Cove Rangers F.C.

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Cove Rangers F.C.
File:Coverangers.png
Full name Cove Rangers Football Club
Nickname(s) The Wee Rangers
Founded 1922; 102 years ago (1922)
Ground Set to be Calder Park at 2016–17 season
Ground Capacity Full capacity unsure as of yet (1000 seated capacity)
Chairman Keith Moorhouse
Manager John Sheran
League Highland Football League
2014–15 Highland Football League, 3rd

Cove Rangers Football Club are a senior Scottish football club currently playing in the Highland Football League. They are based in Cove Bay, a suburb of Aberdeen and are set to play their football at Calder Park, having left their former home at Allan Park in April 2015. Their current manager is John Sheran.

History

Cove were formed in 1922 and played in the local amateur leagues until 1985, when they became a junior team. However, the club applied and were accepted to the senior Highland Football League in 1986, where they have played ever since. They have also racked up a formidable reputation in the lower rounds of the Scottish Cup, reaching the 3rd round three times. In 2001 they won their first Highland League championship – but even more impressively won the quadruple of Highland League, Aberdeenshire Shield, Scottish Qualifying Cup, and Highland League Cup.

In the 2007–08 season, Cove reached round four of the Scottish Cup for the first and only time, beating Brora Rangers away 7–0, Keith 3–0 and Edinburgh University 1–0 on the way, before losing 4–2 to Ross County.

However, that did not deter the south Aberdeen side from claiming their second ever Highland League Championship with a 3–0 home win against Lossiemouth on 3 May 2008.

Cove Rangers were one of the clubs preparing an application for entry into the Scottish Football League following Gretna relinquishing their league status on 3 June 2008. The other clubs were Annan Athletic, Preston Athletic and Spartans.[1] Annan Athletic were eventually awarded the place, due to their superior facilities.

The club have started plans for a new stadium in preparation for a possible place in the Scottish League Two.

One of the club's most famous players is the young Scottish midfielder Paul Coutts who joined English League One club Peterborough United during the summer of 2008 for a nominal fee. Coutts won the clubs's young player of the year award for the 2008–09 season [2] and won eight caps for the Scotland under-21 squad, after being touting for a call up by his former manager Darren Ferguson.[3]

Honours

  • Highland Football League 2000–01. 2007–08. 2008–09. 2012–13.
  • Highland League Cup 1994–95. 1999-00. 2004–05. 2014–15.
  • Scottish Qualifying Cup (North) 1990–91. 2000–01.
  • Aberdeenshire Cup 2001–02. 2010–11.
  • Aberdeenshire Shield 1990–91. 2000–01. 2008–09.
  • Aberdeenshire League 2000–01. 2008–09. 2010–11. 2011–12. 2012–13.
  • Inter League Cup 2001–02.
  • Aberdeen FC Trophy fifteen times

The move to Calder Park

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Main article: Calder Park, Aberdeen

On Friday, 30 July 2010, an article was placed in the local Aberdeen paper, the Evening Express that Stewart Milne, the chairman of Aberdeen, had bought their home ground Allan Park. From the money that Cove got they could finally build their proposed project at Calder Park. The stadium is supposed to be a 1,000 seated stadium. The proposed new stadium would maximise their chances of getting into the League Two after getting rejected on 3 June 2008 because they didn't have a good enough stadium. Aberdeen City Council have since voted the plan out which may cause Cove to exit the Highland Football League due to new stadium requirements being put in place. This may also force Aberdeen to move out of the city in building their new stadium, which some people see as the end of senior football in Aberdeen.

Because of Cove's ongoing problems with their existing ground, as of March 2015 they are the only club in the Highland League not to have received a club licence from the Scottish Football Association. This means that they are presently ineligible for promotion through the pyramid system to Scottish League Two, and do not automatically qualify for the Scottish Cup but must play in the preliminary round to win a place.

On 19 April 2015, Cove Rangers played their final game at Allan Park following progress being made with Aberdeen City Council in terms of planning permission. In this game Cove marked their departure with a 4–0 victory over Fort William.

It has been revealed that the new stadium, only known as 'Calder Park' thus far, will be located next to a new secondary school, merging Kincorth and Torry academies into one larger school. In a clause made by ACC this new school will have access to the new stadium's artificial pitch.

Current squad

As of 10 August 2015

Note: Flags indicate national team as defined under FIFA eligibility rules. Players may hold more than one non-FIFA nationality.

No. Position Player
Scotland GK John McCafferty
Scotland GK Stuart McKenzie
Scotland DF Sam Burnett
Scotland DF Darryn Kelly
Scotland DF Dean Lawrie
Scotland DF Harry Milne
Scotland DF Alan Redford
Scotland DF Stirling Smith
Scotland DF Stuart Walker
Scotland DF Eric Watson (Captain)
No. Position Player
Scotland MF Sam Burnett
Scotland MF Stuart Duff
Scotland MF Roy McBain (Vice-Captain)
Scotland MF Daniel Park
Scotland MF Connor Scully
Scotland MF Michael Selfridge
Scotland MF Blair Yule
Scotland FW Daryl Nicol
Scotland FW Jonny Smith
Scotland FW Jamie Watt

References

  1. ↑ Gretna relinquish league status, BBC Sports. Retrieved on 3 June 2008
  2. ↑ Coutts wins Player of the Moth, Peterborough United FC. Retrieved on 3 November 2008
  3. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.

External links

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