The Rob Roy Boys are back in town

The boys are back in town. The road to Kirkintilloch Community Sports Club is as smooth as one would expect of a fresh stadium.

The road from Adamslie Park at the other end of town to this new home for Rob Roy has been long and draining.

‘Frankly, it has been years of torture,’ says Neil Anderson, president of Rob Roy and a driving force in leading the team to the promised land 10 years after leaving the old ground. Anderson, of course, is keen to move on in the sense of leaving past difficulties behind and settling into the new home. He may have some scars but no rancour.

An accountant, he can also count his blessings. The club has endured an exile but now can flourish in new surroundings.

The day is full of excited chat. The ground is full. A precise total of 833 souls watched this West of Scotland first division match. An astonishing attendance was complemented by astonishing stories.

There was the man who drove from Carlisle and back simply to sell the programmes. There were the supporters who arrived dewy-eyed with memories of Adamslie still fresh In their minds. There was a Scottish Cup winner in Brian Hamilton of St Mirren, class of 1987. And, gloriously, there were two members of the Rob Roy side that won the Scottish Junior Cup in 1962, appropriately against Renfrew.

There was a distinct feeling of joy, but one tinted with relief. This has been a hard road for some. The departure from Adamslie Park, now the site of modern housing, was played out in a wrangle over precise legal terms and an increasingly ill-defined future. The new facility, built by East Dunbartonshire Council, is now leased by the club and that was no straightforward deal either. It was finished in 2023 but it has taken a year for the formalities to be concluded.

‘This is a huge day,’ says Anderson as the ground fills up quickly. ‘But it’s been difficult process.’ He became involved with the club on his return from working in Germany in 2014. ‘I expected to come back and walk down to Adamslie for games. Instead, I have been getting buses up to Guy’s Meadow.’

The club spent 10 years in Cumbernauld and there were always efforts to find an appropriate ground in the town. Rob Roy, after all, had been part of the town since the club’s inception in 1878.

Anderson admits he has taken some criticism down the years despite working for no financial recompense and with considerable emotional strain. ‘It is difficult when people question your integrity,’ he says. ‘But it is not about me. The club is back playing in Kirkintilloch and the locals have a team they can watch on their doorstep. No more buses to home games. We also now have an academy, so that means a younger generation is coming through. This should give us a stronger identity.’

He admits: ‘This a very strange day. It is difficult to appreciate that we are here finally.’

Jim Gilmour is aware of most of the turns in the road. ‘I had precisely 111 meetings in my dining room down the years over this building,’ he says.

The managing director of a building company, Gilmour smiles ruefully and shakes his head when he recalls how he became involved. ‘I was asked by a mate to do a wee favour and here I am 11 years down the line.’

Gilmour, 73, is chairman of Kirkintilloch Community Sports Club which leases the stadium from the council. Other clubs will use the stadium but Rob Roy has priority.

‘I was asked to look at four sites in the town where a stadium could be built. This was the only viable one,’ he says. He admits there were bumps in the road. ‘You would be approached in the shops and criticised for what you were doing. There were times I wanted to walk away but I stayed on.’

A former boxer, he has shown staying power but his connections with Rob Roy were once sketchy. ‘I am from Anderston and had only been at one Rob Roy match when I was asked to help. Indeed, I played for them for once. It was a charity match and I was 45.’

THE gentlemen sitting at a table in hospitality have a more venerable playing history with Rob Roy. Martin Ferguson, Ronnie McLeod and Duncan MacColl still live and love the game despite advancing years. Ferguson - brother of Aberdeen and Manchester United legend Sir Alex - and McLeod played in the 1962 cup-winning team. MacColl, designated driver for the day, was a fine player with Partick Thistle.

Ferguson, at 81, may have lost a yard of pace but no swiftness in wit. ‘You know we never lost a goal until Ronnie became our keeper,’ he says. McLeod chortles and remarks that the good-natured banter has survived the decades.

Ferguson, who subsequently travelled the football world - particularly in his role as chief scout for Manchester United under his brother - says: ‘It is great to be back in Kirkintilloch, though this is a big difference from Adamslie. It’s funny, but the thing I remember most about winning the Scottish was coming back to the town. That made an impact on me, to see what it meant to everybody.’

McLeod’s major memory is typically self-deprecating. ‘We won after a replay, of course,’ he says. More than 60,000 watched Rob Roy draw with Renfrew 1-1 on the Saturday and more than 20,000 turned out on the Wednesday for the replay that was won by the only goal of the match.

‘I was the victim of the Hampden swirl in the first match,’ says McLeod. ‘The ball caught on the wind from a corner and went straight in the net. I always say that 10 of that cup-winning side were signed by senior clubs. One player wasn’t.’

His gentle smile betrays the identity of that unfortunate character. ‘I was really too small to be a goalkeeper and would not get a look-in nowadays. But I had that cup win and that was more than enough.’

Another cup winner brings drinks over to the table. Brian Hamilton won the 1987 Scottish Cup final with St Mirren and the 1991 League Cup with Hibs. ‘It is scary how long ago it all seems now,’ he says. ‘I was just a teenager in the Scottish Cup final and, whether it was arrogance or naivety, I thought it would just always be like that.

His appearance in Rob Roy hospitality can be explained simply. He lives locally, was friendly with the past chairman of the club and is pals with Anderson. Hamilton, too, has a business that deals with installing pitches and in facility management. ‘I am just here to give a wee hand,’ he explains.

Another helper has travelled far. David Murray drove from Carlisle early on Saturday morning and was heading back south the same day. He sold hundreds of programmes from his stance just beyond the turnstiles. ‘I am friendly with Neil,’ he says in reference to the president. ‘I am delighted to help out on such a day.’

Susan Murray, MP for Mid Dunbartonshire, stands at the edge of the pitch. ‘This club is an enormous part of the heritage of the area,’ she says. ‘We had to bring them back. It should have come a lot sooner but it is here.’

And so are 833 fans, optimistic about the future but mindful of the past. One says on leaving the ground: ‘You know we scored in the seventh minute when we beat Renfrew in 1962 and went on to win 1-0. We did exactly the same today.’

The road is long but it can sometimes come full circle.