Clyde followers did what they believed could possibly be the ultimate “pilgrimage” to their religious dwelling stadium – and there to pay their respects to the victims of the “Shawfield Catastrophe”.
Precisely 65 years in the past, nine-year-old James Ryan died after being crushed on the terrace throughout a recreation with Celtic, 50 injured, 24 hospitalized.
Clyde has plans to demolish his outdated dwelling to make room for housing.
Followers needed to “let the terracing echo in ‘Tune of the Clyde’ one final time.”
“To a dying stadium and a younger Clyde fan who died within the Shawfield Catastrophe, we could possibly pay our final respects earlier than the homes begin to rise and he is gone perpetually,” mentioned Clyde president David Middleton. FC Followers Glasgow Department instructed BBC Scotland.
Accompanied by file holder Brian Ahern and his ex-Clyde participant good friend Andy Willock, the followers put their scarves proper on the spot the place the younger Bridgeton boy was crushed to loss of life when the entrance wall collapsed as a number of the 28,000 followers crowded into the stadium swayed ahead. on 14 December 1957.
“We’ve paid a really belated and really particular tribute to the younger James Ryan,” Middleton mentioned. “It was a practice of feelings – it felt nice to be precisely the place we stood 36 years in the past, and all of the reminiscences flowed via me.
“The ghosts are all nonetheless there, and when ‘Tune of the Clyde’ began, that was it – I used to be gone.”
Emotional ‘second that may by no means be repeated’
Shawfield in Rutherglen was Clyde’s dwelling from 1898 to 1986, when the Greyhound Racing Affiliation, which purchased the stadium in 1935, gave the membership discover to resign amid redevelopment plans.
They had been tenants of Partick Thistle and Hamilton Academical till they moved to the brand new all-seater Broadwood Stadium in Cumbernauld in 1994, however a dispute with proprietor North Lanarkshire Council means the Scottish League 1 membership has re-joined with the Accies as they search a brand new everlasting dwelling. I returned to Glasgow.
In the meantime, South Lanarkshire Council continues to be awaiting an environmental report from Shawfield Greyhound Stadium Restricted earlier than the proprietor pursues plans to demolish the stadium and exchange it with properties in 2020, which has not been used because the begin of the pandemic.
Almost 30 followers paid tribute to the crumbling stadium by strolling via a turnstile that hadn’t turned for 35 years, and regardless of the dilapidated situation of the roofs and terraces, “it seems to be like a lick of paint and a scrub,” Middleton mentioned. at work once more”.
“Trying on the sector to see Clyde legends Andy Willock and Brian Ahern carrying their 1977 championship prime was a second that may by no means be repeated, I’ll take it with me perpetually,” he added.
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