Crossing The River - Early Years at Shawfield - 1898-1919
Clyde said farewell to Barrowfield in the spring of 1898. Across the river lay an area of undeveloped land known as Shawfield. With a new League season only a matter of months away, Clyde had the monumental task of transforming and enclosing the area into a venue suitable for first-class football. The move was largely financed by Clyde becoming incorporated and issuing shares in "The Clyde Football Club Limited".
By the eve of the new season, Clyde FC Ltd had an enclosed area of about nine acres. A grand stand seating 1500 was nearing completion and embankment works around the pitch were well under way. The Clyde directors of the time wildly estimated a final capacity of 100,000.
Celtic, the neighbours from up the road, were the inaugural opposition at Shawfield on August 27th 1898. A healthy crowd of 10,000 turned up to see a goalless draw and return gate receipts of £203.
The future looked bright but it soon became apparent that the move across the river was maybe too far and too soon. If Clyde had a business plan, then it was badly off course. A financial crisis greeted the beginning of the 20th century and only a modest dividend thwarted liquidation. With little money it's no surprise that Clyde struggled badly in the first few years of the new century in their new home.
Matters took a turn for the better around 1904. Clyde finished 2nd in Division 2 but were not elected to Division 1 (automatic promotion/relegation didn't appear until 1921). Clyde also won a supplementary competition called the Glasgow & West of Scotland League and repeated the feat the following season. Promotion was again denied in 1904-05, with Clyde the Division 2 champions, but was finally earned the following season. The years up to World War I would be far more successful and probably represent the most consistent period of success for the club.
A 3rd place in Division 1 in 1908-09, only three points behind champions, Celtic, put Clyde firmly on the map of Scottish football. The semi-final of the Scottish Cup was also reached for the first time only to be thwarted by Celtic after a replay. International honours were also awarded to Clyde players for the first time this season. William 'Shoogly' Walker represented Scotland against Northern Ireland at Ibrox (5-0), while interestingly the opposition included his team-mate, John Kirkwan.
For five seasons until war began, Clyde were at the top end of Division 1 and reached the Scottish Cup final in 1909-10 and 1911-12. The former of these finals was especially disappointing. For eighty-three minutes Clyde (McTurk; Watson & Blair; Walker, McAteer & Robertson; Stirling & MacCartney; Chalmers; Jackson & Booth) held a 2-0 lead with goals from Chalmers and Booth, and looked certain to win. With the Cup in sight, nerves got the better of Clyde and Robertson fluffed a clearance off Blair and into his own net. Dogged Dundee fought all the way and salvaged the game in the last minute with an equaliser from Langlands. The replay was far more cagey an affair and ended goalless after extra time but with Dundee looking physically stronger. The third game was again a tight affair with Clyde scoring after only three minutes through Chalmers. Dundee equalised before the interval and with Clyde's energy sapped, John "Sailor" Hunter blasted Dundee to victory.
The 1912 final saw Celtic trump the Bully Wee once again with a 2-0 victory. Another third place finish in the League being the only consolation. Still undaunted, Clyde reached the semi-final again in 1912-13, but the jinx struck again and after a replay Raith Rovers squeezed into the final.
Clyde had something to cheer about during this period of near misses as they clinched the Glasgow & Merchants' Charity Cup in 1910 and the Glasgow Cup in 1915. It's easy to deride these competitions as second rate but they were fought just as hard as the Scottish Cup and indeed all six competitors (Celtic, Clyde, Partick Thistle, Queen's Park, Rangers and Third Lanark) were more often that not resident in Division 1.
A severe blow was dealt as fire destroyed the grand stand in September 1914, and with it much of the club's early history. Officials, players and fans had little time to dwell upon the calamity as war began in November. The Scottish League took the decision to continue playing even though there was strong moral pressure on every young man to sign up for 'King & Country'. Besides, football crowds provided a fertile recruitment ground and the games themselves kept morale high. Many players joined up and teams, like Clyde, found it increasingly difficult to field competitive sides and the League eventually reduced back to a single division. Many Clyde players signed up and some unfortunately never returned such as C. Clunas (2nd Royal Fusiliers), T. Cranston (Black Watch) and W. Sharp (1st Battalion Royal Scots).
Conscription was introduced in 1917 and put further hardship upon League clubs. Many well-known clubs simply couldn't function and had to retire from the League. Despite the difficulty, Clyde kept going. War ended in November 1918 and Clyde along with every other club faced an uncertain future as the Scottish League tried to reorganise in peacetime.
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Supplementary Competitions
During the Scottish League's infancy there were sometimes as few as eighteen fixtures. Obviously more games were needed to make it worthwhile. Hence Clyde joined other leagues and played in other cup competitions. The most famous of these were the Glasgow Merchants' & Charity Cup (1892-1960) and the Glasgow Cup (1887-1988). These cups faded away in significance as the League Cup and European competitions took centre stage following World War II.