This week, it looks like the Falkirk side, who play in the Bainsford district of the town of Falkirk, (previous name, the exotic, Bainsford Britannia) could be up in front of the SFL beaks before long. It is starting to look ominous for the club formed in the early 1880's which has finished bottom of the pile in Scotland FIVE SEASONS running and have been permanent also rans in Scotland's basement division since the late 1980's. Students of the Scottish game will also know there was a merger with Clydebank FC in the 1960's which lasted only a season which saw the emergence of ES Clydebank. Sadly, the club failed to go on to become a major force in the Scottish game as the Steedman Brothers predicted, and were the template for how not to merge football clubs long before Wallace Mercer ever came on the scene. The 'Shire fans of the day won the right to take their club back after much lobbying and now it looks like they are once again going to have to justify their team's exsistence. Trouble is these days there are hardly enough to form a committee. Fans with no experience of Scotland's lower leagues will say "what is the point of East Stirling?" (many people, even in Scotland, still think they play in the same town as Stirling Albion) but there is a loyal, miniscule but nevertheless passionate following at the 'Shire who seem to nurture the club the way a prize marrow grower tends his allotment. Littlewoods Pools adopted the club a couple of seasons ago and built a marketing campaign around the 'Shire. They made a cheeky attempt to lure an out of sorts Gazza, just back from China and obviously dying for a game in the UK, to Firs Park as a sideshow attraction. A recent book called "Pointless"' followed a football fan from down south's season with the club and exposed East Stirlingshire FC in all its eccentric glory. The mainstream press love to tell us (when they have nothing else to fill their tabloid pages at the back) that 'Shire players get only 10 quid a week appearance money. However, outside the occasional quirky story that paints the club somewhere between Balamory and Third Lanark, East Stirlingshire (don't say East Stirling around Bainsford) are paid little attention by those outside the local Falkirk area. The saga of former player Alan Mackin wanting to relocate the 'Shire to Grangemouth and do a Meadowbank Thistle, reinventing the club the way Thistle became Livingston in the mid-1990's, ran and ran until it ran out of steam. It now looks like the 'Shire might need someone, whether it be a genuine benefactor or an ego maniac, to rescue them as it is looking increasingly clear that the SFL will begin to call the 'Shire's Scottish League status into question as the season starts to wind down. Saturday's defeat at Elgin City set the wheels in motion when the 2-1 result confirmed 5-in-a-row for East Stirlingshire, five seasons back to back propping up the rest in Scottish senior league fitba' . A number of Highland and East of Scotland League clubs will sense their chance to emulate recent additions to the league like Gretna and Peterhead and will come forward with their plans to succeed where 'Shire have been failing since the days when Duran Duran were top of the charts. The word on the street is there is little chance of a large clutch of current League teams in Scotland offering their votes to keep 'Shire as one of the under achieving cuddly toys of the Scottish game. Storm clouds are gathering over Bainsford. With the Scottish League itself now under intense scrutiny as SPL 2 looms, the governing body could be set to wield the axe over a small club which would feel the knock-on effect from the criticism which has forced the SFL to rethink its game plan in the modern world. In 2007 it could be a case of no more room at the Inn for the paupers of East Stirlingshire FC. | ||
Editor |
