Alloa Athletic F.C.

Alloa Athletic Football Club is a Scottish association football semi-professional club based in the town of Alloa, Clackmannanshire.

Alloa Athletic
Full nameAlloa Athletic Football Club
Nickname(s)The Wasps
Founded1878 (1878) as Clackmannan County
GroundRecreation Park, Alloa
Capacity3,100[1]
ChairmanMike Mulraney
ManagerPeter Grant
LeagueScottish Championship
2019–20Scottish Championship, 8th of 10
WebsiteClub website

Founded as Clackmannan County in 1878, the club changed its name to Alloa a year later and to Alloa Athletic in 1883. Upon joining the Scottish Football League in 1921 they returned to Alloa, before reverting to Alloa Athletic in 1997.

The club won promotion via the Championship Playoffs in 2018 and compete in the Scottish Championship in season 2019–20, as a member of the Scottish Professional Football League.[1]

The club was elected to the second tier of the Scottish Football League in 1921–22, earning promotion to the top flight in its first season after winning the Second Division. Below the top two tiers, Alloa Athletic has finished runners-up in the third tier a record nine times without ever winning, the most recent coming in 2016–17, when they failed to gain promotion to the Championship via the play-offs.

Alloa Athletic first entered in the Scottish Cup in 1883, its best result reaching the quarter-finals on three occasions, the last in 1988. The club's best result in a national cup competition was reaching the final of the Scottish Challenge Cup thrice; winning in 1999 and finishing runners-up in 2001 and 2015.

The club's nickname is 'The Wasps', referring to its home colours of black and gold hoops. Alloa Athletic has been based at Recreation Park in Alloa since 1895.

History
Alloa playing at Berwick in their 1997–98 title-winning season

The club were formed in 1878 as Clackmannan County, becoming Alloa AFC a year later and finally adopting the present-day name Alloa Athletic in 1883.[2] Admitted to the Scottish Football Association in the same year, the club had to wait until 1921 to be elected to the Scottish Football League, under the older name of Alloa AFC, not returning to Alloa Athletic until 1997[3] although they had enjoyed success prior to this. In 1906–07, the club were Scottish Football Union champions and won the Central Football League six years later, with two runners-up finishes in-between.

Alloa won the Scottish Football League Division Two title in their first season but were immediately relegated from the top flight the following season. Promotion was achieved again in 1938–39 but the onset of the Second World War saw the new season curtailed after just five games. When the leagues were re-organised after the war, Alloa were placed back in Division Two.

Stirling Albion shooting against the Alloa goal and missing in August 2006

The 1950s and 60s were not overly successful for the Wasps although the club did provide the game with John White who went on to play for Scotland and Tottenham Hotspur (where he was part of their famous Double winning side of the 1960–61 season). Promotion was finally achieved again from the new Second Division in 1976–77 under the managership of Hugh Wilson. Relegation soon followed but the Wasps went back up 1981–82 under Alex Totten and managed a 6th-place finish in the First Division the following season. The team was relegated again a year later and a similar pattern followed after further promotions in 1984–85 and 1988–89.

Following further league reconstruction, Alloa found themselves as founder members of the new Third Division in 1995. Under Tom Hendrie, Alloa won this league in 1997–98, the club's first championship win since 1921–22. The following season saw the team consolidate in the Second Division and also enjoy a 7–0 derby win over local rivals Stirling Albion. Following the departure of Tom Hendrie to St Mirren, Terry Christie took over at Alloa and led the club to the Scottish Challenge Cup in 1999 followed by promotion to the First Division a few months later. The team was relegated at the first attempt but bounced back up in 2001–02. Relegation followed once more, this time on goal difference.

From 2003 to 2011 Alloa played in the Second Division. In the 2009–2010 season, Alloa contended for promotion to the Scottish First Division, but they lost out to Stirling by goal difference. In the 2010–2011 season, Alloa were relegated to the Third Division after finishing 9th in the Second Division league table, and failing to negotiate the end-of-season play-offs, losing 2–1 on aggregate to Annan.

Days after, however, Alloa pulled off appointed former Aberdeen and Scotland midfielder Paul Hartley as player-manager.[4]

Alloa play visitors Partick Thistle in the Scottish Championship in February 2019.

On 7 April 2012, Alloa were confirmed as Scottish Third Division champions after beating Elgin City 8–1 in a home game at Recreation Park. Clyde defeated nearest rivals, Stranraer, 2–1 making it arithmetically impossible for the South of Scotland side to surpass the Clackmannanshire side's points total with only 4 games remaining. Alloa secured back-to-back promotions the following season by finishing 2nd in the Scottish Second Division, and defeating Dunfermline in the play-off final, consigning The Pars to the third tier of Scottish football. As 2012–13 was the final season before SPFL reconstruction, Alloa started season 2013–14 in the newly formed Scottish Championship, the current name for the second tier of Scottish football. On 18 January 2014, Hartley resigned as manager following a 5–1 defeat to Dumbarton, with the club sitting eighth in the Championship.[5]

On 7 March 2015, after slipping to a 1–0 defeat to Dumbarton left Alloa in the relegation play-off spot, manager Barry Smith immediately resigned. On 7 April 2015, Danny Lennon was appointed the new manager on a one-year deal.[6] Lennon lasted just eight months with Alloa, resigning on 7 December 2015 after picking up just five points from 16 games.[7] Lennon was replaced by Jack Ross,[8] who despite improved performances was unable to prevent them from being relegated to Scottish League One at the end of the season. Ross' Alloa started the 2016–17 season with 5 wins in the first 8 matches. However, Ross left the club at the start of October 2016, signing as manager for Scottish Championship side St Mirren.[9] Alloa Athletic player Jim Goodwin was appointed player/manager on 11 October 2016.[10]

Colours and crest

Alloa's home colours have been black hoops with either orange or gold stripes for the majority of its existence. The club's first strip featured black and orange hoops in 1878 and rarely changed up until 1947 when gold was more commonly used with the black.[2] Occasionally the club has adopted an all-gold or all-orange strip to replace the hoops and only once have these colours not been used; in 1897–98 the home strip was blue and white vertical stripes for a solitary season which was reverted to the traditional style the following year.[11]

Black and orange hoops from 1878
Crest used between 1994 and 2010

The first company to supply kits for Alloa Athletic was Litesome in 1977–78.[11] The supplier for the 2018–19 season is Pendle, who have supplied the club's kits since 1998–99. Past suppliers include Umbro, Matchwinner and Patrick.[11] The club carried a sponsor on its shirts for the first time in the 1984–85 season; sponsored for two seasons by Maclays until 1987.[2] Sterling sponsored the shirts for a further two seasons followed by short spells displaying Sinclair Haulage and then Campbell Homes until 1995. From the 1995–96 season to 2003–04 the sponsor was Alloa Advertiser which was replaced in 2004 by Machine Tool Engineers (MTE) who sponsored the shirt in 2012–13.[2][11]

In the same year the home shirts were sponsored in 1985, the club displayed a crest for the first time. The crest reflected the club's nickname "The Wasps", featuring a black wasp on a basic gold shield with the club's initials below.[11] The design of the crest was edited slightly in 1994 with an almost identical wasp on a similar gold shield and the club's full name was displayed below on a gold scroll banner. The crest colour varied along with the shade of colour on the strip and featured until 2010 when it was again redesigned. The new design features a large cartoon Wasp and is referred to by fans of the club as 'the hornet'.[11]

Grounds
Recreation Park has been Alloa's home since 1895.
See also: Recreation Park, Alloa

Alloa Athletic has played its home games at several grounds over its history. When the club was founded in 1878 it was based at West End Park, a public park in the west of Alloa. The club moved to Gaberston Park in 1883 and to Bellevue Park in 1890. After five years at Bellevue Park, Alloa moved to Recreation Park in 1895, where the club has played its home games since.[2]

Recreation Park is located in the east of Alloa and has a capacity of 3,100.[1][12] Alloa Athletic played and won its first Scottish Football League match at the ground in August 1921; a 1–0 win against Stenhousemuir.[2] In February 1955, the club's record attendance was set at Recreation Park for a Scottish Cup fifth round match against Celtic when 15,467 spectators attended.[13] The pitch at the stadium was replaced with artificial turf in 2007 and one weekend during the winter of 2010, a match at the ground between Alloa and Peterhead was the only fixture in Scotland to be played after all twenty other SPL and SFL matches were postponed due to freezing weather conditions.[14]

Recreation Park was renamed Indodrill Stadium after a sponsorship deal with Indodrill EMEA Ltd was agreed to on Friday 12 September 2014.[15][16] However, supporters of the club continue to call it Recreation Park or The Recs.

Supporters

Most record books list Alloa's record attendance as 13,000 for a match against Dunfermline Athletic on 22 February 1939 in a Scottish Cup third round replay.[2] However the recent book The Roar of the Crowd by David Ross shows the record attendance to actually be 15,467 for a Scottish Cup 5th round match against Celtic on 5 February 1955. Celtic won the game 4–2. In recent times, the record figure is a more modest 5,050 for a Second Division match against Cowdenbeath in May 1992.[2] With the current capacity just over 3,000, the figure looks unlikely to be beaten.

Nearby club Stirling Albion are generally regarded as Alloa's rivals.[17]

Club officials
Board
  • Honorary Directors: Pat Lawlor and David R. Murray
  • Directors:
    • Mike Mulraney (Chairman)
    • Martin Ross (Vice Chairman)
    • Ewen Cameron (Secretary)
    • Steven Lynch
    • Dr Robert McElroy
Coaching staff
  • Manager: Peter Grant
  • Assistant Manager: Paddy Connolly
  • Goalkeeping Coach: Alan Fraser
  • Head of Youth: Derek Nicholson
  • Club Doctor: Dr Andrew Deeley
  • Physiotherapist: Gerry Docherty
  • Sports Therapist: Stuart Phin
  • Kit Manager: Pat Dunne
  • Groundsman: John Robertson

Source: [18]

Current squad
As of 1 February 2021[19]

Note: Flags indicate national team as defined under FIFA eligibility rules. Players may hold more than one non-FIFA nationality.

No. Pos. Nation Player
1 GK  SCO Neil Parry
2 DF  SCO Scott Taggart
3 DF  SCO Liam Dick
5 DF  SCO Andy Graham (captain)
6 MF  ENG Steven Hetherington
7 FW  SCO Kevin Cawley
8 MF  SCO Jon Robertson
9 FW  SCO Liam Buchanan
10 FW  SCO Alan Trouten
11 FW  SCO Innes Cameron (on loan from Kilmarnock)
12 MF  SCO Stefan Scougall
14 MF  SCO Adam Brown
15 DF  SCO Nicky Jamieson
No. Pos. Nation Player
16 DF  SCO Nathan Gilhooly
17 FW  SCO Lee Connelly (on loan from Sunderland)
18 MF  SCO Blair Malcolm
19 FW  SCO Robert Thomson
20 DF  SCO Cameron O'Donnell
21 GK  SCO Andrew Wilson
22 MF  SCO Ray Grant
23 MF  SCO Innes Murray (on loan from Hibernian)
24 MF  SCO Lucas Williamson
25 DF  SCO Edin Lynch
26 FW  SCO Liam Evans
31 GK  SCO Reece Willison
51 GK  ENG Jordan Wright (on loan from Nottingham Forest)

Managers

Honours

League

Cup

Other minor

Records

References
  1. "Alloa Athletic Football Club". Scottish Professional Football League. Retrieved 11 November 2013.
  2. "Club History". Alloa Athletic FC. Retrieved 11 June 2013.
  3. "Alloa Athletic - Historical Football Kits". historicalkits.co.uk.
  4. "Paul Hartley becomes Player Manager". BBC Sport. 17 May 2011. Retrieved 17 May 2011.
  5. "Paul Hartley resigns as Alloa Athletic manager". bbc.co.uk/sport. BBC Sport. 18 January 2014. Retrieved 18 January 2014.
  6. "Alloa Athletic appoint Danny Lennon as new manager". bbc.co.uk/sport. BBC Sport. 7 April 2015. Retrieved 23 May 2015.
  7. "Danny Lennon resigns as Alloa Athletic manager". bbc.co.uk/sport. BBC Sport. 7 December 2015. Retrieved 7 December 2015.
  8. "Alloa Athletic name Jack Ross as their new manager". BBC Sport. BBC. 15 December 2015. Retrieved 5 October 2016.
  9. "Jack Ross: St Mirren appoint Alloa Athletic boss as manager". BBC Sport. BBC. 4 October 2016. Retrieved 5 October 2016.
  10. "Jim Goodwin New Manager". Alloa Athletic. 11 October 2016. Retrieved 11 October 2016.
  11. Alloa Athletic – Kit History, historicalkits.co.uk. Historical Football Kits. Retrieved 20 May 2013.
  12. "Recreation Park". Soccerway. Perform Group. Retrieved 8 April 2016.
  13. Results for Alloa Athletic for 1954–55, londonhearts.com. Retrieved 25 May 2013.
  14. Winter weather hammers Scottish sports fixtures, news.bbc.co.uk. BBC News. 3 December 2010. Retrieved 25 May 2013.
  15. "Alloa Athletic FC - News".
  16. "Indodrill Group". Archived from the original on 23 September 2014.
  17. "Rivals Stirling Albion and Alloa in Scottish Cup clash". Daily Record. 6 November 2013. Retrieved 1 November 2018.
  18. "Alloa Athletic FC - Club Information". www.alloaathletic.co.uk.
  19. "Alloa Athletic squad". Alloa Athletic FC. Retrieved 1 July 2020.
  20. "Paul Hartley resigns as Alloa manager following 5–1 defeat to Dumbarton". sport.stv.tv. STV. 18 January 2014. Retrieved 18 January 2014.
  21. "Alloa Athletic appoint Jim Goodwin as manager". BBC Sport. BBC. 11 October 2016. Retrieved 11 October 2016.
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