Vale of Leven Football Club’s treasurer admits his club has big ambitions for the future as his side celebrated a major milestone in their long history of football in the valley.

Angus Wallace was speaking to the Reporter as The Vale marked 150 years of existence in 2022.

The Alexandria side was founded in 1872 and are considered one of the pioneers of football in Scotland alongside Queen’s Park, winning the Scottish Cup in 1877, 1878 and 1879 and being one of the founding members of the Scottish Football League in 1890.

However, the Millburn Park club now play their football in the lower ranks of the West of Scotland Football League Third Division, currently sitting 13th out of 19 teams.

But that hasn’t stopped Mr Wallace from being optimistic about his club’s future, and he insisted they are putting the right building blocks in place to take the club forward for the next 150 years,

He said: “We’ve got ambitions that we don’t want to be playing in the bottom tier all our days.

“We have tremendous facilities down here, a great bunch of coaches from the first team right down through all the kid’s teams, and guys that are all committed to the club.”

The club are the definition of the term community club, with 12 teams and around 250 players on the books, creating a hub for local residents to be part of something.

West Dunbartonshire Council has also recognised the club recently, praising them during a full council meeting last week and inviting club officials to a civic reception to honour their century-and-a-half achievement.

“For the council to recognise all that we do is really good,” Mr Wallace continued.

“We started off the year by having a new club crest, just an upgrade on what we have, recognising the three Scottish Cup wins in our senior days.

“We also organised a friendly with Queen’s Park, a great tradition that goes back to the early years of Scottish football.”