Eddies off to soccer-mad Scotland for four matches
FC Edmonton will travel to Scotland to play four pre-season matches in March before the start of the 2016 spring season.
The team has elected to go to the United Kingdom’s northernmost country rather than stay in North America for pre-season, like in the past few campaigns.
“I wanted the players to be in a genuine football environment,” head coach Colin Miller said. “They’re going to be totally immersed in a football world, where football is the most important thing, and I think it’ll be great.”
The Eddies will see how they fare against a range of competition levels. The squad will face Partick Thistle FC and Airdrie FC of the Scottish Professional Football League (SPFL), Queen’s Park FC — an amateur club that’s part of the SPFL — and England’s Newcastle United U-21 club.
Through the experience, relationships will be forged. Miller believes possibilities could arise where an FC Edmonton player, coach or manager gets loaned overseas, or vice versa, to help promote the market in Edmonton.
“They ’re also putting themselves in a shop window because any time a team comes from another country to play in Scotland or England, there’s always scouts and people wanting to watch games,” he said.
The benefits of the trip seem endless. The quality of competition will be higher than in previous pre-seasons, the players and managers will be building international relationships, and the team can continue raising its own brand awareness.
Not only that, but the players will also hear from Craig Brown, one of Scotland’s most prominent football coaches.
“He’s Scotland’s most successful national team coach, so he’ll come out and speak to the players just about general football stuff. So I think all in all it’ll be a fantastic experience for the guys.”
Miller believes one other aspect could be profound for his group.
“I want the guys to be really hungry after the end of the trip and appreciate just how much the game means to everyone, in everywhere else in the world,” he said.
FC Edmonton will embark on the trip from March 10-23, 2016.