📉 Their first NON LEAGUE season in 120 YEARS!!! 

Will Albion Rovers ever get back to the SPFL?

Alfie the dog is a legend at the club . He is often seen doing somersaults when rovers get a corner. When asked what he does when albion win his owner said "I dont know, we have only been coming here for 6 years"!

Being south of the border, I love how you bring the history of these clubs to a wider audience. I think there's a presumption that we don't care or dismiss Scottish football. Well I love watching and hearing about clubs like this. The passion of the people is plain to see.

I'm Nottingham born and bred and follow Nottingham Forest, but I really enjoy learning about the Scottish clubs at the lower end of the game. I love the atomosphere at the grounds and the interviews with the fans, and although you may not believe me, I'll say it anyway and that is I would honestly be watching a game like this, warts and all than an international. Sending my best to Albion Rovers and hope they get back in the league soon.

Even though i’m english, the work you have done broadcasting scottish football has been fantastic, you’ve done a better job than anything Sky or BT have ever done, fairplay

Went to an Albion Rovers vs Thistle game maybe 15 years ago (maybe a Cup game). Loved the bar below the stand, welcoming all supporters, and enjoyed chatting with relatives of an Albion player. For them it was the biggest match in many years. And they play in red and yellow, like the Jags, so I can only have a soft spot for them.

I liked the bit with the lorry load of flatcaps 2:22

As an Accies man I have a lot of time for The Rovers as they allowed us to play at Cliftonhill for two seasons during our homeless seven seasons. Coatbridge is a bigger town than the likes of Perth or Kilmarnock but is probably the worst town in Scotland for the amount of glory hunters- especially to Parkhead. Hope they get back up in The Leagues as folk who support Albion Rovers in Coatbridge are the real deal surrounded by sheep.

I think the reason why it's so fascinating with Scotland is that until recently the top four divisions were a closed shop. Teams like East Stirlingshire and Albion Rovers could be as bad as they wanted for such a long time and it didn't really matter because they were guaranteed to be in League 2. Now the system is open, the competently run clubs in the lower leagues have started to replace them. It will be interesting to see whether these historic clubs fight back and revive themselves, or if they disappear completely.

Watch your videos from here in Australia and it’s great too see some of the low leagues and teams get covered , a real breathe of fresh air compared to hearing about Celtic and Rangers or Englands top 6 all the time , keep up the good work mate!

Liverpool supporter here. Really enjoying your visits to these Scottish 'lower' league clubs. Especially those, like Albion Rovers, with such a rich history. Their fall is mirrored by small clubs here in England unfortunately. I remember as a lad hearing a lot of these clubs when they were in the higher divisions when the results were broadcast on ITV's World of Sport on a Saturday. Apart from showing my age it also shows the decline of British football for once proud and successful clubs.

Thank you for this video. I watched Albion from 1980 till 1989. I saw every single game that decade, home, away, cup and league, including many friendlies. I didn't miss a single game. I even invented Albion,s famous chant. A.R.ARF.ARFC. O.K. I left Coatbridge in 1989 and still have my shirt when they won the league that year for the first time in 40 years. Up the Vers.❤

I love your videos mate, especially the looking back ones, absolutely superb! I particularly loved this Albion Rovers video coz they are my home town club! I am a Bolton Wanderers fan n I live in Bolton,but I was born in Coatbridge n I lived not far from Cliftonville, I'm 53 this year n moved to Bolton in 1973, when I visit family, I try to sort it when Albion are at home 😁 but we've not been back for a while! Keep doing your videos, especially the old grounds, the coverage about them is superb, keep up your top work mate! 👌

I was totally devastated with one of my favourites ever in this world Albion Rovers but I hope to see them back to the Scottish Football League as soon as possible,good friends!!!LONG LIVE ALBION ROVERS!!!🏋‍♂️

I always followed their results as a child, still do. Born and bred in Staffordshire, England but i have this fascination with Albion Rovers. Love to see them get back up.

Lucky I found this video. I work at a clothing factory where we get a lot of second hand clothes and since I collect shirts I took one and didn't know the club. I saw this video and see the same badge. Thanks

Outstanding channel I love this , mrs is from Cowdenbeath so I follow them when I can even though I’m English and Watford , blue Brazil will always be my Scottish team

Used to love going to Cliftonhill when they were the home team for the old Lanarkshire Cup many years ago. Many years later my dad went to see two games in a row and was amazed when the steward remembered him with a warm welcome back sir Where else do you get that nowadays

Highlight of the game was 16:02 "where's that goin ya fookin donut"

i remember an albion rover game v stranraer in about 86/87 it was a night game and the attendance was 100,, they have never had large crowds

The only goal was scored when you went for a pie, perhaps you needed to buy a few more pies!!

Hiya Sam, Very informative vlog, back in the 1980s we thought there was a place called Albion and Albion Rovers played there, I think it was my sister convinced me of that, but now I know the town is called Coatbridge, I hope Albion Rovers get back into SPFL, maybe next season, I hope Berwick Rangers get back into The SPFL this season, this is Choppy in Whitehaven, Cumbria, England

As a lifelong supporter of the only Rovers’ now left in the SPFL, I’ve visited Cliftonhill a number of times down the years, it certainly has its charm’s! There isn’t a lot between sides in Scotland in terms of quality these days from League 2, to Lowland/Highland and even lower down the pyramid so introducing more opportunity for promotion is a must. There are ambitious amateur clubs struggling to progress several levels below where Albion are too, promotion into the Lowland league itself is super difficult due to lack of promotion/relegation. Good luck to the Wee Rovers in future!

From a Rangers fan who are my local club btw, I hope that the Rovers can get promoted back up to league football again 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁳󠁣󠁴󠁿⚽

Northampton town had the biggest rise and fall in probably the entirety of football in the 1960s they went from 4th tier to the top tier and back to 4th tier within like 7 years

Great show very well presented and absolutely fascinating as a semi pro footballer myself in the late 70s and 80s found this to be a fascinating history project. My wife saw the picture of the football team in yellow and red and remarked how all the players are almost the same height but the Manager (assuming he is the manager in the grey suit) must be at least 7-0ft plus in height.

Yeovil, Championship to National League South in ten years. Went there recently to see Didcot from The Southern League Premier South play them in an FA Cup third preliminary round match. Yeovil were so welcoming to us, absolute class and a club that deserves to be playing league football again soon.

Rather strangely ,as a Tottenham fan, used to take an interest in Berwick Rangers and now Kelty Hearts. Have no idea why but my sons and myself send texts to each other re Kelty matches. Hope to visit one day.

the world was a different place a hundred years ago....they were relegated because they were not good enough!... a massive achievement to beat the Rangers in a semi-final in 1920?????...the Ford Model T was a massive success in 1920, I don't see many ford t around anymore!

Can you wait a few years and do QPR in the National League South!

Fun fact about Albion Rovers! There’s a book called Return of the Busby Babes where the Albion Rovers players are possessed by the spirits/ghosts of that 1958 Man Utd team and they go on to win the Scottish Cup! Also I’ve been there once where I was at an Albion Rovers v St Johnstone (my Scottish team) & Saints went 2-0 down with 13 minutes to go & Saints went on to win the game 5-2 & go on to clinch the old Scottish Div One title!

3:02 what I find interesting as a Dunfermline fan is that our goal difference was a lot better than theirs and it was close. Only a single point in it…..and I mean Arbroath’s goal difference was also better and again they were on 44 points too. That sounds like an intense season

I respect everyone of the fans that support their local team rather than being a glory hunter 👍

Great old fashioned historic Scottish ground is Cliftonhill 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁳󠁣󠁴󠁿⚽

I saw the name of my father's home town team, Brechin City, on the 1933-34 Div. 2 results table. Not as high achieving as Albion Rovers, they're now in the Highland League. Scottish boys used to be a far hardier lot than their English counter-parts. The name Caledonia being from Old Irish, Caladh = Hard + Latin -ia = land of and so, "Hard Land", it being cold, snowy, windy and full of wolves. Now they watch TV, play computer games and have gone "saft", preferring drug taking and wearing make-up in their youth to ticking a football about in the sleet which is what made Scottish football so competitive in bygone years. Damn sad, if you ask me. "Once were Warriors", indeed.

Great and interesting video .............. Always good content.

In a hundred years from now historians will after your video library Sam.

Quite small, but very good support. Seen them against Spartans at the end of last season and they brought plenty of atmosphere to the game.

Was class getting to be in the video great content as always Sam

I saw Rovers playing my club Killie in a cup tie in about 1978. Rovers scored after 30 seconds and it took us till the 89th minute to scramble an equaliser. About as much fun as a tooth extraction without anaesthetic. Now I live in New Milton Hampshire and our local club, New Milton Town Fc play in the Velocity League division 1, the lowest tier of English non league football. They are rock bottom and have the ultimate goal stat shocker: Played 10, goals for 7, goals against 57. I’ve been a couple of times, you can’t fault the endeavour.

I am first of a Killie fan but now live in Lanarkshire. Still go to all killie home games but support the wee rovers in between. They are a great wee club and I love wearing the scarf with pride. My wee daughter loves going to Cliftonhill. Just got her picture taken with her favourite player the mighty Joe Bevan. As I said. Great friendly club. Big game on Boxing Day against EK coming up

Anyone remember when they did Speedway racing regularly at Cliftonhill back in the day?

Thanks for covering our great wee club Sam, shame it wasn’t the best result but hope to see you at Cliftonhill again one time

Some amazing club names in Scottish football even more so the non-lge as for me Civil Service Strollers ,like it. Just like these uploads.

Have you ever looked at Achilles 29 from Netherlands? They were relegated from the 2nd tier in 2017 and are currently playing in the 6th tier! They got relegated in 2018 and again in 2019. In 2020 they were bottom of the 5th tier with 1pt but saved from relegation due to the league suspending due to Covid. They finally got relegated in 2022 to the 6th tier where they currently play.

I was the kid that met you around the 30 minute mark

You spoke to my son Alexander last night at their game.

This is what I would do for the play offs between the lowland/highland leagues and league 2. First of all the team finishing 10th would be relegated, I would then keep the play off between the winners of the highland league and the lowland league with the winners taking that spot in league 2. The next change is that the team finishing 9th will play the losers from the highland/lowland tie with the winners taking the final place in league 2 I'm aware this could make one of the divisions huge

My Nephews who live a stones throw away from Brentford’s new ground support Paris St Germain , Barcelona and Liverpool. FFS ! To be honest I live 2 and a half miles from Vicarage road ( I support Watford) But thinking of jumping ship ⛴️ to Barnet . I think they have a brighter future lol

Another great video Sam, sad to see these clubs moving out of the league. However it gives another fan base a chance. Also instead of 5 leagues, why not add a couple of extra teams to the 2 bottom leagues?

You spend more time filimg you buying pies than football action in your videos, should be called 'Pie Adventures'.........😁

No point creating a new 5th tier - The SFA and SPL need to get together and re-arrange the four current divisions into three divisions of 16 SPL gains the Top Four from the Scottish Championship The remaining six Scottish Championship teams are joined by the 10 Scottish League One teams. The 10 Scottish League Two teams are joined by the Top 3 from the Highland League and the Top 3 from the Lowland League. This reduces the Highland and Lowland Leagues to 15 teams each but they can be brought back up to 16, 17 or even 18 with promotions from lower down the non-league system. - With 16 teams in each division you have a 30 game League season, You can push it up to 37 games with a 3rd game against the rest of the top 8 or bottom 8 depending on where you finish after 30 games. Teams like Hearts, Aberdeen and Hibs get better opportunities to actually challenge Celtic and Rangers because a win against Celtic or Rangers actually becomes meaningful when you play less games against them each season. The top of the Lowland League is clearly at least as strong if not stronger than League Two as it is now. The likes of Brechin, Buckie Thistle and Formartine in the Highland League deserve a shot at Clyde, Peterhead and Elgin too.

Please be aware that Stirling are no 'normal' university team, as the campus hosts various sporting centres of excellence. Leaving aside all the people who don't support their local team, it has long surprised me how nearby Airdrieonians has fared so much better than Albion Rovers since WW2, as Coatbridge is actually larger than Airdrie. If there is going to be a Lowland League Division 2 (or whatever they call it), I fear that a lot of erstwhile junior clubs are going to be ahead of clubs like Albion Rovers and East Stirlingshire in the race for Scottish League places.

Tony Green started of at Albion then played for Newcastle where he was a fan’s favourite also played for Scotland until a bad injury sent him of to be a teacher. Lost touch a long time ago but enjoyed playing beside him, Christ where has the time gone 😢😢😢

The truth is that Albion is not even the biggest club in Airdrie and being on edge of Glasgow anywsy, mist dupport old firm. As old firm stretches for relevence in Europe small Scottish sides gave few revenue opportunities. Albion isca lively local club. But it will gave to manage within its limited means.

I live in Ireland where gaelic games predominates. Gaelic games are based on small community teams in each county. I have total respect for teams like Albion because in Scotland they carry that tradition in football. What is sport without grassroots level opportunites to cheer on the guys you know? Sport is not about mega clubs, sports tourism and commercialism, its about people and their local club

Growing up in Airdrie in the 80s/90s we didn’t play the Rovers that often, but it was always special when we did. By the gods there was some fights on those old terraces in those days too 😂

Interesting video, but if you'll allow some constructive criticism, you don't need to repeat Albion's record as a league club four or five times in the video. Once would have been enough.

For the size of our country need less teams but some have almost empty stadiums and still won't do £1 entry and stuff like that. Everyone buys food when there. Think clubs and future the kids losing out on discounted but bums on seats

It’s unfortunate to see a team within walking distance of my house fall so far. Hope they can get back up this year. Mon the airdrie but 😂

Sadly the ground was heavily vandalised last night 😪

Was going to go a few weeks ago but we ended up going to Ayr Utd v Kelty Hearts instead as the appeal of the FA CUP drew us in n did Celtic v Buckie the day after

Couldnt have picked a more boring Rovers game all season if you tried 🤣 never a good feeling when you get relegated, but in all honesty the football we are playing in the LL (minus this game) has been far more exciting than we've been in a long time, going down to the LL dosent have to be the death sentence people think it is

If you wantvto do a full from grace in 3nglish non league got to do trowbridge town...from conference prem ro wiltshire prem league

Scottish football is just sad it needs a complete overhaul the national side is terrible the old firm are terrible constantly get beaten up in Europe and the infrastructure is appalling...uefa needs to step in and actually support these countries with not so good leagues or teams if they ever want them to be competitive with the billions of dollars in England Spain and Italian football

If any relegated team are going to go back up,I’m thinking it’s probably going to be Brechin city

Did east fife 4 Forfar 5 ever happen , or Forfar 5 east fife 4 or Forfar 4 east fife 5 or east fife 5 Forfar 4 ?

The pie looked quite appetizing. More so than the football anyway.

Can you do the fall of Berwick Rangers

Sam u need to try a scotch pie in a roll with brown sauce.

Looks like a great ground

They were pretty unlucky to be relegated last season as they only had a minus 3 goal difference which was the 5th or 6th best in the division bizarrely.

I was actually surprised to see Edinburgh city at the bottom of leave two 1933-34. I had no idea they were a league club. Can you imagine having to travel to away games on that rickety old cart. You don’t want to sit behind the horses.

I was here with Stirling Albion on the last day of the season in 22/23

Bet they can still whip the best women’s football team in the world.

I like football grounds like Coatbridge far more than the claustrophobic steel-and-plastic playparks for the billionaires in the premierships. These are wide open, lots of sky above and views of the countryside beyond. They're more intimate and friendly. I get the same experience with minor league baseball grounds in America.

Lack of promotion and relegation kills ambition. It should be 3 up, 3 down across all divisions, and playoffs only within that division. Putting old firm B-teams in is a bad idea, it will kill Scottish football in the same way reserve teams have killed the English FA Cup.

My dad used to take me and my brother to watch Albion Rovers amongst others back in the mid 70's to early 80's when we lived at Longriggend ( now called Upperton ). Nothing much has changed to the stadium since then, i remember they used to have a cracking wee programme shop at the back of the stand , i wonder if its still there? Anyway good luck to the Wee Rovers in the lowland league on going forward 👍🏻

Brechin had the worse Sammy boy. Three relegations in a row i think. 😮 Try a Brechin match for the fifty pounds non League match challenge 😊 Attend next Friday’s match of Queen’s Park fc in the national stadium as this is something you mentioned you want to do. What a away win for university team university of Stirling.

Sandy Clark was East Stirlingshires manager until he moved to Albion Rovers in March, hes also in that 4th tier victory photo as assistant. They also took some of Shires best players with them over the summer. Especially Ross Connolly, hes an excellent talent.

Brilliant job mate

When next in England you need to visit Hednesford Town. They were in danger of going out of business over the summer. But they were 'saved' and now play in the Northern Premier League West and are getting huge gates for that level.

Albion Rovers will always be remembered by Middlesbrough fans because it was Bernie Slaven's club. Slave wrote letters to (I think) ALL the English league clubs and only Boro replied. Good job they did as Slaven ended up as Boro's top scorer for several seasons afterwards and is still held in high regard by Boro fans. In fact he still lives hereabouts and his Range Rover went past me at a Stokesley roundabout two days ago (I was waiting to join the roundabout, having been shopping at the big Co-op)!

With all the money being pumped into a lot of teams in the L/L Rovers are well down the League in financial terms,wont see them anytime shortly in L2 if financies dont improve.

Stop giving your videos titles you then have to distance yourself from in the first few frames. That asides your lower league stuff is excellent. Fairydean next ?

I started watching Bristol City after they dropped from the old 1st Division to the old 4th division in successive seasons !

Always had a soft spot for the Wee Rovers. They finished as the 'worst' club in Scotland a few seasons in a row back in the 80s and my Dad used to take me and my Brothers to see them on occasion as he always taught us to back the underdog. We were lucky mascots for them, they seemed to win every time we went to see them. I remember Bernie Slavin started at Cliftonhill. Later became a Middlesborough legend.

Thank you so much for the insight into Albion Rovers,they are a team I follow in Scotland and always look for their results,even though I'm a West Ham supporter from Kent I even bought one of their shirts

Nice example at the Pie Shop! Manners maketh the man! Albion Rovers keeping it real.

Been there with ayr a few times lovely ground to visit ......pie was horrendous last time ..oil and grease running out it🤢🤢🤢🤢

It's sad, but the truth is that a lot of clubs in non league have more resources than established league clubs. Now their is a relation zone those clubs in non league can rightfully work their way up the pyramid. There is a good argument to have 2 up 2 down in my opinion.

When’s the video on Gretna 2008 coming haha. Would be worth it just to show Alexander in his kilt on the touch line in the final 😂😂

I watch Bolton, but never miss your videos of Scottish football, even went to an Inverness game last year. Brilliant work mate, keep going 👍

Lovely show ! This is what football is all about ! The bread and butter teams ! It's great !

Did I hear "Right, pub !!" immediately after the final whistle?

Throughly enjoyed this video listening to proper football people thank you chaps

Interesting that they are getting a boost with their away support but really only helps their opponents monetary wise.

Nice one SAN Top vlog dude 🇾🇪✌️🔰

I’m on the video 2wice

I think the reason people watch vids like this is most football fans suffer for years on end so there is a fascination for supporters having it even worse