The purpose of the Bankies Archive is to preserve the history of Clydebank Football Club and the clubs and eras which form part of its lineage. The timeline used by the Archive is set out below and charts the history of the club from 1899 to the present day. The line is contiguous, even where it has not always been continuous in a strict legal or administrative sense.
It should be noted that the name “Clydebank Football Club” has been used by other clubs in the past, most notably the senior club which played in the Scottish League between 1914 and 1931. These clubs are not featured in the Bankies Archive as they were separate entities and do not form part of the contiguous line of the present club.
The 1964-65 ES Clydebank season has often been treated as part of East Stirlingshire’s history. However, the club was a merger of Clydebank Juniors and East Stirlingshire and was, whatever view is taken of the rights and wrongs of the arrangement, a shared venture. The club played at Kilbowie Park, drew upon the Clydebank support, and forms part of the line that runs from Clydebank Juniors to the present Clydebank FC. For that reason, the ES Clydebank season is included in the Archive, while being recorded separately and clearly identified as ES Clydebank throughout.
The present Clydebank Football Club, established in 2003, is commonly described as a phoenix club. To most supporters, however, it is a continuation of the club lost in 2002, just as the transition from Clydebank Juniors to ES Clydebank and then to Clydebank FC was regarded by earlier generations as part of the same Clydebank football story.
The debate around Rangers after 2012 has shown that Scottish football’s authorities can recognise continuity of football identity despite changes in corporate structure. Rangers are recognised by the SFA, SPFL and UEFA as the same club, regardless of the arguments around the liquidation and new company. Clydebank should seek the same principle of recognition, with the history and records of the 1965-2002 club formally attached to the present Clydebank FC.
Until that happens, the Archive treats Clydebank’s history as a contiguous line from 1899 to the present day. Formal recognition would make the line from 1965 onwards continuous as well as contiguous.
