2007–08 Clyde F.C. season
# 2007–08 Clyde F.C. season

Season 2007–08 was Clyde's eighth consecutive season in the Scottish First Division. Former Scotland captain Colin Hendry was appointed manager in June 2007, replacing Joe Miller. Hendry resigned in January 2008, and was replaced by John Brown. The club finished 9th in the division by 1 goal, and were confined to the playoffs. They staged an impressive 6–5 aggregate victory over Alloa Athletic in the Semi Final, coming from 5–2 down with 25 minutes left. They defeated Airdrie United 3–0 over two legs to regain their status as a First Division team.

## Events

### May

* 24 – Manager Joe Miller leaves the club.
* 26 – Forwards Andy Ferguson, Roddy Hunter & Alex Williams are released.

### June

* 8 – Head of Youth Development Alan Upton leaves the club to join East Stirlingshire.
* 11 – Former Scotland captain Colin Hendry is appointed as manager. Teenage midfielder Ruari MacLennan signs a new 3-year contract.
* 30 – Former manager Graham Roberts wins his case for unfair dismissal.

### July

* 18 – Defender Robert Harris joins Queen of the South after spending 3 years at Broadwood Stadium.
* 20 – Midfielder Brian Gilmour joins Harris at Queens after rejecting a new contract offer.
* 27 – Youth team graduates Kevin Bradley & David McGowan sign new contracts. Former Clyde favourite Gary Bollan is appointed Head of Youth Development.

### August

* 2 – Colin Hendry makes his first signings. English midfielder Christian Smith, ex-Airdrie United defender Craig Potter, former Celtic youth Andrew Traub and goalkeeper David Thomson all join the club. Striker Gary Arbuckle signs a new contract.
* 4 – Clyde lose their opening game of the season to Greenock Morton 3–2. Clyde have a last minute equaliser controversially disallowed.
* 6 – Marvyn Wilson signs for the club after appearing as a trialist against Morton
* 7 – Clyde crash out of the League Cup in embarrassing fashion, losing to lower-league Raith Rovers 3 goals to nil.
* 15 – Clyde win their first game of the season, defeating Queen of the South 1–0 in the Challenge Cup.Michael Doherty becomes the youngest player ever to play for Clyde in a competitive match.
* 18 – Partick Thistle issue Clyde with some payback for last season with their 4–0 victory in the Glasgow Derby
* 25 – Clyde record their first league victory of the campaign over St Johnstone
* 30 – English duo Joe Cardle and Dan Kirkup join on loan from Port Vale and Carlisle United until Christmas

## Transfers

### Summer

**In**

| Player | From | Fee |
| - | - | - |
| Craig Potter | Airdrie United | Free |
| Christian Smith | Port Vale | Free |
| Andrew Traub | Celtic | Free |
| Marvyn Wilson | Hamilton Academical | Free |
| Michael Doherty | Clyde Youth | Free |
| Jordan Murch | Clyde Youth | Free |
| Roddy MacLennan | Clyde Youth | Free |
| Stephen Connolly | Hamilton Academical Youth | Free |
| Ryan Craig | Greenock Morton Youth | Free |
| Martin McGowan | Greenock Morton Youth | Free |
| Calum McGregor | St Mirren Youth | Free |
| Juan Carrio | Motherwell Youth | Free |
| Joe Cardle | Port Vale | Loan |
| Dan Kirkup | Carlisle United | Loan |
| Dušan Bestvina | FC Mistelbach | Free |
| Evangelino Valentim | Unattached | Free |
| Ryan Wilkie | Unattached | Free |

**Out**

| Player | To | Fee |
| - | - | - |
| Joe Miller | Retired | Free |
| Craig Bryson | Kilmarnock | Undisclosed |
| Andy Ferguson | Alloa Athletic | Free |
| Roddy Hunter | Albion Rovers | Free |
| Alex Williams | Ayr United | Free |
| Robert Harris | Queen of the South | Undisclosed |
| Brian Gilmour | Queen of the South | Undisclosed |
| Michael Fulton | Lugar Boswell Thistle | Free |
| Paul Reynolds | Airdrie United | Free |
| Ryan McCann | Bohemians | Free |
| Andrew Traub | Cowdenbeath | Free |
| Craig Potter | Dumbarton | Free |
| David Thomson | Sauchie | Free |

### January

In:

| Player | From | Fee |
| - | - | - |
| Pat Clarke | Cowdenbeath | Undisclosed |
| Jimmy Gibson | Partick Thistle | Free |
| Billy Gibson | St Patrick's Athletic | Free |
| Shaun Fagan | Galway United | Free |
| Iain Campbell | Kilmarnock | Loan |
| Dave McKay | Drumchapel United | Free |
| Paul MacDonald | Hearts | Free |
| Jörg Albertz | Unattached | Free |
| Gary McSwegan | Unattached | Free |
| Marc McCusker | Hearts | Loan |

Out:

| Player | To | Fee |
| - | - | - |
| Dan Kirkup | Carlisle United | Loan Return |
| Joe Cardle | Port Vale | Loan Return |
| Ryan Wilkie | Workington | Free |
| Evangelino Valentim | Released | Free |
| Dougie Imrie | Inverness Caledonian Thistle | £35,000 |

## Squad

Note: Flags indicate national team as defined under FIFA eligibility rules. Players may hold more than one non-FIFA nationality.

| No. | Pos. | Nation | Player |
| - | - | - | - |
| — | GK | SCO | Peter Cherrie |
| — | GK | SCO | David Hutton |
| — | GK | SCO | David Thomson |
| — | DF | SVK | Dušan Bestvina |
| — | DF | SCO | Iain Campbell (On loan from Kilmarnock) |
| — | DF | SCO | Michael Doherty |
| — | DF | SCO | Billy Gibson |
| — | DF | SCO | Chris Higgins (Vice captain) |
| — | DF | ENG | Dan Kirkup (On loan from Carlisle United) |
| — | DF | SCO | Paul MacDonald |
| — | DF | SCO | Calum McGregor |
| — | DF | SCO | Neil McGregor (Club captain) |
| — | DF | NIR | Michael McGowan |
| — | DF | SCO | Craig McKeown (Team captain) |
| — | DF | SCO | Craig Potter |
| — | DF | SCO | Andrew Traub |
| — | MF | GER | Jörg Albertz |
| — | MF | SCO | Kevin Bradley |
| — | MF | ENG | Joe Cardle (On loan from Port Vale) |
| — | MF | SCO | Juan Carrio |
| — | MF | SCO | Stephen Connolly |
| No. | Pos. | Nation | Player |
| — | MF | SCO | Shaun Fagan |
| — | MF | SCO | Jimmy Gibson |
| — | MF | SCO | Steven Masterton |
| — | MF | SCO | Ruari MacLennan |
| — | MF | SCO | David McGowan |
| — | MF | SCO | Martin McGowan |
| — | MF | SCO | Jordan Murch |
| — | MF | ENG | Christian Smith |
| — | MF | SCO | Ryan Wilkie |
| — | MF | SCO | Marvyn Wilson |
| — | FW | SCO | Gary Arbuckle |
| — | FW | SCO | Pat Clarke |
| — | FW | SCO | Ryan Craig |
| — | FW | SCO | Kyle Hendry |
| — | FW | SCO | Dougie Imrie |
| — | FW | SCO | Roddy MacLennan |
| — | FW | SCO | Marc McCusker (On loan from Hearts) |
| — | FW | SCO | Dave McKay |
| — | FW | SCO | Sean McKenna |
| — | FW | SCO | Gary McSwegan |
| — | FW | NGA | Evangelino Valentim |

## Fixtures and results

### Pre-season

| Date | Opponents | Stadium | Result F – A | Scorers |
| - | - | - | - | - |
| 10 July 2007 | East Stirlingshire | Little Kerse | 2 – 3 | Masterton , Trialist |
| 13 July 2007 | Stenhousemuir | Ochilview Park | 3 – 2 | Imrie , Bradley pen' |
| 24 July 2007 | St Mirren | Love Street | 1 – 2 | Imrie |
| 26 July 2007 | Oldham Athletic | Broadwood Stadium | 2 – 2 | own goal', Arbuckle |

### Scottish First Division

| Date | Opponents | Stadium | Result F – A | Scorers | Attendance | Position |
| - | - | - | - | - | - | - |
| 4 August 2007 | Greenock Morton | Cappielow | 2 – 3 | Masterton 10', Higgins 45' | 3,784 | 8th |
| 11 August 2007 | Hamilton Academical | Broadwood Stadium | 0 – 2 | N. McGregor 45' | 1,182 | 8th |
| 18 August 2007 | Partick Thistle | Firhill Stadium | 0 – 4 | | 3,175 | 10th |
| 25 August 2007 | St Johnstone | Broadwood Stadium | 1 – 0 | Ruari MacLennan 70' | 1,310 | 9th |
| 1 September 2007 | Dundee | Broadwood Stadium | 1 – 2 | Higgins 4', Cardle 25' | 1,500 | 9th |
| 15 September 2007 | Queen of the South | Palmerston Park | 1 – 1 | N. McGregor 49' | 1,730 | 10th |
| 22 September 2007 | Dunfermline Athletic | Broadwood Stadium | 2 – 1 | Masterton 19', D. McGowan 65' | 1,554 | 7th |
| 29 September 2007 | Livingston | Almondvale Stadium | 2 – 4 | D. McGowan 15', Ruari MacLennan 42', Imrie 85' (pen), Smith 88' | 1,500 | 9th |
| 6 October 2007 | Stirling Albion | Forthbank Stadium | 2 – 0 | Arbuckle 38', N. McGregor 45' | 950 | 7th |
| 20 October 2007 | Greenock Morton | Broadwood Stadium | 0 – 1 | | 1,231 | 7th |
| 27 October 2007 | St Johnstone | McDiarmid Park | 1 – 1 | Imrie 75' | 2,782 | 7th |
| 3 November 2007 | Partick Thistle | Broadwood Stadium | 1 – 2 | Imrie 88' (pen) | 1,980 | 10th |
| 11 November 2007 | Dundee | Dens Park | 1 – 0 | Dixon 86' (own goal) | 3,727 | 7th |
| 1 December 2007 | Queen of the South | Broadwood Stadium | 0 – 0 | | 1,008 | 7th |
| 8 December 2007 | Dunfermline Athletic | East End Park | 1 – 1 | D. McGowan 3', Imrie 57' | 3,574 | 7th |
| 15 December 2007 | Livingston | Broadwood Stadium | 2 – 1 | McKeown 43', N. McGregor 75' | 910 | 7th |
| 26 December 2007 | Hamilton Academical | New Douglas Park | 0 – 0 | | 1,750 | 9th |
| 29 December 2007 | St Johnstone | Broadwood Stadium | 1 – 3 | Bradley 14', Wilson 59' | 1,200 | 9th |
| 2 January 2008 | Partick Thistle | Firhill Stadium | 1 – 1 | Arbuckle 26' | 3,299 | 8th |
| 5 January 2008 | Queen of the South | Palmerston Park | 1 – 3 | Michael McGowan 15' (pen) | 1,513 | 9th |
| 19 January 2008 | Dundee | Broadwood Stadium | 1 – 1 | Arbuckle 72' | 1,328 | 9th |
| 26 January 2008 | Hamilton Academical | Broadwood Stadium | 2 – 3 | Arbuckle 3', Imrie 14' | 1,214 | 9th |
| 2 February 2008 | Stirling Albion | Broadwood Stadium | 1 – 3 | Fagan 79' (pen) | 961 | 9th |
| 9 February 2008 | Greenock Morton | Cappielow | 2 – 1 | Ruari MacLennan 90+1', McKeown 90+3' | 2,239 | 8th |
| 23 February 2008 | Dunfermline Athletic | Broadwood Stadium | 1 – 2 | Clarke 68' (pen) | 1,126 | 8th |
| 1 March 2008 | Partick Thistle | Broadwood Stadium | 1 – 4 | McKeown 10' | 1,717 | 9th |
| 8 March 2008 | Livingston | Almondvale Stadium | 0 – 0 | | 1,800 | 9th |
| 11 March 2008 | Greenock Morton | Broadwood Stadium | 1 – 1 | Clarke 56' | 1,265 | 9th |
| 15 March 2008 | Stirling Albion | Forthbank Stadium | 1 – 1 | Albertz 45', Campbell 65' | 1,089 | 9th |
| 22 March 2008 | Queen of the South | Broadwood Stadium | 1 – 4 | Masterton 69' | 1,211 | 9th |
| 25 March 2008 | St Johnstone | McDiarmid Park | 2 – 1 | Bradley 30', Albertz 51' | 1,686 | 7th |
| 29 March 2008 | Dundee | Dens Park | 0 – 2 | | 4,037 | 8th |
| 5 April 2008 | Livingston | Broadwood Stadium | 3 – 2 | Clarke 19', Ruari MacLennan 24' 48' | 1,156 | 8th |
| 12 April 2008 | Dunfermline Athletic | East End Park | 1 – 2 | Clarke 44' | 3,129 | 8th |
| 19 April 2008 | Hamilton Academical | New Douglas Park | 0 – 2 | N. McGregor 21' | 4,940 | 9th |
| 26 April 2008 | Stirling Albion | Broadwood Stadium | 3 – 0 | McSwegan 44', Clarke 46' 83' (pen) | 1,426 | 9th |

### Playoffs

| Date | Stage | Opponents | Stadium | Result F – A | Scorers | Attendance |
| - | - | - | - | - | - | - |
| 30 April 2008 | Semi Final First Leg | Alloa Athletic | Recreation Park | 1 – 2 | Masterton 62' | 1,026 |
| 3 May 2008 | Semi Final Second Leg | Alloa Athletic | Broadwood Stadium | 5 – 3 AET | J. Gibson 30', Arbuckle 64', B. Gibson 68', McSwegan 84', Clarke 111' | 1,548 |
| 7 May 2008 | Final First Leg | Airdrie United | Excelsior Stadium | 1 – 0 | Clarke 77' | 1,878 |
| 10 May 2008 | Final Second Leg | Airdrie United | Broadwood Stadium | 2 – 0 | McSwegan 47', Clarke 64' | 2,548 |

### Scottish League Cup

| Date | Round | Opponents | Stadium | Result F – A | Scorers | Attendance | Notes |
| - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - |
| 7 August 2007 | Round 1 | Raith Rovers | Broadwood Stadium | 0 – 3 | | 892 | |

### Scottish Challenge Cup

| Date | Round | Opponents | Stadium | Result F – A | Scorers | Attendance | Notes |
| - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - |
| 14 August 2007 | Round 1 | Queen of the South | Broadwood Stadium | 1 – 0 | Masterton 13' | 621 | |
| 5 September 2007 | Round 2 | Dunfermline Athletic | Broadwood Stadium | 1 – 4 | Ruari MacLennan 46' | 799 | |

### Scottish Cup

| Date | Round | Opponents | Stadium | Result F – A | Scorers | Attendance | Notes |
| - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - |
| 24 November 2007 | Round 3 | Montrose | Broadwood Stadium | 2 – 0 | Arbuckle 8', Imrie 90' | 821 | |
| 16 January 2008 | Round 4 | Dundee United | Broadwood Stadium | 0 – 1 | | 1,550 | |

### Reserve League Cup

| Date | Stage | Opponents | Stadium | Result F – A | Scorers |
| - | - | - | - | - | - |
| 16 October 2007 | Group | Airdrie United | Broadwood Stadium | 1 – 0 | Valentim |
| 29 October 2007 | Group | Stranraer | Stair Park | 6 – 0 | Valentim , McKeown , Smith , Bradley |
| 15 November 2007 | Group | East Stirlingshire | Firs Park | 4 – 1 | Valentim , Bradley , McKenna |
| 22 January 2008 | Group | Stenhousemuir | Ochilview Park | 3 – 2 | Roddy MacLennan , McKenna , Connolly |
| 12 February 2008 | Group | Hamilton Academical | Broadwood Stadium | 2 – 1 | McKay (Trialist) , Smith |
| 4 March 2008 | Group | Queens Park | Broadwood Stadium | 1 – 1 | McKay |
| 12 March 2008 | Group | Partick Thistle | Firhill Stadium | 3 – 5 | Roddy MacLennan , McKay |
| 27 April 2007 | Semi Final | St Johnstone | McDiarmid Park | 2 – 0 | McKenna , McLaren (Trialist) |
| 5 May 2008 | Final | Livingston | Almondvale Stadium | 4 – 1 | McKay , C. McGregor |

## Player statistics

### Overall

Clyde used 33 players during the 2007–08 season, and another 3 were unused substitutes. David Hutton was the only ever-present, starting all 45 competitive matches.

| # | Player | P | | | |
| - | - | - | - | - | - |
| GK | David Hutton | 45 | 0 | 2 | 0 |
| DF | Neil McGregor | 40 | 3 | 10 | 2 |
| DF | Chris Higgins | 41 | 2 | 11 | 0 |
| MF | Christian Smith | 25 (6) | 0 | 8 | 1 |
| MF | Steven Masterton | 28 (6) | 5 | 4 | 0 |
| MF | Kevin Bradley | 23 (12) | 2 | 3 | 0 |
| MF | Marvyn Wilson | 19 (5) | 0 | 12 | 1 |
| FW | Gary Arbuckle | 23 (12) | 6 | 1 | 0 |
| DF | Michael McGowan | 34 (6) | 1 | 5 | 0 |
| MF | Ruari MacLennan | 37 (5) | 5 | 4 | 1 |
| MF | David McGowan | 22 (12) | 3 | 3 | 0 |
| FW | Sean McKenna | 1 (9) | 0 | 1 | 0 |
| DF | Michael Doherty | 0 (2) | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| MF | Stephen Connolly | 0 (1) | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| DF | Dušan Bestvina | 24 (1) | 0 | 5 | 0 |
| DF | Craig McKeown | 18 (1) | 3 | 4 | 0 |
| FW | Roddy MacLennan | 2 (5) | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| DF | Iain Campbell | 4 | 0 | 1 | 1 |
| DF | Billy Gibson | 18 | 1 | 2 | 0 |
| FW | Pat Clarke | 15 | 9 | 3 | 0 |
| MF | Shaun Fagan | 2 (1) | 1 | 2 | 0 |
| FW | Dave McKay | 8 (8) | 0 | 1 | 0 |
| MF | Jimmy Gibson | 5 (5) | 1 | 2 | 0 |
| FW | Gary McSwegan | 6 (3) | 3 | 1 | 0 |
| MF | Jörg Albertz | 7 (1) | 2 | 1 | 0 |
| FW | Marc McCusker | 0 (3) | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| GK | Peter Cherrie | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| MF | Juan Carrio | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| DF | Calum McGregor | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| FW | Dougie Imrie | 24 | 5 | 12 | 1 |
| FW | Evangelino Valentim | 0 (3) | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| DF | Dan Kirkup | 7 (1) | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| MF | Joe Cardle | 10 | 0 | 3 | 1 |
| DF | Craig Potter | 6 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| DF | Andrew Traub | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| GK | David Thomson | 0 (1) | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| MF | Ryan Wilkie | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |

Note: Players in italics left the club before or during the January transfer window.

## League table

| Pos | Teamvte | Pld | W | D | L | GF | GA | GD | Pts | Promotion, qualification or relegation |
| - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - |
| 6 | Partick Thistle | 36 | 11 | 12 | 13 | 40 | 39 | +1 | 45 | |
| 7 | Livingston | 36 | 10 | 9 | 17 | 55 | 66 | −11 | 39 | |
| 8 | Greenock Morton | 36 | 9 | 10 | 17 | 40 | 58 | −18 | 37 | |
| 9 | Clyde | 36 | 9 | 10 | 17 | 40 | 59 | −19 | 37 | Qualification for the First Division Play-offs |
| 10 | Stirling Albion (R) | 36 | 4 | 12 | 20 | 41 | 71 | −30 | 24 | Relegation to the Second Division |

* ↑ The 9th placed team were entered into a play-off with the Second Division's 2nd, 3rd and 4th placed teams. The winning team were awarded a place in the 2008–09 First Division, Clyde won the play-off to stay in the division.
