[2] This allowed Airdrie United to take Clydebank's place in the Scottish Second Division.
The motivation behind the move was to create a replacement team for the original Airdrieonians club, who had gone out of business earlier that year due to crippling debts.
[3][4] Ballantyne had first attempted to gain entry to the Scottish Football League by applying for the place created when the original Airdrieonians closed, but Gretna were accepted instead.
[5] Ballantyne sold control of Airdrieonians to west of Scotland businessman Tom Wotherspoon in June 2015 and took up the role of vice-chairman at the club.
[6] In June 2017 Tom Wotherspoon stepped down as chairman and director of Airdrie FC with Ballantyne taking up his previous role as chairman until Jan 2018 when the club was sold to a consortium of local businessmen.