David Brown insists ‘galvanised’ Bellshill Athletic are on upward trajectory after re-establishing community links

David Brown reckons Bellshill Athletic have been “galvanised” following last season’s stunning Scottish Junior Cup run as he issued a message of thanks to local businesses for investing their hard-earned cash into the club.

The North Lanarkshire outfit, who are preparing for their second successive season in the West of Scotland Third Division, have been making excellent strides both on and off the park over the last 18 months after years of turmoil saw their fanbase dwindle.

A devastating fire at their council owned Rockburn Park premises in April 2020 caused havoc and ensured much of the club’s history was lost. However, Brown is adamant the club are on the rise after re-igniting their links within the community - highlighted by the level of interest in sponsorship from businesses within the area.

Members of the Bellshill Athletic committee and first-team playing squad gathered at the New Alhambra Bar in the town last week to launch the club’s 2023/24 home and away kits. As part of re-discovering their routes, Brown explained Bellshill will revert back to their traditional yellow and black stripes - a theme that runs throughout the club’s thriving academy set-up.

Speaking to GlasgowWorld, he said: “The community of Bellshill over the past the two years now have really rallied behind the club. I think that’s pretty evident in the results we’re seeing on the park, the amount of people we’ve had coming to games and it’s self-fulfilling really. I think everybody’s enjoying what we’re trying to do.

“It’s an exciting time and we’re just looking to give something back to a lot of local businesses who have been very kind and offered their support to us. We’ve had a lot of interest generated in the club again and there’s a real feel-good factor about the place.

“I think the (Scottish Junior) cup run to the Quarter Finals helped galvanise the club in a really positive way. We’ve now got 23 academy teams playing for Bellshill Athletic, wearing yellow and black stripes. You’re starting to see more people around the town wearing the Bellshill badge going too and from training or attending games.

“It’s great to see. Every single player has been sponsored for the season ahead and it’s not been difficult to do, it’s been a fairly straightforward process. When we entered negotiations with players, particularly local guys, you could see almost instantly they wanted to be involved. They want the club to improve, progress and hopefully start to move up through the leagues.

“If we can keep the local community engaged then that helps to bring more money into the club and we can continue to progress. In terms of aims for the season, my committee have not given any sort of definitive target to the management team. We’re just hoping to see more improvement and if we manage to finish among the top three positions then brilliant.

“We finished seventh last year but there were times during the winter where we were sitting in that bottom section of the league and cup games got in the road, pitches started to cut up and we had a lot of fixtures to contend with. You don’t know what the opposition teams are going to look like until the new season kicks off.”

Bellshill fans caught their first glimpse of the eye-catching new strips after they were officially unveiled on Sunday, with adults jerseys priced at £40 and kids at £35.

Offering an insight into some of the key sponsors who feature on both shirts, Brown added: “The home strip is sponsored on the front by Russell Domestic Appliances. Russell's have been a long-term partner with Bellshill Athletic - Walter and Barry have been very generous with their time over the past couple of years and over and above that for many years before that.

“The away strip is sponsored by the New Alhambra Bar. James Haney was involved in a bit of sponsorship with us last season and he approached us a couple of months before the season ended to ask if he could get involved further, so it’s great to have a local pub invested in the club.

“On the back of both the home and away strips, Ryan Somerville of Fire Suppression Scotland has sponsored both jerseys. He also sponsors the newly-built clubhouse and he’s another good friend of ours. And Donnie Wilson, who currently plays for us, has sponsored the shorts, so a big thanks to him for doing that. It’s above and beyond the call of duty probably for Donnie but it’s great to see a guy with his experience really buying into what we’re trying to achieve.

“We’ve also got the likes of Kerr’s Bakery, Bakery Maintenance Services, Willie Cook who’s been a lifelong supporter of the club and Gary McKeating at CDU (Civils & Drainage Utility Supplies) who also wants to invest because he sees the positive work going on behind the scenes and Martin MacPhail, the son of David who has the park named after him, has also been a huge supporter as well and continues to put on buses for our supporters to away matches.”

Local sponsor James Haney, owner of several pubs within the Lanarkshire region, commented: “Bellshill are a club going places again. Their struggles over the years have been well documented but I think the progress that’s been made in a relatively short period of time has been great to see and it made me want to get involved.”