BE VERY AFRAID
Ambitious Drum beat out a warning to ‘stagnant’ clubs at foot of leagues
SCOTTISH football is set for a seismic shift and clubs at the bottom of the SPFL are right to be afraid, according to one of the clubs about to take their first steps in senior football.
Drumchapel United have emerged from the amateur ranks to take their place in the newly formed West of Scotland League and will kick off life in tier seven.
But if anyone thought the Glasgow side were content to stick there then this week’s signing of former Hamilton skipper Darian MacKinnon has blown that assumption to pieces.
MacKinnon joins ex-St Johnstone, Dundee and Morton full-back Willie Dyer, who is returning to the club where he began his career, to front up an ambitious attempt to scale the pyramid.
And while they may be a long way off troubling the big guns across the city, bosses aren’t afraid to beat the Drum over their long-term ambitions to climb the leagues towards the SPFL proper.
Backed by the local community, in which they run an incredible 31 sides from Under-5s right through to the senior side, the Drum are confident they have everything in place for a proper push towards the pro ranks.
And with fellow West League club Darvel flexing their muscles with the addition of Jordan Kilpatrick and Ian McShane, East Kilbride tooling up under Stevie Aitken and a plethora of other hungry non-league sides ready to make their move, Drum chief Scott Bland reckons the Scottish game is set for a radical shake up from the bottom.
Club secretary Bland said: “There is a stagnation at the bottom end of the professional game in Scotland.
“Clubs that have been hanging around for a long time because there has been no relegation out of League Two.
“So now ambitious teams in the pyramid system have that chance to move up the leagues and there’s lots of ambition there.
“You look at Kelty and East Kilbride among the big clubs in the Lowland League. And there’s plenty coming in underneath that.
“It can only be good for Scottish football. It has always been in our aims to move to a higher level.
“We want a proper pathway for all the youngsters in our age groups so they can come in at three or four years old and work their way right through the system with now a senior side as the pinnacle.
“The ultimate ambition would be to fight our way through the West of Scotland League and eventually get professional football in Drumchapel one day.
“That’s the dream. There’s 10,000 people in Drumchapel. The potential is there. We’d love to give them a side in the SPFL.”
Ambitious teams in the pyramid system now have chance to move up
SCOTT BLAND ON HOPES FOR LOWER SIDES