Clydebank chair Grace McGibbon has hailed Friday as her proudest day as a Bankies fan after the club announced that their application to become a full member of the Scottish Football Association (SFA) will be approved.

The club has met all the relevant licensing and paperwork requirements needed to secure full Scottish FA membership – a move which will be ratified at the association’s AGM on June 20.

Becoming an SFA member allows the club to participate in the Scottish Cup from next season and progress to the Lowland League and then the SPFL setup, onfield results and performances permitting.

The news comes almost exactly 19 years on from the Bankies’ last match in the senior Scottish league set-up – a 2-1 loss to Berwick Rangers at Cappielow in front of just 209 paying punters on April 27, 2002 – and follows years of steady progress through the junior ranks before the club joined the new West of Scotland League last year.

Lifelong Bankie McGibbon has been at the forefront of getting her team back to where they belong after the devastation felt by many Bankies when the club was bought and moved to North Lanarkshire to become Airdrie United just a few weeks after that Berwick fixture – and hailed the local community for their efforts in backing the club since those dark days.

Speaking exclusively to the Post, she said: “Friday is the proudest day that I’ve ever felt being a Clydebank fan.

“There’s been some great experiences over the years, but to actually be part of filling in paperwork and getting things done at the ground, then for that day to come, which all the fans have wanted for 19 years, and to get us recognised – I don’t think I’ve ever felt prouder.

“It’s a recognition of where we feel we should be in the realms of Scottish football.

“We’ve battered on about rebirth for 19 years, and about how just because your club gets the dirty done on it, it’s not the end – and we’ve now proven that.

“We’ve gone through the junior setup, joined the new West of Scotland League, we’re part of the pyramid system.

“Now we’re being recognised again by the SFA and all of that has happened in a relatively short period of time.

“From other clubs’ points of view, you have to look at that and think that if something goes wrong at your club, it most definitely is not the end.

“We’ve managed through this with our local, home grown fans, local communities and our sponsors which are all local businesses.

“This has all been done in the West Dunbartonshire area. It can be done.”

First-team manager Gordon Moffat took to social media to hail those who have made it possible.

He tweeted: “An incredible amount of work has went into this by a large number of people and it has been terrific leadership by @McgibbonGrace to get us over the line, delighted for our club!”