ARF1928 Posted Tuesday at 16:44 Share Posted Tuesday at 16:44 (edited) Saturday sees the first "Wee Edinburgh Derby" in seven years, and also the first ever game between Edinburgh City and Spartans in the SPFL. Last time out, a brace from Ross Guthrie saw City run out 2-0 winners at Ainslie Park in the EOS Cup Semi Final during 2016/17... we won't mention the result in the final though Unfortunately, I can't see past a pumping for us, but stranger things have happened at sea! Edited Tuesday at 16:48 by ARF1928 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cosmic Joe Posted Tuesday at 17:22 Share Posted Tuesday at 17:22 How does this compare to Edinburgh City v Hibernian (probably the the localist of an Edinburgh derby, although Leith Athletic v the Hibees might have run it close back in the day)? If St Bernards had survived, their matches with Spartans might have been tasty affairs - although I'm purely basing this on coming across the St Bernards social club in Stockbridge (ooh look at us, we have two cheesemongers in Stockbridge)* I always imagined the Civil Service Strollers/ Edinburgh City/ Spartans triangular rivalries to be quite fierce back in the day, but hey, what do I know? *Aye but you still sell Stuart's pies from Buckhaven. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AllyMonc Posted Tuesday at 17:43 Share Posted Tuesday at 17:43 The only show in town this weekend, the game that wouldn't have happened if the proposed 'merger' agreed between our previous owner and the incumbents at The Spartans had been approved, 1pm kick off with plenty of time to get to the pub for the Scotland game at 5. Frustrated that the club haven't done more to promote this one but hopefully a decent crowd anyway. Spartans the heavy favourites which might be our best hope, we've been at our best this season when we're not expected to get anything. Only Tuesday and I already feel sick with nerves if I think about it. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AllyMonc Posted Tuesday at 17:46 Share Posted Tuesday at 17:46 20 minutes ago, Cosmic Joe said: How does this compare to Edinburgh City v Hibernian (probably the the localist of an Edinburgh derby, although Leith Athletic v the Hibees might have run it close back in the day)? If St Bernards had survived, their matches with Spartans might have been tasty affairs - although I'm purely basing this on coming across the St Bernards social club in Stockbridge (ooh look at us, we have two cheesemongers in Stockbridge)* I always imagined the Civil Service Strollers/ Edinburgh City/ Spartans triangular rivalries to be quite fierce back in the day, but hey, what do I know? *Aye but you still sell Stuart's pies from Buckhaven. I think our time as their tenants and the subsequent farce with the proposed merger and the fact we've not played them in ages means there will be a fair bit of bad feeling on Saturday. Could go a Stuart's apple turnover right now. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Clyde01 Posted Tuesday at 19:13 Share Posted Tuesday at 19:13 1 hour ago, AllyMonc said: The only show in town this weekend, the game that wouldn't have happened if the proposed 'merger' agreed between our previous owner and the incumbents at The Spartans had been approved, 1pm kick off with plenty of time to get to the pub for the Scotland game at 5. Frustrated that the club haven't done more to promote this one but hopefully a decent crowd anyway. Shame it’s at the worst place on earth to watch a game of football so has zero appeal to the neutral. -2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AllyMonc Posted Tuesday at 19:29 Share Posted Tuesday at 19:29 13 minutes ago, Clyde01 said: Shame it’s at the worst place on earth to watch a game of football so has zero appeal to the neutral. I don't have anything positive to say about Meadowbank as a place to watch football but I do think the game has more than 'zero appeal' for the casual punter, even considering that. 5 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
HibeeJibee Posted Tuesday at 20:12 Share Posted Tuesday at 20:12 3 hours ago, ARF1928 said: Last time out, a brace from Ross Guthrie saw City run out 2-0 winners at Ainslie Park in the EOS Cup Semi Final during 2016/17... we won't mention the result in the final though Given long rivalry it surprised me you hadn't met in over 7yrs; turns out they only qualified for the City Cup once since, and it was 2020 so abandoned. You'll meet in this season's SF if they beat Inverkeithing. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ARF1928 Posted Tuesday at 20:34 Author Share Posted Tuesday at 20:34 21 minutes ago, HibeeJibee said: Given long rivalry it surprised me you hadn't met in over 7yrs; turns out they only qualified for the City Cup once since, and it was 2020 so abandoned. You'll meet in this season's SF if they beat Inverkeithing. We've been starved of a derby fixture for so long, but this season City and Spartans will face off a minimum of four times in the league, and maybe even a fifth time in the City cup, if results pan out accordingly... 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tamthebam Posted Tuesday at 21:28 Share Posted Tuesday at 21:28 I am not sure if there was a real rivalry between Leith and Saints, both sets of fans feelings towards each other have not been recorded for posterity. Certainly there was no history of New Year games between the two capital clubs and the only time St Bernards played an alternative New Year Capital derby was against Edinburgh City in 1936-37 and 1937-38 (spoiler: we didn’t win). In regard to today’s “derby” when I started watching City in 1995 our “rivals” a.k.a. the team we really wanted to beat (because they were dirty cheating bastuds) were Whitehill Welfare and Spartans were an opponent to be respected rather than rivals. With personnel defecting from Whitehill to Spartans and City starting to challenge for League titles with Spartans the rivalry got more intense (because Spartans became dirty cheating bastuds). There was some good banter on here during the East of Scotland days and allegations of one club tapping up another club's players etc just added to the spice. This will be the first non-Hibs Hearts Capital Scottish League derby since 1948 so quite historic. In the last game in 1948 City played Leith and drew 2-2 at Old Meadowbank (roughly where the other pitch/rubble yet to be built on is). I'd shake hands on a 2-2 draw tbh. I don't know if Spartans fans feel the same about City- they'll enjoy the win and one Grim O' Grady Esq will likely try and wind me up - but they might have formed their own rivalries since promotion last year. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tenkay Posted Tuesday at 21:40 Share Posted Tuesday at 21:40 MASSIVE game for fans of these two teams! The first "derby" match for 7 years. I've been looking forward to seeing these two teams on the same pitch for a long time, and it finally happens on Saturday! City played shite on Saturday against Stranraer so must be better this week surely? Spartans had a couple of their best players out injured last weekend, so the team line-ups at, 12 noon?, will give us an idea of how this one will go. City could really do with starting to keep some clean sheets, but I can't see that improving before January! REALLY disappointed McIndoe never brought a Liam Parker type loan in before the window closed last week! 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
HibeeJibee Posted Tuesday at 23:00 Share Posted Tuesday at 23:00 My understanding is that St Bernards would have seen Hearts as their rivals in the early days and Leith similarly Hibs; to start with it was Hearts + Leith in top division but St Bernards joined in 1893 with Hibs replacing Leith in 1895. St Bernards got relegated in 1900 and I suppose from then the natural rivalry could have become with Leith albeit they were still facing Hearts and Hibs regularly in the East of Scotland Shield, Rosebery Charity Cup plus Dunedin Cup... Leith got back up in 1930 but ironically Hibs went down the following year, then passed like ships in the night 12 months on, while hapless City also appeared in lower level. St Bernards had a last hurrah in 1939-40 when they mixed it with Hearts and Hibs in SFL East but the war killed them and consigned Leith and City to a lingering post-war demise in C Division. As well as regular EOS Cup meetings there was also Blenheim Cup which St Bernards + Leith contested in 1920s & 1930s (basically to them what Wilson Cup was to Hearts + Hibs). 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ARF1928 Posted 23 hours ago Author Share Posted 23 hours ago (edited) 3 hours ago, tamthebam said: I am not sure if there was a real rivalry between Leith and Saints, both sets of fans feelings towards each other have not been recorded for posterity. Certainly there was no history of New Year games between the two capital clubs and the only time St Bernards played an alternative New Year Capital derby was against Edinburgh City in 1936-37 and 1937-38 (spoiler: we didn’t win). In regard to today’s “derby” when I started watching City in 1995 our “rivals” a.k.a. the team we really wanted to beat (because they were dirty cheating bastuds) were Whitehill Welfare and Spartans were an opponent to be respected rather than rivals. With personnel defecting from Whitehill to Spartans and City starting to challenge for League titles with Spartans the rivalry got more intense (because Spartans became dirty cheating bastuds). There was some good banter on here during the East of Scotland days and allegations of one club tapping up another club's players etc just added to the spice. This will be the first non-Hibs Hearts Capital Scottish League derby since 1948 so quite historic. In the last game in 1948 City played Leith and drew 2-2 at Old Meadowbank (roughly where the other pitch/rubble yet to be built on is). I'd shake hands on a 2-2 draw tbh. I don't know if Spartans fans feel the same about City- they'll enjoy the win and one Grim O' Grady Esq will likely try and wind me up - but they might have formed their own rivalries since promotion last year. Appreciate the history lesson Drizzy, to be honest a draw might not be the worst result to take I appreciate that I’m a younger City fan, and have only been attending games since our SPFL promotion, so can’t really comment on anything prior to that. I’ve only been to one City VS Spartans game before, and that was back in 16/17 in front of a tiny crowd that, to be honest, didn’t really care about the game. However, in the years since, times have changed. Given our spell at Ainslie Park, where we were made to feel so unbelievably unwelcome, the failed merger and the animosity that has developed between both sets of fans (especially when both sets of young teams are concerned) I think there will be a genuine nastiness to this game from now on, that will most likely blow anything previously experienced in our Lowland League days out of the water completely. Edited 23 hours ago by ARF1928 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AllyMonc Posted 10 hours ago Share Posted 10 hours ago The Supporters Club/Podcast are giving away a total of 4 free tickets for the game on Saturday. All you need to do is retweet the linked tweet and you'll be in with a chance of winning. Tickets will be emailed/DM'd via twitter https://x.com/ClubCitizens/status/1844019366364643510?s=19 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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