Bill Munro
Manager Profile

Biography

Bill Munro is probably the greatest manager Clydebank ever had. He oversaw the club's rise in the mid 1970s as the club achieved back to back promotions to reach the Premier League.

Bill's association with the Steedman family went back to his playing days when he was at East Stirlingshire, At that time the Steedman's owned the Falkirk outfit. Munro followed the Steedman's as they took control of Clydebank FC, and he was the club trainer for many years.

The Steedman's had a five year plan to reach the top tier of Scottish Football, and although progress was made the truth was they were no further to reaching that goal after that period had expired. In fact, the club had even begun to go backwards. The Steedman's publicly declared that they were considering selling up, but whether this was just overplaying the situation we'll never know. But, It was not too soon after that Jack Steedman took more of a back seat and Bill Munro was officially made manager in the summer of 1975.

This turned out to be a masterstroke as the Bankies won the Scottish Second Division championship in its inaugural year and reached the final of the ill-fated Spring Cup beating several First Division sides on the way. The cup was lost in extra-time to Airdrie.

The following season is where Munro made his name as the Bankies made it successive promotions by finishing as runners-up to Alex Ferguson's St Mirren. The title was there for the taking at times but the Paisley side were just too strong over the piece. The Bankies also took Rangers to four games in the League Cup Quarter Final where a certain Davie Cooper shone, before narrowly losing out in the second replay.

Cooper joined Rangers in the summer and Munro was never really able to replace him for the Premier League campaign with lower league signings the best the club could manage. Clydebank finished bottom but had the consolation of taking Celtic's scalp for the first and only time in the club's history.

After being relegated the Bankies missed out on promotion back to the Premier League the following season only by goal difference to Kilmarnock. A 1-1 draw at lowly Arbroath on the second last day of the season really delivering the fatal blow.

The club sunk back after this and two lower half finishes in 1980 and 1981 seemed to signal the end of Clydebank's days as a force in Scottish Football. The 1981-82 season started in a similar vein with disappointing results and Munro resigned in August which was a bit surprising. The reins passed to Sammy Henderson who would take the Bankies back to the Premier League in a few short years.

Bill Munro went on to manage Airdrie for a few years but couldn't replicate his success at Kilbowie despite pinching some of his former players, most notably Blair Millar. Afterwards, he spent time as reserve manager at Clyde as well as assisting at Kilmarnock.