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Third Lanark


Wilky1878

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Tbf, people involved in trying to revive Third Lanark have been saying this sort of thing for 20 years... this current reincarnation was founded in the mid 1990s and there have been a number of PR launches over the intervening period... even claims they'd attempt to join SFL in 2008 after Gretna folded.

Current adult team in the Glasgow amateurs played at Cathkin for a while then moved away to some 3G facility. They used to play in the Greater Glasgow AFL but are now West of Scotland AFL which is mainly Renfrewshire/Dunbartonshire/Argyll clubs.

Cathkin itself is now a public park with only the terraces remaining, now largely overgrown - some chap was maintaining a section with its gangways, barriers and retaining wall as a sort of monument.

Cathkin:

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I think if they were coming back in any meaningful sense they would have done before now - there was talk of them attempting to do up Cathkin Park in order to join the Juniors maybe ten years ago as well.

The trouble is although Cathkin's still an atmospheric place to see a game, it's almost certainly too far gone to bring back up to code. Only a few areas of terracing remain, and they're not in great nick although strangely most of the crush barriers are still intact. There's free access to the whole area - the pitch isn't enclosed at all - and by the amount of empties on what's left of the terracing it looks to be heavily used as a drinking den. If they were going to consider moving up from the amateurs it saddens me to say they'd probably be better going down the new-build 3G route.

cathkin.JPG

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The only positive is that unlike previously there is a clear route back in for them. Civil Service Strollers have shown how a bike shed can be used to get cover for 100, so Cathkin might still be doable for entry level if the council were willing to help and people were realistic in their expectations. Would have thought a groundshare with Benburb would be their best bet initially.

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If it were to happen would they really join lowland league. Wouldn't it be better to battle up through the junior ranks before applying to join senior set up as the club will need time to get the ground up to scratch.

When is their realistic target for all this to happen anyhow. Can't be next season or even one after can it.

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The way the article is phrased they would play their way into the LL presumably from the SoS League. Can understand people's skepticism given this has been talked about for decades (can remember how Teddy Taylor used to go on about it when he was the local MP with nothing ever happening), but it's much more doable now that the bar has been set so low on entry level requirements where a ground is concerned and the only additional requirement for SPFL entry beyond that is floodlights.

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The good old Hi Hi story.

Take it after the Thirds went breests up the city got landed with Cathkin Park rather than some Duff and Phelps outfit.

Why was the land never sold to pay any debts?

And the ground lay like a Baghdad side street for years before the council did something about it.

It was a dangerous ruin for well over a decade after the Hi Hi went defunct.

The old Cathkin was probably the size of the old Firhill.

A sad story but no sadder than nearby Shawfield Juniors, Bridgeton Waverley or Strathclyde.

Or present day Clyde hanging on in Cumbernauld.

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The good old Hi Hi story.

Take it after the Thirds went breests up the city got landed with Cathkin Park rather than some Duff and Phelps outfit.

Why was the land never sold to pay any debts?

And the ground lay like a Baghdad side street for years before the council did something about it.

It was a dangerous ruin for well over a decade after the Hi Hi went defunct.

The old Cathkin was probably the size of the old Firhill.

A sad story but no sadder than nearby Shawfield Juniors, Bridgeton Waverley or Strathclyde.

Or present day Clyde hanging on in Cumbernauld.

Glasgow council deemed it to be used for sports only as the owner ran the club down to try and sell Cathkin to build houses on. Justice was probably done when the old c**t died a few months after 3rds.

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It is worth saying that the traditional explanation for why (and how) Thirds went bust was significantly challenged by John Litster's book in 2010 - which went into the detail of the case for the first time. For example Glasgow Corporation itself had actually been looking acquiring the ground for housing as early as 1963 - and it was the Secretary of State of Scotland who was refusing to rezone land on Southside due to a shortage of open space as it was.

When they folded in the summer of 1967 it was held under security to the Royal Bank of Scotland against the club overdraft. It could not be sold until a Board of Trade investigation proceeded and the council (who the liquidator actually blamed for delays) wanted it for parks or housing if rezoned. It was sold by the liquidators to Laidlaws Builders for £36,500 in Jan 1968 - they made the highest bid not subject to planning permission. At that time the council still wanted it for housing themselves.

Unfortunately that aforementioned excellent book by John Litster, called 'Life and Death of the Hi Hi', does not follow the story of Cathkin Park beyond its sale in 1968 and the final dissolving of the club in 1972. It must have been subsequent to this that control over planning permission passed to the council, and they later refused permission for housing, which is presumably what the developer was playing a long game for. It was sold to GCC for parkland in "the late 1970s".

As regards creditors:

Liquidator's Income - £51,291.78.0

Debtors - £1,499.5.0

Cathkin Park - £37,040

Fixtures & Fittings - £1,233.4.6

Sale of Players - £8,500

Interest - £2,949.12.9

Liquidator's Expenditure - £51,291.78

Solicitor - £1,291.9.11

Liquidator - £5,500

Auctioneers - £620.14.10

Secured Claims - £13,050.1.1

Preferential Creditors - £14,061.16.4

Unsecured Creditors - £12,274.12.6

Tax on Interest - £946.0.7

Costs - £3,283.16.1

Notices - £62.1.2

Outlays - £120.9.8

Unsecured creditors got 47p in the £.

(Litster p228/230).

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Glasgow council deemed it to be used for sports only as the owner ran the club down to try and sell Cathkin to build houses on. Justice was probably done when the old c**t died a few months after 3rds.

I always thought the main villian in the Hi Hi story was the city councillor on the board.

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I believe that the Lowland League, via the South of Scotland League, is their aim and, as has been said above, the bar has been set really low to join the LL. Pat McGeady is incredibly enthusiastic, but I wonder if there are enough others prepared to put the work in to make a decent go of this.

Certainly the ethnic mix of the Hi-Hi's traditional area of support has changed quite dramatically since their demise which will go against them. Plus, it's been more than 50 years since they kicked a ball, so the number of fans they had will have been thinned out considerably. And, like Clyde at nearby Shawfield, the numbers attending near the close weren't good at all.

I wish them all the best, but there's a long road in front of them. However, if there is a positive for the pyramid, there is, at least, a pathway back to league football for them.

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I believe that the Lowland League, via the South of Scotland League, is their aim and, as has been said above, the bar has been set really low to join the LL. Pat McGeady is incredibly enthusiastic, but I wonder if there are enough others prepared to put the work in to make a decent go of this.

Certainly the ethnic mix of the Hi-Hi's traditional area of support has changed quite dramatically since their demise which will go against them. Plus, it's been more than 50 years since they kicked a ball, so the number of fans they had will have been thinned out considerably. And, like Clyde at nearby Shawfield, the numbers attending near the close weren't good at all.

I wish them all the best, but there's a long road in front of them. However, if there is a positive for the pyramid, there is, at least, a pathway back to league football for them.

Where exactly was the Thirds traditional area of support.

Anything within a 2 mile radius of Cathkin Park must have been shared with Queens Park and Clyde plus about 3 Junior teams!

There was once three senior teams playing within a couple of miles starting at Shawfield then Cathkin and over the hill to Hampden.

Now's there one and Queens Park are hardly getting a crowd.

I wish Pat well if he's being serious.

Personally there's as much chance of Belfast Celtic playing a friendly against Bridgeton Waverley.

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