Largest Towns Without An SPFL Side

Cities and large towns tend to have successful teams. They will have a larger catchment area for a fanbase, bringing in more money, which allows the club to sign better players. That isn't always the case however as there are many large towns that don't have teams in the top 4 divisions of Scottish football so in this video, I go through the 10 largest settlements without an SPFL side.
All images belong to relevant copyright holders

[@gaidheal6792]

Kinda funny how Dingwall can have a Premiership team, but towns far larger have teams wallowing in non-league... Gotta love football

[@CallumBlyth]

It’s mental. Dingwall is smaller than Burntisland yet I could never see Shippy becoming a premiership outfit. Saying that Ross County have a massive catchment area being the closest professional club for those up that way.

[@shaunflanagan8735]

My hometown - Bellshill - has a non-league team and is much bigger than Dingwall 😂

[@MartinInglis-m3h]

Ross County, as their name implies, gather support from a much bigger are than just the town of Dingwall

[@gaidheal6792]

@@shaunflanagan8735 Aye... my hometown of Nairn, which itself is pretty small compared to towns down south, still has double the population of Dingwall, yet Nairn County is trapped in the Highland League.

[@shaunflanagan8735]

​​@@gaidheal6792Bellshill are in the west of Scotland football league second division. They're actually a good wee team tbh

[@alanprior7650]

I love your co-operative efforts with Sam North Callum and Sam's vid on Kirkintilloch Rob Roy was excellent!

[@LiamFromNewBarkTown]

My team, Brora are on the polar opposite end of the spectrum, probably amongst the lowest populations to have a team who has been knocking on the door of the SPFL and taken a few scalps in the Scottish Cup over the years. Btw its great to see more Scottish non-league content. It really doesn't get the attention it deserves considering the amount of clubs with proud histories and great fanbases throughout the lower divisions.

[@CallumBlyth]

@@LiamFromNewBarkTown I definitely have some content related to the non leagues planned but yeah it is definitely under rated. Footy Adventures going to these clubs is great to see.

[@LiamFromNewBarkTown]

@CallumBlyth Aye his coverage is brilliant too. Up here has the same problem as everywhere else in everyone supports the old firm but more the publicity and recognition non league gets hopefully it will see more people support their local teams. Look forward to seeing more content on this channel in the future 👍🏻

[@AdamMcL23]

I was also at the Rob Roy game and made a video on it. Met Sam there it was a great occasion.

[@JTB_FM]

Great vid mate

[@Choppy698]

Hiya Callum, there was talk of Workington Reds or Carlisle coming into the Scottish League, but Annan came in instead, I like watching Scottish football aswel as English, this is Choppy

[@1874WL]

My biggest take away from this video is that St Andrew's is apparently bigger than Broxburn.

[@CallumBlyth]

I do wonder how much of it is students

[@CallumBlyth]

I’ve just looked and St Andrews had 11k students last term. Obviously not all of them will live in St Andrews but that’s a big portion of the population

[@AlDuke14]

Is Broxburn even a town! Just lump it in with Craigshill and Livi and be done with it 😂😂😂

[@CallumBlyth]

@ just have the central belt as 1 big city. That’ll solve the issue

[@CrnaGorame]

​@AlDuke14 aye it is

[@David_Cri]

Ahem and somewhat sadly for some of us, Coatbridge which has a population of around 44,000 doesn't have an SPFL side at the moment. Albion Rovers were relegated from the league a couple of seasons ago after a whopping 120 years in the league and now play in the Lowland League.

[@CallumBlyth]

Under the criteria Coatbridge came under Coatbridge & Airdrie. But yes if Coatbridge was its own statistical area according to the ONS then they would be 4th.

[@petermackinnon7551]

Coatbridge is a town. What criteria would disclude Coatbridge from being a town.

[@petermackinnon7551]

Keep in mind you used the word town first, not me.

[@BrianHart-s2d]

The wee rovers will bounce back gaining promotions and eventually splitting the glesga teams up!

[@ryanlaird6447]

​@petermackinnon7551 he never included Coatbridge as it is connected to airdrie For example he used Bonnybridge in Falkirk because there is one road that splits camelon and Bonnybridge and he never used grangemouth because from larbert to grangemouth in Falkirk is one continuous area with no breaks in buildings and houses so is classed as Falkirk

[@jackcrawford3921]

I know this video is about Scottish football, but we have something similar here in England too - in that the city of Wakefield is the largest city in England not to have either a Premier League or EFL team.

[@CallumBlyth]

They barely have a football team as well. I think Wakefield Are down in the 8th/9th tier of the pyramid. Thing is Wakey is a rugby town and it’s right next to Leeds so difficult to get support.

[@sandynimmo1451]

Wakefield are a new club, only been around for around 3 or 4 seasons but are progressing quickly. I saw East Stirlingshire play them in Barnsley, during a pre season tour, which I believe was their first ever game.

[@CoolHandLuke-q1e]

They love Rugby League there .

[@jimmycburfield5997]

Magnificent video

[@CallumBlyth]

Thank you

[@scottd1885]

Tokyo and New York have to be up there

[@CallumBlyth]

Had to omit China otherwise it’s just Shanghai, Guangdong, Beijing etc. got to keep it interesting

[@magnusmcgee993]

10:34 To be fair, East Kilbride Thistle did win the Scottish Junior Cup. They languished and EKFC took the biscuit

[@CallumBlyth]

What could’ve been for them

[@mcglone70]

Ektfc are playing in junior football Ekfc are new and in the lowland league 2 completely different teams

[@Kinlochbervie50]

Great vid BUT i'm going to be that person to dispute your use of settlements instead of localities! i can't have that Musselburgh is rolled into Edinburgh and Rutherglen is packaged in with Glasgow. they both had burgh status! it probably made for a more interesting video tho! for those interested, here's the equivalent list for localities (associated settlement in brackets): 1) East Kilbride 2) Cumbernauld 3) Coatbridge (Coatbridge and Airdrie) 4) Glenrothes 5) Irvine 6) Rutherglen (Greater Glasgow) 7) Cambuslang (Greater Glasgow) 8) Wishaw (Motherwell and Wishaw) 9) Bearsden (Greater Glasgow) 10) Newton Mearns (Greater Glasgow)

[@CallumBlyth]

@@Kinlochbervie50 yeah when you put that list out and it’s basically just Glasgow you can see why I went for the settlement option

[@malcomkumar]

Being from Shetland, i have always been gutted that Shetland cannot enter a team into the SPFL league system. This is mainly due to the financial implications. Recently Guernsey joined the english pyramid system but had to commit to the cost of paying for the travel of the travelling team. This is something that would probably also be required by the spfl if shetland were to apply to enter the pyramid system in some form, most likely North Caledonian or Highland league. Orkney do compete in the NC league but the only competition Shetland enter is the Island games

[@CallumBlyth]

@@malcomkumar I think having a representative team for both Shetland and the Western Isles in the league would bring great if it becomes feasible

[@BALHAM69]

I would like to see Brechin city and East Kilbride in SPFL.😅 Nice watch as a viewer in England 😮

[@paulwilliammurphy1327]

Problem for East Kilbride is that everyone there supports either Celtic or Rangers due to the fact the town was built as an overspill for the east end of Glasgow in the 1950’s. The town’s football club will never get much of a following even if it was relatively successful

[@BALHAM69]

@@paulwilliammurphy1327 @ my previous comment didn’t upload you know, so i want Brechin out of HighLand League and never return to make HL more competitive for rest of teams. i see East Kilbride eventually going up because of their investment, last season they were unlucky not to play Clyde fc. Clyde who are fan owned, no stadium They are in a proper wee mess.

[@paulwilliammurphy1327]

@@BALHAM69East Kilbride will probably eventually get into the spfl in the near future.The local businessmen here are investing well in the club but their fan base will always be limited to a few hundred regardless of any success they have . There just isn’t the interest for a team as everyone in the town has always followed either Celtic or Rangers. That’s not going to change .

[@paulwilliammurphy1327]

@@BALHAM69Clyde are club with history and in the past they did have a proper following. Unfortunately that support has dwindled over the years and the club is in a bit of a mess .

[@BALHAM69]

@ makes sense, thank you for knowledge Paul

[@alanprior7650]

I would love to see Brechin City back in the league but once out,it is notoriously difficult to get back!

[@johngreenhorn8853]

3.50 thats the rosebank in Camelon.

[@loganclark1206]

Honorable mentions Fraserburgh 12k Inverurie 10k Both have teams in the highland league

[@marsdacreator]

Could u do a video about different countries as well with large cities/towns that dont have a football/big football team?

[@CallumBlyth]

I only cover Scottish football sorry, I’m sure there’s others out there that have done similar for their own nations

[@bipedalame]

The amount of expansion in EK towards actually connecting with suburban Glasgow will only take a few years

[@CallumBlyth]

Soon the central belt will converge into one city

[@GrahamMacdonald-w9o]

Having lived in a New Town most of my life, albeit after I emigrated to southern England, the planning authorities are quite hot in making sure that the New Towns don't merge into older established towns unless that was the original intention.

[@alanprior7650]

​@GrahamMacdonald-w9o I grew up in Portchester near Portsmouth but live in the US now. Portsmouth and Southampton will maybe soon be one huge conibation. A shame really but historically of course each part of London were villages or towns that swamped each other and Everton was just a village outside of Liverpool.

[@southcalder]

@@GrahamMacdonald-w9o Jackton is growing in two different directions, and isn’t far off joining Eaglesham to East Kilbride. They’ll probably never fill in the greenbelt between Eaglesham and East Kilbride, but it’s getting close to being just a 5 minute walk between them.

[@albertmiller2electricbooga897]

Just me or does the big Cumbernauld library look like a stadium? I was wondering if there was a horse track in the town that you were using for the pics

[@CallumBlyth]

It looks like something out of Chernobyl, fitting really

[@mclauc1999]

Ooo St Andrews just missed out on this list, would've been 11th!

[@CallumBlyth]

We need to turn St Andrews into an American college town with 60,000 students

[@neosgaming1]

I was surprised Coatbridge didn’t get a mention

[@ryanlaird6447]

Has a continuous area with airdrie so he would of classed it as airdrie he explained that with grangemouth as it shares a continuous area with Falkirk

[@pineyi]

Great video. I’ve always wondered why there’s not teams from any island populations with football teams. Shetland has a population of 23000, outer Hebrides have 26000, Orkney 22000 etc. If the Faroe Islands can have teams playing in Europa Conference Leagues, surely we have some decent players who can make up a team from the islands or are they just into Shinty etc instead?

[@CallumBlyth]

Orkney do have a team in the North Caledonian League which is a tier below the Highland league. The biggest issue here is transport links as you have to take a ferry to the islands where as the Faroes are connected with tunnels and bridges.

[@pineyi]

@ a rich investor ploughing money into Orkney FC would make a great away day to Kirkwall 😄

[@kevingoldie8825]

Gutted that Viewpark was not allowed as we would me massive :-)

[@CallumBlyth]

I hadn’t even heard of Viewpark before making this

[@FinbarBryson-vy4so]

Thorniewood United was The First Ground I Visited as a Kid!!! Sure Both Jinky and John Robertson( My Favourite Non-Celtic Player) are Both from Viewpark. :-)

[@GraemeSmith-u5f]

I'm had someone down south who was convinced Cumbernauld is in Glasgow because of the post code and would not accept it is North Lanarkshire, arguing with me even after telling him I was born there and still live there

[@CallumBlyth]

In that case Stornaway is a part of Inverness and half the highlands are Perth.

[@mcglone70]

Glasgow post code goes all the way to the top of loch Lomond .

[@MidnightGazebo]

_sad Rutherglen noises_

[@CallumBlyth]

You’re Weegies in denial, it’s ok to admit that

[@wasgzzak8837]

@@CallumBlythwe left them behind to rejoin our Lanarkshire ways

[@Capt_Goose08]

Isn't a sad Rutherglen noise just the sigh you make in the morning when you wake up and remember that you're in Rutherglen? 😂

[@wasgzzak8837]

@@Capt_Goose08 it’s no Cumbernauld

[@aldo5428]

It’s R’glen whits the matter wi’ you people, mon the Glens

[@bobbysmith6346]

Dunipace play in Denny at Westfield park FYI,

[@CallumBlyth]

Ah wasn’t sure on the boundaries, just assumed they played in Dunipace.

[@michaeloneill6453]

How about the top ten smallest population teams in the Scottish top four leagues

[@TouringCarsAndStuff]

I find it funny that until 2018/19 Berwick Rangers were in SPFL

[@CallumBlyth]

I do plan on looking at cross border teams (it’s not just Berwick)

[@TouringCarsAndStuff]

@ 👍

[@iankingsleys2818]

surely Bonnybridge, Denny and Dunipace are in the Greater Falkirk Co-Prosperity Sphere

[@ryanlaird6447]

Yeah they are but he is also technically right as there is only one road that separates camleon and Bonnybridge so technically are separated whereas he never included grangemouth as it has a continuous area with Falkirk and other villages and towns in the region

[@CallumBlyth]

Correct by technicality is my favourite kind of correct (it was also how the Office of National Statistics categorised them)

[@archiehendry-f6s]

We don’t have the population.There was a Brechin team.there was Lanark.Some towns should be joined to other towns especially in central Scotland.Put the two Dundees together,Inverness and Ross county.Ayr and Kilmarnock,Airdrie Stirling Albion,Falkirk Stenhousemuir,Morton St mirren. Reduce the whole Scottish and english leagues by joining areas.Also I fell that would improve the standard and our international teams would improve.

[@StevieScotty19]

I’m from Irvine and would love it if Irvine meadow had a professional team,

[@callumatkins6891]

Why do they have two teams ? Would do better as one team

[@soyneon1919]

obviously there will be no grangemouth, they have an spfl team that play in the championship

[@Twinplayz-tv4ir]

Can you do a video on Berwick Rangers

[@CallumBlyth]

I’ll add that to the ideas list

[@Twinplayz-tv4ir]

@CallumBlyth thanks it's my local club

[@aldhous]

Southend, Middlesbrough, Milton Keynes, Warrington.

[@CallumBlyth]

Beijing, Tokyo, Delhi, Mexico City

[@Lupi33z]

next season's edition will include Edinburgh 😄

[@he_football]

Do you think an expansion of the SPFL to more than 12 teams would aid the league?

[@CallumBlyth]

Absolutely, I reckon 3 leagues of 18 would be great and have everyone just play each other twice

[@CallumBlyth]

Anyway when’s the next video

[@he_football]

@@CallumBlyth I've been swamped. Hopefully I'll get back to work soon but the low views are really dampening my morale

[@CallumBlyth]

Ah that’s a real shame, your stuff is really good

[@he_football]

@CallumBlyth Thank you very much. I really appreciate that ❤️

[@ethancosh8333]

Cant believe the greatest town of Larkhall missed out, up the Larky Thistle

[@ThomasDonnelly1888]

Genuine question what larger settlement is Wishaw part of? as someone from North Lanarkshire I just view it as another Motherwell-esque town but 100% not motherwell, same for Bellshill.

[@CallumBlyth]

@@ThomasDonnelly1888 Wishaw is labelled under Motherwell, Bellshill I think was labelled under Hamilton

[@ThomasDonnelly1888]

@@CallumBlyth I appreciate this but who ever decided that is mental lol.

[@CallumBlyth]

Just checked, the settlement is called Motherwell & Wishaw which also includes Bellshill (I must’ve got it confused with Blantyre)

[@GrahamMacdonald-w9o]

I bought a book from the HMSO showing contiguous built up areas as per the 1981 census. The maps showed quite a few oddities right across Great Britain. One strange statistic I remember was that Ilkeston in Derbyshire was included as part of the Nottingham conurbation, because, if you go in a dog leg, Ilkeston is close to Beeston, which is close to Stapleford, which is close Clifton on the SW outskirts of Nottingham proper. Normally, the direct route from Ilkeston to Nottingham includes a slice of countryside which goes to the western suburbs of Nottingham.

[@ThomasDonnelly1888]

@@CallumBlyth I just find it fascinating how to me towns that are so similar can be on opposite ends of football, Motherwell, Hamilton, Airdrie, Coatbridge(Rovers) vs Wishaw, Bellshill(least they have Matt Busby) Uddingston, Cumbernauld

[@LoganGardyne]

What about Carnoustie with 10k pop with a team

[@CallumBlyth]

Carnoustie is too small to make this list but Carnoustie Panmure are in the Midlands League (Tier 6, just below the Highland League)

[@ShirtSquadapp]

I've never heard of half of these towns (sorry from a southern Englishman)

[@maryhinge4815]

Right and?

[@ShirtSquadapp]

​@maryhinge4815 no need to be butt hurt

[@maryhinge4815]

@@ShirtSquadapp hurt your maws butt

[@MarcNeilson1]

I mean I feel like we all know why a lot of these towns don't have bigger teams because the old firm ruined any chance of folk caring about their local teams to be glory hunters.

[@scottw.3258]

The Old Firm didn't do anything. People chose to support them.

[@paulwilliammurphy1327]

People in East Kilbride pretty much all came from Glasgows East end in the 1950’s to form the new town . They already supported Celtic or Rangers due to this being their local clubs . They then passed that on to their children. To claim they are glory hunters is nonsense.

[@nickwatson2167]

East Lothian , the only burgh of Scotland not to have a football team in any of the leagues

[@CallumBlyth]

@@nickwatson2167 The borders don’t have an SPFL team either

[@Deadbolt75]

26 seconds irvine harbour

[@mcbane11]

VALE OF LEVEN MENTIONED!!! 👹👹👹👹👹👹

[@huwgrossmith9555]

Gretna, Prestwick?

[@StevieScotty19]

Gretna had a professional team,Went bust,

[@huwgrossmith9555]

@StevieScotty19 so no SPFL side at the mo

[@CallumBlyth]

Gretna is a small town (about 4k) but have a team in the Lowland League, Prestwick is a part of Ayr

[@David-j4y9o]

Mon the Roy

[@CME1994]

How can East Kilbride be bigger than Inverness when Inverness has a population of 83k?

[@CallumBlyth]

Inverness is listed as having 63k people (Office for National Statistics)

[@IAMSTEVEBECAUSEJACKBLACK]

My team kelty is in league 1. But Cowdenbeath is bigger but is a non league side

[@CallumBlyth]

If someone was to ask me to name the 4 Fife sides in the SPFL I have to actively remember to not say Cowdenbeath. It’s weird not having them around.

[@IAMSTEVEBECAUSEJACKBLACK]

Because now it’s Kelty Hearts Raith Rovers Dunfermline Athletic And East Fife

[@ScotchNWry]

Sad day when the blue Brazil dropped out of the league. Those sides who ended up in the Lowland league struggle to bounce back.

[@IAMSTEVEBECAUSEJACKBLACK]

But kelty was BORN IN NON LEAGUE

[@ianmcilwraith4479]

'Mon the Ardeer

[@CallumBlyth]

Mon the local 🤝

[@braingers]

Where is Renfrew ?

[@CallumBlyth]

Comes under Greater Glasgow (Office for National Statistics choice not mine)

[@braingers]

@@CallumBlyth Renfrewshire is not Glasgow. but rules are rules I guess

[@BobSmith-rf3ph]

I mean the three towns & Irvine are no great surprise, 90% of the North Ayrshire population shares 3 brain cells between them & one can tell the point of origin of a denizen by the directions in which their eyes point in a resting state. But in all seriousness the reality is between Ayr & Killie, a third full time professional team wouldn't be viable, it's barely viable for those two!

[@92Markmcghee]

Coatbridge? Or is that monklands

[@CallumBlyth]

Came under Monklands for the criteria but by itself has about 45,000 so I think that would have it 5th behind Irvine

[@CallumBlyth]

Coatbridge & Airdrie was the settlement name on the list. If Airdrie can go under again then you’re on the list

[@GrahamMacdonald-w9o]

With Coatdyke in between them, there is not a lot of greenery between the western edge of Airdrie and the eastern edge of Coatbridge.

[@ColKilgour]

Mon the whitburn

[@frillhaus]

Number one: New Delhi

[@adampark4238]

Only watched to see wishy

[@CallumBlyth]

@@adampark4238 sorry to disappoint

[@ronmexico1874]

Abernocky.

[@iaindw1]

helensburgh

[@georgemorrison9280]

……and this is a bad thing ?

[@BadHorsie1]

East Kilbride is the biggest

[@CallumBlyth]

Whoah spoiler alert

[@BadHorsie1]

@CallumBlyth sorry I typed that 10 secs into the video as I'm from EK and know that's it's the 2nd largest town in Scotland and bigger than some of our cities

[@CallumBlyth]

@ any city smaller than EK should be reverted back to a town (I want Dunfermline off the list)

[@BadHorsie1]

@CallumBlyth Stirling, st Andrews

[@gothenburg83]

Largest town in Scotland without a SPFL team (I won't spoil the video) has probably one of the smallest grounds within the "non league" teams.

[@CallumBlyth]

@@gothenburg83 its main purpose is a training centre, I’d imagine the club have plans to build something in the event of promotion

[@gothenburg83]

@CallumBlyth hope so! Was there this season in the League Cup and it seems well to small.

[@drsteele]

Starting the Bonnybridge section with a shot of the canal in Camelon!! ffs, do proper research.

[@CallumBlyth]

I’ve been lied to by the people of Google images. My apologies to the fine people of Bonnybridge

[@johngreenhorn8853]

Aye I posted the same thing before I seen your post.

[@southcalder]

@@CallumBlyth I’ve cycled often from the Wheel to Glasgow and was wondering where the heck that photo was. Never went east from the wheel, so makes sense.

[@TheUniversalGamer87]

Grangemouth is part of the Town of Falkirk, so this video is already a failure 😂 also Bonnybridge and denny also part of Falkirk so is cemlon and Bo'ness am sure in the video 😂 guess u stil count them even though there all part of Falkirk 😂

[@CallumBlyth]

Falkirk council area and Falkirk town aren’t the same thing

[@maconescotland8996]

@@CallumBlyth Exactly. Not forgetting that Falkirk (the town) had two clubs for many years.

[@johngreenhorn8853]

Aye and at 3.50 mins when he mentions Bonnybridge it's the Rosebank in Kemlin.

[@maconescotland8996]

@@johngreenhorn8853 Indeed, along the canalside in Camelon. Some geographical goofs here !!!

[@ryanlaird6447]

@TheUniversalGamer87 he is including the continuous area of places Example you could walk from camelon to grangemouth without seeing a road yo separate any towns or villages In the video there is one road that clearly separates camelon and Bonnybridge hence why it not part of the expanded Falkirk list whereas grangemouth is

[@bobbymcculloch2451]

Better without an Spfl club as the Spfl and sfa are corrupted with biased to one team in particular. A stonewall sending off at Kilmarnock yesterday and once again the referee turned his back And no var. etc etc etc