Airdrie United F.C.
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| Airdrie United | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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| Full name | Airdrie United Football Club | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Nickname(s) | The Diamonds The Waysiders |
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| Founded | 2002 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Ground | New Broomfield Airdrie Scotland |
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| Capacity | 10,171 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Chairman |  Jim Ballantyne |
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| Manager | Kenny Black |
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| League | First Division | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| 2005-06 | First Division, 6th | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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Airdrie United Football Club are a Scottish professional association football team based in the town of Airdrie . North Lanarkshire. They are members of the Scottish Football League and currently play in the First Division.
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[edit] History
[edit] Formation following Demise of Airdrieonians
The club was formed in May 2002 on the bankruptcy of a previous club, Airdrieonians, who had finished runners-up in the Scottish League Division One but went out of business with debts of almost £3 million. The collapse of Airdrieonians left a vacant place in the Scottish Football League (in Division Three), but Gretna were preferred by league members to fill the place, instead of a new club called "Airdrie United". However, Jim Ballantyne soon completed a parasitical buy-out of the ailing Division Two side Clydebank. With SFL approval, the club was relocated to Airdrie and its name was changed to Airdrie United.
[edit] Stadium
Airdrie United play their home fixtures at New Broomfield, Airdrie, as the fans call the stadium, officially known as Excelsior Stadium. The defunct Airdrieonians' previous home was sold to supermarket chain Safeway (since taken over by Wm. Morrison), who were given permission to build a new store on the site. It is generally the opinion that this transaction is what effectively triggered the financial ruination of Airdrieonians, as their old ground was demolished several years before the new ground was given planning permission. The years away from Airdrie (Aidrieonians ground-shared Broadwood Stadium, in Cumbernauld, with Clyde) meant that the money from the sale of Broomfield Park which was to be used to fund the building of new stadium, was squandered.
This hiatus and the cost incurred by the board of directors' building a stadium with a capacity in excess of 10,000, despite crowds being less than 2,000, didn't help the club's cause. The boards reasoning behind building a ground of such a high capacity was that the Scottish Premier League (SPL) required clubs to play at a stadium with at least a 10,000 seated stadium for entry into their league. Ironically, the requirement is now only 6,000 seats, which may have been enough to have saved Airdrieonians from the financial burden they faced on building the new stadium.
[edit] Strip
Airdrie United have inherited Airdrieonians' distinctive playing colours and nickname, 'The Diamonds' since the team play in white top with a red diamond.
[edit] Performance
United's first, and so far only, trophy came in the 2003-04 season, only the club's second season in existence, when they won the Second Division Championship and promotion to the First Division. The final game of the season saw a crowd of over 5000 at New Broomfield to see Airdrie defeat long-time league leaders Greenock Morton 2-0 and lift the League Championship trophy. Earlier in this season, the club reached the final of the Bells Challenge Cup, but lost 2-0 to Inverness Caledonian Thistle.
In 2005 the club finished fifth in the Scottish Football League First Division, a position exceeding the expectations of most Airdrie supporters. The club lost several key players in the summer of 2005, and went into the 2005/06 season with little expectation of repeating their success of 2004/05, but the club finished a respectable sixth in the league.
On November 13, 2006, Sandy Stewart was relieved of his position as manager after over four years in charge of the club. He was succeeded by former Airdrieonians F.C. player and Airdrie United coach Kenny Black four days later. Black had been a coach at Leicester City since 2004, and this was his first management post.[1]
[edit] Managers
- Kenny Black (2006-)
- Sandy Stewart (2002-2006)
[edit] Current squad
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[edit] Player out on loan
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FW | Brian McPhee (on loan to Stranraer) |
[edit] Related Articles
[edit] External links
- Official website
- the broomfield stomp messageboard
- Official club photographer's website
- Neil Milton's Airdrie United photography
