Return of the dynamic duo who built a club
Glasgow City FC’s founders tell Jenny Morrison of the devastating personal losses that almost killed the club – and how they got their mojo back
THE trailblazers behind Scotland’s most successful women’s football club have revealed they almost walked away from the sport they helped transform after each suffering personal heartache. Carol Anne “Cas” Stewart, 53, and Laura Montgomery, 44, set up Glasgow City Football Club in 1998 to create the opportunities for girls in the sport they had been denied themselves as young players. Glasgow City won the league in their first season, recently secured their 13th domestic league title in succession and have twice reached the quarter-finals of the Champions League. Talented players the club has helped develop include Scotland stars Erin Cuthbert, Rachel Corsie and Jane Ross. But off the pitch the club’s founders say they were left so “broken” by the loss of loved ones three years ago that they decided to quit and haven’t had the energy since then to do more than keep Glasgow City “surviving”. Club boss Cas, of Newlands, Glasgow, lost her younger brother Martin to motor neurone disease in August 2017. Co-founder
Laura Montgomery, of Clarkston, Renfrewshire, lost her partner of 16 years Kat Lindner months later after the German-born former footballer took her life following a battle with depression.
Now, however, Cas and Laura have changed their minds about quitting football.
And as they open their hearts about their personal struggles, they revealed they have found new strength to face the footballing challenges that lie ahead.
Cas, who along with partner Louise became a mum to their adopted son, Lucas, around the time she lost her brother, said: “Martin was diagnosed with
motor neurone disease in December 2016 and he died in August 2017. He was 48. “That was a really tough seven months for everybody. I don’t think I did particularly well. I’m not a hugely emotional person.
“I’d never had anyone I was that close to, die. Louise was actually holding him when he died, because I was on the phone to the ambulance.”
Cas said that in the lead up to her brother’s death she had spoken to Laura about giving up her involvement with Glasgow City to spend more time with her family.
At the same time Laura was looking after partner Kat, a respected academic and former Glasgow City captain, who had become seriously ill with depression.
Laura told Cas that she too no longer felt she had the time to devote to the club they had set up together in 1998.
The two friends, who had met while both playing football for Glasgow University, discussed how they could step away from the club and who could take over their roles.
But their discussions were put on the back burner after Cas’s brother died, then Kat, 39, took her own life while a patient in hospital.
Laura, who works as head of sales and sponsorship at Hibernian FC, said: “It’s still really difficult for me to talk about.
“The day Kat died is the worst day of my life and always will be. Kat was my world.
“When you lose that one thing that is the real reason to get you up in the morning, you realise that you don’t get as much enjoyment out of stuff.
“When something good happens to me now, or something quirky, the only person I want to tell it to is Kat – and she’s not there to tell any more. It’s really challenging and I really miss her.”
Cas and Laura say while Glasgow City have continued to celebrate both league and international success over the past three years, they have done little to push the amateur club forward.
But now – as they look forward to the football season kicking off again once the coronavirus lockdown and social distancing rules are lifted – they have found renewed energy to meet the challenges facing women’s football in Scotland – including many of the teams having gone professional.
Cas said: “I think the conversation went along the lines of, ‘I’m going to keep going. Are you coming?’ And I said ‘Oh right, OK’.”
Laura added: “We’ve been treading water for three years and we’ve not really progressed the club.
“If anything we’ve just let it survive and not moved forward because the only energy we’ve had in us was just to keep going.
“Now we’re back into this big time and we want to do all this stuff. There are new challenges all the time.
“We’ve got a number of really strong competitors in the league who are financially a lot better off than us.
“There is significant investment coming in from men’s teams who have women’s teams – whether that’s Rangers, Celtic, Hibs, Hearts etc.
“They have had significant financial gains on us over a number of years, but now it’s really stepped up.
“That really fuels me to make sure we can somehow remain where we are despite the fact they are potentially throwing half a million or a million pounds into their teams.” Cas said: “So we’ve got a plan.” Laura added: “But we’re not sharing it.” The story of how Cas and Laura set up a football club that would become not just a dominant forced in women’s football in Scotland, but a strong contender in Europe, will be told in a new BBC ALBA documentary.
The Women Who Built Glasgow City is produced by purpleTV. It will air on BBC ALBA tomorrow at 9pm and remain on BBC iPlayer for 30 days.