scrooge1928

Could be that our smaller outgoings on other expenses mean that we have a bit more to spend on the player budget, but it won't be that much more - although at our level a few thousand can be significant, and minimum wage will affect us less than some of the clubs further from the Central Belt. I haven't been treasurer for a few years and I don't (need to) know what anyone gets now, but I wouldn't be surprised if one or more of our players earns more than our entire player budget when we were a Lowland League side. A play-off position would be great, but to be honest I would be happy with a comfortable mid-table this season while we continue to consolidate in the SPFL. Interesting fact - so far as I can tell, Edinburgh City have never been top of the table in any division of the Scottish League, even for a single day - and that goes for the pre-War Division 2 side and in post-War Division C. If we can get a good start to this season maybe I'll start to think that the consolidation might be starting. Looking forward to our visits to yourselves again. All the best. Sent from my SM-J500FN using Pie and Bovril mobile app

The finance comes from the same as many other clubs at this level - gate money, licensing money, Scottish Cup participation, etc. We don't have any sugar daddy. We do have the big advantage of being based in Edinburgh, which is more attractive to many Central Belt players than having to travel three times a week to far-flung places for training and matches, so we can (sometimes) offer them a lot less money; and we don't own our own ground, which despite all the advantages that has, can also be a financial millstone. And we are fortunate enough to have a manager who works closely with the Board and knows how much money City have to spend, and doesn't demand that the directors push the boat out. The last player City signed that we weren't sure we could afford was Joe Mbu , but that worked out rather well. And before James McDonaugh, Gary Jardine was also closely involved with the finance side of things, and making sure that he wasn't signing players who would drag us into debt. Both James and Gary can/could get rather testy when the suggestion goes up that City are dripping with cash. We ain't. Unlike Tam and Tenkay, I do have a clue about the club's finances, and I can honestly say I'd be surprised if we had a bigger income than Cowdenbeath or Berwick Rangers.

The Lowland League started in 2014 - City were Lowland when they beat Talbot 2-1 in 2014. It can't be denied that the formation of the Lowland League severely weakened the ESL, but the East Seniors have been weakened before - when the Edinburgh & District League broke away in 1930, when they lost clubs during the War, when they were packed with reserve teams during the disastrous geographical sections in the 1960s, and they have always bounced back. Looks like the League is in the process of bouncing back again.

Edinburgh City were an East of Scotland League side when they beat SJC holders Shotts Bon Accord 4-1 in 2012.

Definitely. If we'd been asked to play one of our most important matches ever in midweek for the convenience of the Highland League Cup, I suspect our Board would have declined.

The ludicrous booking Craig Beattie picked up for simulation in the Elgin match has now been rescinded.

A club will only get Gold or Silver licensing if it meets all the criteria for the level. The Bronze/Entry criterion for 'Protected Access' is Clubs must give consideration to the way in which players access and leave the field of play but for Gold/Silver it is There must be protected access to the playing field for teams and match officials. The access to this area must be strictly controlled. Tynecastle etc will be Gold standard in this case but the ground misses out on other criteria. Many grounds have a single access point for players and the stewards and officials block this to the public when the players are entering or leaving the field. At Ainslie Park this is in front of the pavilion, where stewards stop spectators going to/from the refreshment kiosk until the players are on the park. In others, such as Tynecastle, the route onto the pitch is blocked off to spectators at all times. You can see the ground criteria in Section 5 of this SFA document - https://www.scottishfa.co.uk/media/2881/scottish-fa-club-licensing-manual-2018.pdf

The proposed new stadium is fine for playing football - as the attached newspaper link says, it has been designed to meet licensing Bronze standards. The problem is that it is garbage as a place to watch football. If the plans stay as they are, the ground will be an even worse spectator experience than the stadium which is being demolished. https://www.edinburghnews.scotsman.com/our-region/edinburgh/edinburgh-city-fc-not-convinced-by-new-meadowbank-plans-1-4689135 All the artist's impressions are careful not to show what the new stand will look like. It will look like the stand at K-Park, East Kilbride, but with only three rows of seats rather than four, and with the park separated from the stand by a concrete circulation area, an eight-lane running track and a long-jump pit. There will be no standing inside the track as was done at Stirling University when they still played at Gannochy, and there will be no safe standing areas behind the goals because the pole vault area will be at one end and the high jump at the other. In fact there will be no standing, anywhere. Where the dug-outs are going to go is anyone's guess. The Council are quite clearly startled by our reaction. While the athletes at Meadowbank kick up hell on a regular basis, the football club has tended to deal privately with Edinburgh Leisure to get problems settled; but the problems presented by these plans cannot be fixed by a few bits of tape and opening another gate. Whoever designed and agreed these plans has obviously never been been to a football match in his or her life. The dressing rooms might have five shower-heads to meet Bronze licensing standards, but the players will still have to thread their way through spectators going to the toilets or the cafe. Although I doubt we'd have any spectators a few weeks after the season starts. Once they've queued for 15 minutes at the single turnstile to sit in a wet seat to watch a match where the nearest touchline is thirty yards away, they will soon find other things to do with their Saturdays - even though the referee's room has a toilet to meet Bronze licensing standards. "Council Officers will arrange to meet with the football club to discuss their statement." Good. If Council Officers had listened to a single word we said at several previous meetings, there might not have needed to be a statement.

He was assistant manager at Falkirk, and before that head of coaching at the Hibs Academy.

New management team announced - James McDonaugh and Craig Beattie, with Colin Jack as first team coach.

City play Stenhousemuir in the Cup and that match will be on Friday 13th. Spartans v Clach is on Saturday 14th. The City v Annan match is a League game and will be on Saturday 21st. Spartans play Ormiston in the South Cup on Sunday 22nd.

I understand it's to do with having a qualified safety officer rather than a fire certificate.

There shouldn't be a problem with this. I have asked the chief steward and he doesn't know anything about a ban. He is investigating.

Would have liked that as well, but all teamwear catalogues now have a date beyond which a strip will no longer be produced. When we had a white Nike kit with a black chevron a few years back we had to find a replacement for a damaged shirt, and Nike had none left. It took the chairman almost a fortnight to trace one in a sports shop in Bournemouth. To continue with the black diagonal would mean ordering bespoke designs, and we can't afford that. The new second kit looks good, yellow shirt with white details.

My mistake. I was in Easter Road last week and I didn't notice it. Edinburgh has so many pubs that if I walk into one and it looks like a shitehole then it's easy just to about turn and there will be something better a few yards away.

The Station Bar was done up a few years back and is now called the Safari Lounge. The clientele has changed although a few of the older guys are still there, despite the hike in prices. Good food and excellent ale. It's 20 years since I lived in Easter Road and there have been a load of changes in the boozers in the Easter Road/London Road/Meadowbank area. The Terrace Inn, Albion Bar, Four In Hand, Marionville Bar and Golden Gates have all gone. The Crown & Cushion and Jock's Lodge were formerly good bars which turned into dives but have apparently come up in the world once more. The Regent used to be a grim bikers' bar but is now gay-friendly - and if you're not homophobic, it has a pleasant atmosphere and very good real ales. The pub variously known as ETs and the Thistle is now gentrified as the Mash Tun and is another real ale place. Pubs like Middletons, the Artisan and the Hoppy don't seem to have changed at all.

Stand side and the paved area behind the pavilion end goal. Apparently grass slopes can't be used for SPFL matches, but we're waiting for confirmation of this. All parts of the ground are ok for the Scottish Cup.

All of them apart from Marc Laird and Josh Walker. Signing talks are on going for some of the others.

Beats has signed for another season [emoji4]. He will also become a player - coach.

Not only been watching football at Meadowbank for more than 42 years - I was at the opening ceremony for the 1970 games, and at the inter-scholastics at Meadowbank some months before that. f**k, I'm old. [emoji17]

A housing scheme with a minor athletics venue in the middle. Sports Centre will be along London Road, all the landscaping removed; and houses behind the goal and along the far touchline in place of the former bench seating. 3G pitch inside the track, so all the javelin, hammer, shot-putt etc moved to a separate enclosure. Worst of all, a 500-seat stand centred on the finishing line of the track rather than the halfway line of the pitch. These are only the initial ideas anyway - there have been no plans drawn up yet. The club want further meetings with the Council and the architects. What is being proposed wouldn't meet our needs if we were still in the Lowland League.

The only time I ever saw you with a half pint glass it had vodka in it.

City will face Lothian Thistle Hutchinson Vale in the final of the East of Scotland FA Cup (aka City Cup) at Meadowbank Stadium on Wednesday 19th April, kick-off 7:45 pm. Prices £5 adults, £2 all concessions and under-5s free as usual. Season tickets not valid tomorrow.

I was at the Celtic match in name only - they were wanting names and addresses for people to get tickets, and as I wasn't on the 'banned' list I gave my details and passed the ticket on to someone who wanted it. Possibly a couple of dozen travelled. I think I was at Dalkeith Thistle that day. The whole Hunter episode soured me for supporting a club, and if Edinburgh City hadn't come along I would just have become a non-aligned football watcher - not a groundhopper, as in the final season and before I started watching City I picked Junior or Senior matches which looked interesting rather than trying to tick off new grounds. Even after my first City match (27th April 1996) it was a couple of seasons before I was going regularly to away matches.