BANKIES REBORN
Gerry: I’m thrilled to see my old club aim for seniors ... they have been missed
GERRY McCABE insists Clydebank’s bid to reclaim their place in Scotland’s senior game can count on his backing.
The Bankies legend also believes the news his old club have voted in favour of trying to climb up the pyramid system is a victory for preservation and perseverance.
The United Clydebank Supporters, who are the majority shareholders of the club, held a ballot and 86 per cent were in favour of asking for entry into the lowest tiers of the professional game.
After going to the wall as a senior side 16 years ago before reforming in the juniors in 2003 the old Kilbowie outfit are now ready for a resurgence.
It’s a plan which McCabe, whose six seasons in the 1980s saw him inducted into the club’s Hall of Fame, admits has triggered happy memories.
He said: “I was delighted to hear about it. I hope this news is the start of my old club eventually returning into senior football as they’ve been gone for far too long.
“Even as a junior club they are getting up to 800 fans at big games which is incredible and shows the potential.
“There are so many positive reasons why Clydebank should seek a return to the top of our game and I’ll be supporting them all the way.”
McCabe is regarded alongside the likes of Davie Cooper as one of the best players to pull on the red and white. And he was gutted he missed out on linking up with old school pal at Kilbowie.
He said: “Coops left in 1978 and I arrived in 1980 so we never had the chance to play for the club together.
“I was fortunate to have been a team-mate of his with the Hamilton District kids team.
“He was being watched by Celtic and Aston Villa but made it clear he wanted to play for Rangers. He used to tell me he was only going to sign for one team and he managed to achieve that via the Bankies.
“That’s what was brilliant about Clydebank, they were a platform for so many players.
“Bobby Williamson also went to Rangers, Tommy Coyne went to Dundee United and Gerry Ronald could have played for whoever he wanted.
“Jim Fallon was exceptional and we had Jim Gallacher who was a superb keeper.
“I remember talking to Jock Stein who told me if Gall had been playing for Celtic or Rangers he would have been playing for Scotland.
“He was such a loyal man that he didn’t move to a more fashionable club.”
The Bankies are now based at Yoker’s Holm Park but McCabe recalls nights training at Kilbowie and the unique challenges that came with it.
He said: “We used to train on an ash park across from the railway. When the ball went over the tracks the person who kicked it had to find it and the rest had to do running drills.”
Clydebank would need to join the East of Scotland Football League or the South of Scotland Football League to put their plan in motion.
The East deadline for applications is March 31 and it’s April 30 for the South.