History
Clyde previously played in Glasgow at Barrowfield Park, from their creation in 1877 until 1898, and then Shawfield Stadium from 1898 until they were evicted in 1986. Clyde shared Firhill with fierce rivals Partick Thistle from 1986 until 1991, and then Douglas Park with Hamilton Academical until moving to the purpose built Broadwood in 1994. The move to Broadwood, 10 miles outside Glasgow, meant that the club would lose some fans in the move, but hoped to gain some new supporters in the new town of Cumbernauld, which had never hosted senior football before.
This historic relocation was the first of several that have taken place in British football since, seeing a club move to a more viable location for attracting support. Some 18 months after Clyde relocated to Broadwood Stadium in Cumbernauld, Meadowbank Thistle relocated from Meadowbank Stadium in Edinburgh to the Almondvale Stadium in Livingston (also a new town) and to reflect their new location changed their name to Livingston F.C.. Several years later, Airdrie United, formed after the collapse of the old Airdrieonians club, took over Clydebank Airdrie and its place in the Scottish league.
A much more high profile relocation of this kind took place in England in 2003, when Wimbledon F.C. relocated to Milton Keynes (some 70 miles from their historic South London home) in search of a location that would attract more support, and the following year were rebranded as Milton Keynes Dons. Like Cumbernauld, Milton Keynes was a new town which had never previously hosted senior football.
The stadium opened to the public in February 1994 to a full house at that time, of 6000 fans. Clyde lost the game 2–0 against Hamilton Academical. At the time of opening, only two stands, the Main Stand and the West Stand, had been completed, giving the stadium a capacity of 6,000. The third, South Stand was completed in 1997 to bring the overall capacity to just over 8,000. Plans to complete the stadium, and bring the overall capacity to 10,000 were shelved after Clyde failed to win promotion to the Scottish Premier League in 2004.
It also previously hosted another Scottish League club, Airdrieonians, between 1994 and 1998. Broadwood also formerly hosted Rangers reserve team matches on a regular basis. Broadwood has hosted many Scotland U-21 matches. Broadwood was the scene of a giant Scottish Cup shock in 2006, when Clyde beat holders Celtic 2–1. Broadwood has also hosted four Scottish Challenge Cup finals.
Read more about this topic: Broadwood Stadium
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