East Stirlingshire F.C.
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| East Stirlingshire F.C. | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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| Full name | East Stirlingshire Football Club | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Nickname(s) | The Shire | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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| Founded | 1881 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Ground | Firs Park, Falkirk, Scotland |
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| Capacity | 1,880 (200 seated) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Chairman |  Alan Mackin |
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| Manager | Gordon Wylde |
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| League | Scottish Third Division | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| 2005-06 | Scottish Third Division, 10th | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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East Stirlingshire Football Club is a Scottish football club based in Falkirk. They are members of the Scottish Football League and currently play in the Third Division. The club's name is often abbreviated by outsiders to East Stirling, leading to the erroneous impression that they are based in or near the city of Stirling, 14 miles away; fans and other locals refer to the club by their nickname, The Shire.
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[edit] Club history
The club was originally called "Bainsford Britannia" (Bainsford is an area of Falkirk) and was formed in 1881. They joined the league in 1900, but have rested in lower regions of the league for most of their existence, although they won the Second Division in season 1931-32, and Division C in 1947-48. Their home town of Falkirk is also home to Falkirk F.C..
For the 1964-65 season the club moved to Clydebank under the name ES Clydebank, but legal moves led to them returning to Falkirk and their original name for the following campaign.
In July 1974 East Stirlingshire became the first managieral post held by Sir Alex Ferguson, at the time there were only eight registered players and no goalkeeper. He would leave the club after three and a half months, moving on to manage St. Mirren.
The current chairman and major shareholder Alan Mackin has stated his intention to sell their ramshackle Firs Park home and move the club, possibly to nearby town of Grangemouth, with the club potentially playing at Grangemouth Stadium. Other possibilities include sharing with Falkirk F.C. at the Falkirk Stadium, although many are concerned that this would do little for atmosphere. To the chagrin of the fans he allegedly wishes to pay 80% of the proceeds for the land to shareholders (i.e. largely to himself) leaving the club with hardly any money to pay rental, wages etc.
The perception of 'Shire fans is that Mackin pays his players £10 per week so that they do not get any decent players, that fans will disappear in the long term and then he can shut the club down. Their manager works for nothing, and until recently the club sponsor was Littlewoods Pools, which was attracted by the joke status of the club. Mackin and his supporters point out that the 'Shire is one of the few clubs that lives within its means by not paying out large wages. His many critics argue that many of the clubs above them in Division 3 pay low wages and survive financially yet are not as consistently poor - both on and off the pitch - as East Stirlingshire, alleging that Mackin merely wants to protect his own money ahead of the welfare of the club.
East Stirling's form in recent years has not been good. In the 2003-04 season they got only eight points during the entire season, reaching that total on the last day of the season and narrowly avoiding setting a new record lowest points total. In the 2004-05 season they still finished bottom of the division but managed to gain 22 points.
Their consistently terrible performances over the last few years, and their lack of supporters, often results in calls for them to be replaced in the League. Unfortunately, unlike in the English "Pyramid", there is no opportunity for non-league clubs to be promoted at the expense of league clubs, unless they have gone out of existence - which, it should be noted, there is recent precedent for with the demise of Airdrieonians F.C. However, in summer 2005 the Scottish League ruled that from the start of the 2005-06 season, any club finishing bottom of Division 3 twice in succession would be reduced to the status of 'Associate Member', losing the right to vote at league meetings, and would be allowed to play in the League for two further seasons, after which the League clubs would vote on whether to allow the club to remain in the League.
East Stirlingshire finished bottom again in 2005-06, but in 2006-2007 they won their opening game of the league season for the first time in 13 years. In the fourth game of the season, East Stirlingshire thrashed local rivals Stenhousemuir 5-0. This was the first time that the Shire had won by five goals for over a decade. The result was particularly special as the previous fixture on the same ground between the pair ended in a 7-0 victory for The Warriors, just five months prior. This result was followed by a 5-0 defeat at East Fife, which many feel sums up the club's bizarre recent plight.
[edit] Honours
Division II: 1931/32
[edit] Club Records
Biggest league win: 11-2 v. Vale of Bannock in 1888
Biggest league loss: 1-12 v. Dundee United F.C. in 1936
Biggest home attendance: 12,000 v. Partick Thistle F.C., Scottish Cup 3rd Round, 19 February 1921
Most league goals in one season: 36 - Malcolm Morrison, 1938/39 & Henry Morris, 1947/48
[edit] Miscellaneous facts
It would take 3 weeks for a player on East Stirlingshire, who gets paid £10 a week, to earn enough from the club to buy a jersey from the club's website, which is £25.
In 2005, football journalist Jeff Connor published the book Pointless which chronicled the 2004-2005 season which he spent following the club. The subtitle of the book is "A Season with Britain's Worst Football Team".
