Clyde ready for a return to the east end of Glasgow almost 30 years after leaving Shawfield

An Extraordinary General Meeting takes place this Monday at the Town Hall of Rutherglen, where Clyde called home until 1986 when they left Shawfield Stadium, which still stands and remains a greyhound track. It is hoped that the club's future will be far clearer after the board present their plans to the supporters.

Plan A is to move lock, stock and barrel to Shettleston Juniors ground of Greenfield Park - yes, you've read that right - only a few post codes away from their spiritual home. There are a few problems involved with this and one well-placed source told me yesterday that it was "never going to happen" although having spoke to a few people connected with the club, this remains a possibility a year from now, something that was confirmed recently by director John Taylor in a recent email to supporters.

A planned move to East Kilbride didn't even get off the ground. Similarly, the idea of a return to the Royal Burgh of Rutherglen, which is still just about in Glasgow, to groundshare Glencairn Juniors was shelved as quickly as it was mooted.

Clyde aren't skint. It isn't the case they have to move or they will fold. Indeed, by all accounts they are one of the better run lower league clubs, albeit one that this month revealed they have been forced to ditch their youth set-up. More of which later.

Asked why the club were planning to leave Cumbernauld, John Alexander, the Clyde chairman, said: "For the same reasons that we have made public over a long period of time. It is essential that the club has the ability to operate in a sustainable manner where it has autonomy to operate a commercial business model that begins to compete with other clubs in our league."

It seems the relationship between Clyde and North Lanarkshire council who own Broadwood is shaky to say the least. "Non-existent" was the description offered by one long-term observer. Staying where they are is not an option.

But surely one of the reasons why this east end of Glasgow club would like a return to their home is because that's where the supporters are, or at least were 30 years ago.

"Changing location does little to increase supporter numbers, we had a dwindling support when we left Shawfield," said Alexander.

"It is more important to give supporters what they want - to see a team that competes and entertains, and that is ultimately a factor associated with finance and therefore the requirement to be able to operate a commercially successful business model.

"If we have a location that allows us to increase our revenues then we can start to expect to finance competitive squads on a more regular basis and perhaps look towards improved support."

Pat Nevin is arguably Clyde's most famous ex-player. He is certainly sure to be the last one to move directly from the club to Chelsea, as he did in 1983.

He hopes his Alma mater can find a new lease of life by relocating. Crowds of 1200 were not unusual in his day. The capacity at Broadwood is a little under 8000. It has rarely been troubled.

"It was sad when they left Shawfield but I can understand why Clyde moved and Broadwood is a terrific stadium," said Nevin. "There are people in Cumbernauld who got into the team, there are pockets of Clyde fans there and the club did so much to get involved in the community.

"But that's not where the fan-base was. That's a reason why the move perhaps didn't work out. I think moving to Shettleston would be a good move. I know Greenfield Park well as I grew up about five minutes away. It's a nice place to play football.

"When I was at Motherwell, we looked at moving to Ravenscraig which financially could have made sense, but the fans didn't want it. Sometimes you have to listen to the fans."

Clyde, currently in League Two, are always going to be one of Scotland's smaller clubs, although many have forgotten that in the 2003/04 season they came incredibly close to the SPL. However, they need to move to move on.

"It is less to do with having had tough years," said Alexander. "When we were top of the old first division we had no sustainable business model at Broadwood and ran out of cash, so even in what were perceived to be the good years we were operating in an unsustainable commercial environment,

"Survival is something we can do in our current structure, but you are correct that our ambition is to see the club improve and change is essential to achieve improvement on a sustainable basis."

The fact Clyde have looked seriously at moving in with three junior clubs says all about how things are in Cumbernauld. They have a lease for two more years at Broadwood and could extend that, although the meeting on Monday is expected to hear about more alternatives, which for the moment are "commercially confidential."

Earlier this month, Clyde announced that it could no longer support its youth football and that the academy had been shut down. The decreasing grant funding coming from the SFA for community clubs was partly why the decision was taken.

So they don't know where home is going to be, there is no youth set-up and having been away from the Rutherglen area for close on three decades, meaning they have lost generations of potential supporters. but all is not lost, at least according to one of their favourite sons.

"In my day, we always saw Partick Thistle as our great rivals and that they were on a par with us," recalled Nevin. "Look at them now, they are doing great, and I honestly believe that Clyde can get there as well in the fullness of times."

Oh, and the answer to the trivia question, Clyde played their first game at Barrowfield Park right on the river Clyde, moved to Shawfield in 1899 and there they stayed until 1986. After that they had to groundshare with Partick Thistle at Firhill until 1991, then moved in with Hamilton Academical at the old Douglas Park for three seasons, before playing a couple of 'home' fixtures at Alloa's Recreation Park ahead of their permanent, or so they thought, move to Broadwood.

So now you know.