History
The club were formed in 1878 as Clackmannan County, becoming Alloa a year later and finally adopting the present-day name Alloa Athletic in 1883. Admitted to the Scottish Football Association in the same year, the club had to wait until 1921 to elected to the Scottish Football League, 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.
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 an excellent 6th place finish in the First Division the following season. Unfortunately 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 famous 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.
Since 2003 Alloa have been playing in the Second Division. In the 2009–2010 season, Alloa looked certain to gain 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 a massive coup, appointing former Aberdeen and Scotland midfielder Paul Hartley as player-manager.
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 mathematically impossible for the South of Scotland side to surpass the Clackmannanshire side's points total with only 4 games remaining. Alloa will play in the Scottish Second Division in season 2012–13.
Read more about this topic: Alloa Athletic F.C.
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