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If we're going down the line of wannabe and abortive mergers, then there are some other notable examples. St Bernard's and Leith looked at merging at the end of WWII - Leith even took St Bernard's grandstand to Meadowbank - but it fell through. In 1970 Clyde tried to 'merge' with Hamilton Accies to play out of Douglas Park as Strathclyde Academicals, but this was resisted. In 1971 Dumbarton tried to 'merge' with Clyde to obtain top tier football, but this was blocked. In 1972 Jock Stein called for mass amalgamations, but nothing came of it.



John Boyle was keen for a Lanarkshire United in the early noughties with the amalgamation of Airdrie, Motherwell, Albion Rovers and the Accies. There was talk of a 15,000 seater stadium being build at the Ravenscraig site.
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On 06/09/2016 at 16:33, MDCCCXCIII said:

Dundee Wanderers, Dundee FC's original city rivas, had one, unsuccessful, season in Division 2. They tried numerous times to be re-elected and even briefly changed their name to Dundee County to do so but were denied every time.

An upheaval in the management of Dundee FC's affairs in 1896 saw officials and players from the city's other clubs push for the formation of a new professional club in late May and apply for election to the Scottish League.

Wanderers, who incidently wanted to sign many of Dundee's ex-players, didn't change their name.

At the League AGM on 26 May, the new club couldn't find a seconder and so were excluded from the vote and the project died there and then. Interestingly Ayr, East Stirlingshire and Falkirk also failed to gain seconders and were also denied a place in the re-election...

http://www.scottish-football-historical-archive.co.uk/sflelections.htm

 

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On ‎30‎/‎08‎/‎2016 at 08:24, FairWeatherFan said:

How many SFL clubs both current and historical have been formed through mergers?

The stadium quirks thread just brought Dundee to my attention and the recent BBC documentary mentioned how close Hearts/Hibs & Dundee/Dundee United were to happening.

I can think of Inverness CT, Aberdeen, Queen of the South, Ayr United and now Dundee.

 

Does club and company count?

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On 30 August 2016 at 17:28, HibeeJibee said:

I
Unusual thing about Ross County is that of course there was no such County as Rossshire by 1929. It had been merged with Cromartyshire to become Ross & Cromarty in 1890s, IIRC.

Spot on with your history............. its just that the fine citizens of Dingwall didn't realise that was the case! 

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On 31/08/2016 at 17:21, HibeeJibee said:

If we're going down the line of wannabe and abortive mergers, then there are some other notable examples. St Bernard's and Leith looked at merging at the end of WWII - Leith even took St Bernard's grandstand to Meadowbank - but it fell through. In 1970 Clyde tried to 'merge' with Hamilton Accies to play out of Douglas Park as Strathclyde Academicals, but this was resisted. In 1971 Dumbarton tried to 'merge' with Clyde to obtain top tier football, but this was blocked. In 1972 Jock Stein called for mass amalgamations, but nothing came of it.

The Leith St Bernard's amalgamation was the second dirty stab in the back the unfortunate Stockbridge Saints suffered - after the machinations of Cooper & co to flog the ground under the members feet whilst they were away at the war, Leith Athletic promised a merger with buying the stand (instead of the better offers from two English sides), & promptly reneged on it the moment they got what they want, thinking with St Bernard's out of the way (along with Edinburgh City) they'd be clear to mop up the non-Hearts/Hibs fans. What it bought them was bad blood with the other clubs that cost them dearly in 1953... but that is another story.

On 16/09/2016 at 23:35, tongue_tied_danny said:

There's also a few examples in Belgium. KRC Genk, who are doing reasonably well and  Beerschot AC, who went bust in 2013.

Belgium football is the home of wacky mergers, largely from clubs trying desperately to compete with Standard Liege and FC Bruges, and later the mighty Anderlecht.

Genk are really Waterschei & Winterslag - their merger resulted in Winterslag's ground Noordlaan becoming a cause celibre in Belgium as it lay abandoned for years in a town already famous by then for its array of local abandoned mines & derelict heavy industry. They've been just about the only case of a merger between Belgian clubs that's led to sustained success  - three times Belgian champions, four times Cup winners

Seraing were forcibly merged into Standard Liege c/o a hostile takeover in order to remove a competitor. A phoenix club sprang up, but having to start from scratch they've always struggled.

La Louvière merged with Couillet after being forcibly relegated due to the 2006 match fixing scandal. They also have never recovered.

Beerschot - one of Belgium's oldest and most respected clubs - merged with Germinal Ekeren to become Germinal Beerschot. Tragically, the merger was fraught with boardroom squabbles, & the club went bankrupt three years ago.

Beveren - another famous old name - merged with Red Star Waasland to become Waasland Beveren to stay afloat.

Lokeren - and another famous old name, merged with Sint Niklaas (who ironically started life as Beerschot Sint-Niklaas)

Lommel United are the merger of Lommel and Overpelt-Fabriek.

Royal Mouscron-Péruwelz aka Excel Mouscron are the merger of the wreck of Excelsior Mouscron (itself a merger of the two Mouscron sides in the 60s) & Racing Club Péruwelz: an all too atypical tale of a Belgian club that spent what it didn't have to try & compete with Anderlecht, FC Bruges & Standard Liege.

Harelbeke/South West Flanders and Ingelmunster merged to form Sporting West Harelbeke. Harelbeke were another club that spend money they didn't have trying to compete with the big three & got burnt.

Racing White Daring Molenbeek of Brussels were the worst of the lot: Racing Club Brussels merged first with White Star and then with Daring (once the biggest team in Belgium, based in the Molenbeek area, which even then was the scheme goblin part of Brussels) to form probably the silliest name of any club formed to date. Eventually their dodgy book keeping caught up with them, the club was forcibly relegated, Sevcoed into Strombeek, & carried on - but not before some of the real hardcore nutters decided to carry on as Racing White Daring Molenbeek (buying up the amateur club Standaard Wetteren & changing the name). Just to muddy the waters further, a renegade White Star also sprang up.

The club(s) had links to Belgium's far right, & were known for their fans following Anderlecht European matches abroad looking to cause trouble so Anderlecht would get the blame (Anderlecht being seen as a "Jewish" club: a number of their board members were exterminated by the Nazis, & they've long had close ties to Ajax Amsterdam)

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On 9/18/2016 at 02:03, WaffenThinMint said:

 

Racing White Daring Molenbeek of Brussels were the worst of the lot: Racing Club Brussels merged first with White Star and then with Daring (once the biggest team in Belgium, based in the Molenbeek area, which even then was the scheme goblin part of Brussels) to form probably the silliest name of any club formed to date. Eventually their dodgy book keeping caught up with them, the club was forcibly relegated, Sevcoed into Strombeek, & carried on - but not before some of the real hardcore nutters decided to carry on as Racing White Daring Molenbeek (buying up the amateur club Standaard Wetteren & changing the name). Just to muddy the waters further, a renegade White Star also sprang up.

The club(s) had links to Belgium's far right, & were known for their fans following Anderlecht European matches abroad looking to cause trouble so Anderlecht would get the blame (Anderlecht being seen as a "Jewish" club: a number of their board members were exterminated by the Nazis, & they've long had close ties to Ajax Amsterdam)

Reminiscing.......I visited RWD Molenbeek's ground to see Scotland U23's a few years ago just after they had "taken over" Strombeek and, I think, it was just as they had changed their name to FC Brussels to try to broaden their appeal.  Yes, some of their fans were a feisty bunch with some pretty hardcore songs on youtube and the like.  I had a few beers in the pub called "Daring Cafe" nearby where the auld school RWD fans drank; a good crowd.  An interesting evening, with the guys almost crying into their beer over the demise of their team.

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