Farewell to Broadwood as Clyde move to Hamilton
Clyde Football Club say they intend to return to Glasgow in the coming years after confirming they will ground share with Lanarkshire rivals Hamilton Accies next season.
The Bully Wee played their final game at Broadwood Stadium on Saturday – suffering a 5-0 defeat to Airdrieonians – after it was announced they would be terminating their lease a season early to link up with Accies at New Douglas Park from July.
The news comes after North Lanarkshire Council said they would not be renewing the lease when it expired in May 2023 after the David Goodwillie furore.
Earlier this year Broadwood owners NLC told the club that Goodwillie - who was ruled a rapist in a civil court case in 2017 - was banned from entering Broadwood and should Clyde play him following his return on loan from Raith Rovers, they would see that as a breach of their lease. Goodwillie hasn’t played for either club since and Clyde say they will now move across Lanarkshire, whilst planning to “secure a site and new stadium in Glasgow”– 36 years on from leaving their spiritual Rutherglen home at Shawfield.
Between 1991-1994, Accies shared the old Douglas Park with Clyde while they waited for work to be completed at Broadwood.
While their short-term future lies in South Lanarkshire, the club want to find a home in Glasgow eventually, although no timescale has been given.
Clyde’s statement read: “Clyde Football Club will, imminently, be issuing a notice to North Lanarkshire Council terminating its lease at Broadwood.
“It is widely known that the club had begun developing a proposal to relocate to a stadium of its own.
“Although we had fully expected
Clyde boss Danny Lennon hopes generations of supporters from Rutherglen and Cumbernauld will follow them from Broadwood, after ending a 28-year spell at the stadium.
The Bully Wee will ground-share with Hamilton Accies for at least a season while they look for a home of their own in Glasgow.
Lennon warns that it might take a couple of years to get the right location, but hopes fans stick by them.
Clyde didn’t have the send-off they would have liked as they fell to a 5-0 derby hammering against Airdrie in their penultimate League One match this season, but Lennon says the fans’ backing kept them going.
He said: “I was very emotional out there at the end of the game, it was a difficult one, because this club has had 28 fantastic years here with some good memories and bad memories.
“But the thing that I will always remember is the supporters and the way they got behind the team.
“I’ve often said that as managers and players we have the privilege to come through these doors and fall in love with the club, but it’s only a visit.
“I’ve been fortunate enough to have been here for five years, some others have only been a year or two, but the fans are there for life.
“It’s like when you have a family and you buy a new house – and we do that in our lifetimes many times over – but once you close that door it’s what’s inside that house that really counts.
“That’s what Clyde has always had. We’ve got a generation of fans from this area [Cumbernauld] and we hope that they come to the new home with us, along with the generations that we’ve already got.”
Lennon hopes wherever Clyde ultimately end up will be a place that can create new memories for the club, and they will work hard to get it right.
He said: “It’s very important that we give absolutely everything to make our new home one to remember.
“It’s also important that we continue to build the foundations to make sure we go on and find that right location, to get back to where we properly belong, in Glasgow.
“That’s going to take two to three years, possibly, maybe slightly earlier, but the most important thing there is that we do it together and pull together.”
The Bully Wee bowed out with a performance to forget as a Rhys McCabe penalty was followed by strikes from Callum Smith, Calum Gallagher, Kyle MacDonald and Jon Afolabi to win it for Airdrie.
Lennon, whose side are already safe in League One, added: “It wasn’t the result we were looking for in our last game at Broadwood and I’m bitterly disappointed that it fizzled out.”