Edinburgh City FC - The Rise of Edinburgh's Forgotten Club
Edinburgh City FC - The Rise of Edinburgh's Forgotten Club
When football in Edinburgh springs to mind, you cant help think about Hibernian and Hearts.
They share a cracker of a derby and are very distinguished sides steeped in history.
Hibernian based at Easter Road, dramatically beat Rangers 3-2 in the 2016 Scottish Cup final thanks to a David Gray injury time winner. The last major trophy triumph by a team in the capital. When thinking about Hibs, several scenes in Trainspotting and the late George Best spring to mind.
Their rivals Hearts based at Tynecastle, nearly won the Uefa Cup in 1989. They were narrowly defeated 2-1 against European giants, Bayern Munich. Between 2004 and 2014 they were owned by and took into administration by Russian-Lithuanian Valdimir Romanov. The Club survived their financial woes and are now back on an even footing.
On the rise is their little neighbour Edinburgh City, who mean business. They are on the rise.
A few weeks ago, I watched Edinburgh claim a 2-1 away victory against Annan Athletic at Galabank. They were well drilled, looked safe at the back and had plenty of goal threat up top. They'll currently spend Christmas 2018 at the summit of Scottish League Two and are bang in form.
Earlier this year the club re-branded and launched a new club crest. The new crest showcasing Edinburgh Castle and their original year of formation in 1928. The original incarnation of the club ceased in 1955. A club called 'Postal FC' was born in 1966 and eventually gained rights to the name in 1986. After losing out on Two applications to join the Scottish Professional Football League in 2002 and 2008, they finally gained access to the Fourth tier of Scottish football after beating East Stirlingshire in a two legged playoff in 2016. To gain access to the playoff they also won the Lowland League in the same season.
Off-field the club are stable and community focused. They are currently playing at Ainslie Park, home of Spartans who are also based in Edinburgh playing in the Lowland League. Spartans are the current Champions in the division. They are groundsharing while their permanent home Meadowbank Stadium is being redeveloped in partnership with Edinburgh Council. The 'Citizens' secured the move to Meadowbank in 1996 after Meadowbank Thistle changed its name to Livingston FC and relocated.
On the field the club is flourishing. They currently have the league's leading goalscorer Blair Henderson who scored his 25th goal of the season this weekend against Cowdenbeath. They snapped up Henderson from League Two rivals Annan Athletic. As well as having attacking prowess they are rock solid at the back also. Defender, Conrad Balatoni has been majorly impressive and instrumental this season after signing from English National League side Torquay United. Club captain Josh Walker, has brought back his experience of playing abroad in the Indian Super League for Bengaluru. Walker who was a product of Middlesbrough's youth academy is Edinburgh's lynch-pin in midfield.
In 1990 former Hearts chairman Wallace Mercer had an audacious takeover bid of rivals Hibernian quashed. This takeover would have united the Edinburgh giants together and created a 'superclub' that all of the people in the capital could of got behind. Nearly 30 years later there is now a club that the whole city can be proud of and support. Hearts and Hibernian are usually separated by a traditional christian sectarian divide. Edinburgh City FC are a blank canvas, growing in size and stature and in another decade or so could be challenging their city neighbours.
Current Edinburgh manager James McDonagh, told local press at the beginning of the season, "We really want to make people aware that there is a Third team in Edinburgh, We’re not asking people to come along every Saturday but we just want to show fans that we can play good football. We would just like to reach out to some of those fans when their teams are away from home to come and watch Edinburgh City instead.” As the team's form continues to grow this season and a very probable promotion beckons, I'm sure that there will be more going through the turnstiles to watch the rise of the Citizens.
Next up for Edinburgh is an away trip to promotion rivals Cylde. At the moment Edinburgh have a Five point gap to Second place Peterhead and a Ten point cushion to Cylde. Keep your eye out for the Scottish capital's 'Third' club, the future is bright.
When football in Edinburgh springs to mind, you cant help think about Hibernian and Hearts.
They share a cracker of a derby and are very distinguished sides steeped in history.
Hibernian based at Easter Road, dramatically beat Rangers 3-2 in the 2016 Scottish Cup final thanks to a David Gray injury time winner. The last major trophy triumph by a team in the capital. When thinking about Hibs, several scenes in Trainspotting and the late George Best spring to mind.
Their rivals Hearts based at Tynecastle, nearly won the Uefa Cup in 1989. They were narrowly defeated 2-1 against European giants, Bayern Munich. Between 2004 and 2014 they were owned by and took into administration by Russian-Lithuanian Valdimir Romanov. The Club survived their financial woes and are now back on an even footing.
On the rise is their little neighbour Edinburgh City, who mean business. They are on the rise.
A few weeks ago, I watched Edinburgh claim a 2-1 away victory against Annan Athletic at Galabank. They were well drilled, looked safe at the back and had plenty of goal threat up top. They'll currently spend Christmas 2018 at the summit of Scottish League Two and are bang in form.
Earlier this year the club re-branded and launched a new club crest. The new crest showcasing Edinburgh Castle and their original year of formation in 1928. The original incarnation of the club ceased in 1955. A club called 'Postal FC' was born in 1966 and eventually gained rights to the name in 1986. After losing out on Two applications to join the Scottish Professional Football League in 2002 and 2008, they finally gained access to the Fourth tier of Scottish football after beating East Stirlingshire in a two legged playoff in 2016. To gain access to the playoff they also won the Lowland League in the same season.
Off-field the club are stable and community focused. They are currently playing at Ainslie Park, home of Spartans who are also based in Edinburgh playing in the Lowland League. Spartans are the current Champions in the division. They are groundsharing while their permanent home Meadowbank Stadium is being redeveloped in partnership with Edinburgh Council. The 'Citizens' secured the move to Meadowbank in 1996 after Meadowbank Thistle changed its name to Livingston FC and relocated.
On the field the club is flourishing. They currently have the league's leading goalscorer Blair Henderson who scored his 25th goal of the season this weekend against Cowdenbeath. They snapped up Henderson from League Two rivals Annan Athletic. As well as having attacking prowess they are rock solid at the back also. Defender, Conrad Balatoni has been majorly impressive and instrumental this season after signing from English National League side Torquay United. Club captain Josh Walker, has brought back his experience of playing abroad in the Indian Super League for Bengaluru. Walker who was a product of Middlesbrough's youth academy is Edinburgh's lynch-pin in midfield.
In 1990 former Hearts chairman Wallace Mercer had an audacious takeover bid of rivals Hibernian quashed. This takeover would have united the Edinburgh giants together and created a 'superclub' that all of the people in the capital could of got behind. Nearly 30 years later there is now a club that the whole city can be proud of and support. Hearts and Hibernian are usually separated by a traditional christian sectarian divide. Edinburgh City FC are a blank canvas, growing in size and stature and in another decade or so could be challenging their city neighbours.
Current Edinburgh manager James McDonagh, told local press at the beginning of the season, "We really want to make people aware that there is a Third team in Edinburgh, We’re not asking people to come along every Saturday but we just want to show fans that we can play good football. We would just like to reach out to some of those fans when their teams are away from home to come and watch Edinburgh City instead.” As the team's form continues to grow this season and a very probable promotion beckons, I'm sure that there will be more going through the turnstiles to watch the rise of the Citizens.
Next up for Edinburgh is an away trip to promotion rivals Cylde. At the moment Edinburgh have a Five point gap to Second place Peterhead and a Ten point cushion to Cylde. Keep your eye out for the Scottish capital's 'Third' club, the future is bright.
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