| Berwick Rangers F.C. | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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| Full name | Berwick Rangers Football Club |
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| Nickname(s) | The Borderers The Wee Gers The Dream Team | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Founded | 1881 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Ground | Shielfield Park, Berwick-upon-Tweed (Capacity 4,131) |
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| Chairman | Robert Wilson | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Manager | Michael Renwick | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| League | Scottish Second Division | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| 2006-07 | Scottish Third Division, 1st (promoted) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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Berwick Rangers Football Club are a football team based in the English Border town of Berwick-upon-Tweed, currently playing in the Scottish Football League. They are currently managed by Michael Renwick.
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History
Officially formed in 1881, though recent research indicates that 1884 is a more likely date of formation. [1], the club had a nomadic existence before eventually settling down at Shielfield Park in 1954. Having initially gained admittance to the Scottish Border League in 1905, they were finally elected member of the Scottish Football League in 1955, where they have played ever since, despite low attendances and frequent financial problems. A notable early success was a 3-0 win over Dundee F.C. in the Scottish Cup in 1954 in a run which saw them reach the quarter final, only to lose to Glasgow Rangers 4-0. Ten years later they reached the semi-final of the Scottish League Cup losing to Glasgow Rangers 3-1. Arguably their greatest success came in 1967, when they beat Glasgow Rangers 1-0 in the Scottish Cup under the management of player manager Jock Wallace. It was the highlight of a memorable cup run, which had seen them break a club record in beating Vale of Leithen 8-1 in the first round. The result sent shockwaves around Scottish football and led to a number of the Rangers players leaving Ibrox; it was also the club's greatest home attendance of 13,365. They were paired with Hibs in the following round but lost narrowly 1-0 in front of a crowd of nearly 30,000. The following years saw little progress until the late 1970s, when under the management of Dave Smith they won the Second Division title in 1979. Despite that success they were unable to build and suffered a slow decline through the 1980s. The nadir coming in season 1988-89 when they were nearly bankrupted and the club were locked out of Shielfield, having to play their games elsewhere. In 1988 Jim Jefferies took over as manager and led the team to a club record unbeaten 21 game run. The club weathered this and other crises in the early 1990s, narrowly avoiding going into administration in 1994. Later in the decade Berwick enjoyed a bit more in the way of success only missing out on promotion to Scottish League Division One due to league relocation in 1994. They were relegated to the Third Division in 1997 but under the management of Paul Smith regained promotion in 2000. Under Smith's stewardship they took both Rangers and Hearts to replays in the Scottish Cup. However they were relegated again to the Third Division in 2005, and narrowly missed out on an instant return to the Second Division the following season, this time losing to Alloa in the league promotion play-offs. Despite losing a good deal of the squad to other clubs in the close season, manager John Coughlin exceeded expectations by rebuilding the team and guiding them to the Third Division championship in 2007, their first title in 28 years, in a season which also saw a new record for consecutive league wins. John Coughlin resigned as Berwick Rangers manager after a 3-0 home loss to Alloa Athletic on the 6th October 2007. He left with Berwick at the foot of the table with only 5 points after 9 games. Cowdenbeath coach Michael Renwick was appointed new manager on October 25, 2007.[2]
Status
They are one of a handful of teams in the world to play in a national football league other than their own country's, where both countries have their own fully professional competitions. Although three Welsh clubs (Cardiff City, Wrexham, Swansea City) play in the English Football League, the League of Wales is mainly a semi-professional competition with only two fully professional sides—one of which, The New Saints, moved its home ground from Wales to England in 2007. The Wellington Phoenix, based in Wellington, are the only New Zealand professional team in the Australian A-League, but the recently-founded New Zealand Football Championship is semi-professional. A similar situation pertains with Toronto FC, which participates in Major League Soccer in the USA, while the Canadian Soccer League is semi-professional. The only other team that meets these criteria is Derry City of Northern Ireland, which played in the Football League of Ireland, the former league of the Republic of Ireland, from 1985 to 2006, and will play in the Republic's new FAI National League from 2007. The town of Berwick-upon-Tweed is near to the Scottish border and is closer to Edinburgh than to Newcastle upon Tyne. The old town is on the Scottish side of the traditional border, the river Tweed, and Berwick has formerly been part of Scotland. In fact the town has swapped between England and Scotland so many times it has previously been marked out as a corporate city belonging to neither Scotland nor England but part of the United Crown's domain, leaving Berwick able to choose its allegiances to a certain extent. The time (and expense) involved in travelling to away matches against English opposition would be prohibitive for the club. The club also formerly played in the East of Scotland League, which contains other nearby Borders teams, prior to joining the Scottish League. They aim to field a reserve side in this competition from next season. There is also some controversy over Berwick's identity [3]. Entry into the English Football League would result in a round-trip of almost 1,000 miles should Berwick be faced with playing potential rivals Plymouth Argyle, England's southernmost league team.
Honours
- Second Division: Champions (1978-1979)
- Third Division: Champions (2006-2007)
Club records
- Record league win: 8-1 .v. Forfar Athletic F.C., Division II December 25 1965
- Record cup win: 8-1 .v. Vale of Leithen F.C., Scottish Cup First Round December 1966
- Record league loss: 1-9 .v. Hamilton F.C. Scottish First Division August 9 1980
- Record home attendance: 13,365 .v. Rangers F.C. Scottish Cup Third Round, January 28 1967
- Most goals in a season: 38 by Ken Bowran 1963/64
- Most goals: 115 by Eric Tait 1969-88
- Consecutive league wins: 8, Scottish Third Division Season 2006-2007.
- Longest unbeaten league run: 21, Scottish Second Division Season 1988-89.
- Most appearances: 435, Eric Tait 1969-88
First-team squad
As of 06 October 2007, according to official website: [1]
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Managers
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References
- ^ Berwick Forums discussion on history
- ^ Berwick turn to Renwick as boss BBC Sport, retrieved 2007-25-10
- ^ BBC News article on Berwick's identity
External links
- Berwick Rangers Forum
- Official Club Site
- Berwick Rangers Supporters Trust
- Berwick Rangers Supporters Club
