CLUB
PROFILE
With over 220
registered boys and
girls, represented in
teams from under 8s
to under 17s level,
Wishaw Wycombe Wanderers are
currently one of the largest juvenile
clubs in the country. Founded in
1994, John Stewart and Charlie
Sullivan set out to build a club with
the intention of getting kids off
the streets and onto the football
pitch. The club has since grown and
has been attracting players from
the surrounding areas of Schoots,
Wishaw, Carluke, Lanark and
Motherwell.
The future of Wishaw looked bleak
at the beginning of the 1990’s. Work
was hard to come by and the town
was facing economic hardships due
in most part to the closing down of
Ravenscraig Steelworks, which at
the time of its closure was one of the
largest steel mills in Western Europe.
However, amidst this uncertainty
Stewart and Sullivan went on to
establish what is now an integral part
of the community and something for
the town to be proud of in the form
of Wishaw Wycombe Wanderers
Football Club.
With Wishaw’s 1984 and 1985
gaining a great deal of success in the
club’s early days, winning numerous
league and cup titles, local man
Graham Murdoch set about to add
another team of young players. Under
his tenure, this Wishaw side went on
to claim the Lanarkshire League title
as well as a cup trophy.
Another pivotal moment in the
club’s history came when Mary and
John McCann joined the Wishaw
Wycombe Wanderers committee.
Through their involvement, the club
opened itself up to youngsters aged
under eight, as seven aside football
was introduced for the first time.
In 2012, Wishaw’s 2004 side
competed in the Scottish Sun Soccer
Sevens Festival, in which ex Wales
and Celtic striker John Hartson was
in attendance. The club has gone
from strength to strength over the
years and can boast a number of
former players who have gone one to
represent top professional clubs. The
likes of Dundalk’s James Keatings,
Partick Thistle’s Stephen O’Donne