Adventure capital
How Edinburgh City have turned the tables
WITH Hearts setting the early Premiership pace and Hibernian hot on their heels, these are heady days for capital football. Further down the SPFL food chain, Edinburgh City are writing a third success story at the top of League Two, one which may just have the legs to sustain it for the entire season.
For manager James McDonaugh, the decision to branch out on his own after three years assisting Peter Houston at Falkirk has been vindicated.
With a Ladbrokes Manager of the Month award newly placed on his mantelpiece, McDonaugh struck a fresh deal with chairman Jim Brown in midweek, extending his contract until the summer of 2021.
Not bad for a coach who took over a year ago with the part-time club languishing one place off relegation out of the SPFL system.
‘Coming here was a risk,’ admits the 40-year-old. ‘I remember speaking to Peter and asking him what if I got Edinburgh City relegated, where would I go from there? Peter told me it wouldn’t make me a bad coach but it might just mean management is not for me. So I thought: “Right, I can do this”. I have done harder things than this.
‘A few weeks in, I’m thinking: “This team can’t score a goal. How am I going to keep them in the league?”’
Having operated as Hibs’ head of academy coaching and then helped guide Falkirk to two Premiership play-offs and a Scottish Cup Final, McDonaugh had quietly assembled an impressive CV before taking the plunge.
He is about to complete his UEFA Pro Licence qualification but admits he has been forced to revisit his entire philosophy since taking over a part-time team.
Although the support of Brown and ex-Hearts boss Jim Jefferies, the club’s sporting director, gives him every opportunity to succeed, his time on the training ground is limited and he must cope with the inconveniences of ground-sharing with Spartans at Ainslie Park.
‘A year ago, I would have said no way will I change, everyone will need to come up to my level of work and expectation.
‘But you have to adapt. Although the players are getting some money for this, they also have lives, family, work — and that’s the most important thing.
‘We train twice a week and in the year hardly any have missed training. I inherited a training time of 8pm to 10pm and I thought it was a nightmare.
‘Actually, it limits excuses. It lets people get home, it’s great if you have a family or work late.
‘It’s probably hard for the players to have somebody on their back demanding intensity at a time of day when they are ready to wind down but it’s been worthwhile.’
McDonaugh managed to keep City up by an eight-point margin but couldn’t finish higher than ninth.
If he felt he was treading water in his early months, the close season represented a chance for renewal.
Assistant Craig Beattie, who had moved into a player/coach role under his predecessor Gary Jardine, offered experience but McDonaugh needed to free up room in the budget and the former Scotland striker moved on.
A clutch of players had reached the end of their contracts and were released, freeing up room for the likes of Danny Handling, the former Scotland Under-21 forward developed by McDonaugh at Hibs, and exFalkirk defender Conrad Balatoni. The partnership of Balatoni and another former Falkirk kid, Liam Henderson, at the back has given City a solid base while the goalscoring of Blair Henderson, recruited from divisional rivals Annan Atheltic, has been a revelation.
McDonaugh continues: ‘A lot of people look at our signings and think: “You must be throwing money at them”, but we’re not. The board have put more in, they have been great, but it’s more about managing the budget a wee bit better.
‘There have been challenging times. At times, I’ve dealt with people well, at others I’ve learned and would now do it differently. But I stand by the
changes I made. There is more accountability now. Yes, people give up their time but this is a professional club and I still expect things to be done to a standard.’
From Hibs, through his time at Falkirk, McDonaugh’s training sessions have always encouraged players to express themselves.
If there are challenges playing on a tired artificial playing surface at Ainslie Park, his team positively enjoys playing away from home. Any doubts surrounding their title credentials were blown away when they blitzed League One leaders Arbroath 4-1 away from home to reach the quarter-finals of the Irn-Bru Challenge Cup.
The match was televised live on BBC Alba and McDonaugh hopes there will be knock-on effect for the club’s average home attendance of around 300. Regardless, McDonaugh’s own profile has grown in the wake of his Ladbrokes award for September.
And his team edged out Civil Service Strollers 1-0 to reach the third round of the Scottish Cup yesterday, where they will play Championship side Inverness.
‘My journey has been different,’ admits the 40-year-old, who played part-time for Alloa as a teenager.
‘People might say that because I never played or managed at the top level I can’t do it but I was 10 years with a finance company and was a team leader at 24.
‘I probably always do myself in because I don’t tell the full story or play everything down. I’ve been in the dugout at three Scottish Cup Finals, twice when Pat Fenlon pulled me out of the youths at Hibs and once with Peter. They weren’t very lucky dugouts, mind you!
‘Some of my steps have been hidden, unknown, but I always kept aiming towards the coaching and was with Gretna before going back into the academy with Hibs.
‘I love being on the training pitch and that was the great thing with Peter, he let me do all the sessions at Falkirk.
‘Most of the players we’ve signed, I had worked with either at Falkirk or Hibs. They know me and know they will enjoy their work.
‘The award is on my mantelpiece and I’m really proud, to be honest. I think some managers lie when they say it doesn’t matter.
‘I think it does, to give recognition to everyone at the club.
‘It’s also good for my family. My granddad is 90, I took it with me to see him on Saturday and it’s the first time in my life I’ve known him to ask to have his photo taken. Things like that make it all worthwhile.’ Individual honours are nice but McDonaugh will really make his mark if he can get City promoted, whether through the play-offs or an unlikely title win. ‘Peterhead are still favourites to win the league,’ he argues. ‘The bookies had us at 20-1 in the summer and they are rarely wrong. ‘If we were to do it, the achievement of that can’t be underplayed.’
People say that we must be throwing money at them, but we’re not