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Full name | Stranraer Football Club | ||
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Nickname(s) | The Blues | ||
Founded | 1870 | ||
Ground | Stair Park, Stranraer, Scotland (Capacity: 5,600 (1,830 seated)) |
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Manager | Keith Knox | ||
League | Scottish Third Division | ||
2011–12 | Scottish Third Division, 3rd | ||
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Stranraer Football Club is a Scottish semi-professional football team based in the town of Stranraer, Dumfries and Galloway. They are members of the Scottish Football League, and currently play in the Third Division.
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They were founded in 1870 and play their football at Stair Park.
With the league reformation at the end of the 1993–94 season, Stranraer found themselves playing in the new First Division in season 1994–95. Unfortunately, they finished rock bottom with only 17 points from 36 games. Stranraer spent three seasons in the Second Division before winning promotion back to the First Division at the end of the 1997–98 season. Once again, they finished bottom of the league, with the same points total as before and a whopping 29 defeats.
The club then spent a further four years in the Second Division, with the most notable event being a good Scottish Cup run in season 2002–03, which saw them go all the way to the Quarter Finals, where they were beaten 4–0 by SPL side Motherwell. However, the team's good Cup run did not reflect their league form, as they finished 9th in the Second Division, and thus were relegated to the Third Division for season 2003–04. However, the team's fortunes improved from there, as they won the Third Division at the first attempt, gaining promotion back to the Second Division. In season 2004–05, the team shocked most people, as they stayed in the top two for most of the campaign. A 1–1 draw with closest promotion rivals Morton on April 30, 2005 saw them gain promotion to the First Division for the third time, although they were relegated to the Second Division the following season.
The team had a largely unsuccessful campaign in 2006–07, in particular with heavy defeats by relegation rivals Peterhead and Forfar Athletic. They eventually finished 9th, which resulted in a play-off with Division 3 promotion contenders East Fife. A 4–2 aggregate defeat (despite winning the second leg 1–0) saw them relegated to the Third Division.
On 21 January 2009 club chairman Nigel Redhead stated that Stranraer F.C. owed £250,000, and had a 50–50 chance of survival to the end of the season.
On 22 January 2009, in response to the above, a small consortium launched the Friends of Stranraer F.C. to try to secure the club's future through donations from the football community at www.savestranraerfc.com.
On 23 January 2009, as part of efforts to reduce costs to a manageable level, key player Gregory Tade transferred to Clyde.
On 24 January 2009, Stirling Albion defeated Stranraer 8–2. Shortly after the game, Stranraer and team manager Derek Ferguson parted company by mutual consent.
On 4 April 2009, after a 3–0 loss to Raith Rovers, Stranraer's relegation to Division 3 was confirmed and this means Stranraer will have played in a different division for each of the last 8 seasons.
On 23 July 2011 they lost 8-0 to Morton in a Ramsdens Challenge Cup game.
Note: Flags indicate national team as has been defined under FIFA eligibility rules. Players may hold more than one non-FIFA nationality.
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Coordinates: 54°54′07″N 5°01′37″W / 54.902°N 5.027°W
Stranraer (UK: /stranˈrɑ:/stran-RAR; Scottish Gaelic: An t-Sròn Reamhar, pronounced [ənˠ̪ t̪ʰɾɔːn ɾãũ.əɾ]) is a town in Inch, Wigtownshire, in the west of Dumfries and Galloway, southwest Scotland. It lies on the shores of Loch Ryan, on the northern side of the isthmus joining the Rhins of Galloway to the mainland. Stranraer is Dumfries and Galloway's second-largest town, with a population including the surrounding area of nearly 13,000.
Stranraer is an administrative centre for the West Galloway Wigtownshire area of Dumfries and Galloway. It is best known as having been a ferry port connecting Scotland with Belfast (and previously with Larne) in Northern Ireland; the last service was transferred to Cairnryan in November 2011. The main industries in the area are the ferry port, with associated industries, tourism and, more traditionally, farming.
The name is generally believed to come from the Scottish Gaelic An t-Sròn Reamhar meaning "The Fat Nose", but which more prosaically might be rendered as "the broad headland". Another interpretation would link the second element in the name with Rerigonium, an ancient settlement noted by Ptolemy in this part of Britain. A person from Stranraer is a Stranraerarian; someone from the original, lochside, part of the town, including Sheuchan Street and Agnew Crescent – the Clayhole or, in local dialect, Cl'yhole – is a Clayholer /kleɪˈhoʊlər/.
Stranraer in Wigtownshire was a royal burgh that returned one commissioner to the Parliament of Scotland and to the Convention of Estates.
After the Acts of Union 1707, Stranraer, New Galloway, Whithorn and Wigtown formed the Wigtown district of burghs, returning one member between them to the House of Commons of Great Britain.