Clydebank - Holm Park

Clydebank FC

Holm Park

Dock Street

Clydebank 

Glasgow

G81 1PW

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Ground Number: 1403

Sunday 16th March 2025
Clydebank 1-12 Gleniffer Thistle
SWFL West

CLYDEBANK FC - A BRIEF HISTORY

Although several teams named Clydebank have existed, the current one was established in 2003. The current Clydebank is a Phoenix club formed after the previous Clydebank was bought out by Airdrieonians and moved to Airdrie. The original club sold their New Kilbowie ground in 1996 and shared at Dumbarton & Greenock Morton until they were taken over in 2002. In their inaugural season, the new club joined the Scottish Juniors West Region, starting in Central Division Two which they won in their first season. Seven seasons were spent in Super League Division One before they won promotion after finishing as runners-up on goal difference to Ashfield in 2011. Four seasons were spent in the Premier Division including a best finish of 3rd in 2013. In 2015, Clydebank were relegated but would bounce back as runners-up to Girvan in 2017. Four seasons were spent back in the Premier Division before a reshuffle saw the West Of Scotland Premier Division created. This sits at level 6 of Scottish football and Clydebank have finished 4th in their last three seasons.

This season has seen a record Scottish Cup run for the new club. Clydebank beat St Andrews United 7-0, Girvan 3-1. won 3-0 at Keith and defeated Buckie Thistle 2-0 before losing 3-1 at Hibs in the 4th Round. Clydebank Ladies play in the SWFL West which sits at the 5th tier of women's football in Scotland. The club play in Yoker, an area of Glasgow, located on the northern bank of the Clyde east of Clydebank, 5 miles west of Glasgow city centre. The name is an Anglicisation of the Scottish Gaelic Eochair meaning a river bank. From the fourteenth century, the Renfrew Ferry has linked Yoker with Renfrew on the south bank of the river. The shipbuilding industry drove the growth of the district in the 19th century; this has since declined, although the nearby Yarrows shipyard, now owned by BAE Systems, is still in operation. Motor vehicles and tramcars were also manufactured in Yoker, which is now an operations centre for the North Clyde Line, part of Glasgow's suburban rail network.

MY VISIT

This was the last of the games that I decided upon for this year's trip to Scotland. I was having a right hassle trying to find something to pair up with Hamilton Academical in the afternoon. What would usually be a rich seam of games, the Glasgow & District Sunday League had no fixtures scheduled, possibly due to the Celtic v Rangers game. The Airdrie & Coatbridge Sunday League could have also potentially provided a solution but all of the fixtures had been listed with no date on their website. Short of going around each individual club's social media (if they had one) it was a non-starter. The top four levels of women's football also provided no joy. But I dug deeper and found Clydebank v Gleniffer Thistle. It was a decent ground, used in the West Of Scotland League. Also, the 11 am kickoff, again probably due to the Old Firm derby was perfect and gave plenty of time between games.

It was a bit of a disappointing game at Albion Rovers and we had to get a move on to get our train back into Glasgow, making the connection by the skin of our teeth. Rather than rush, we went to the Wetherspoons near Queen Street Station. To save time, I ordered two bottles of cider and had them in the 35 minutes we were there, feeling a lot more relaxed than when I went in. It was a revisit for me but convenient and a tick for Colin. The two other Wetherspoons were planned for tomorrow, hopefully, they will be as good as this one which had a great range. We were back at Queen Street well in time for the penultimate train of the day back to Stepps, just as well as Colin's Trainline app was not the most intuitive. Overall, I was impressed with Scotrail, reliable and fair prices. The only gripe is that in line with other operators, a return is only marginally cheaper than a single from what I could deduce.

We got back to the room around 11.30. I spent around 90 minutes getting my blogs for the day up and then watched YouTube videos in bed. It must have been just before 2 before I got to sleep and I got around five hours in - enough for me TBH. We were in no great rush with a fair amount of time to kill. We were at the station well in time and got our train to Queen Street. After getting a pie from Greggs for breakfast, we walked around 15 minutes to Glasgow Central, then seemingly the same distance again to platform 17 which was deep down in the depths of the station. The train was five minutes late but once we'd got to Yoker and walked five minutes to the ground where we arrived 15 minutes before kickoff. The ground was far better than expected and I got some nice pictures before kickoff.

 

Clydebank Ladies sat second bottom, having won just two of their twelve games so far. Clydebank had lost their last four, including a 3-0 loss against bottom side Benburb to give their opponents the only win of the season. Gleniffer Thistle were in 6th and were in mixed form. Their last game came a fortnight ago when they drew 0-0 against St Anthonys. Gleniffer Thistle started well, advancing into the area, cutting in and finishing after two minutes on the clock. On 13 minutes, it was 2-0 to the visitors, a cross in and a shot in off the post. On 21 minutes, a header from a corner made it 3-0 and it was pretty much one way traffic at this point. It was 4-0 on 29 minutes, #14 given all the time in the world to run and finish neatly past the keeper. Then on 33,it was 5-0 via a looping shot. On 40 minutes, #14 curled in a great shot from the edge of the area to make it 6-0 and she was the best player on the pitch. It was 7-0 on 42 minutes and long ago game over. A penalty made it 8-0 just before half time. #14 made it 9-0 just after the break with another great strike and then it was 10-0 with a close shot. Finally, a joyful moment happened on 61 minutes when Clydebank broke and scored a consolation on what was a tough day for them. Normal service was resumed on 65 minutes, a well worked move finished off by #19 to make it 11-1. The game then quietened down until the last five minutes when Gleniffer added a twelfth to finish the game off.

 

THE GROUND 

HOLM PARK is a lovely venue with expansive terracing along both sides. One goal is out of bounds whilst the other has flat standing. There are a few areas of cover which would keep a few hundred dry. Parking is plentiful and Yoker station is under ten minutes walk away. There is a small bar that wasn't open on my visit. Across the road are shops such as Farmfoods and Nisa Local.