By Albatross
August 28 2002

Franchise Football is a hot topic at the moment - most notably with the proposed move of Wimbledon to Milton Keynes. But there have been other attempts to bring in the idea of the Franchise. Albatross looks at the history. Without doubt one of the hottest topics in British Football at the moment is the prospect of Franchise Football. Most notable of course has been the long - but eventually fruitless - struggle by the fans of Wimbledon FC to prevent the club's move to Milton Keynes. But Wimbledon isn't the first time that the spectre of the franchise has come up, and nor is it the only one that's come up recently.

Poolies with long memories may remember that in 1981 Vince Barker was threatening to move Hartlepool United out of the town. At the time Scarborough were trying to find a way into the league, and it was rumoured that Pools were to be the club to donate their place to the Seadogs. Barker was having trouble with the Council over the Vic, and Scarborough had already had an abortive attempt to buy Halifax Town. Fortunately it never got beyond rumour and speculation.

Wind forward a few years later... It's just before the start of the 1992/3 Season. Promotion and Relegation is in place between Division 4 and the Conference, and 1988/9 Conference Champions Maidstone United are in trouble. In dire financial straits, a Newcastle-based businessman tries to take over the Kent-based club. His aim? To move the club, lock stock and barrel, to the North-East. The proposal failed, Maidstone went bust, and the league lost a club. Maidstone reformed, and are now playing in the Kent League as they try and climb the ladder once again.

The following seasons saw constant speculation about Wimbledon. The Milton Keynes proposal had been floating around for some time before it became a reality, and before it of course were rumours of a move to Dublin. The Dons are not the only club to have been linked with a move abroad though....

Clydebank FC have (or, sadly that should be had) an interesting history. The town had a number of Junior (ie Amateur) clubs, but no Senior Clubs - no presence in the Scottish League. In 1964, the owners of Clydebank decided to do something about this. Amid much protest and controversy, they bought East Stirling: the Floodlights and Enclosure were moved to Clydebank's New Kilbowie, and as ES Clydebank, they competed in the Scottish League for the first time in 1964/5. This forced marriage though didn't stick: following the divorce at the end of the season East Stirling retained the League spot while Clydebank played for a season in the Reserve League before being elected to the SFL in their own right for the 1966/7 season.

30 years later though and Clydebank were in trouble. They had sold their ground, but proposals for a new stadium in Clydebank proved to be lacking, and the next few seasons were spent sharing first of all with Dumbarton and later with Morton. In financial trouble and with many fans choosing to stay away rather than travel some distance to see them play in another town, a proposal was mooted to take the Bankies to... Dublin. Sound familiar? Understandably the fans were horrified, the move never happened, and Clydebank remained in exile.

Until now. It didn't get much attention in England, but if you look at the Scottish League tables this season you won't find Clydebank. Where are they? Well, if you look at Division 2 you'll see a name that looks familiar and yet somehow not quite: Airdrie United. Airdrieonians were put into liquidation over the summer; under the auspices of businessman Jim Ballantyne a new club, Airdrie United, rose from the ashes. However, they failed to gain election to the Scottish League, Gretna taking the place; and Ballantyne opted for plan B. Clydebank were also in administration, and were up for sale - so he bought them and got the agreement of the SFL to change their name to Airdrie United and move them to Airdrie's old ground. Clydebank meanwhile are no more, and their fans are going to have to try and start a new club to play in the Scottish Non-Leagues in 2003/4. Franchise Football strikes again.

Check back tomorrow for Part 2, with a closer look at the WImbledon affair.