Clyde

Clyde

In the summer of 1908, Jimmy Speirs left Rangers after three years at Ibrox Park, and joined Clyde FC. The "Bully Wee", as they are nicknamed, were then based at Shawfield Park, in the Rutherglen area of Glasgow, some three miles from Jimmy’s home in Govanhill. In recent years Clyde have relocated to a new stadium at Cumbernauld, some 15 miles outside Glasgow.

The Rutherglen area had close links with the Speirs family, in that both Jimmy’s paternal grandparents were born there, and they (and their seven children including Jimmy’s father) were living in Main Street, Rutherglen in 1861.

Formed in 1878, Clyde first appeared in the Scottish League in 1891-92. They achieved no success, however, and after spells in Division 2, they rejoined Division 1 in 1906-07. After finishing 8^th (of 18) that season, Clyde slumped to 17^th the following season – one point ahead of Port Glasgow, who took the wooden spoon.

Against this backdrop, Jimmy Speirs joined the Club, and became part of what could be argued to be Clyde’s best-ever season.

This Smith's cigarette card (click on thumbnail above to view) was produced late in 1909, by which time Jimmy had transferred to Bradford City. However, the photograph appears to have been taken whilst Jimmy was at Clyde. Also in the same set was a card of Jimmy's Clyde team-mate, William Walker. Like Jimmy, Walker became a Scottish International.

Season 1908-9 saw Clyde gain 48 points from 34 games in the League, beaten into third place by Rangers (51 points) and Dundee (50). Whilst Clyde have finished third in the top division on two subsequent occasions (1911-12 and 1966-67) on neither occasion were they so close to the Championship, finishing 9 points and 12 points behind Rangers and Celtic respectively in those seasons.

Clyde were close to success in the Scottish Cup, also. The Cup run began at Albion Rovers, with a narrow 1-0 win, which did not impress the local Coatbridge Leader!

To view their very thorough report on the game (courtesy of the Airdrie & Coatbridge Advertiser), click on the thumbnail image (left).

After victories over Kings Own Scottish Borderers, Dykehead, and Hibernian, Clyde came up against St Mirren at Shawfield.

The "Daily Record" report described this as "Speirs’ best game at Shawfield"

"The rise of Clyde into their present prominence can be said to date from the transfer of Speirs, Dickie and Cunningham from Ibrox to Shawfield, and few will gainsay that of the many clever games put up by the first-mentioned player none has excelled that of Saturday, when the ex-Ranger was in great measure responsible for the Paisley club’s exit from the cup-ties. He not only scored a couple of goals in the first half, but led most of the raids into the Saints quarters; and but for the able custodianship of Grant the score against St Mirren would have been doubled".

That 3-1 success took Clyde to a semi-final meeting with Celtic on 20 March 1909. Unfortunately, after a goalless draw, they were beaten in the replay by two goals to nil.

In the Glasgow Cup, Clyde met Third Lanark. After three draws (1-1, 0-0, 1-1) Third Lanark went through to the final with a 2-1 win.

This season was also notable in Clyde’s history as, on 21 November 1908, the Club’s record attendance of 52,000 was present at Shawfield to see the game against the eventual Champions, Rangers.

**Clyde - Scottish League (Division One) record 1908-09**
				Goals
Played	Won	Drawn	Lost	For	Against	Points	Position
34	21	6	7	61	37	48	3rd

**Jimmy Speirs’ appearances/goals summary – 1908-09 - Clyde**
Competition	Appearances	Goals
Scottish League Division One	14	7
Scottish FA Cup	6	3
Glasgow Cup	4	1

**Jimmy’s Speirs’ playing record at Clyde (1908-09):-**
Date	Opponents	Competition	Venue	Result	Score	Attendance	Goals scored by Jimmy
1908 15 Aug	Hamilton Acc	SL	H	W	1-0		-
19 Aug	Kilmarnock	SL	H	W	5-2		2
22 Aug	Hearts	SL	A	D	1-1		-
25 Aug	Port Glasgow	SL	H	W	3-2		-
29 Aug	Aberdeen	SL	H	W	2-1		-
19 Sep	Albion Rovers	SC QC 2	A	W	1-0		-
26 Sep	Third Lanark	GC SF		D	1-1		1
28 Sep	Partick Thistle	SL	A	W	3-2		1
3 Oct	Kings Own Scottish Borderers	SC QC3		W	3-0		-
10 Oct	Third Lanark	GC Replay		D	0-0		-
14 Oct	Third Lanark	GC 2^nd replay	*	D	1-1	5,000	-
15 Oct	Third Lanark	GC 3^rd replay	**	L	1-2	10,000	-
17 Oct	Airdrieonians	SL	H	D	0-0		-
24 Oct	Motherwell	SL	A	W	1-0		1
31 Oct	Celtic	SL	H	L	0-2		-
7 Nov	Kilmarnock	SL	A	L	1-2		-
1909 6 Feb	Hibernian	SC Rd 2		W	1-0		1
20 Feb	St Mirren	SC Rd 3		W	3-1		2
27 Feb	Falkirk	SL	A	L	0-1		-
6 Mar	Dundee	SL	H	L	0-2		-
20 Mar	Celtic	SC SF		D	0-0		-
27 Mar	Celtic	SC SF Replay		L	0-2		-
12 Apr	Rangers	SL	A	D	2-2		1
24 Apr	Partick Thistle	SL	H	W	2-0		2
SL – Scottish League Division One SC – Scottish FA Cup SCQC – Scottish Qualifying Cup GC – Glasgow Cup at Celtic Park ** at Ibrox Park*

After just one season at Shawfield Park, Jimmy Speirs left his native Glasgow and travelled 200 miles south to Yorkshire, England, where he signed in the summer of 1909 for Bradford City FC.

I am grateful for Brian Reilly's contribution to this section, particularly in compiling Jimmy's playing record at Clyde.

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Site last updated March 2008

Copyright © 2008 Andrew Pickles (editor@jimmy-speirs.co.uk)