Robert Burns-linked estate to be turned into whisky distillery
Stirling Council has granted planning permission to Organic Architects, specialists in sustainable distilleries, for the development of a small-scale distillery at Auchenbowie, near Bannockburn.
The distillery will be built within the neglected walled garden of the A Listed Auchenbowie House, a property steeped in history.
READ MORE: Supermarket's Scottish gin named 'best in the world' at top awards ceremony
Once home to a 17th century laird who fled the country after a fatal duel, the house has welcomed notable figures including Robert Burns, who visited in 1787 and noted the occasion in his journal.
Bari Reid, director at Organic Architects, said: 'Receiving approval for this project is an important milestone, and we're excited to begin the work of bringing the Auchenbowie walled garden back into use.
'For decades, this area has stood empty and overgrown – but it has immense potential. Our design celebrates the character of the site and the rich history of the estate, while also delivering something new and relevant for today.
'The distillery buildings will sit within the garden walls like elegant Victorian greenhouses. At the heart of the design is a glass house overlooking a water garden, which doubles as a cooling system for the distillation process.
'It's a project where sustainability, heritage and craftsmanship come together — and we can't wait to see it take shape.'
READ MORE: Return of MV Caledonian Isles delayed again due to last minute issue
The approved development represents a multi-million pound investment in the area and is expected to create 15 direct jobs, with further opportunities through the wider local economy — particularly in agriculture, logistics, and hospitality.
The design of the distillery draws heavily on traditional forms, carefully balanced with contemporary elements.
A new organic garden will be planted within the walled area, adding to the site's biodiversity while supplying botanicals for spirit production.
The Auchenbowie project signals a welcome revival of distilling in a region that helped shape the early story of Scotch whisky.
Construction is expected to begin in 2026, with the distillery anticipated to start producing spirit in 2027.
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The Herald Scotland
31 minutes ago
- The Herald Scotland
From ruin to renaissance: Glasgow's industrial cathedral rises again
The locomotive works of the old Caledonian Railway Company at its St Rollox depot in Springburn were known universally as 'The Caley'. Here in huge bays set within great halls stretching over vast acres, teams of skilled tradesmen built the carriages and then maintained them and repaired them to go again and again in Britain's tempestuous weathers. During its most productive pre-Second World War years and in the two decades following it, the Caley thundered to the heavy metal of 12,000 workers. For 160 years it maintained the heartbeat of the economy in this part of Glasgow: in Springburn, Possil, the Milton, Sighthill, Barmulloch and the Garngad. It kept the lights on in thousands of homes and put food on their tables. Read more Kevin McKenna We Scots occasionally like to crow about how many grand politicians and men and women of influence that our once great education system produced. Yet, it's one of the great mysteries – and tragedies – of Scotland's post-war industrial history that none of them, nor the parties and institutions they led, could lift a finger to prevent the demise of this place and Ravenscraig and the shipyards and all those other sacred grounds where generations of workers helped Britain win wars and become one of the world's richest economies. Today though, these caverns are lit up once more. Hard toil and ingenuity have returned. The Caley is doing its locomotion again: shifting trains; repairing engines; moving people. Rattling and rolling. Six years after the last of its dwindling 180-strong workforce were made jobless, skilled work is returning to these halls. It completes the first phase of a remarkable work of industrial salvation every bit as sacred as those depicted in the galleries of Florence and Rome. In 2021, two years after this citadel fell into darkness, the Scottish entrepreneur, David Moulsdale, bought the site and then refurbished it for around £10m. Those predicting some kind of themed vanity project involving ethical pop-ups and artisan tomfoolery were confounded. Mr Moulsdale, one of the UK's most successful businessmen, had other ideas rooted in a devotion to the achievements of Scotland's rich industrial past and the values that came with them. Scottish entrepreneur David Moulsdale bought the site of The Caley and refurbished it for around £10 million (Image: Colin Mearns) The skills that made Scotland the world's engineer-in-chief never really disappeared. In 2024, Mr Moulsdale went into partnership with Gibson's Engineering, a Scottish firm owned and operated by father and son Dougie and Fraser Gibson, who have a combined lifetime of respect and achievement in Europe's engineering sector. Mr Moulsdale may have taken a wee while to choose his partners, but it seems he's chosen wisely. They re-opened the Caley as a manufacturing, maintenance and repair facility specialising in the railways. A year later their proven expertise and David Moulsdale's patience paid off in spectacular fashion when Transport for London last week awarded them a prestigious, two-year contract to repair and overhaul 23 engineering wagons. It's expected to provide 40 jobs, but the longer term goal is to have these great brick and iron chambers making trains once more and making them a centre of Scottish engineering excellence and innovation a century after the last train carriages were built here. In the week when Alexander Dennis abandoned its 400-strong workforce in Falkirk, with the Scottish and UK governments sitting helplessly once more sucking their thumbs, the resurrection of The Caley may yet provide a jobs lifeline for some of them. Read more: You have to see this space and these long, stone vestibules to appreciate how big this facility is. Yesterday, I walked with the Gibsons, father and son, and Mr Moulsdale. In that reassuringly canny way in which Scots greet triumph and disaster, none of them were getting carried away by their big London award, but you could tell they were quietly buzzing. 'It's all about bringing in the right people,' says Fraser, 'that's crucial. It's essential that we do it right and don't try to grow too quickly. We're targeting a broad skillset that once made this place great, but you have to look hard and take your time to find them. We don't want to become a blip and walk before we can run.' Dougie references the farce that is Scotland's current attempts to build a single serviceable ferry. 'The builders took on a massive and complex ferry project that they simply weren't prepared for. We're building a senior team here who have worked with all of the UK's major train manufacturers. People are already knocking on our doors for jobs – we're doing interviews today – but they have to have the right skillset and the correct work ethos. We want to create longevity here.' You have to check yourself from getting too carried away when you walk these old disused work-lanes. You can barely imagine what they looked like with thousands of men building trains from the wheels up and installing upholstery and doors and then leaving at the end of their days to head for the few taverns in Springburn or round the corner on the Royston Road or Blackhill that might still remain from that time. These men, though, have big plans for the Caley. 'We want this place to be back in full operation,' says Mr Moulsdale. Transport for London is the largest transportation organisation in the UK and has the most robust suite of requirements. Your safety certification; your technical capability; your experience; your equipment: all of these are factored into their analysis when they do their due diligence before they award any contracts. 'Securing a contract with them – hopefully the first of many – I think that will stand us in good stead. It's given everyone a confidence boost that the largest and most stringent organisation in the UK have endorsed you.' 'We want this place to be back in full operation' (Image: Colin Mearns) This will surely unlock other opportunities, including several closer to home with Scotrail about to update its own rolling stock. As well as making big metal and wooden beasts that traversed the globe, Scots invented stuff that keeps you alive and makes life a little more affable: penicillin, television, the telephone. We invented the bicycle, tarmac and the rubber tyre. We can still make things go. Professor Sir Jim McDonald, past principal of Strathclyde University and an electrical engineer to trade has spoken of his delight at what he calls 'a renaissance in Scottish manufacturing and engineering' and David Moulsdale hopes to partner with Strathclyde to provide graduate engineering opportunities as well as connecting with Forth Valley College in a programme of apprenticeships. The Caley would become an academy of engineers. Trains are becoming more popular as people's awareness of the environment and clean energy grows,' says Mr Moulsdale. 'Fraser and Dougie have got great relationships with the most senior people at most of the train companies. Engineering capacity across the UK has reduced and this presents us with good opportunities. Trains will require more maintenance and meanwhile many are currently beyond their approved maintenance schedules.' The Glasgow MSP Paul Sweeney, who campaigned intensely for the Caley to be saved after the last 180 jobs went in 2019, said: 'It struck me as atrocious that so little value was placed on the skills and the knowledge built up over centuries or the impact it had on families. 'People wrote this place off as clinging to a dinosaur industry, but it never was. It's such a vast industrial asset: the only place in the UK that can carry out wheel maintenance.' Gibson Engineering will secure future work purely on the abilities and the expertise of this father and son and the backing of David Moulsdale and the people they choose to make this place to rattle and rock once more. But along the way, you'd expect to see them delivering big Scottish public projects. In 2019, the Scottish Government allowed the Caley to die by refusing even the possibility of nationalising it as a key strategic asset. It was another betrayal of Glasgow's working people and one made more unacceptable by the millions they poured into a company making a ferry years behind schedule and hundreds of millions over budget. 'We want to have the Caley working at full tilt, 24 hours,' says Dougie Gibson. 'Our aim is to grow as the work comes in. But we also now have to deliver on time and within budget.' I ask them if they could maybe start thinking about putting in for some of those ferries. You could fit a few of them in these grey, painted avenues. And a couple of jumbo jets too, come to think of it. Kevin McKenna is a Herald writer and columnist and is Scottish Feature Writer of the Year. This year is his 40th in newspapers
The Herald Scotland
an hour ago
- The Herald Scotland
What future for Albion Rovers, a storied name of the past?
Unfortunately, for the people the club means the most to, it has come to represent something else entirely over the last few years. Crisis. Relegation. In-fighting. And very nearly, oblivion. 'There's no point in sugarcoating it,' said director Ben Kearney. 'Our approach was just to be honest, which is probably the healthy thing to do. I don't think anybody expected it, that we were just so open to the world in terms of how f****d we were. But I think in a weird roundabout way, it's actually worked out, and not too badly in the end. 'At first, I don't think people were very happy. But I think the fans appreciated that eventually.' (Image: Ciaran Reid)Some context. Rovers were relegated to the Lowland League, the fifth tier of the SPFL pyramid, two years ago. There were no parachute payments, and SPFL prize money has been sorely missed. Crowds have remained steady enough, but can't compensate for that loss of revenue. And it gets worse. To say that the ownership of Rovers is a complicated business is rather like saying the bold, aforementioned Kasule – who came to be known as 'Vodka Vic' - was a wee bit fond of the bevvy. It is suspected that around half of the shares in the club, which were first issued over 100 years ago, are now dormant and untraceable, with the original recipients long dead. The biggest single shareholder (with around 20 percent of the non-dormant shares) is former Scottish FA employee Anton Fagan, son of former owner Tom Fagan, who is the Trappist Monk of silent partners. He does though hold sway over key board appointments, with huge controversy and no little anger sparked by (what was largely his) veto of the reappointment of businessman Stuart Black, Head of Operations of Northwind Leisure, to the club's board at last December's AGM. Cue the resignation of director Margaret Rizza, as well as statements from Rizza and then Black being published on the club's official website savaging Fagan, warning of the club's 'dire financial situation', and beseeching him to present an alternative plan to Black's strategy of turning the Rovers into a 'sustainable Lowland League club'. 'I think the problem for me, and I've always been very open about this, is I would just wish people would be involved,' said Kearney. 'If you have a large shareholder in the club, make your involvement clear. Come and talk to the board of directors, let us know what you want to do, what you think the club's going to do. Have a conversation with us. 'But if there's no contact and we don't have that kind of dialogue, then it is difficult because you are always thinking, 'what's around the corner?' 'One of the main problems we've had is trying to get people on the board of directors, it's nigh on impossible, because no one wants to go on a board of directors that doesn't really have any power. (Image: Ciaran Reid)'And in truth we don't, because at the end of the day, when it comes along to the AGM every year, there's a chance that you could just be voted off. It goes to a poll vote, someone who's got most of the power, it can only go the way that they want it to, which is difficult. 'When you think of what happened last year, we had the situation where someone was put up for the board of directors who we felt was doing a great job, someone who had experience, who has a background high up in Soccer World, who own loads of places across Scotland. 'If people are actually involved in this type of thing - community football, running camps, stuff like that, someone who's got that experience, and also someone who's just experienced helping run a business - a massive business - and then for whatever reason, he doesn't get voted on, that is difficult. 'But people always say that that's the one thing holding Albion Rovers back. I don't think that's fair. I think what's held Albion Rovers back is the club hasn't been run well enough from top to bottom for years and years and years.' As Kearney says, in the absence of that clarity from their largest shareholder, he and his fellow directors were faced with a stark choice; either admit defeat and watch their beloved club whither and die, or come up with their own plan to make Rovers an indisputable asset to the Coatbridge community. 'I think one thing that I've always said from the outset when I joined the board, which probably isn't what most other people say, is I've kind of put [the ownership issue] to one side,' he said. 'My opinion on that is that there's no point trying to change something that you can't change. And I think the structure of a football club is something that would be very difficult to change. 'So, what can we do? Well, I think it's very easy to say you're a community club. We are a community club in the aspect of we've got a lot of older fans, we've got a community trust that does great work. We have walking groups and things like that, and we do stuff with the Prince's Trust and all of these type of things. 'But in terms of the actual football club itself, our community trust do a great job, our supporters trust do a good job, but in terms of the football club, over the years has it even done what I think would be simple stuff? 'One thing we're doing at the moment is we're talking to different local teams about partnering up with them to see if we can have an Albion Rovers umbrella, as such, under the first team. It's things like that. Can you really call yourself a community club if you don't actually have community teams? I don't think you can. 'I think the goal for the club in the medium term is can we get to a point where we can somehow get an artificial surface that allows us to turn Cliftonhill into Coatbridge's community hub. 'Can we have a situation where we've got an Albion Rovers community club that have got loads of younger players, loads of younger teams? Can we have an Albion Rovers women's team at one point that's going to play in the Scottish women's football system, all these things? (Image: Ciaran Reid)'That's the type of goal we want to get to. That it isn't just about the first team. Actually, you can be a sustainable, community club. There are loads of these types of clubs that have got that kind of infrastructure in place. 'It probably doesn't sound as sexy as saying, 'oh, we want to try and get into the SPFL and League Two and push for League One'. Actually, that's probably a wee bit further away, and there has to be an honesty in that.' Honesty, and more pertinently, transparency around finances in Scottish football is a hot-button issue, with the troubles faced by other clubs such as Dumbarton, Inverness and Stenhousemuir bringing the debate over whether an independent regulator is required to oversee things like the distribution of finances in the game back into the game's consciousness. 'I really do think it's a precarious time for Scottish football clubs,' Kearney said. 'I don't think we're the only club that's got problems with money, I think we're probably one of the only ones that have been so candid about it. I think you'd struggle to find a club that's got a lot of money sitting in the bank and feels quite positive about where the next few months are going to go. 'I think a lot of clubs are looking the other way, which is how can they survive for another year, which is kind of a sad indictment, it really is. 'It is interesting, the question of an independent regulator. I know there's a lot of clubs that are really for it. In an ideal world, I think having an independent regulator would help, but whether it would actually be something that's achievable, I'm not sure. 'The Lowland League clubs actually met with Maree Todd, the Minister for Sport, last year, and that was one of the topics that we had brought up. At the time, she did seem genuinely interested in the Lowland League's message, but the message that we got back was that England was a different kettle of fish from Scotland, and I didn't get any vibe from the room that it would be coming down the line any time soon. 'I don't see it being something that will happen in Scotland to be honest, because of the various factors that would make it difficult. Do I think in the long run it would be something beneficial? Yes, probably. 'But it's the same as anything, when you have bodies making decisions, people are going to say this or that. If you can take that away and have an independent body that's going to decide something, that's always going to be beneficial. But whether it would actually work in Scotland, I don't know. 'I was talking to Linlithgow Rose president John Mahoney and he actually made a good point. It could be some sort of ombudsman, it doesn't have to be as big as England, it could be something of a smaller scale. But it's someone independent of everyone else who you can go to with a problem. 'Something like that to me sounds great, but whether it would actually happen or not, I'm not sure.' Back at Rovers, as well as cuts to the salaries of manager Sandy Clark and assistant George Paterson, cutting their cloth has meant trying to piece together a competitive team who will play only for expenses. But this is viewed by Kearney as necessary steps back in order to eventually take a step forward. (Image: Ciaran Reid)'A lot of soul searching has been required, and we needed that,' he said. 'I think the problem for Albion Rovers when we first went down was that we tried to still be at that SPFL level. Actually, when you look at the infrastructure of the club, where we are, do we deserve to be anywhere above the Lowland League? Probably not at this moment in time. 'Until you can actually become a club that can run sustainably in the Lowland League, let's not try and think about getting back to the SPFL, because you're not going to get there anyway. You're just going to waste money that you don't have. 'I think having Sandy is massive, I really do. It's key that the football club have someone at the helm who's got that real experience in football. We've got someone who really understands the game, has lots of contacts, even simple things like the new co-operation system that's coming into play. 'Having a pro licence manager who knows just about everyone in Scotland when they're going down the route, and maybe you're going to have younger guys in the team that are going to be on loan from other football clubs, it's massive. 'He's bought into the whole project. He's been a massive support to the current board of directors and the previous board as well. I think he really gets the football club, and it is massive to have someone of that kind of stature involved. 'It would be very easy for Sandy to just call it a day, and it's the same for his assistant George too, which says a lot about them as characters.' The co-operation agreements that Kearney references could, he believes, be a fruitful avenue for Rovers to explore, and he is hopeful that an agreement with a club higher up the ladder can soon be finalised. 'We've spoken to a good few clubs,' he said. 'Sandy would kill me if I told you who! But Sandy's got some good friends in the game, there's plenty of clubs he's spoken to already and we're quite well down the line with that, which is helpful. 'I think it's a good thing. That's something I think will really help. I think it's the type of road Scottish football needs to go down. I certainly think it will benefit clubs like Albion Rovers, clubs that are willing to give younger players a chance. 'We've got that record of bringing younger guys on loan and letting them go on to better things. So, I think that will really help. 'Sandy's been in contact with a couple of Premiership teams and I think the response he's had has been wholly positive, so I'm sure before the start of this season we'll certainly have an agreement with someone that will be beneficial for both clubs.' Some reasons to be optimistic then perhaps, at long last, for fans of the wee Rovers, who have remained steadfastly loyal throughout their club's recent tribulations. It is for them that Kearney feels the collective responsibility, along with the rest of the board, in giving them a club to be proud of again. He is certainly proud of their own response to adversity, rallying around their club by signing up to the 'Rovers Return' funding initiative in large numbers, where for a monthly payment, you can gain benefits like having your name on the team jerseys, while helping to secure the club's future. 'I reckon Albion Rovers could play in the West of Scotland's 4th Division and the same people would still come because it's just part of their lives, part of their Saturday,' he said. (Image: Ciaran Reid) 'Which is amazing really, because you'd think people would eventually get bored or whatever, but obviously it just shows Albion Rovers has got to be a way of life, almost. 'It's still Albion Rovers. It really is a special football club. In terms of Scottish football, I don't think there are many more clubs that have got that kind of brand recognition, almost. 'We don't have to do a lot for people to know that we are what we are. When you come to the stadium, it's iconic. Everybody knows about the place. 'That is something that's really helpful actually. I think that is a big bonus. It really is something to kind of hold on to, that history and identity we've got, and that's something we'll always do.' The name of Albion Rovers may mean something slightly different in the future, then, but that might not necessarily be a bad thing. It still means something.
The National
an hour ago
- The National
What future for Albion Rovers, a storied name of the past?
But the name means something. Unfortunately, for the people the club means the most to, it has come to represent something else entirely over the last few years. Crisis. Relegation. In-fighting. And very nearly, oblivion. 'There's no point in sugarcoating it,' said director Ben Kearney. 'Our approach was just to be honest, which is probably the healthy thing to do. I don't think anybody expected it, that we were just so open to the world in terms of how f****d we were. But I think in a weird roundabout way, it's actually worked out, and not too badly in the end. 'At first, I don't think people were very happy. But I think the fans appreciated that eventually.' (Image: Ciaran Reid)Some context. Rovers were relegated to the Lowland League, the fifth tier of the SPFL pyramid, two years ago. There were no parachute payments, and SPFL prize money has been sorely missed. Crowds have remained steady enough, but can't compensate for that loss of revenue. And it gets worse. To say that the ownership of Rovers is a complicated business is rather like saying the bold, aforementioned Kasule – who came to be known as 'Vodka Vic' - was a wee bit fond of the bevvy. It is suspected that around half of the shares in the club, which were first issued over 100 years ago, are now dormant and untraceable, with the original recipients long dead. The biggest single shareholder (with around 20 percent of the non-dormant shares) is former Scottish FA employee Anton Fagan, son of former owner Tom Fagan, who is the Trappist Monk of silent partners. He does though hold sway over key board appointments, with huge controversy and no little anger sparked by (what was largely his) veto of the reappointment of businessman Stuart Black, Head of Operations of Northwind Leisure, to the club's board at last December's AGM. Cue the resignation of director Margaret Rizza, as well as statements from Rizza and then Black being published on the club's official website savaging Fagan, warning of the club's 'dire financial situation', and beseeching him to present an alternative plan to Black's strategy of turning the Rovers into a 'sustainable Lowland League club'. 'I think the problem for me, and I've always been very open about this, is I would just wish people would be involved,' said Kearney. 'If you have a large shareholder in the club, make your involvement clear. Come and talk to the board of directors, let us know what you want to do, what you think the club's going to do. Have a conversation with us. 'But if there's no contact and we don't have that kind of dialogue, then it is difficult because you are always thinking, 'what's around the corner?' 'One of the main problems we've had is trying to get people on the board of directors, it's nigh on impossible, because no one wants to go on a board of directors that doesn't really have any power. (Image: Ciaran Reid)'And in truth we don't, because at the end of the day, when it comes along to the AGM every year, there's a chance that you could just be voted off. It goes to a poll vote, someone who's got most of the power, it can only go the way that they want it to, which is difficult. 'When you think of what happened last year, we had the situation where someone was put up for the board of directors who we felt was doing a great job, someone who had experience, who has a background high up in Soccer World, who own loads of places across Scotland. 'If people are actually involved in this type of thing - community football, running camps, stuff like that, someone who's got that experience, and also someone who's just experienced helping run a business - a massive business - and then for whatever reason, he doesn't get voted on, that is difficult. 'But people always say that that's the one thing holding Albion Rovers back. I don't think that's fair. I think what's held Albion Rovers back is the club hasn't been run well enough from top to bottom for years and years and years.' As Kearney says, in the absence of that clarity from their largest shareholder, he and his fellow directors were faced with a stark choice; either admit defeat and watch their beloved club whither and die, or come up with their own plan to make Rovers an indisputable asset to the Coatbridge community. 'I think one thing that I've always said from the outset when I joined the board, which probably isn't what most other people say, is I've kind of put [the ownership issue] to one side,' he said. 'My opinion on that is that there's no point trying to change something that you can't change. And I think the structure of a football club is something that would be very difficult to change. 'So, what can we do? Well, I think it's very easy to say you're a community club. We are a community club in the aspect of we've got a lot of older fans, we've got a community trust that does great work. We have walking groups and things like that, and we do stuff with the Prince's Trust and all of these type of things. 'But in terms of the actual football club itself, our community trust do a great job, our supporters trust do a good job, but in terms of the football club, over the years has it even done what I think would be simple stuff? 'One thing we're doing at the moment is we're talking to different local teams about partnering up with them to see if we can have an Albion Rovers umbrella, as such, under the first team. It's things like that. Can you really call yourself a community club if you don't actually have community teams? I don't think you can. 'I think the goal for the club in the medium term is can we get to a point where we can somehow get an artificial surface that allows us to turn Cliftonhill into Coatbridge's community hub. 'Can we have a situation where we've got an Albion Rovers community club that have got loads of younger players, loads of younger teams? Can we have an Albion Rovers women's team at one point that's going to play in the Scottish women's football system, all these things? (Image: Ciaran Reid)'That's the type of goal we want to get to. That it isn't just about the first team. Actually, you can be a sustainable, community club. There are loads of these types of clubs that have got that kind of infrastructure in place. 'It probably doesn't sound as sexy as saying, 'oh, we want to try and get into the SPFL and League Two and push for League One'. Actually, that's probably a wee bit further away, and there has to be an honesty in that.' Honesty, and more pertinently, transparency around finances in Scottish football is a hot-button issue, with the troubles faced by other clubs such as Dumbarton, Inverness and Stenhousemuir bringing the debate over whether an independent regulator is required to oversee things like the distribution of finances in the game back into the game's consciousness. 'I really do think it's a precarious time for Scottish football clubs,' Kearney said. 'I don't think we're the only club that's got problems with money, I think we're probably one of the only ones that have been so candid about it. I think you'd struggle to find a club that's got a lot of money sitting in the bank and feels quite positive about where the next few months are going to go. 'I think a lot of clubs are looking the other way, which is how can they survive for another year, which is kind of a sad indictment, it really is. 'It is interesting, the question of an independent regulator. I know there's a lot of clubs that are really for it. In an ideal world, I think having an independent regulator would help, but whether it would actually be something that's achievable, I'm not sure. 'The Lowland League clubs actually met with Maree Todd, the Minister for Sport, last year, and that was one of the topics that we had brought up. At the time, she did seem genuinely interested in the Lowland League's message, but the message that we got back was that England was a different kettle of fish from Scotland, and I didn't get any vibe from the room that it would be coming down the line any time soon. 'I don't see it being something that will happen in Scotland to be honest, because of the various factors that would make it difficult. Do I think in the long run it would be something beneficial? Yes, probably. 'But it's the same as anything, when you have bodies making decisions, people are going to say this or that. If you can take that away and have an independent body that's going to decide something, that's always going to be beneficial. But whether it would actually work in Scotland, I don't know. 'I was talking to Linlithgow Rose president John Mahoney and he actually made a good point. It could be some sort of ombudsman, it doesn't have to be as big as England, it could be something of a smaller scale. But it's someone independent of everyone else who you can go to with a problem. 'Something like that to me sounds great, but whether it would actually happen or not, I'm not sure.' Back at Rovers, as well as cuts to the salaries of manager Sandy Clark and assistant George Paterson, cutting their cloth has meant trying to piece together a competitive team who will play only for expenses. But this is viewed by Kearney as necessary steps back in order to eventually take a step forward. (Image: Ciaran Reid)'A lot of soul searching has been required, and we needed that,' he said. 'I think the problem for Albion Rovers when we first went down was that we tried to still be at that SPFL level. Actually, when you look at the infrastructure of the club, where we are, do we deserve to be anywhere above the Lowland League? Probably not at this moment in time. 'Until you can actually become a club that can run sustainably in the Lowland League, let's not try and think about getting back to the SPFL, because you're not going to get there anyway. You're just going to waste money that you don't have. 'I think having Sandy is massive, I really do. It's key that the football club have someone at the helm who's got that real experience in football. We've got someone who really understands the game, has lots of contacts, even simple things like the new co-operation system that's coming into play. 'Having a pro licence manager who knows just about everyone in Scotland when they're going down the route, and maybe you're going to have younger guys in the team that are going to be on loan from other football clubs, it's massive. 'He's bought into the whole project. He's been a massive support to the current board of directors and the previous board as well. I think he really gets the football club, and it is massive to have someone of that kind of stature involved. 'It would be very easy for Sandy to just call it a day, and it's the same for his assistant George too, which says a lot about them as characters.' The co-operation agreements that Kearney references could, he believes, be a fruitful avenue for Rovers to explore, and he is hopeful that an agreement with a club higher up the ladder can soon be finalised. 'We've spoken to a good few clubs,' he said. 'Sandy would kill me if I told you who! But Sandy's got some good friends in the game, there's plenty of clubs he's spoken to already and we're quite well down the line with that, which is helpful. 'I think it's a good thing. That's something I think will really help. I think it's the type of road Scottish football needs to go down. I certainly think it will benefit clubs like Albion Rovers, clubs that are willing to give younger players a chance. 'We've got that record of bringing younger guys on loan and letting them go on to better things. So, I think that will really help. 'Sandy's been in contact with a couple of Premiership teams and I think the response he's had has been wholly positive, so I'm sure before the start of this season we'll certainly have an agreement with someone that will be beneficial for both clubs.' Some reasons to be optimistic then perhaps, at long last, for fans of the wee Rovers, who have remained steadfastly loyal throughout their club's recent tribulations. It is for them that Kearney feels the collective responsibility, along with the rest of the board, in giving them a club to be proud of again. He is certainly proud of their own response to adversity, rallying around their club by signing up to the 'Rovers Return' funding initiative in large numbers, where for a monthly payment, you can gain benefits like having your name on the team jerseys, while helping to secure the club's future. 'I reckon Albion Rovers could play in the West of Scotland's 4th Division and the same people would still come because it's just part of their lives, part of their Saturday,' he said. (Image: Ciaran Reid) 'Which is amazing really, because you'd think people would eventually get bored or whatever, but obviously it just shows Albion Rovers has got to be a way of life, almost. 'It's still Albion Rovers. It really is a special football club. In terms of Scottish football, I don't think there are many more clubs that have got that kind of brand recognition, almost. 'We don't have to do a lot for people to know that we are what we are. When you come to the stadium, it's iconic. Everybody knows about the place. 'That is something that's really helpful actually. I think that is a big bonus. It really is something to kind of hold on to, that history and identity we've got, and that's something we'll always do.' The name of Albion Rovers may mean something slightly different in the future, then, but that might not necessarily be a bad thing. It still means something.
