Airdrieonians Football Club is a Scottish professional

football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kick (football), kicking a football (ball), ball to score a goal (sports), goal. Unqualified, football (word), the word ''football'' generally means the form of football t ...

team in

Airdrie, North Lanarkshire Airdrie (; ; ) is a town in North Lanarkshire, Scotland. It lies on a plateau 400 ft (130 m) above sea level, 12 miles (19 km) east of Glasgow. , it had a population of 37,130. Airdrie developed as a market town in the late 17th ce ...

, who are members of the

Scottish Professional Football League The Scottish Professional Football League (SPFL) is the national men's association football league in Scotland. The league was formed in June 2013 following a merger between the Scottish Premier League and the Scottish Football League. As well ...

(SPFL) and play in the . They were formed in 2002 as Airdrie United Football Club following the folding of the original Airdrieonians club, formed in 1878. The club's official name was changed in 2013 with the approval of the

Scottish Football Association The Scottish Football Association (; also known as the Scottish FA and the SFA) is the governing body of football in Scotland and has the ultimate responsibility for the control and development of football in Scotland. Members of the SFA incl ...

to the traditional name of Airdrieonians. As with the previous club, this is often colloquially shortened to simply "Airdrie". The club have won three trophies in their short history – the Scottish Second Division in 2003–04 and the

Challenge Cup The Rugby Football League Challenge Cup, commonly known just as the Challenge Cup is a Single-elimination tournament, knockout rugby league cup competition organised by the Rugby Football League, held annually since 1896, it is the world's old ...

in 2008–09 and 2023–24. Once described as "the luckiest team in the Scottish League", the club have benefited in league division placements due to other club's misfortunes on four occasions (2008, 2009, 2012 and 2025). However the club have lost six Scottish league play-off finals (2007, 2008, 2009, 2012, 2021 and 2022), two semi-finals (2010 and 2017) and one quarter-final (2024) in total, eventually offset by two Championship play-off final victories, in 2023 against Hamilton Academical and 2025 against Cove Rangers.

History

Formation as Airdrie United

The club was formed in 2002 as Airdrie United, following the bankruptcy of the original Airdrieonians. Airdrieonians had finished runners-up in the

Scottish First Division The Scottish Football League First Division was the second tier in the Scottish football league system between 1975 and 2013. It was replaced by the Scottish Championship. History The First Division was introduced in 1975–76 in Scottish footb ...

in the 2001–02 season but went out of business with debts approaching £3 million. The collapse of "The Diamonds", as they were known due to their distinctive kits, created a vacancy in the

Scottish Football League The Scottish Football League (SFL) is a defunct league featuring professional and semi-professional football clubs mostly from Scotland.One club, Berwick Rangers, is based in the town of Berwick-upon-Tweed, which is located approximately 4&nbs ...

(in the Scottish Third Division). Accountant and Airdrieonians fan Jim Ballantyne attempted, with the help of others, to gain entry with a club called "Airdrie United" who were essentially to be a reincarnation of Airdrieonians. Their application however was rejected as the then English

Northern Premier League The Northern Premier League is an English Association football, football league that was founded in 1968. Together with the Isthmian League and the Southern Football League, Southern League it forms levels seven and eight of the English footba ...

side Gretna were preferred by league members over the new Airdrie United. Airdrie United then went on to complete a buy-out of the ailing Second Division side

Clydebank Clydebank () is a town in West Dunbartonshire, Scotland. Situated on the north bank of the River Clyde, it borders the village of Old Kilpatrick (with Bowling, West Dunbartonshire, Bowling and Milton, West Dunbartonshire, Milton beyond) to the w ...

and with SFL approval the club was relocated to Airdrie, the strips were transformed to resemble that of Airdrieonians, and the name was changed to Airdrie United. While this means that the club is therefore officially a legal continuation of Clydebank, it is almost universally accepted as a reincarnation of Airdrieonians, with a new version of Clydebank being reformed by supporters' groups and entering into the West Region Junior League.

Early years:– league title & new manager (2002–2006)

Managed by Sandy Stewart, Airdrie United's first match took place at New Broomfield against Forfar Athletic in August 2002, with captain Stephen Docherty scoring the only goal of the game with Airdrie United winning 1–0. Their debut season saw the club only narrowly fail to achieve promotion by one point due to a late injury-time goal from Brechin City which saw them promoted instead. The club reached the second round of the

, the third round of the

Scottish Cup The Scottish Football Association Challenge Cup, and the third round of the

Scottish League Cup The Scottish League Cup, also known as the Premier Sports Cup for sponsorship reasons, is a football competition open to all Scottish Professional Football League (SPFL) clubs. First held in 1946–47, it is the oldest national League cup in ...

having beaten

Premier League The Premier League is a professional association football league in England and the highest level of the English football league system. Contested by 20 clubs, it operates on a system of promotion and relegation with the English Football Lea ...

side

Kilmarnock Kilmarnock ( ; ; , ), meaning "the church of Mernóc", is a town and former burgh in East Ayrshire situated in southwest Scotland. The town has served as the administrative centre of East Ayrshire Council since 1996 and is the region's main ...

in the second round. During the rest of Stewart's tenure the club reached the final of the

in 2003 (losing 2–0 to Inverness Caledonian Thistle), and won the Second Division title in 2003–04 season. Having started poorly Airdrie went on a run that saw them unbeaten in the last 18 games of that season, including the final game of the league campaign which saw a crowd of over 5,700 at New Broomfield to watch Airdrie defeat Morton 2–0 and lift the League Championship trophy, the club having been confirmed champions the previous week following their 1–0 victory away to Alloa Athletic at Recreation Park. In November 2006, Stewart was sacked and replaced by former Airdrieonians player and Airdrie United coach

Kenny Black Kenneth George Black (born 29 November 1963) is a Scottish football manager and former player who spent most of his career with Heart of Midlothian and Airdrieonians. Playing career A left-sided defender or midfielder, Black began his playi ...

, his first management post.

Mixed fortunes:– play-offs, cup win & promotion (2006–2013)

Under

the club suffered four successive play-off defeats: * In the 2006–07 season as relegation play-off finalists (losing 5–4 on aggregate to Stirling Albion). * In the 2007–08 season as promotion play-off finalists (losing 3–0 on aggregate to Clyde). However the enforced relegation of Gretna to the Third Division, after being put into

administration Administration may refer to: Management of organizations * Management, the act of directing people towards accomplishing a goal: the process of dealing with or controlling things or people. ** Administrative assistant, traditionally known as a se ...

, prompted a restructuring of the leagues, and Airdrie were promoted to the First Division as the losing play-off finalists. * In the 2008–09 season as relegation play-off finalists (losing 3–2 on aggregate to Second Division runners up Ayr United). Again Airdrie were given a reprieve as the continued uncertainty over the future of Livingston meant that the West Lothian club were relegated to the Third division, so Airdrie were reinstated to the First Division as losing play-off finalists. * In the 2009–10 season as relegation play-off semi-finalists (losing 3–1 on aggregate to Brechin City). Unlike the previous two seasons there was no reprieve. The club won the

in 2008, defeating Ross County 3–2 on penalties after a 2–2 draw, and despite another play-off defeat by 6–2 on aggregate to

Dumbarton Dumbarton (; , or ; or , meaning 'fort of the Britons (historical), Britons') is a town in West Dunbartonshire, Scotland, on the north bank of the River Clyde where the River Leven, Dunbartonshire, River Leven flows into the Clyde estuary. ...

in the promotion play-off final at the end of 2011–12 season Airdrie were lucky again as the liquidation of the company that operated

Scottish Premier League The Scottish Premier League (SPL) was the Scottish football league system, top-level league competition for professional Association football, football clubs in Scotland. The league was founded in 1998, when it broke away from the Scottish Foo ...

side Rangers and the decision by Scottish Football League clubs that Rangers should play in the Scottish Third Division, meant that an additional team from each tier of Scottish football was promoted for the 2012–13 season. As Airdrie were runners up in the previous season's Second Division promotion play-offs, they were promoted to the

. A season in the First Division came to an end in May 2013, with the club finishing bottom of the league and relegated to Division Two.

Airdrieonians name returns (2013–2015)

In June 2013, the club officially changed its name from Airdrie United Football Club to Airdrieonians Football Club. The name change revived the name of the club it was formed to replace in 2002, following the liquidation of the original Airdrieonians. The Airdrieonians all red club crest was also revived, with an alternate black and red version used for the away kits.

New ownership at the club (2015–2018)

In June 2015 Jim Ballantyne sold control of the club to Tom Wotherspoon, a Lanarkshire businessman and owner o
M & H Logistics
(who had previously sponsored Hamilton Academical, East Fife and BSC Glasgow). Wotherspoon became chairman and Ballantyne vice-chairman, appointing former Scottish Sun newspaper Head of Sport Iain King as Chief Executive (King left the club in June 2016). Despite retaining his majority shareholding Tom Wotherspoon resigned as chairman and director of Airdrieonians on 5 June 2017, with former chairman Jim Ballantyne taking Wotherspoon's place as chairman.

Takeover, COVID-19 and play-off disappointments (2018–2022)

In January 2018, it was announced that a consortium of various businessmen (including former Airdrieonians manager Bobby Watson) had taken control of Tom Wotherspoon's controlling shares, bringing to an end a tumultuous period for the club. The majority of the previous board was replaced, including Jim Ballantyne, and subsequently Director of Football Gordon Dalziel (appointed October 2016) departed. Manager Ian Murray led the club to fifth, third and two second place

Scottish League One The Scottish League One, known as William Hill (bookmaker), William Hill League One for sponsorship reasons, is the third tier of the Scottish Professional Football League, the league competition for men's professional association football, foot ...

finishes in

2019 This was the year in which the first known human case of COVID-19 was documented, preceding COVID-19 pandemic, the pandemic which was declared by the World Health Organization the following year. Up to that point, 2019 had been described as ...

2020 The year 2020 was heavily defined by the COVID-19 pandemic, which led to global Social impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, social and Economic impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, economic disruption, mass cancellations and postponements of even ...

2021 Like the year 2020, 2021 was also heavily defined by the COVID-19 pandemic, due to the emergence of multiple Variants of SARS-CoV-2, COVID-19 variants. The major global rollout of COVID-19 vaccines, which began at the end of 2020, continued ...

and

2022 The year began with another wave in the COVID-19 pandemic, with SARS-CoV-2 Omicron variant, Omicron spreading rapidly and becoming the dominant variant of the SARS-CoV-2 virus worldwide. Tracking a decrease in cases and deaths, 2022 saw ...

respectively, with the club missing out on play-off games (due to the

COVID-19 pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic (also known as the coronavirus pandemic and COVID pandemic), caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), began with an disease outbreak, outbreak of COVID-19 in Wuhan, China, in December ...

) in 2020, losing to

Championship In sport, a championship is a competition in which the aim is to decide which individual or team is the champion. Championship systems Various forms of competition can be referred to by the term championship. Title match system In this sys ...

side Morton over a two-legged play-off final in May 2021, and losing to

side Queen's Park over a two-legged play-off final in May 2022. After this defeat Murray departed the club for Raith Rovers in the

Scottish Championship The Scottish Championship known as the William Hill (bookmaker), William Hill Championship for sponsorship reasons, is the second tier of the Scottish Professional Football League, the league competition for men's professional association footb ...

Play-off and Cup success (2022–present)

With Rhys McCabe subsequently appointed as player manager, Airdrie finished the 2022–23 season in third place, defeating

Falkirk Falkirk ( ; ; ) is a town in the Central Lowlands of Scotland, historically within the county of Stirlingshire. It lies in the Forth Valley, northwest of Edinburgh and northeast of Glasgow. Falkirk had a resident population of 32,422 at the ...

7–2 on aggregate in the play-off semi-final and Hamilton Academical 6–5 on penalties after extra time in the Championship play-off final at New Douglas Park in May 2023, therefore relegating Hamilton to League One and earning Airdrie a place in the

. At the beginning of the 2023–24 season, McCabe guided the side to a clean sweep of their group in the

, gaining 12 points, including defeating top-flight

Dundee Dundee (; ; or , ) is the List of towns and cities in Scotland by population, fourth-largest city in Scotland. The mid-year population estimate for the locality was . It lies within the eastern central Lowlands on the north bank of the Firt ...

1–0, then losing 4–3 after extra time against Premiership side Ross County in the next round. Following a defeat of Premiership side St. Johnstone, Airdrie reached the fifth round of the

Scottish Cup The Scottish Football Association Challenge Cup,Hearts 4–1. In March 2024, Airdrie reached the final of the

Scottish Challenge Cup The Scottish Professional Football League Challenge Cup,Welsh side The New Saints at Falkirk Stadium 2–1 through goals from Liam McStravick and Nikolay Todorov to lift the trophy for the first time since 2008. The club finished the league in fourth place and earned a play-off spot. However an aggregate defeat to Partick Thistle over two quarter-final ties saw the club remain in the Championship for another season. At the end of season 2024–25 fellow

club Hamilton Accies were deducted 15 points by the

SPFL The Scottish Professional Football League (SPFL) is the national men's association football league in Scotland. The league was formed in June 2013 following a merger between the Scottish Premier League and the Scottish Football League. As well ...

and dropped to the bottom of the table, leading to them being relegated. The decision meant Airdrie escaped automatic relegation and entered the Championship relegation play-offs. A (two legged) semi-final win over Stenhousemuir saw Airdrie then face Cove Rangers in the play-off final, defeating them 2–1 on aggregate over two legs and thus retaining their Championship status for season 2025—26.

Stadium

Airdrie play their home fixtures at

Excelsior Stadium The Excelsior Stadium, officially The Albert Bartlett Stadium, is a football stadium in Airdrie, North Lanarkshire, Scotland. It is the home ground of Airdrieonians of the Scottish Professional Football League (SPFL). Since the 2021–22 season ...

, also unofficially known as New Broomfield. For sponsorship reasons the venue was originally known as The Shyberry Excelsior Stadium (after Shyberry Design Ltd. who had sponsored the construction), from 2018 to 2022 as The Penny Cars Stadium and from 2024 onwards as The Albert Bartlett Stadium. The ground was built when now defunct Airdrieonians' previous home,

Broomfield Park Broomfield Park was a association football, football stadium in Airdrie, North Lanarkshire, home of Airdrieonians F.C. (1878), Airdrieonians from 1892 until it was closed after the 1993–94 in Scottish football, 1993–94 football season.It w ...

, was sold to

supermarket chain A supermarket is a self-service Retail#Types of outlets, shop offering a wide variety of food, Drink, beverages and Household goods, household products, organized into sections. Strictly speaking, a supermarket is larger and has a wider selecti ...

Safeway, who were given permission to build a new store on the site. This transaction has been cited as being the cause of the financial ruination of the club, as their old ground was demolished several years before they acquired planning permission for the new stadium. In the intervening years the club ground-shared Broadwood Stadium, in

Cumbernauld Cumbernauld (; ) is a large town in the Shires of Scotland, historic county of Dunbartonshire and council area of North Lanarkshire, Scotland. It is the tenth List of towns and cities in Scotland by population, most-populous locality in Scotl ...

, the home of Clyde. Excelsior Stadium has an all-seated capacity of . At the end of the 2009–10 season a new 3G artificial surface was installed. This was replaced at the end of the 2021–22 season. The main pitch and adjoining small-sided facilities are all made available for local community use. In 2003 a ground share was proposed with

as their ground did not meet SPL requirements; this was later refused as Falkirk could not prove the SPL fixtures would have priority. Queen of the South played their

Uefa Cup The asterisk ( ), from Late Latin , from Ancient Greek , , "little star", is a Typography, typographical symbol. It is so called because it resembles a conventional image of a star (heraldry), heraldic star. Computer scientists and Mathematici ...

tie in 2008 at the stadium, as did

Motherwell Motherwell (, ) is a List of towns and cities in Scotland by population, town and former burgh in North Lanarkshire, Scotland, United Kingdom, south east of Glasgow. It has a population of around 32,120. Shires of Scotland, Historically in the p ...

in 2009. Queen's Park utilised the stadium for their "home" games from December 2013 until May 2014, due to the redevelopment of

Hampden Park Hampden Park ( ; Scottish Gaelic: ''Pàirc Hampden'') is a association football, football stadium in the Mount Florida area of Glasgow, Scotland, which is the national stadium of football in Scotland and home of the Scotland national football ...

for the

2014 Commonwealth Games The 2014 Commonwealth Games (), officially known as the XX Commonwealth Games and commonly known as Glasgow 2014 (; ), were an international multi-sport event celebrated in the tradition of the Commonwealth Games as governed by the Commonwea ...

. When the stadium originally opened the Main/West Stand was named the Jack Dalziel Stand in memory of the former Airdrieonians Chairman, and in May 2025 the club announced that the East Stand would be permanently renamed the Ian McMillan Stand in honour of the Airdrieonians player and manager.

Colours and crest

Colours

Airdrie United inherited Airdrieonians' distinctive playing colours of a white shirt with a red

diamond Diamond is a Allotropes of carbon, solid form of the element carbon with its atoms arranged in a crystal structure called diamond cubic. Diamond is tasteless, odourless, strong, brittle solid, colourless in pure form, a poor conductor of e ...

. The design was the basis of Airdrieonians' nickname, ''The Diamonds'', which has also been adopted by Airdrie.

Crest

When Airdrie United were formed, they used a blue double-headed eagle device on a white shield for their badge, with a red scroll below the shield that read "Airdrie United F.C.", amended to bearing "Airdrie F.C." when the club rebranded in 2012. The eagle recalled the Airdrie town arms. When the club inherited the Airdrieonians name in 2013, they also restored the badge worn by their predecessors: the original AFC bore this emblem from 1974 until their demise in 2002, excepting the 2000–01 season. This badge featured a cockerel sitting atop a shield containing two lions passant and the club's initials. The club were informed by the

Lord Lyon King of Arms The Right Honourable the Lord Lyon King of Arms, the head of Lyon Court, is the most junior of the Great Officer of State, Great Officers of State in Scotland and is the Scotland, Scottish official with responsibility for regulating heraldry i ...

in March 2015 that as their badge features a shield, it constitutes a heraldic device, and heraldic devices are not permitted to carry lettering. On 19 June 2015, Airdrieonians unveiled a new crest, removing the shield and instead using a chevron–representing the "Airdrie Diamond"–to separate the scroll from the remainder of the badge.

Current squad

Club officials

Managers

* Sandy Stewart (2002–2006) *

(2006–2010) * Jimmy Boyle (2010–2013) * Gary Bollan (2013–2015) * Eddie Wolecki Black (22 December 2015 – 31 October 2016) * Danny Lennon (10 March 2016 – June 2016) **Lennon was appointed Acting Head Coach from March 2016 until May 2016, whilst manager Wolecki Black recovered from an illness. * Kevin McBride (June 2016–30 October 2016) **McBride was originally appointed Acting Head Coach from June 2016 until such time as Eddie Wolecki Black was fit and able to return to work after suffering from a stroke (away to Cowdenbeath in March 2016). * Mark Wilson (31 October 2016 – 17 June 2017) * Willie Aitchison (4 August 2017 – 20 August 2017) * Stevie Findlay (29 September 2017–8 October 2018) * Ian Murray (19 October 2018 – 24 May 2022) * Rhys McCabe (26 May 2022–)

Coaching staff

*Manager: Rhys McCabe *Assistant manager: Aaron Taylor-Sinclair *First team coach: Bryan Prunty *Goalkeeping coach: David Hutton *Physiotherapist: Ben Richardson *Head of academy: Alan Gow

Boardroom

*Chairman: Paul Hetherington *Director: Sam Greene *Managing director: Scott Russell *Commercial director: Gordon Watson *Associate directors: Craig Campbell, Martin Ferguson, Marc Johnstone *Club ambassadors: Brian McPhee, Willie McGuire *Club secretary: Brian Smith

Club honours & records

Honours

Play-off Final **Winners: 2022–23, 2024–25 * Scottish League Second Division **Winners: 2003–04 ** Runners up: 2007–08 *

Scottish Challenge Cup The Scottish Professional Football League Challenge Cup,2008–09, 2023–24 **Runners up: 2003–04

Minor Trophies

* North Lanarkshire Cup **Winners: 2022, 2023 * Meldrum Cup ** Winners: 2015

Records

International players

Only includes

caps Caps are flat headgear. Caps or CAPS may also refer to: Science and technology Computing * CESG Assisted Products Service, provided by the U.K. Government Communications Headquarters * Composite Application Platform Suite, by Java Caps, a Java ...

won while playing for Airdrieonians. ;

Antigua and Barbuda Antigua and Barbuda is a Sovereign state, sovereign archipelagic country composed of Antigua, Barbuda, and List of islands of Antigua and Barbuda, numerous other small islands. Antigua and Barbuda has a total area of 440 km2 (170 sq mi), ...

* Aaron Taylor-Sinclair (6 Caps, 0 Goals) 2022– 18 players were selected for

Scotland Scotland is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It contains nearly one-third of the United Kingdom's land area, consisting of the northern part of the island of Great Britain and more than 790 adjac ...

while playing for the original Airdrieonians, collecting 47 caps in total.

Official club awards

On 18 May 2024 the club announced that the player of the year award would be renamed the Ian McMillan player of the year award after his passing earlier that year.

Player of the Year

Hall of Fame

A ''Hall of Fame'' was established by the new club in 2002 to honour noted players of the previous entity (some of whom also played for the new club), with more entrants added each year. * Evan Balfour *John Ballantyne *Rose Ballantyne * Jim Black * Jimmy Boyle * Drew Busby * Antonio Calderon * Sandy Clark * Sammy Conn * James Connor * Steve Cooper * Jimmy Crapnell *Jack Dalziel * Tommy Duncan * Stephen Docherty * Bobby Flavell * John Flood * Callum Fordyce *Tom Forsyth *

Hughie Gallacher Hugh Kilpatrick Gallacher (2 February 1903 – 11 June 1957) was a Scottish people, Scottish association football, football player in the 1920s and 1930s. In 597 senior club games, Gallacher scored 419 goals, playing league football for Airdri ...

* Calum Gallagher * Sam Goodwin * Stevie Gray * Paul Jack * Drew Jarvie * Paul Jonquin *Jackie Keenan * Walter Kidd * John Lapsley * Alan Lawrence * Lawrie Leslie * Paul Lovering * Alex MacDonald * Roddy McKenzie * Jim March * John Martin * Kevin McCann * Willie McCulloch * Brian McKeown * Stephen McKeown * Ian McMillan * Brian McPhee * Tommy Murray * Frank O'Rourke *Bobby Ramsey * Jimmy Reid *John Reid *Jim Rodger *Joey Rowan * Willie Russell * Jimmy Sandison * Bob Scott * Matt Scott * Andy Smith * Sandy Stewart * Bobby Watson *Jimmy Welch * Derek Whiteford * Billy Wilson

References

External links

* {{Authority control Football clubs in Scotland Football in North Lanarkshire Association football clubs established in 2002 2002 establishments in Scotland Scottish Football League teams Scottish Challenge Cup winners Scottish Professional Football League teams Phoenix clubs (association football) Sports team and club relocations Airdrie, North Lanarkshire