Albion Rovers - Football Team from Coatbridge
The Albion Rovers Football Club is a Scottish team from Coatbridge, North Lanarkshire, and it currently plays in the third division of the Scottish Football League (SFL). Founded in 1882 and officially nicknamed The Wee Rovers, the club was the result of a merger between two small Coatbridge teams. The club joined the SFL initially in 1903, and then returned for good in 1919. The club colours are green and black, and like all SFL teams, they do not use squad numbers. The club badge is crossed swords behind a red rose, which represents the merger that created them.
History
Located in Coatbridge, Scotland, just east of Glasgow, The Rovers, as the fans call them, have always struggled to attract supporters. After all, the Old Firm of the Rangers and Celtics are the biggest draw in that area, and this effort has come to define them in a number of positive ways. Even their formation occurred because two smaller clubs (Albion and Rovers) merged in order to consolidate their fan base and thus maximize their feasibility. When they first formed, they alternated games between the two home stadiums: Cowheath and Whifflet. By the third season, they settled on Whifflet, and then on Christmas Day 1919 they moved into Cliftonhill Stadium where they still play.
In 1903, the Albion Rovers joined the SFL, and they remained there through 1914. But in 1915, the SFL merged into a single-division structure, and the Albion Rivers were one of the causalities. They nearly regained entry to the league in 1917 but lost to three other clubs by a small margin. Finally, for the 1919 season, the league voted them back in, with the new stadium playing an important role in that decision. Since then, the Albion Rivers franchise has developed into an integral part of the SFL, and it is difficult even to imagine an SFL without them.
Having returned to a two-division structure, the SFL began to flourish after the Second World War, and by the 1990s, it was clear that two divisions was no longer enough to contain the growth. The SFL created a new Third Division, which played its first match in the 1994-95 season. The Albion Rovers were struggling at this time and had been for quite a while, so they were one of the teams that the SFL relegated to the Third Division. Interestingly, this "demotion" spurred the team to go full-time, in terms of paying players, and this yielded almost immediate benefits.
The 125th Anniversary
During the 2006-07 season, the Albion Rovers celebrated their 125th anniversary. There was a wide range of events involving the players and the community, and the club even introduced a new kit, which integrated some of the design elements that the team had used during the 1960s. The club also experienced success on the field that year, and they progressed to the semi-finals of the Challenge Cup, which had been their first semi-final since 1921.
Honours
The Albion Rovers have a strong history of success and an impressive list of honours. Perhaps the most important is their Scottish First Division win, which came in the 1933-34 season. They were also the runners-up in the Scottish First Division in 1913-14, 1937-38 and 1947-48. Other important honours include being Scottish League Division Two winners in 1988-89, the Scottish Cup runners-up in 1919-20, the Scottish Qualifying Cup winners in 1913-14, the Scottish Football Combination winners in 1913-14 and the Lanarkshire League winners in 1901-02. The Albion Rovers have also won the Lanarkshire Cup eight times: 1899-00, 1920-21, 1948-49, 1950-51, 1973-74, 1974-75, 1981-82 and 1986-87. And in 1929-30, they finished with 23 wins, the highest win total they've ever achieved.
Club Records
With its long history, the Albion Rovers has an extensive and often colourful list of club records. One of their most notable is their twelve-point margin of victory, which came in a clean sheet against Airdriehill in the 1887 Scottish Cup. Their largest margin of defeat, on the other hand, is ten, and that occurred in a 1-11 loss to Partick Thistle during the 1993 Scottish League Cup. Their largest attendance ever is 27,381, and that occurred February 8, 1936 during the Scottish Cup in a match against the Rangers F.C. Their first league game came on August 15, 1903 in the Scottish Second Division, and it was a 2-2 draw against Leith Athletic.
Managers
The current manager of the Rovers is Paul Martin, and he joined the team in 2008. Martin had a very successful career in the SFL as a player, and he coached the Dumbarton F.C. before joining Albion. Over the years, the Rovers have had over forty coaches. Their first formal coach was Archie Montgomery, who served the club from 1920-1922. Their longest tenured coach was Willie Reid, who took Montgomery's place and served in the position for 13 seasons. Likely regarded as the club's most successful coach, Webber Lees led the team to a championship of the Scottish First Division in 1933-34. The Rovers have had two non-Scottish coaches: Joe Baker and Vinnie Moore.
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