Arthurlie (Scotland)

Arthurlie FC is a Scottish football club from the former industrial manufacturing town of Barrhead, which is located thirteen miles southeast of Glasgow in Scotland. The club were formed in 1874, starting out life as a senior club, which enabled them to compete in the Scottish Cup from their Dovecothall base.

Arguably, the club's greatest result came in the cup in 1897 as Celtic were defeated 4-2. 'The Lie', as in Lee, were members of the Scottish League between 1901 and 1915. After World War I, the club didn't immediately rejoin, but became founder members of the Third Division in 1923, two years after moving into Dunterlie Park. 

They won the title at the first attempt and then had a few decent seasons in Division Two before financial troubles forced them to quit towards the end of the 1928-29 season. The club was soon reformed with the same name, and success soon followed.

They defeated Kirkintilloch Rob Roy to lift the 1936-37 Junior Cup, as well as winning the Central League decider against Shawfield. In September 1961, Neilston were hammered 10-1 in a league encounter and a decade later, Arthurlie opened their social club. The West of Scotland Cup was also won that season.

Other cup triumphs followed before the team lost in the Junior Cup Final in 1980-81 to Pollok. A trio of Central League Premier Division titles arrived at Dunterlie in 1987-88, 1888-89 and 1993-94 before lifting the Junior Cup for a second time as Pollok were defeated 4-0 at Fir Park, Motherwell in the 1997-98 final. Goals from Mark McLaughlin, Johnny Millar, Steven Convery and Steven Nugent secured the trophy for Jim McQuade's side.

Frank Lynch took over the managership for the 2000-01 season, winning the league at his first attempt before junior league reconstruction took place, which saw Arthurlie placed in the West Super League First Division. In 2003, promotion was won courtesy of a league title, with a League Cup also being added. 

However, Lynch's side were in big trouble in 2005 after midfielder Mark Ross was found guilty in a criminal court of assaulting the referee during the match with Auchinleck Talbot. The Scottish Junior FA punished the club for its lack of co-operation by fining it £3,000 and dishing out a hefty points deduction the following season. Lynch and his backroom team resigned.

Arthurlie just survived relegation the following campaign despite all the previous seasons' players leaving, with manager Gary Faulds with a monumental job. Faulds and his assistant Stevie Moore departed in December 2007 after a poor run of results to be replaced by Mark Cameron, who was initially assisted by Roland Fabiani and then former boss McQuade.

The management team departed during the 2010-11 season owing to personal reasons before new boss Sandy McLean led the team to a couple of cup triumphs. McLean left the following season with the team in dire relegation trouble, before the previous management team of Cameron, McQuade, and Duncan returned to lead the team to safety.

The 2014-15 season saw Gavin Duncan, who had been in sole charge of the team, resign, to be replaced by Craig McEwan, who lasted only a few months before he was succeeded by Robert Downs as the team avoided a relegation playoff on goal difference. Steve Kerrigan was appointed as manager in January 2016.

Chris Mackie was the next man in the managerial hotseat from December 2016, as again Arthurlie finished towards the bottom of the table. Billy Ogilvie came in as team boss in October 2017, as the team lost in the relegation playoffs. It was the final season of the competition, meaning the Lie went into the West Region Championship in 2018-19.

A fifth place was followed by two abandoned seasons, one of which Arthurlie did not compete in, which was in the Conferences devised by the newly formed SFA West of Scotland League to sort out who should play in each level thereafter. Duncan Sinclair was replaced by Andy McFadyen, who led the team to the Conference A title in 2021-22 to ensure a place in the Premier Division.

Craig Palmer took over as manager in July 2022 before he was replaced in March 2023 by Colin Reilly. The 2023-24 campaign saw Arthurlie relegated to the First Division, while reaching the final of the Junior Cup, where they went down 2-1 to Darvel. The team regrouped and went straight back to the Premier Division as champions.

Reilly departed in March 2025 to be replaced by William Dyer. While off the pitch, the club unveiled plans with supporters to leave Dunterlie Park to move to a new venue by the Crossmill Business Park, which the members voted overwhelmingly in favour of.

Artist's impression of the club's proposed new stadium

Arthurlie will compete in the West of Scotland Premier League in the 2025-26 season.

My visit

Thursday 28th January 2010

It was the third of three days watching football, visiting clubs and socialising in Glasgow, and I wanted to complete my fine visit by seeing a few more stadiums. The morning had taken me to St Mirren, Benburb and Rangers, and I had returned to Glasgow Central with what I anticipated to be enough spare time to grab a snack and jump aboard the hourly train to Barrhead. 

I had not taken the size of the station into account, and I found myself rushing to find one of the minor platforms. On overhearing a chat between the guard and a passenger mentioning Greenock, my senses kicked in.

"Is this going to Barrhead?" I asked? "No, you want the one in front", was the reply. Owing to the lack of platforms, two trains went five minutes apart on the same line. Scottish pie and soup in hand, I just made my train before the doors shut, before I relaxed for the half-hour ride.

I arrived at my destination knowing I only had twenty minutes until it returned, or I would be there for a further hour. This would not have been ideal as I was heading to a couple more grounds as well as Hampden Park for a tour that afternoon. I knew that Dunterlie Park was virtually next door to the station, and I glimpsed it as we pulled in.

I was rapidly on my way down Carlibar Road, only to find a locked gate. I managed to see inside, but I continued around as the walls weren't too high, and a path allowed me to get some decent enough photos.

The only sizeable covered area was opposite, offering shelter to a central section of open terracing. At the top end, there was an overhang from the snack bar before the natural slope with open terracing led down to the pitch. The changing rooms and clubrooms were down the open side in the corner. The rest of the ground consisted of open, standing areas.

I dashed back to the station with a few minutes to spare to catch a train to Pollokshaws West and then a walk to see the home of Pollok FC.