This week’s edition of ‘KOTW’ goes north of the border in honour of the Scottish referendum but does not concern one of the nation’s bigger clubs. Instead, we focus on a club that has popped up, vanished and reappeared again in several different guises – Clydebank.
Having reached the Premier League in the mid 1980’s, their zenith coincided with the emergence of a chirpy, blue-eyed soul beat-combo from the area by the name of Wet Wet Wet.
As the ‘Wets’ topped the charts and became one of the UK’s leading musical acts, they took the unprecedented step of sponsoring their hometown club for four years between 1993 and 1997. At the end of the 15 weeks that Marti Pellow and the boys spent at number with ‘Love Is All Around’ in 1994, The Bankies recorded their best win of the season – a 5-2 home win against Dundee.
Sadly, this era will remain forever remembered for the premature death of probably the club’s finest ever player; former Rangers and Scotland winger Davie Cooper, who was still registered at New Kilbowie and was a first team regular right up to his passing in March 1995.
Very timely Mark – though I don’t share his taste in football teams, and especially not after last night’s events in Glasgow, I’m going to see Marti Pellow performing in Evita tonight here in London.
He has a fantastic voice and to give him credit no matter how famous he got he never lost touch with his roots. Davie Cooper was also a fantastic footballer, one of the best in Scotland at a time when they had so many great outfield players.
It’ll be funny to see how a Scotsman does an Argentine Spanish accent!