Chasing East Kilbride to title cost Albion Rovers, admits boss
Sandy Clark says Rovers didn't have the finances to sustain a challenge
Albion Rovers boss Sandy Clark says foolishly chasing East Kilbride for the Lowland League title over the past two season, following a devastating relegation from League Two, has left the club in a financial black hole.
But he says Rovers have a strategy, largely based on the prospect of creating an astroturf-based community hub.
The Wee Rovers fell into the fifth tier in 2023 and hoped to earn an immediate return by splashing the cash they had from SPFL parachute payments for going down.
However, EK romped to the league title in both of the last two campaigns, finally gaining promotion through the play-offs at the second attempt last month, and with Rovers failing to get up, they now face a season with very limited funds now the two-year support package from the SPFL has ceased.
Clark and assistant George Paterson have had to take pay cuts to stay on for next season, while the playing budget has been completely slashed to the point the club will only be able to pay expenses this coming season.
The club is in the early stages of trying to change Cliftonhill's surface from grass to artificial, with the support of the SFA, to create a revenue stream but that won't be a quick process.
And Clark admits trying to challenge big-spending EK has come back to bite them. He said: 'Relegation was an absolute kick in the teeth. Other clubs who have been down the same pathway, it's hard to get back out when you take that drop, and that's where we find ourselves now.
'In the two years we've been in the Lowland, mistakes have been made at every level. We looked at trying to get back up with a fairly decent budget, but in hindsight, East Kilbride have been so far ahead for two years that it was a real challenge to get there.
'We found ourselves at the end of last season in a financial position where the club had to bottom out.
'Hopefully with the budget we have, we can't go any lower now. This is where it has to stop, and we need to have a foundation and build on the next little bit, as we go along and learn from mistakes in the past.
'I kept believing for the past year we were going to have an astroturf pitch out there, that hasn't come to fruition yet and that really frustrates me, because I think that might well be the focal point where this club can kick on.
'I think when that starts it changes the whole structure of this club and gives it a chance to progress.'
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