Nickname(s) The 'Lie Manager Chris Mackie Founded 1874 | Ground Capacity 4,000 Ground Dunterlie Park | |
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Full name Arthurlie Football Club League West of Scotland Super League Premier Division 2015–16 West of Scotland Super League Premier Division, 9th | ||
Arthurlie Football Club are a Junior football team based in Barrhead, East Renfrewshire in Scotland. Based at Dunterlie Park, they play in the West of Scotland Super League Premier Division. The club played in the Scottish Football League in two spells, 1901 to 1915 and 1923 to 1929.
Contents
History
The club was founded in 1874 and played as a senior league side until 1929. Notable early results include the 4–2 defeat of Celtic in the 1897 Scottish Cup. The club became a founder member of the Scottish Federation League in 1892 and played in the Scottish Football League between 1901 and 1915, achieving modest results in the Second Division. That division ceased operations in 1915, during the First World War, but Arthurlie did not immediately rejoin the league after the war ended. They instead waited until 1923 to apply for membership of the newly created Third Division. Arthurlie immediately won the Third Division championship, and four reasonably successful seasons in the Second Division followed. Financial problems forced the club to resign its membership of the league with six games of the 1928–29 season to play. As the club had played all the promotion-chasing clubs, their results were allowed to stand.
A club of the same name joined the junior ranks during the early 1930s. They found success quickly with a Scottish Junior Cup win in 1937 – defeating Kirkintilloch Rob Roy 5–1 in the final. It would be 51 years before they lifted the famous trophy again, defeating arch rivals Pollok 4–0 in the final at Fir Park with strikes from Mark McLaughlin, Johnny Millar, Steven Convery and Steven Nugent.
Their most recent triumphs, under the guidance of manager Frank Lynch, consist of four trophies – Central Premier League and Evening Times Cup Winners Cup (2001), SuperLeague 1st Division and Central League Cup (2003).
Arthurlie currently play in the West of Scotland Super Premier League, in which they were handicapped in the 2005–06 season by an initial 12-point ban, inflicted by the Scottish Junior Football Association, based on an alleged headbutt on referee John McKendrick in a match with Auchinleck Talbot in February 2005. While the criminal courts found midfielder Mark Ross to be innocent of criminal assault, the SJFA punished the club for not co-operating with the enquiry. The club were also fined £3,000.
In early 2006, the Western Region dished out a further three-point deduction and £50 fine for fielding goalkeeper Kevin Montgomery in a match with Johnstone Burgh, during which he dismissed after an hour for handling the ball outside the box.
In March 2006 the entire management team resigned and were replaced by former Larkhall Thistle manager Gary Faulds (who had also managed at Glenafton Athletic and Kilwinning Rangers while his playing career took him to Queen of the South, Kilmarnock, Pollok and East Kilbride Thistle to name four). Faulds re-appointed his Thistle assistant Stevie Moore in the same position.
In June 2006 the entire playing staff of Arthurlie left the club, following the management staff out of the door. The most notable departures saw goalkeeper Kris Robertson, defender Gary Wilson, midfielder Zander Ryan and strikers Alan Waddell and Robert Downs move to arch-rivals Pollok. Also, captain Stuart Allison moved to local rivals Neilston, and Charlie Hobbs and Martin McGarvey (a veteran of the 1998 cup-winning squad, amongst others, dropped down a division, joining Beith, and Gary Faulds' predecessor Frank Lynch.
The captain of the 2006–07 season was to be former St Mirren, Kilwinning Rangers and Pollok defender Roland Fabiani.
Season 2007–08 saw Gary Faulds and his coaching staff resign their position after a string of poor results in the first half of the season. Mark Cameron and Roland Fabiani were temporarily placed in charge. They were then handed the job on a full-time basis for the start of the 2008–09 campaign after managing to maintain Arthurlie's position in the top flight of West Region Junior Football and winning the Central League Cup.
Jimmy McQuade was handed a coaching role at the club with whom he won the Scottish Junior Cup as manager in 1998, thus adding experience to the management team.
Roland Fabiani decided to return to playing football, hence the relinquishment of his role as assistant manager to Mark Cameron. He was succeeded by Sammy Johnston. In 2011 Arthurlie won the Evening Times Cup.
Sandy MacLean took over as manager in October 2010 along with Colin Lindsey assistant manager and Derek Cook as coach, finishing second in the Super League, winning the West of Scotland Cup, beating Pollok at Newlandsfield in the final, and winning the Evening Times Cup, beating Shotts. They also came in second in the league that season behind Irvine Meadow.
The team were managed between October 2014 and January 2015 by former Clyde and Raith Rovers defender Craig McEwan. McEwan subsequently left for Glenafton Athletic, and Arthurlie moved to replace him with Bellshill's Robert Downs, a former Arthurlie player. Downs was succeeded in January 2016 by Steve Kerrigan.
Following Kerrigan's resignation in December 2016, Chris Mackie was appointed as manager in an interim role until the end of the season.
Ground
In 1882 Arthurlie moved to the first Dunterlie Park from their Arthurlie Cross ground. They moved to the second Dunterlie Park in 1906, and the current Dunterlie Park in 1919.