Kilbirnie Ladeside (Scotland)

Kilbirnie Ladeside FC is a Scottish non-league football club who were formed in 1901 prior to becoming members of the Scottish Junior FA. The club are from the former small industrial town of Kilbirnie, which is located twenty miles south west of Glasgow.

The first league honours arrived at Valefield Park at the termination of the 1903-04 season as Ladeside were crowned as Scottish Junior League champions. The club's original home was at Ladeside Park on Mill Road but part of it was built on by the Army during World War II

At the end of the War ‘The Blasties’ relocated to share Valefield Park, the home of another local side Glengarnock Vale who failed to reappear in peacetime. Kilburnie took over the ground and went on to win the Western/Ayrshire League in 1947-48, 1949-50 and 1951-52.

The last of those wins came in a glorious campaign which also saw Kilbirnie lift the Scottish Junior Cup at Hampden Park after defeating Camelon 1-0 with a goal from Ashe in front of a crowd of 69,959.

Further regional cups were won before the team was crowned as Western League champions in 1967-68. This feat was repeated eight years later prior to lifting the Ayrshire League title in 1975-76.

The Junior Cup was won for a second time in 1976-77 as Kirkintilloch Rob Roy were beaten 3-1 with goals from Davidson, McGill and Harvey before Ladeside went on to lift the Ayrshire Cup on a couple of occasions as well as the West of Scotland Cup in 2007-08.

The club was relegated from the top flight in the western region in 2011-12 as new young Joint Managers Mark Crilly and Stephen Swift took over and rebuilt the side, who went on to win promoted at the first attempt.

Ladeside consolidated their top flight status prior to Swift taking sole control of the team before taking them to third place in 2015-16 before resigning in November 2016. Mark Bradley in his place but lasted only a few months before being replaced by Billy McGhie.

The team had just escaped relegation before fairing much better in 2017-18 weighing in with fifth place. Liam McGuinness took over as manager in November 2018 as Ladeside avoided the drop by a couple of points.

Kilburnie were sat in mid table in 2019-20 when the season was curtailed owing to the COVID-19 pandemic. The club made the switch to the SFA stable where they became members of the West of Scotland League.

KIlbirnie Ladeside FC will play in the West of Scotland League in the 2020-21 season.

My visit

Sunday 29^th September 2013

My train dropped me at Glengarnock station to kick off two days of football and groundhopping from my Glasgow base. The weather was bright and I was intrigued as to what my travels would bring me as I walked towards the ground past fishermen and hikers.

Valefield Park formed part of the Ladeside Pavilion playing fields, with just a mesh fence keeping out the crowds down two sides. The venue had previously been home until World War Two of Glengarnock Vale FC. Ladeside had played at Mill Road until then. The ground had two covered terraces on the far side. 

A few steps of open terracing surrounded the rest of the enclosure with the changing rooms and club facilities looking across the pitch to the covered areas. A small clubhouse stood in the corner of the ground. “Welcome to hell” was spray painted on the rear of one of the stands!

My intended schedule meant the next call was to be Beith, but I became confused by the timetable and which direction I was meant to travel. I decided to walk into the town centre, past a few lads waiting for their ride to their Sunday morning match. I kept going just in case they happened to be short.

To make matters even more confusing, contractors were doing road repairs, meaning that a section was closed and a bus diversion was in operation. I ended up a large hill without working it all out before walking back down through a park and past the now larger group of footballers before realising my errors. 

Instead I walked back down to Glengarnock station for a ride to the coast and Androssan to continue what would turn into another fantastic day's adventures.