24-04-2025
Clyde ace Craig Howie joins 100 club and targets promotion next season
Rutherglen ace Craig Howie hit 100 appearances for Clyde on Saturday – then set his sights on guiding the club to promotion next season. The defender marked his milestone in a 2-0 defeat away to Spartans in what was a dead rubber for the Bully Wee with League Two safety already secured the previous week with victory over bottom side Bonnyrigg Rose. With Clyde's place in the SPFL secured more comfortably than last season's final day survival showdown, Howie hopes the club can now make strides back up the leagues when Darren Young's side compete in the 2025/26 campaign. The 28-year-old, who had his first spell at Clyde in 2019-21, said: 'It is a proud moment for me. To make 100 appearances for any club is a good achievement and it is nice to make it at a club where I have a good relationship with the fans. 'I have had some really good times and some low points over my two spells. I am staying here for another season so hopefully I can build on the appearances and help the club at the top end of the table. 'In my first spell at Clyde we were in League One and I think for the size of the club and the fanbase that it has, that is the minimum where we should be. 'So the target has to be the title or promotion through the play-offs. 'Next season we want to be up there competing. There's six or seven players already committed for next season and I think we are all looking to kick on to get promotion.' Howie returned to the club in January last year after a stint at Alloa and penned a two-year deal at the start of this season, having previously played for East Perth in Australia and Lowland League champions East Kilbride. He is glad not to be involved in another down-to-the-wire relegation scrap with the Bully Wee this term but admits it has still be a far from ideal campaign. He added: 'I don't think this league will ever be as tight as last season again. 'We were something like 10 or 11 points behind with eight or nine games to go and it is a bit surreal to think we did manage to survive after that. 'This season we had a lot of ambition and probably expected to be at the other end of the table, which didn't pan out, but the good thing is we knew with a few games to go we are staying up. 'That is a nice feeling for the fans to not have to go through that again, but I think the overarching feeling is that it has been a disappointing season.'
