CHARLES STEEDMAN will be remembered for his part in what could fairly be described as the first attempt to set up a football franchise in Scotland on the pattern employed in baseball in the US.

In June, 1957, two West of Scotland businessmen, Jack Steedman, and his brother, Charles, became directors of East Stirlingshire FC when they bought just over 50% of the club's shares for approximately (pounds) 1000.

They had boundless enthusiasm, a great capacity for work, and, much rarer, a considerable knowledge of football. Jack was a footballer of considerable skill. Almost immediately, East Stirlingshire were transformed from a side whose only objective had seemed to be a mere survival in the second division to a go-ahead organisation that might one day aspire to promotion.

That day came at the end of season 1962-3 when East Stirlingshire became a first division side for the first time in more than 30 years when they finished in second place to St Johnstone.

Enthusiasm at Falkirk, was initially high and gates were good, reaching 7000 in those tense, closing weeks. Competition in the first division was

too intense for a little club, however, and after a miserable season in which only 12 points were garnered from 34 matches, East Stirlingshire returned to the second division in the shortest time possible. Attendances fell off sharply.

It was this experience that convinced the Steedman brothers that the club would have to be relocated. By chance, there was an alternative site ready and waiting. Clydebank Juniors were open to the idea of a merger with East Stirlingshire and there had, of course, been a history of league football in the shipbuilding burgh.

In April, 1964, four directors present at a board meeting of East Stirlingshire agreed that the club should move through to the west coast.

By a constitutional quirk, the fact that the Steedmans owned 50% of the vote did not

make their triumph certain. An extraordinary general meeting to block the move was cancelled and some of the brothers' shares transferred to people in Clydebank.

The ferocity of local reaction was astonishing and totally unlooked for in an area that had no great history of consistently supporting East Stirlingshire. More importantly, East Stirlingshire had acquired considerable survival skills in their days in C Division.

It was decided that the East Stirlingshire Shareholders Protection Association rather than the supporters club would bear the burden of the fight. The shareholders, it could be said, having a more immediate interest in the outcome.

There were public meetings and demonstrations, but none of them could prevent the move to Kilbowie Park, Clydebank, where the new side - ES Clydebank - made its first appearance on August 8, 1964.

To most people, it appeared that in the face of this fait accompli the old club would simply die. It did not. A Glasgow solicitor, Robert Turpie, had been over this course before. He had counselled five small clubs threatened with extinction in 1955 and was engaged to act for the club.

An action to overturn the removal of the club to Clydebank was embarked upon in the Court of Session before Lord Hunter and he found in favour of East Stirlingshire on the grounds that the share switch which had been transferred to people in Clydebank should have been offered in the first place to the other directors.

It was a famous victory and East Stirlingshire were back in Falkirk by August 1965.

The players were rapturously received by a crowd of more than 3000, a level of public interest that was not sustained for very long.

Crowds dwindled and East Stirlingshire sank back to an undistinguished place in the second division.

Clydebank meanwhile, under the tutelage of the Steedman brothers - equally outstanding legislators - began life in season 1966-7 and, for a time, reached the height at which they produced noted players of quality such as David Cooper, Gerry McCabe and Frank MacDougall.

So, who is right, the East Stirlingshire Shareholders Protective Supporters Association or the Steedman brothers, Jack and Charlie?

Perhaps in a strange way they were both right, for the whole episode illustrates the conflict between business and sentiment that is forever at the heart of Scottish football.

The Steedmans, dedicated football men though they were, wished to apply the commonsense principles of business to the situation, whereas the viewpoint of the East Stirling supporters and shareholders could be summed up thus: if you want a league side in Clydebank, fine, but start from scratch. The proper and only place for East Stirlingshire Football Club is the town of Falkirk.

Charles Steedman embodied the new type of person who would become a director

who queried why businesses operated in a particular way and tirelessly worked to find ways in which to improve the running of the sport.