Picture the scene…
It is the 2016/17 SPFL Season.
Scottish Cup.
High up in the dilapidated Meadowbank Main Stand, two young lads sit beside one another, freezing their skinny arses off.
They have just been put in student halls together.
No previous history.
No mutual connections.
Will we even like each other?
How to break the ice?
Across town to watch your local League Two team of course!
“So, eh, how long you been in Edinburgh mate?”
“Oh a couple years now, I moved down from Aberdeen to study here.”
“Ah.. I see I see.”
“Aye… pretty chilly eh?”
“Yup, sure is.”
“See this is the first year Edinburgh City have played at this level.”
“Yeah, I did actually, that Ouzy See boy looks no bad up front.”
“Aye but he’s getting no service, look how narrow the wide men are.”
“Agreed but a team like City, playing against better opposition here, need to be compact like that, give nothing away in the centre.”
“You could also argue that playing like that limits opportunities for the goal scorers? Scoring goals is what will win them the tie in the end”
“Of course but they can’t afford to open up, East Fife will just pick them off no bother.”
Suddenly, the one of the lad’s has a moment.
Has this guy just gone toe to toe with me in a football discussion and WON??
He’s making me question my own points… and I fuckin’ LOVE IT!
Have I found the Hulk to my Hogan? The Taylor to my Clough?
The James to my McFadden??
GOAL SCORED FOR EAST FIFE NUMBER 5 CHRIS KANE…
“Aw shite.”
“See Mikey a told you mate a told you.”
“Aye… suppose you were right Aaron..”
And THAT, ladies and gentlemen, boys and girls, might just be the first ever football chat that your humble Terrace Touring duo ever had. Complimenting each other and giving everyone a headache, just like a fine wine, ever since.
Or something along those lines.
Even so, the point remains that Edinburgh City hold a special place in both Mikey and Aaron’s Jabulani shaped hearts. As two newly acquainted shit-scared teenagers, (all of two years ago) we bonded over our obsession with the Beautiful Game, a hankering for juicy pints and a love of Scottish Football teams. What a result having the SPFL’s newest member right on our doorstep.
Edinburgh City.
With Aaron as a diehard Hibee and Mikey being a Sheepshagging Slut, The Citizens were of course the obvious choice for us to neutrally throw our support into. By ‘throw our support into’ I mean we went to a grand total of two games that season but what the heck it was a glorious time, where the Tour showed it’s first ever glimmer of potential.
Two years on, we made the decision to finally write a ‘Match Programme’ on Edinburgh’s Black & White stepson, trying to cop-a-feel the inner workings of a club that nobody really know’s that much about, or seems to care that much about. At last, we would revisit the team we had once clicked over all those moons ago and take the arduous 25 minute bus to Ainslie Park from our cave in Leith.
Okay it’s not a mega journey but Mikey was working until 12 that day, so if you’re not happy RAM IT.
Joking aside, it really was time to put this puppy to bed – one we thought would be a tough Tour given the size of the club and their ‘newcomer status’. They don’t have a shiny trophy cabinet to brag about or even their own ground anymore.
Does anyone really FULLY support Edinburgh City?
Who the feck knows we thought? Can’t knock it till you try it.
Cranking out a £1.70 fee to step on to the Number 21 bus put us on our way to Ainslie Park, home of Edinburgh City F.C. – a ground they had recently moved to from Meadowbank – sharing with city rivals Spartans. Forced into the groundshare due to refurbishments at their old ground, Edinburgh City would surely be looking for a new place to settle soon? That’s a question for Alick Milne, one of the Club Directors to answer, interview with him to follow later.
Edinburgh City themselves are a relatively new club in Scottish Football standards, forming in the 1966 under the name Postal United after the old club had sadly passed away in 1955. The Postmen took the name of Edinburgh City in 1986 after the Edinburgh City Social Club approved of it, so cheers lads.
Before entering the league, Edinburgh City claimed an SPFL scalp in 1997/98 defeating East Stirlingshire – knocking them out of the most wonderful sports competition on Planet Earth – the Scottish Cup. As if almost foreshadowing the clubs biggest achievement to date, it was also East Stirlingshire who were the victims again, when The Citizens relegated them in the playoff process. Sealing the win with a late penalty, the Edinburgh side were finally given a chance to rumble with Scotland’s hardest 42, becoming the first team to come up through the new SPFL pyramid system. Something we can only see as a great addition to the league structure at Tour of the Terraces.
Getting off the Clovenstone bound 21 at Ferry Road (Edinburgh’s longest road) we had a short 10 minute walk to the entrance of Ainslie Park, situated right beside a Leisure Centre we walked to the gates and were let into the car park by a simpleton steward.
Arriving at the entrance to Ainslie Park there was not much around to tell us that we had arrived at the home of Edinburgh City FC. Spartan’s symbolism and badges instead adorned the modern astro-turf ground, which was of course gutting to see, always fully up to support the Football Club we Tour. What Edinburgh City fan wants to come to a home fixture and see no evidence that he is at a home game? Barring the Edinburgh City v Stirling Albion flyer plastered proudly on the outside of the turnstile of course.
Hovering about outside, we met the gentleman who we had spoken to at the Club. The previously mentioned Alick Milne, one of City’s Directors. He came out and spoke to us while preparing tickets for the turnstile at the game, which shows you the level that even the Directors operate at in the Club, working in the boardroom and getting his hands dirty too, love it.
We talked to him about what it is like to be included running this humble new addition to the Edinburgh footy scene and Scottish Football scene. The conversation we had is detailed below.
Q1. What are your ambitions for the upcoming season?
A: “I think the realistic goal is the playoffs but at least mid-table,” predicted the Director. He went on “Traditionally we start poor and improve as the season goes on, the standard in League 2 the stakes have never been so high – there’s a desperation and concentration to stay in the League.” Clear to see how much being in the League meant to them.
Q2. The way the club has started this season in comparison to last, is a million miles away. Why has the club improved and what is the difference?
A: “Well one thing is that we’ve had a change in manager, I don’t want to be critical of Gary Jardine [the previous manager] because he took us very far.” Possibly insinuating that Mr Jardine could not take the club any further? Alick continued, “You’ve got to think, how can you make the club better? I think we’ve done that.” The Club Director carried on, “We had some loan players that we’ve kept in and brought in players who’ve played at this level or above.”
Q3. How do you compete in Scotland’s Capital when it is so dominated by Hibs and Hearts?
A: “We’ve got supporters who are regulars now, we even have people travelling to away games now – we get 40 or 50 people at away games, where back in the day we would only get that at home games.” Continuing on as to why he thought this was, Alick stated, “people were curious, they have now stayed and started supporting us. Just like me I was a Celtic fan but I’ve got no connection with Glasgow – I’m an Edinburgh City fan.”
Q4. Surely the club has to think about relocating in the future to a more permanent home than Ainslie Park?
A: “We’re not going to be here forever,” stated Alick. “Meadowbank is not guaranteed but we would obviously look to go back there.”
Q5. It is the 2020/21 Season and wherever you are playing is abuzz with black & white hats and scarves, here to see the City.
A: “We want to go up further, there’s no reason Edinburgh’s 3rd team shouldn’t be up there, look at teams like Gretna or even Cowdenbeath that have done it.” Alick’s confident optimism continued “I don’t think we’ll be in the Premiership then… hopefully League 1, pushing towards the Championship.”
Q6. What’s the score gonna be today?
“I reckon we’ll win 2-1,” said a convinced Alick.
Clearly a very optimistic interview from one of the Club’s Directors, before the experienced gent strolled back into the turnstile booth getting the ticket stubs ready for City’s League 2 clash against League veterans Stirling Albion. We tried to slope off the other way into the ground, sneakily hoping that we had wormed our way in for free.
Sadly, this was not to be, as the keen eyed Alick pulled us back and asked for our £6 Concession fee. Not too shabby in fairness, the club has to do what it must to make SOME kind of money eh!
Even if that is from scaffy faux-journalists like ourselves.
Climbing the steel steps into the main building at Ainslie Park, we were rewarded with a pre-match boozer and a good hour of snooping around, tanning pints as we go. Arriving in the bar it very much replicated the same feel around the rest of Ainslie Park, lacking any real identity.
Whilst it is hard to be too critical of Edinburgh City for lacking imagery in their temporary home, there was not much to Ainslie Park in all honesty. The only scarves on the wall were the red of Spartans, there was strangely even a Dons top, although Mikey is not complaining about that one. In reality though it was sad not to see Edinburgh City being represented in any real capacity in their home ground and let’s not even talk about the fucking rugby top that was framed in the corridor.
Sinking our beverages, we had seen enough of the inside of Ainslie Park. Heading down pitchside to get ourselves more in the City mood, we did find ourselves among fans of both the Black & White and the Bino’s.
In fairness to them, City had a club shop at least, selling replica jersey’s for £40 a pop, which in the modern game is what must be done for a football team to survive we suppose. With the game approaching kick-off and the singular stand at Ainslie Park beginning to look cosy, we made our way towards our seats, where we found the perfect candidate for our Fan Interview.
We spoke to a middle aged bloke named Steven for a couple of minutes before the whistle. A man who told us he was here to see the City and nobody else, not Celtic, Rangers, Hibs or Hearts but the Citizens alone. Perfect candidate we thought.
The interview we had with him is detailed below;
Q1. What do you think should be the goal for City this season around?
A: Steven stated that City should, “be looking to cement themselves at least a mid-table finish this season round.” He went on to note that he saw earlier that “City are second favourites to win the league this season with Ladbrokes.” He continued on by speaking about the players, “it has been very pleasing as a fan to see we have managed to get the players we had on loan at the back end of last season, to sign permanently.” Highlighting the likes of Scott Shepard and Robbie McIntyre in being key pickups for The Citizens.
Q2. How can Edinburgh City compete in the capital, when you have the likes of Hibs and Hearts already established? Where do you see the club 10 years down the line?
A: I’m hoping to see City go up a couple of divisions,” Steven stated, sharing Alick’s optimism in a bright future for the black and white men of the capital. “Would be great to see us playing nice football,” he said, before highlighting the fact that, “there has been new faces attending the games at Ainslie Park,” commenting on how the club are gradually growing their fan base.
Q3. Having moved from Meadowbank, how has that transition been for City, is that where you hope the club will be playing its football in the coming years?
A: “Yes” Steven made it short and sweet. that he wants to see City playing their footy back at Meadowbank again. “It would be ideal if we moved back, can have our own ground back” he went on to say “also it is a lot easier for travelling fans to get to the ground also” he said, as Waverley is a lot closer to Meadowbank than Ainslie Park is. “What we want is as many fans as we can inside the ground” he went on to state, showing his keenness to see City back where they began
Q4. It is the 2020/21 season and City are raring to go, fans in their numbers excited to see what lies ahead for the club, who are City kicking off against?
A: In a humorous tone Steven predicted “Hearts” for whom City would be going toe-to-toe with and even chucked in a score line of “5-0”.
Q5. And finally, what’s the score going to be today?
A: “We’ve been looking dangerous this year so far, so I’m expecting goals from us” Steven noted and said “4-0 City, Shepard hat trick” An optimistic fella, who thinks highly of his club.
We then found ourselves seated perfectly on the halfway line for Tour of the Terraces number 6 to be ticked aff the list.
THE MATCH
We are now going to enter how the 90 minutes ended up going;
FIRST HALF
The match kicked off with Edinburgh City almost immediately winning a free-kick, with City maintaining all of the early pressure in the tie between two clubs that would definitely be looking towards the top of the table this season. Stirling’s poor start to the season looked like it was going to continue with Andrew Black putting in a dogged performance in the middle against his old club.
20 minutes in and it was all still Edinburgh City, with tricky winger Graham Taylor ripping the Stirling captain apart with a cheeky nutmeg and sending in a ball-come-shot that forced a good save from Ferrie in the sticks. Blair Henderson looked lively up top as well, with two Stirling defenders unable to take the rampaging big man down, his shot was deflected wide for a corner. The resulting delivery was like an ice cold Irn-Bru on a hot summers day but unfortunately nobody could turn home Graham Taylor’s whipped cross. The ball ping-ponged around the box before being thumped clear. Stirling survived again.
Graham Taylor bursting into the box from the wing once again was brought down cynically and a penalty was correctly awarded. The big number 9 Blair Henderson stepped forward. The big number 9 blasted the peno straight at the keeper.
Guttingly he had not taken his chance and Stirling Albion were let off the hook once again. If anything, Stirling began to take more of a grip in the game and had the better of it as the 2nd half drew close into sight. The anonymous referee blew the half to a close with Stirling extremely fortunate to not be behind, would The Citizens rue their missed chances?
SECOND HALF
Stirling Albion kicked us off for the second 45 at Ainslie Park. How would they respond? Would they be rejuvenated? Sharper? More Aggressive?
They immediately lost possession to Edinburgh City. As the Black & Whites looked to put right a couple of wrongs and make up for some missed chances. Around 48th minute, Edinburgh City attacker Scott Shepherd was brought down in almost a carbon copy fashion of the first penalty, which was also awarded. The man who won the penalty dusted himself off and stepped up to the spot.
As cool as a frozen cucumber Mr Shepherd tucked the ball into the back of the onion bag. He never looked like missing, sending Calum Ferrie the wrong way in the process.
With Stirling under the cosh very much like in the first half, they got a moment of respite, winning a free-kick just over the halfway line. An undefended delivery was floated into the box, seasoned veteran Peter McDonald flicked it on and Mark Stewart was free at the back door.
Just like that the back door was smashed down and against the run of play, Stirling had pulled level. That’s what can happen in football though, GET YER SET PIECES RIGHT BOYS!!!
Immediately after pulling level, the Binos were suddenly on the front foot again, with a nice bit of play in middle lead to a free-kick 25 yards from goal. Peter McDonald fired it over the Edinburgh City wall and forced a great save from Antell between the Edinburgh sticks – we thought it maybe even looked in. Could have been 2-1 Stirling at this point, how different that would be to our 3-1 pre-match predictions.
Stirlings flourish did not last long however and Edinburgh City put their foot on the ball after too many failed long ball attempts from the Binos. Graham Taylor worked himself into a bit of space once again and fired a shot that was just deflected over the bar. From the resulting corner, Balatoni rose highest in the box and the experienced centre half powered home Graham Taylor’s floated ball.
2-1 to City and everything was looking rosy for the Black & White of Edinburgh once again. City continued in the same fashion as the majority of the game, dominating in the middle of the park – firing pass after pass up to Blair Henderson and Graham Taylor always looking lively when he got the ball out wide. Another man who had looked in fine form that day was number 10 Danny Handling, who got himself on the score-sheet after a delivery from Andrew Black was not cleared. The ball bobbled wide across the goal-mouth and Handling was quickest to react, firing across goal from a tight angle, putting the Citizens 3 goals up and looking safe from here.
Stirling did try their best to press and the effort was certainly there, the quality however was not. City looked extremely comfortable in possession and going forward, Stirling truly did not have any real sniff for the rest of the game, leaving us both absolutely bang on the money with our pre-match predictions.
The full-time whistle was blown and both teams trotted back into the Ainslie Park main building, looks like it could be a long season for Stirling but Edinbugh City looked like they could be going for promotion this year. Maybe a title push? Who knows but exciting times for the club on the park at least.
That victory takes the Tour to W-2 D-2 L-1 P-1, sitting 5th in the table on goal difference possibly? You can be the judge.
Tour of the Terraces MOTM: Graham Taylor – It was a very hard for us to pick out a certain individual, as several players put their names in the goblet of fire for the prestige award that is TotT MotM. However, we believe Graham Taylor is the lucky man to collect his medal this time round. The 20 year old showcased that he has bags of potential to go higher as a player, as he was very direct and skillful on the ball, getting past his man on numerous occasions. He had great link up play with the lads around him and looks like a quality player to play alongside. So if you’re ever free son there’s a space on our 5-a-side team.
AARON’S COLUMN
I was collecting my Ainslie Park match ball on this occasion as this would be my third venture to see City in action, 5th overall after 2 previous viewings of the capitals black and white army.
However, as a youngster I was lucky enough to get to play on the beautiful turf at under 15’s level with my local greats – Haddington Athletic Football Club. I scored 8 that day and we beat Spartans 17-2…
AS IF
We played out a 3-3 stalemate in our league tie and went back to the shitehole of Haddington satisfied enough, as to be honest winning wasn’t one of our strong points as a club. Now looking back it is strange to think that I would be back here 6 years later blogging about a club who weren’t even in the football leagues back then, with a guy I had no idea even existed.
And to tell you the truth, how glad I am I met the poor bastard we know as Mikey Tucker.
After a great visit to Maryhill the previous week, we thought it would be a shame to not visit a ground, so we decided to go local and give The Citizens their overdue visit a bash. Edinburgh City being a team that Mikey and I have a mutual bond about being our locals, have a slight soft spot for the club, as it’s a team we can both agree on. Something I don’t think he will agree with is that Hibs will finish above The Dons this season, but I think that’s going slightly off topic…
Having to play their games at Ainslie Park due to Meadowbank undergoing some revamp I believe, there is no real feel of this is Edinburgh City when you arrive, not even remotely unfortunately, being due to the ground being the home of Spartans F.C. So therefore it is well documented that this is their home, with their badge cutting about the shop. I find this gutting for City as there isn’t much that can be done for them, as the situation is out of their control. The actual facilities inside are as what you would expect for a club who isn’t even the leagues, much better if anything.
We paid £6 to get in for a concession ticket, which is a fine price to pay to see a bit of local footy action on a Saturday afternoon, when you consider I’ve paid an entry fee to Hive on a Saturday one time ago, rookie behaviour from a younger Crow. I had a bit of cashola on me for a change and treated myself to one of the club’s scotch pie’s, which done its job, filled a gap in that belly of mine for a bit. I believe once the club get themselves their own ground, which they can establish as Edinburgh City’s home then the club will be in a fantastic position to propel their brand, their image as a club and hopefully climb the leagues as a potential 3rd force in the capital.
The team itself has improved majorly from the previous season, having brought in a new manager in James McDonaugh replacing Gary Jardine and several talented footballers: Andrew Black, Danny Handling, Blair Henderson and Scott Shepard. They look a serious, serious force this time round and on this Saturday afternoon we saw quite that. They looked extremely comfortable for large spells in the match, and even after a few setbacks with the penalty miss and Stirling’s dangerous 5/10 minute spell, they made easy work of the Bino’s in the end. Henderson is an absolute handful for defends, which he has proven already this season. With quick, flair players around in Graham Taylor they work well as an attacking force. Also having former Bino and Tour of the Terraces debut Man of the Match Andrew Black in the middle of the park, your team is always going to be a cracking outfit, very much rate him, great, intelligent player with bags of talent.
Now that my strawing of Mr Black is over, I do believe after seeing that impressive 3-1 win, there is no doubt in my mind they will finish any lower than the play offs. Would be confident enough to say they could even cement a title push. Albeit, we definitely did not see City play a strong Stirling team they still managed the job with relative comfort. It will be very interesting to see how they shape up over the season and where they finish, very exciting times for The Citizens who should have a very good season under their belts.
It is always nice going to a City game, as per, nice to get behind your local lads, regardless of their quality. The few representatives that we spoke to in and around the ground were lovely, and are very optimistic for the years to come and rightly so. I also do share their vision for the club, as they are well and truly moving in the right direction to become a bigger established outfit. As I have already mentioned once they acquire their own home they will be in perfect shape to do so. When they have a full identity of a football club, I personally think the sky is their limit. Within the next few years I definitely expect them to be sitting in League 1 with a solid side to be challenging to enter the Championship. I would love nothing more than this to be the case, seeing our local lads march through the leagues.
So to everyone surrounding the club I quite simply wish you all the best in your quest and am sure it won’t be long before I’m back watching you lot do what you do best. GOOD LUCK!
MIKEY’S RAMBLE
So my day out at Edinburgh City was one I was eager to check off the Tour of the Terraces list, a club that myself and Aaron can both hold dear to our hearts. They are the obvious choice for a Don and a Hibee living in Edinburgh to mutually support, so having been to previous City games with the bald wee scaff, this was always going to be a nostalgic one.
I had always rated the idea of a 3rd team in Edinburgh doing well one day and taking crowds in of maybe 5 or 10k even, would be amazing if possible. This made me excited to see what the inner workings of the club were like and where the ambition lay. Were they just waiting for the bubble to burst? Staving off relegation as long as possible? Or were they looking upwards? To League 1 and beyond?
The answer that myself and Aaron found their was definitely the latter of the two. Talking to Alick Milne and hearing him respond to the question “Where will the club be in 2020/21?” with the words “not quite the Premiership then.” Was absolute music to my ears, whether or not they fully believe it or not is a truly different story, because it would be such a massive undertaking to take this humble but likeable football team into the upper echelons of Scottish Football.
In fairness, to quote the great Alick Milne once again “Gretna have done it so why can’t we?” Is exactly true but I am sure you do not want to end up how Gretna did now do you Mr Milne? Aside from Gretna there are plenty of other examples, Ross County, Dumbarton in the Championship, even Alloa to an extent. So why can Edinburgh’s third club not do it one day?
The facilities at the club were just exactly what you would expect from a club playing at a Leisure Centre. Yes it was good astro-turf and a modern looking stand but in my eyes it had nothing on the likes of Albion Rovers, Coatbridge, a place with proper soul and history – something there was none of at Ainslie Park.
Whilst you cannot really be to harsh on this element as it is a temporary home at a rivals ground, the lack of Edinburgh City imagery was astounding. There was absolutely zilch to indicate I was at the stadium of Edinburgh’s Black & White and if I had not known better I would have had no way of knowing I was at their home ground. This is something that surely cannot be appeasing for City fans to come to home games and see nothing representing their club. This feeling I felt seeped into the club slightly, as the atmosphere was pretty non-existent in the stands – you could easily hear the players talking and the Stirling Albion section moaning.
They had reason to moan, they were absolutely diabolical on the park.
Edinburgh City on the flipside were very solid on the pitch, dominating the game for large periods and whilst it is the first League 2 game of the season we have watched they looked like the kind of side that could well be pushing at the top end of the League this season. Graham Taylor was excellent out wide and Mr Black as always was pulling the strings in the middle. Blair Henderson was a real mouthful for defenders up front, bullying his way on to the ball and playing with the bit between his teeth. Could be a very exciting season in terms of results on the park.
I just pray to Derek McInnes that Edinburgh City can find a permanent home soon where they can begin to establish a section of support and craft their own brand. It is something which is still not there yet and this can be attributed to a lot of things, such as being a new club, at a temporary home, in a city already dominated by Green and Maroon. It was never gonna be easy.
I believe that Edinburgh City may well be playing League 1 football next season, as long as they do not have a reversal of the past couple years and let their form dip later on. Once you find a place to call your own in Auld Reekie, you will be just fine boys.
THE RATINGS
OVERALL
So there it is City, an overall rating of 44 from us which seems low but when it is broken down, we find it fair in our eyes. They have a strong manager and squad infront of them, once they get their own patch of land what an exciting club we have on our hands. If you ever have some free time and want to see an upcoming football club, you’ve hit the jackpot here, go along and see them!
All the best to the club on their journey, until next time City, it has been a whirl.
Tour of the Terraces 