Stirling Albion Football Club is a Scottish football club based in the city of Stirling. The club was founded in 1945 following the demise of King's Park after World War II. The club currently competes in as a member of the Scottish Professional Football League. Its highest league position came in 1958–59 with a 12th-placed position in the top flight. Its only major success is in the league where it has won the second tier of Scottish football on four occasions, the last coming in 1964–65. The club has more recently competed in the third or fourth tier following league re-construction in 1975 and 1994.
Stirling's home ground is Forthbank Stadium, a 3,808 capacity stadium in the east of the city near the banks of the River Forth. Before the stadium was opened in 1993, the club was based at Annfield Stadium which had been the home of the club since it was founded in 1945.
History
Origins Stirling Albion was founded in 1945 after the town's previous football team King's Park had failed to survive the Second World War. King's Park's ground (Forthbank) had been damaged during the war, having been hit by a German bomb on 20 July 1940. This was one of only two bombs to fall on the town during the Second World War.
The new club was the brainchild of local businessman Thomas Fergusson, a local coal magnate, and he purchased the Annfield estate to build a new stadium. Annfield was situated within a quarter of a mile from the town centre and would be the home of The Binos until 1992.
The name 'Albion' supposedly came from the make of Fergusson's coal trucks. This however is an urban myth. Albion Coal lorries were used as grandstands but the club was named at a meeting of fans long before a ball was kicked. (Reference, Stirling Journal Newspaper, 1945.) The name Albion was chosen because it was an old word for Great Britain and held meaning for the founder.
The yo-yo years Between 1946 and 1968, the club gained a reputation as a club that was too good for the lower league but never quite good enough to establish themselves in the top flight, being relegated and promoted several times,Stirling Albion , Football Club History Database. Retrieved 13 February 2022 hence the club's nickname of The Yo-Yos. For a time it was a saying in Scotland that something or somebody was "going up and down like Stirling Albion". In 1966 the club became the first British team to play in Japan.
The 1970–1980s Under the vastly experienced Bob Shankly, Stirling made progress, achieving consecutive third place finishes in 1971–72 and 1972–73, narrowly missing out on promotion to the top tier.
On retiring to the boardroom, Shankly was succeeded for one season by Frank Beattie but then handpicked his long-term protege, former Albion player Alex Smith, who had been cutting his managerial teeth at Stenhousemuir. Smith's first season in 1974–75 saw the club finish 8th, three points behind Alex Ferguson's St Mirren in 6th. That slim margin would prove crucial as league reconstruction meant it was the difference between staying in the Second Division or starting afresh in the new third tier.
Over the next two seasons, Smith began a major rebuild of the playing staff that would create one of Albion's finest squads. To a core of long-standing regulars including midfielder Robert Duffin, half-back James Clark and goalkeeper George Young, he added, among others, centre-half John Kennedy from Partick Thistle, Clyde full-back James Burns and Hibernian youngsters Allan Moffat and David Steedman. Midfielder Robin Thomson and teenage winger Graeme Armstrong also arrived from non-league football.
Albion opened the 1976–77 season with a League Cup campaign that saw them nearly topple Premier Division Aberdeen in the quarter-finals, losing the first leg 1–0 at Pittodrie but then winning the return by the same score at Annfield with a Robert Gray header. The Dons won the replay at the neutral ground of Dens Park, Dundee, 2–0, before beating both Rangers and Celtic on the way to lifting the trophy. Albion went on to win the Second Division crown that season, conceding only 29 goals in 39 matches and taking the title with several games to spare.
Back in the second tier, Albion finished a creditable 5th in 1977–78 and enjoyed comfortable mid-table finishes in the subsequent two seasons. However, despite consolidation on the pitch, Annfield's infrastructure was in dire need of repair and the club's cash supplies began to run low.
The 1980–81 season started memorably with a stunning 1–0 win over Celtic in the first leg of their second round League Cup tie thanks to a Lloyd Irvine goal. They took an early lead in the 2nd leg at Parkhead too with a Matt McPhee free kick, but minutes away from a famous victory, a late Tommy Burns strike took the tie to extra time. Albion were eventually overwhelmed and lost 6–2 on aggregate, a teenage Charlie Nicholas coming off the bench to grab his first two goals for the Hoops.
Following a third match against Celtic – a 3–0 defeat in the Scottish Cup in February – goals and confidence dried up and 13 games without finding the net led to relegation back to the 3rd tier. Through necessity, Albion began to cash in on the squad's better players, and Smith was given the task of developing a conveyor belt of local talent to sell on and keep Albion afloat.
George Young had already signed for Rangers for £20,000 in 1979 but the exodus began to pick up pace. Defender George Nicol went to Dundee United in 1981 and John Kennedy to St Johnstone a year later.
Three of Smith's local discoveries left in quick succession in 1983 and 1984: striker John Colquhoun to Celtic, midfielder Brian Grant to Aberdeen and Scotland youth defender John Philliben to Doncaster Rovers. Meanwhile, stalwart goalkeeper Gordon Arthur departed for Dumbarton. Despite the calibre of the players leaving, Albion maintained consistent top-half finishes and, in 1984, racked up a record 20–0 Scottish Cup victory over Selkirk, which made headlines around the world.
Following a bright start to the 1986–87 campaign, Smith was prised away to take charge of St Mirren, and his assistant George Peebles took over at Annfield. Albion finished third and missed out on promotion only on goal difference.
Three more local players were poached from the club between 1986 and 1987: Willie Irvine by Hibernian and Robert Dawson and Keith Walker by their old boss at St Mirren, bringing the total revenue raised from player sales linked to the Smith era to nearly £1 million.
However, off the field, the council had decided to make as much money as possible from Annfield, and the grass pitch was considered not to be cost effective. The main stand was also demolished after being declared an unsafe building. An extra large crowd turned up in September 1987, to see Stirling play Ayr United on the first-ever game on artificial turf in Scotland.
One consequence of the pitch change was that clubs could decide not to play on the surface in cup matches, and so for the next five years all of Stirling Albion's home cup games were played away. With the supposed advantage of the artificial pitch not working, St Johnstone defeated the Binos by six goals on the artificial surface, Peebles was relieved of his duties and Jim Fleeting was appointed.
Fleeting was manager for six months but shook the club up and served as a launch pad for the next 10 years. When Fleeting left to manage Kilmarnock days after declaring his "loyalty to Stirling Albion, a sincere loyalty I'm proud to say", Bino's star striker John Brogan was promoted to manager and would finally lead the Binos out of Division Two in 1991. The club went unbeaten away from home for a whole calendar year, and easily saw off the challenge of Montrose to clinch the title at Links Park on 7 April 1991.
The 1990s: between Divisions 1 and 2 The next three years in Division 1 were eventful. The club stayed up, but Annfield was no more and a new ground was built outside Stirling town centre on the banks of the River Forth. After many years playing at Annfield in the centre of the town, the team now play at Forthbank Stadium which is owned by Stirling Council.
The club was relegated to Division 2 when the structure of Scottish Football was changed again to create a four division setup. Brogan was sacked and replaced by Kevin Drinkell. Drinkell had a terrible first season in charge: by February the club were third from bottom, and after a defeat at Brechin City the fans revolted against Drinkell. Sensing he was in the last chance saloon, he quickly brought in Paul Deas and Garry Paterson who shored up the team and took them on a 10-game unbeaten run. This run lifted the club into second on the last day of the season, when a point would have secured them an immediate return to Division 1. The Binos hosted Dumbarton at Forthbank but Dumbarton won, and the Binos were resigned to another season in the second division. However, in the 1995–96 season the club went on an amazing run and had the league sewn up by Christmas, and were regularly scoring six goals in their games.
During 1996 to 1998 the club returned to the First Division. The 1996–97 season saw a respectable mid-table finish. The 1997–98 season began with good early cup form, but the club were relegated after the introduction of foreign players failed to compensate for the loss of several key players. With one game remaining, Drinkell was replaced by his assistant, former West Ham United and Scotland star Ray Stewart.
Between 1998 and 2000 the club played in the 2nd Division under the management of John Philliben. Philliben was criticised as manager after the signings he made throughout his reign. He was sacked at the end of the 1999–00 season and replaced by Ray Stewart, who returned to manage the Binos for a second time.
Recent years The 2000–01 season saw Stirling Albion go on a run of 17 games without a win, and finished at the bottom of the Second Division and were subsequently relegated to the Third Division. The following season was equally poor as The Binos finished second bottom of the Third Division, avoiding the bottom place by the narrowest of margins – a single missed penalty. Their Scottish Cup campaign was similarly weak, with the team being knocked out by East of Scotland League team Gala Fairydean. Ray Stewart was sacked at the end of the season.
Allan Moore was appointed manager at the beginning of the 2002–03 season, and the club saw immediate improvement in its fortunes. The Binos were promoted to the Second Division at the end of the 2003–04 season, and the following season saw a respectable fourth-place finish in the league. This improvement continued into season 2005–6. Major changes to the promotion/relegation issues had been put into place, with the advent of the play-off system, but Stirling just missed out in competing in the play-offs. The following seasons the Binos went on an 18-game unbeaten run. This successful run saw the club climb to 2nd place in the Second Division, where they would finish the season, guaranteeing them a play-off place for promotion to the Scottish First Division.