key performer for the club. Airdrie fielded a team thrown together in just a matter of weeks and later in the month, stunned Premier League outfit Kilmarnock when they eliminated them on penalties from the CIS Cup.
The season was to end in heartbreak though, with Airdrie missing out on promotion in the final seconds of the season. A stunning solo effort from Alan Gow which gave Airdrie a 2-1 victory over Stranraer at Stairs Park seemed to be enough to secure promotion for the Diamonds, but a late fightback by Brechin at Hamilton saw the Angus outfit pip Airdrie by a point. This was despite the Stranraer tannoy announcer seemingly confirming a Brechin defeat - which led to scenes of Airdrie fans celebrating on the park before the cruel news was revealed.
2003-04 Season
Airdrie United made a poor start to the season and were stuck in mid-table when a disappointing 1-0 home defeat by Arbroath proved a pivotal moment in Airdrie’s season. A mistake by under-fire player manager Sandy Stewart led to the Arbroath goal and threatened the end of his managerial career. However, to his credit, Stewart responded to the situation by removing himself from a playing role and focused on management.
Equally significant in the Arbroath match was the debut of Willie McLaren, a talented young winger who would play a key role in the Diamonds subsequent promotion. McLaren made a huge impact and along with strikers Alan Gow and club legend Owen Coyle, provided the catalyst for Airdrie’s fantastic run of form after Christmas which saw them go on an 18 match unbeaten run and claw back a 12 point defecit from league leaders Greenock Morton.
Airdrie secured the league title with a 1-0 victory over Alloa Athletic at Recreation Park with the goal coming from who else but Owen Coyle. The celebrations that followed will long live in the mind of all Diamonds fans and should serve as a reminder of all disgruntled fans and chairman Jim Ballantyne of just why we must all fight so hard to continue to ensure the future of Airdrie United.
The following week, a 2-0 victory over Greenock Morton was watched by over 5000 people as the Diamonds celebrated their title success.
Earlier in the season, the club had been unlucky to lose 2-0 to Inverness Caledonian Thistle at McDermaid Park in the final of the Bells Challenge Cup. Inverness would go on to gain promotion to the SPL at the end of the 2003-04 season.
2004-05 Season
Airdrie United’s first season in Division One was positive, but could have been much more with better fortune. In pre-season, winger Willie McLaren suffered a fractured skull which would keep him out of for the first months of the season.
Despite opening the season with a 1-0 victory over St Johnstone thanks to a Jerome Vareille goal, Airdrie made a slow start to the season due to injuries for key players including McLaren and Alan Gow.
However, they went on to finish a comfortable 5th placed in the division, finishing ahead of clubs with significantly higher transfer budgets and Diamonds fans were hopeful of better things to come the following season.
2005-06 Season
Unfortunately, the club would lose a number of key players in the summer, including club captain Maryvn Wilson who signed for local rivals Hamilton Accies and Alan Gow, who joined Falkirk.
The club feared the worst after an opening day defeat at Stranraer, but went on to finish a respectable sixth place in the league again exceeding the bookies tips of relegation.
The 2005-06 season will be remembered by Airdrie fans for providing one of the greatest matches in Airdrie’s - either United or Airdrieonians - history. In early January, Airdrie travelled to SPL side Dunfermline Athletic in the Third Round of the Scottish Cup.
Airdrie fell behind early on to two quick fire goals from the Pars, but pulled a goal back on the stroke of half-time thanks to a header from Steven Docherty.
Roared on by a tremendous travelling support, Airdrie equalised midway through the second half when Martin Hardie steamrolled through the Pars defence and bundled the ball into the net. Moments later, Dunfermline were back in front after what looked to be a foul on Stephen Robertson.
What followed was one of the most dramatic, exciting and memorable closing stages to a game as Airdrie threw absolutely everything at Dunfermline in the search for an equaliser. Shooting towards the passionate Diamonds faithful behind the goal, Airdrie seemed to be destined for heartbreak after a perfectly good Brian McPhee header was ruled out for a foul on future Rangers keeper Allan McGregor.
However, with just a minute left, Airdrie were awarded a penalty after a handball which Steven McKeown coolly converted to send the Diamonds support into raptures. And then, things got even better. Willie McLaren swung in a corner and Docherty rose to head the Diamonds into the fourth round.
The irony of the situation was that had the game finished 3-3, it was highly likely that the replay would have been screened live on Sky TV. The £75,000 fee received would have been enough to secure the futures of star players such as Martin Hardie, Steven Docherty, Alan McManus and Willie McLaren. Had that happened, the future of Airdrie might have been very different.
However, sometimes, football isn’t all about money. The victory over Dunfermline created a memory that will live in the minds of Airdrie fans for the rest of their lifes. If we start trading these in for cash, what joys are left in football?
2006-07 Season
Following the Diamonds traditional slow start to the season, Jim Ballantyne parted company with Sandy Stewart. Airdrie are eternally grateful to Sandy’s contribution to both Airdrie United and Airdrieonians and are delighted to see he has gone on to better things as assistant manager to Owen Coyle at Burnley.
Another ex-Airdrieonians favourite Kenny Black was brought into the club, but despite a good run of form towards the end of the season, Black was unable to save the Diamonds from relegation.
A 3-0 victory over Queen of the South on the last day of the season had spared Airdrie automatic relegation at the expense of Ross County and a comfortable playoff semi-final victory over Brechin had given the Diamonds faithful cause for optimism.
However, despite leading 2-0 in the first leg against Stirling Albion, Airdrie lost two late goals to come away from Forthbank with only a 2-2 draw and were stunned by two early goals in the second leg, eventually losing 5-4 on aggregate.
It was in truth a poor season for the club, with all the progress of previous years being undone. Defender Neil McGowan was quoted as saying too many players didn’t care about the club and the inevitable break up of the team followed.
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