Memories of great games, goals and foreign visitors
Saturday marked the 28th anniversary of Stirling Albion’s last match at Annfield when Clydebank were beaten 2-0 in a First Division fixture.
The Binos ground-shared with Stenhousemuir at Ochilview for most of 1992/93 before moving into their current home at Forthbank in April 1993.
Football had been played in the town before Stirling Albion were formed in 1945. King’s Park were members of the Scottish Football League but had been struggling financially and the end came when a bomb was dropped on their stadium during the Second World War.
Local coal merchant Tom Fergusson and others began the process of establishing a new club and purchased Annfield estate for £5000 in May 1945. A huge amount of work was done that summer and Stirling Albion played their first match – a friendly against Airdrie – in August 1945. Future club owner Peter McKenzie was among the visiting players as 5000 fans looked on. The weather was described as ‘more suited to cricket’!
We recall some memories of the club’s much-loved home from 19451992…
Record crowd
Stirling’s Albion’s record attendance was set in March 1959 for a Scottish Cup quarter-final against Celtic, who ran out 3-1 winners. The figure was given as 28,600 but it’s likely to have been higher as some fans without tickets gained entry illegally. The lowest Annfield crowd was just 216, for a game against
Forfar Athletic on a miserable midweek night in March 1982.
Top flight
It may surprise younger readers but Stirling Albion were regulars in the higher echelons of Scottish football during the 1950s and 1960s and become known as the “Yo-Yo Club” such was the number of times they moved between
Division One and Division Two. Their highest finish was 12th in 1958/59 and their last season at the top table of Scottish football was 1967/68.
Floodlights switched on
Floodlit football came to Stirling in season 1961/62 and the lights were switched on for the first time in a friendly against Birmingham City in November
1961. Erected at a cost of £12,000, they were reckoned to be among the best in the country at the time.
Goals galore
Annfield staged the biggest win of the 20th century in British football in December 1984 when Stirling Albion thumped Selkirk 20-0 in the first round of the Scottish Cup. Fifteen of the goals came in the second half when Alex Smith’s side were shooting down the famous slope. It was a staggering result that made headlines across the UK but the Binos were beaten by Cowdenbeath in round two.
The biggest league win at Annfield was 7-0, which was achieved on a number of occasions. The fastest goal was scored by John Brogan after 14 seconds of a 2-0 win over Alloa in January 1988.
Famous wins
Celtic were beaten 2-1 in November 1949 during the club’s first season in the top division. A crowd of more than 25,000 saw what the Stirling Journal described as ‘the club’s finest hour so far’. Rangers were famously beaten 2-0 in September 1953 and that remained Albion’s only success against the Ibrox side until the shock 1-0 victory at Forthbank in October 2012, when Brian Allison grabbed the only goal.
Other notable results include a 3-1 Scottish Cup defeat of Motherwell in 1970/71 and a 1-0 League Cup second-leg quarterfinal win over Aberdeen in 1976/77, although it was the Dons who qualified for the semi-finals after a play-off at Dens Park.
Celtic were beaten 1-0 in August 1980 in the first leg of a League Cup tie but the Premier Division side went through following the second leg in Glasgow.
European football
The first foreign visitors to Annfield were Austrian outfit Admira Wien in April 1954. Stirling Albion ran out 5-1 winners but did at least treat their guests to dinner at the Golden Lion Hotel! In March 1970, Stirling hosted Soviet side Kharkov Metallist – who were on a short British tour at the time – and won 1-0 in front of 1,851 fans.
Managers and players
Tom Fergusson established the club and was also a director and manager – a real Mr Stirling Albion. Bob Shankly – brother of Bill – was in charge from 1971-73 and Alex Smith had a 12-year stint as boss from 1974 and 1986 before moving to St Mirren.
On the playing front, free-scoring striker Geordie Henderson was a hero in the early days while Bobby Gilmour achieved cult status in the 1950s. Johnny Lawlor and John Kilgannon are other famous names from the past and were followed by the likes of George Young, Billy Steele and Matt McPhee, who went on to become the club’s record appearance holder.
Mickey Lawson was a hugely popular and successful player at Annfield while John Colquhoun would go on to play for Scotland. More recently, Willie Watters was the darling of the Stirling Albion supporters as the club’s time at Annfield drew to a close.
Weather worries
The bitter winter of 1962/63 wiped out football across the country for long periods and there were no games played at Annfield between January 2 and March 13. It was a similar story in 1978/79, with not a single league fixture staged between December 23 and March 7. The only game to go ahead during that spell was a Scottish Cup tie with Partick Thistle, but only after 10 postponements!
Plastic pitch
Stirling Albion were the first Scottish club to install an artificial surface, although Queens Park Rangers and Luton Town had already done so south of the border. It was unveiled in September 1987 in a 1-1 draw with Ayr United – Brian Kemp scored the first goal on the new pitch.
It was generally disliked by visiting teams – not least
Partick Thistle boss John Lambie – although Ayr’s Ally MacLeod was a rare fan. The Scottish Football League deemed the experiment had not been a success and it was their insistence that the club return to a grass surface which precipitated the move to Forthbank.
Stirling Albion were the first Scottish club to install an artificial surface. It was unveiled in September 1987 in a 1-1 draw with Ayr United.
Last game
On Saturday May 2, 1992 an emotional crowd of 1,270 turned up for the last match at Annfield and saw goals from Willie Watters and Ian McInnes earn John Brogan’s men a
2-0 win over Clydebank. Ironically, the Bankies also provided the opposition when Forthbank opened 51 weeks later but this time the visitors triumphed 3-2.