# Edinburgh City F.C.

Edinburgh City Football Club is a semi-professional senior Scottish football club which plays in Scottish League Two, the fourth tier of the Scottish Professional Football League. The club play at Meadowbank Stadium, returning to the rebuilt stadium in 2022 after five years at Ainslie Park.
A club known as Edinburgh City was first formed in 1928. It participated in the Scottish Football League in the 1930s and 1940s, but unfortunately went out of business in the 1950s. The present club adopted the Edinburgh City name in 1986. It applied to join the Scottish Football League in 2002 and 2008, but failed to win election on both occasions with Gretna and Annan Athletic being favoured at time. Edinburgh City became members of the new Lowland League in 2013 and went on to win the Lowland League championship in 2015 and 2016, and won promotion to Scottish Professional Football League in 2016.
In 2022, Edinburgh City were promoted to reach Scottish League One for the first time in club's history after winning 3–2 in the play-off final against Annan Athletic. Following this promotion, on 16 June 2022 the club controversially rebranded, changing its name from Edinburgh City Football Club to Football Club of Edinburgh and unveiling a new badge without any supporter consultation. Following the sale of the football club to John Dickson in 2023, the club successfully applied to the Scottish Football Association to return to the Edinburgh City name.

## History
### Foundation and history (1928–2016)

The original Edinburgh City was founded in 1928 and the club adopted amateur status, with the aim of becoming the Edinburgh equivalent of Glasgow club Queen's Park. Edinburgh City joined the Scottish Football League in 1931. The club played in the Lothian Amateur League during the Second World War and were only admitted to the C Division in 1946; by then the club had adopted professional status. After three more years of struggle, the club left the Scottish Football League in 1949. It switched to junior status and played in the Edinburgh & District Junior League. The club ceased activity completely in 1955 when the local council refused to renew its lease on its home ground, City Park.
A club called Postal United F.C. was founded in 1966 and joined the East of Scotland League. Their best league finish was third in 1985–86, having won the Qualifying Cup in 1982–83 and King Cup in 1984–85.
The Edinburgh City Football Club Ltd., which had continued trading as a social club since the football club stopped playing, gave their approval in 1986 for Postal United to use the Edinburgh City F.C. name. The club has participated in the Scottish Cup since the mid-1990s, when it became a full member of the Scottish Football Association. In the 1997–98 Scottish Cup they defeated SFL club East Stirlingshire, before losing 7–2 to Dunfermline Athletic, then of the Premier Division.
The club applied to join the Scottish Football League in 2002 after Airdrieonians had gone bankrupt, but Gretna won the vote instead. Edinburgh City applied again following Gretna's liquidation in 2008, but this time lost out to Annan Athletic.
Edinburgh City won the East of Scotland Football League Premier Division title for the first time in the 2005–06 season and became members of the new Lowland League in 2013. They went on to win the Lowland League title in 2014–15 and 2015–16 under the management of Gary Jardine. They then gained promotion to the Scottish Professional Football League by defeating East Stirlingshire in the play-offs with a penalty four minutes from time, converted by Dougie Gair.

### Promotion to the SPFL (2016–2022)

The victory over East Stirling meant it was the first time a non-league club had been promoted to the professional league using the newly established 'pyramid' system below the SPFL. A real history making moment for the club.
Edinburgh City finished in seventh place during their first Scottish League Two season, 2016–17. Under James McDonaugh they avoided the relegation play-offs in 2018, finishing eight points ahead of bottom placed Cowdenbeath. They fared better in 2018–19 following investment from Tom Tracy, finishing third and qualifying for the League One promotion play-offs. However, they were knocked out by Clyde in the play-off semi-finals, losing 4–0 over two legs.
Edinburgh City sat second in the table after 27 games when the truncated 2019–20 season was brought to an early finish in April 2020. In the 2020–21 Scottish League Two season, a limited number of fixtures were played due to the COVID-19 pandemic. City again found themselves in the play-offs after a second place league finish on goal difference. In the play-off final against League One opponents Dumbarton, City would experience play-off disappointment again losing 3–2 on aggregate.
Finally, after finishing 4th in the 2021–22 season following the appointment of Alan Maybury, Edinburgh City navigated the League One play-offs and earned promotion to Scottish League One against Annan Athletic to the 3rd tier in Scottish football for the first time in their history. They won the tie on aggregate 3–2, and Innes Murray's long range strike at Galabank Stadium sparked scenes of joy on the pitch at full time.

### 'FC Edinburgh' rebrand and League One (2022–2024)

Within weeks of Edinburgh City's successful promotion in June 2022, club owner Tom Tracy and the board changed their name to FC Edinburgh. They no longer felt the 1986 permission from the Edinburgh City social club to use the name was sufficient, and wished to own the club name outright. When the social club refused to surrender the name, Edinburgh City became "Football Club of Edinburgh". The change was made with no prior consultation with the supporters and was a deeply unpopular decision. The club clarified in October 2022 that it should be known as Edinburgh, rather than the full name of 'FC Edinburgh', in an attempt to ease frustration. Edinburgh would go on to finish a respectable 6th place in League One, despite the off pitch turmoil.
In June 2023 it was announced that ownership would be transferred from Tom Tracy to a fan based consortium led by John Dickson. It was also announced the club would revert to being Edinburgh City pending SFA approval. With the supporters playing their part in influencing the SFA decision, in June 2023, approval was confirmed.
Due to limited time and resources available following the takeover, Edinburgh City would endure a challenging 2023–24 campaign and encounter financial difficulties midway through the season. Michael McIndoe was appointed head coach following the departure of Alan Maybury, but shortly after the club were penalised six points for failing to pay their players on time and many moved on as a consequence. This left a squad made up of youth players and loan signings to play out the remainder of the season. City were relegated back to League Two after a 5–2 defeat to Alloa Athletic on 16 March 2024.

### 'Back to the City' and return to League Two (2024–present)

After an initial challenge to obtain a required 'Bronze Licence' due to changing criteria, and being tipped as favourites to finish bottom of League Two, Edinburgh City enjoyed a successful season. Michael McIndoe and his coaches had the team playing an exciting style of attacking football. City pulled off back-to-back home victories over local rivals and former landlords, Spartans. In the first ever meeting between the teams in the SPFL era, a Connor Young brace gave City a 2–0 win at Meadowbank Stadium. This was followed up with a 5–0 hammering in one of the most memorable results in Edinburgh City's recent history.

## Badge and colours

The club crest has always contained a castle in reference to the historic Edinburgh Castle in the City centre.
The club colours are white shirts and black shorts, although there have been variations.
Postal United F.C. played in all-red, but switched to the traditional colours when it adopted the Edinburgh City identity in 1986.
In recent seasons, the club has adopted all black as an alternative and launched an all black limited edition strip trimmed with gold for the 2024–25 season.

## Stadium

Edinburgh City have called several locations home throughout their history and currently play their home fixtures at Meadowbank Stadium.
The original club played its home matches at Powderhall Stadium and City Park during its time in the Scottish Football League.
The present club initially played their home fixtures at the Saughton Enclosure, which is now home to Lothian Thistle Hutchison Vale, before switching to Paties Road, where Edinburgh United currently play.
Edinburgh City then moved to City Park and then Fernieside. They then moved to Meadowbank Stadium, which had been vacated by the move of Meadowbank Thistle to Livingston in 1996. The club gained some additional supporters due to many Meadowbank Thistle fans opting to support a local team instead of the relocated club.
In February 2013, the City of Edinburgh Council started a new consultation process about the future of Meadowbank Stadium. Three options for redeveloping Meadowbank were put forward for consideration by Edinburgh Council in December 2013. A planned design was made public in November 2016 and work began after the 2016–17 season ended.
Edinburgh City reached an agreement with Spartans to use their Ainslie Park ground for three seasons while Meadowbank was redeveloped. The club announced in March 2021 that they would return to Meadowbank for the 2021–22 season, with the ground now having a 4G artificial playing surface and a 500-seat stand. Due to construction delays because of the COVID-19 pandemic, the club remained at Ainslie Park for the 2021–22 season.
City eventually returned to the re-developed Meadowbank Stadium in July 2022 in a League Cup match against Arbroath.

## Rivalry

In the 1990's Edinburgh City supporters regarded Whitehill Welfare as their closest rivals. The games were always competitive and not without incident. However the sides have rarely met in recent years due to being at different levels within the pyramid system.
Edinburgh City's main rivals are north Edinburgh club, Spartans. The two sides compete in the 'Edinburgh Derby' which became closely contested following the formation of the Lowland League. When City won the 2015–16 Lowland Football League and gained promotion, Spartans finished runner's up.
With Edinburgh City becoming tenants of Spartans at Ainslie Park for several years following the re-development of Meadowbank Stadium, some tension began to surface between the clubs during this period.
Following Edinburgh City's change of ownership in June 2023, previous owner Tom Tracy claimed a proposed merger was close to being agreed between the clubs when he initially looked to sell it which would see the merged entity play at Ainslie Park. With Spartans gaining promotion from the Lowland League that same year, and Edinburgh City being relegated to League Two a year later, the derby was revived. City won the first ever SPFL meeting between the sides 2–0 at Meadowbank in October 2024.

## Notable players

Former Scotland internationalists Craig Beattie and Derek Riordan both played up front for Edinburgh City in the twilight of their careers. Riordan scored City's last goal at the old Meadowbank Stadium prior to its re-development in a 1–0 over Stirling Albion on 29th April 2017.
Current Scotland international defender Ryan Porteous was loaned to the club as a youngster from Hibernian for the 2016–17 season.

## First-team squad

    As of 3 February 2025
Note: Flags indicate national team as defined under FIFA eligibility rules; some limited exceptions apply. Players may hold more than one non-FIFA nationality.
| No. | Pos. | Nation | Player |
| 1 | GK | SCO | Mark Weir |
| 2 | DF | SCO | Sam Gormley |
| 3 | DF | SCO | Quinn Mitchell |
| 4 | MF | SCO | Jon Robertson (captain) |
| 5 | DF | SCO | Lewis McArthur |
| 6 | DF | SCO | Edin Lynch (vice-captain) |
| 7 | MF | SCO | James Stokes |
| 8 | MF | SCO | Sam Jones |
| 10 | MF | SCO | Jason Jarvis |
| 11 | MF | SCO | Innes Lawson |
| No. | Pos. | Nation | Player |
| 12 | GK | SCO | Dean Beveridge |
| 15 | MF | SCO | Shea Scally |
| 19 | DF | SCO | Callum Pitt |
| 20 | MF | SCO | Robbie Hamilton |
| 21 | MF | SCO | Dylan Wells (on loan from Motherwell) |
| 23 | DF | SCO | Josh Grigor |
| 24 | MF | LBY | Malik Zaid (on loan from Hibernian) |
| 25 | FW | SCO | Tiwi Daramola |
| 33 | FW | SCO | Ouzy See |

## Coaching staff

| Position | Name |
| Manager | Michael McIndoe |
| Assistant manager | Kirk Crichton |
| Goalkeeping coach | Sean Coyle |
| Head of youth development | Adam Cairnie |

## Managers

* Gary Jardine (2010 – 30 September 2017)
* James McDonaugh (10 October 2017 – 7 March 2021)
* Gary Naysmith (9 March 2021 – 17 March 2022)
* Alan Maybury (24 March 2022 – 3 October 2023)
* Michael McIndoe (9 October 2023 – present)

## Hall of Fame

In 2024, Edinburgh City opened a Hall of Fame to honour those who have cemented their place as part of the club's history. Those inducted were:
* Alick Milne (Director and programme editor)
* James Lumsden (Former Chairman)
* Dougie Gair

## Honours

* Scottish League Two
** Runners-up (2): 2019–20, 2020–21
* Lowland Football League
** Winners (2): 2014–15, 2015–16
* East of Scotland Football League
** Winners: 2005–06
** Runners-up: 2003–04
* East of Scotland Football League First Division
** Winners: 1995–96
** Runners-up: 1989–90
* SFA South Region Challenge Cup
** Runners-up (3): 2007–08, 2010–11, 2015–16
* East of Scotland League Cup
** Winners (3): 1992–93, 2001–02, 2012–13
** Runners-up (4): 2000–01, 2003–04, 2004–05, 2011–12
* King Cup
** Winners (2): 1998–99, 1999–00
** Runners-up: 2004–05