Ambitious Edinburgh City aim to attract Hibs and Hearts fans after receiving the green light from the SPFL to play their home fixtures on Friday nights.
Unfortunately the club’s return to Meadowbank has been “unavoidably delayed” due to the impact of Covid, however it is anticipated the ground will be ready for handover to the council in October and in the interim period they have agreed a deal with the Spartans Community Academy to continue playing home matches at Ainslie Park.
City almost gained promotion last term but after finishing in second-place they lost out to Dumbarton in the play-off final consigning them to another season in League Two.
On the field Callum Crane, Ouzy See, Robbie McIntyre, Liam Brown, Danny Jardine and Danny Handling will continue their careers at City whilst Calum Antell, Craig Thomson, Kelby Mason, Marc Laird, Andy Black, Alex Harris, Dean Beveridge Liam Henderson and Sam Newman have all departed for pastures new.
Our loan signings Raffaele De Vita, Jamie Dishington, Darren Smith, Jordan Tapping, Sam Denham and Josh Campbell have all returned to their parent clubs whilst Conrad Balatoni has been made available for transfer by mutual agreement.
Manager Gary Naysmith has been busy during the summer break and so far has captured highly rated youngster Ryan Shanley on a season long loan from Hibs, midfielder Callum Tapping from Stenhousemuir, versatile Lewis Kidd from East Kilbride, James “Jinky” Hilton from Stranraer, defender Stephen Bronsky from Elgin City and Livingston goalkeeper Brian Schwake on a season-long loan deal.
The Citizens kick off the campaign on Saturday 31 July at home to Albion Rovers, before heading north to face Forfar Athletic a week later.
Their first Friday night home fixture takes place on 13 August with Stenhousemuir the visitors for this historic match then travelling to newly promoted Kelty Hearts on 21 August before meeting Elgin City the following Friday.
John graduated from Telford College in 2010 with an HNC in Practical Journalism and since then he worked for the North Edinburgh News, The Southern Reporter, the Irish News Review and The Edinburgh Reporter. In addition he has been published in the Edinburgh Evening News and the Hibernian FC Programme.
