Edinburgh ,s new Citizens
The rise of STEVEN KENNEDY examines the Scottish capital’s third team…
THE city of Edinburgh is in the middle of a footballing resurgence. Last season Hearts made impressive strides forward – following promotion to the Scottish Premier League in 2014/15 – with a third place finish, whilst the city’s other main side, Hibernian, recorded their first Scottish Cup victory in over a century.
In the shadow of their established rivals, a third Edinburgh-based club are raising their head above the parapet having become the first side to win promotion via the newly established League Two play-offs allowing – for the first time – non-league clubs to make their way into the professional game.
Edinburgh City have enjoyed success at a hyper-local level for the past two seasons. A small club with lofty ambitions, the Citizens are looking to make a name for themselves in the Scottish Professional Football League (SPFL).
Moreover, they want to make that name in what they deem to be ‘the right way’.
Winning the Lowland League for two years in a row, City – who averaged just 142 for their home matches last season – secured a historic 2-1 aggregate victory over League Two basement side East Stirlingshire in the play-off final, having already overcome Highland League winners Cove Rangers 41 in the semi-final.
Following this result, and the Scottish capital’s ever- increasing population, the club are now hoping to capture the imagination of a new wave of support and create a third Edinburgh-based stalwart of the SPFL.
“Going up to League Two is a dream come true,” explained Edinburgh City’s highly thought of manager Gary Jardine. “We’ve worked hard towards this and it’s very rare that you have a dream with a goal that can be achieved like we have. The pride that I’ve seen since we got promoted has taken me aback.
“I knew it was going to be fantastic but the support and the well-wishes have been amaz- ing. I could never have thought that it would capture that many people’s imagination.”
The former Citizens player, whose playing career came to an early end following a persistent ankle injury, has worked his way up the ranks of the club.
Having started his coaching career as the club’s youth coach, Jardine became first-team manager in 2010 and has guided the club to an unparalleled level of success.
Winning the Lowland League in 2014/15, Edinburgh City progressed to the first League Two play-offs - a three-horse race for a place in the SPFL competed between the winner of the Lowland and Highland League semi-final match and the side finishing bottom of League Two. A semi-final defeat – albeit on penalties – to Brora Rangers put paid to promotion for Edinburgh City that season and a final win by Montrose kept the League Two side in the division. “It was disappointing to miss out on promotion after winning the league but it spurred us on,” admitted Jardine. “‘I’ll always remember the changing room and the boys will never forget the changing room after that game. “They were there for about 40 or 50 minutes after that: nobody spoke and there were a few tears. “It had been a dream for some of these lads who had been at the club for a number of years as it would’ve given them a chance to play in the senior professional game and the only way they were going to do that was to play their way in.” That defeat proved to be the catalyst for the club to rise again. Maintaining the same squad from the previous season – whilst adding one or two new faces last summer – Edinburgh City came into the season looking to go one step further than the year before. A good pre-season kicked off the start of a run of victories that saw City win an impressive 24 of their 28 league games to finish 15