Hi-Hi ended the season... then heard it was all over

It is almost exactly 53 years since senior football was last played at Cathkin Park.

Third Lanark drew 3-3 with Queen of the South on April 25, 1967.

Just a few weeks later, the famous old club’s 95-year spell in the Scottish League was over.

Mismanagement and corruption led to the “Hi-Hi” being wound-up, six years after they had finished third in Scotland’s top flight.

A football pitch and remnants of the terracing remain as part of a municipal park on the south side of Glasgow – a reminder of the glory days and an inspiration for those trying to revive the club.

Former captain Alan Mackay (right) grew up as a Thirds supporter and remains passionate about their past, present and future.

He said: “I took my grandson to see Cathkin Park just a couple of months ago.

“I still pop in to see the ground when I’m in Glasgow.

“There’s a slightly strange atmosphere when I go back there. It’s a little eerie to stand on the terracing and think back to the games I played in.

“Cathkin is a place that’s in my heart forever. There are a lot fond memories, but also a feeling of tragedy because of the way the club was run into the ground.”

Alan didn’t play in Thirds’ last home match as his disquiet at how events

were unfolding resulted in him being banished from the club. He recalled: “I was captain, but the chairman, Bill Hiddleston, banned me for the last three games.

“I don’t know why. There was no explanation. The manager, Bobby Shearer, didn’t know why either. “That nearly broke my heart.

“We now live in a world of transparency and openness. Directors have to account for their actions.

“But in 1967, we finished the season,

then heard from the Scottish League that Thirds had gone.

“I was speechless. It was such a tragedy.” An attempt by Hiddleston – the club’s unscrupulous major shareholder – to sell the ground for property development was always destined to fail.

Glasgow City Council stated the site must be used for recreational purposes.

There is now a Third Lanark amateur football team but, rather bizarrely, they are unable to play at the old ground.

Alan Mackay said: “I was involved with a committee to try to get the

ground back for the club. It would be an absolute joy if Third Lanark could play at Cathkin Park again, but I think it’s going to be difficult.”

Third Lanark fan, and the club’s fundraising director, Pat McGeady, has spent years working to take Thirds back to their old home.

He said: “I will never give up on Cathkin. To watch Third Lanark run out on the pitch again would fulfil my lifetime ambition.” Record attendance: – 45,455

v Rangers, 1954.