BUDGIE McGHIE says last season's fantastic City-link Scottish Cup run did not put the brakes on Clydebank's promotion charge.
BUDGIE McGHIE says last season's fantastic City-link Scottish Cup run did not put the brakes on Clydebank's promotion charge.
The Bankies ran out of steam at the end of the Super First campaign and finished fifth, six points short of the play-off spot.
However, they reached the Scottish Cup Final, where they lost out to Ayrshire giants Auchinleck at Rugby Park.
McGhie said: "I know we lost the final to Talbot, but I still wouldn't have swapped our cup adventure for anything in the world.
"It was an amazing experience and helped raise the profile of the club tenfold. We may not have made a life-changing amount of money from the run but it'll help, and possibly offer assurances for the next couple of years.
"But I don't think our cup run was anything at all to do with missing out on promotion.
"The main reasons were a lack of consistency, poor form away from home and a failure to rack up points early in the campaign.
"Largs, in particular, were a model of consistency and that's who we should be looking to if we want to eventually gain promotion to the top flight.
"They've made steady improvement in the last couple of years and that has culminated in them winning promotion to the Premier League."
Budgie's boys start pre-season training this Saturday and Stevie Dymock, the former East Stirling player, and Ross Campbell, ex-Campsie, will meet their new team- mates for the first time.
And, if Budgie has his way, they will be joined by three or four others.
He said: "We recently held our player of the year dance and, immediately after that, a lot of the players went off on holiday, so there are still one or two I haven't spoken to yet.
"We have signed 16 players but I want to add to that. Finances will dictate, however, who we can and can't bring in.
"I've lost out on a few players, but I won't lose too much sleep over it. I have a fair idea of who I want and I'll do all I can to get them on board."
He added: "Every-thing will become a little clearer after everyone has met up on Saturday for training."
Bankies start the new season with a 'home' match against Maryhill in the Sectional League Cup, before tackling Perthshire, Ashfield and landlords Yoker It's a start Budgie is fairly happy about. He said: "Local derbies are always keenly contested and the fact that Yoker have dropped into Division Two won't mean a thing.
"I'm also looking forward to the Ashfield tie. I wasn't at all surprised to see them gain promotion into our league alongside Glencairn."
One thing Budgie would like soon is a place Bankies can call home. He said: "We've never had the luxury of our own ground, but there is now a stadium committee up and running and a feasibility study has been completed.
"It's something I believe will happen in the future although I'm not too sure of any timescale at the moment.
"Recently, Petershill and Glencairn have been forced to play away from home while their new grounds were being built, and both came back stronger for having their own place.
"It would be a massive boost to the club and I believe getting to the Scottish Cup Final will have helped our case.
"But, for the moment, we'll soldier on and give promotion our best shot this season. Naturally, we will be hoping to challenge at the top end of the league but I certainly wouldn't knock back another cup run!"
