Football Season Guide

FC Edinburgh are in League One and have enjoyed a summer facelift, with a change of name from Edinburgh City and a new badge. In addition, they will also change ground: having previously played at City Park, they are off to Meadowbank nearer the centre of the city. Another change for the season ahead is that they will play home matches on Saturdays, which could affect crowd numbers given they drew a sizeable portion of their support from Hibs and Hearts fans. Promotion last season was achieved via the backdoor. They finished fourth in League Two and were the weakest of the teams going into the post-season by some distance. Nevertheless, a side fuelled by loan additions from the city’s Premiership clubs helped them to get up and will likely be essential to their prospects of survival in the third tier. Alan Mayberry has been confirmed as manager on a full-time basis and has done a promising job since taking interim charge less than six months ago. Unsurprisingly, the focus of their recruitment has been on bringing players from Hibs, with Innes Murray and Jack Brydon joining up. Perhaps their key arrivals, though, come from Championship clubs, with Kieran MacDonald and Liam Fontaine arriving to bolster the defence. Edinburgh typically are a rather dour side to watch, and their summer arrivals once again hint that they are focusing on a defensive brand of football for the campaign ahead. Meanwhile, those players that they have lost were not a significant factor in the first-team squad, so the ranks of the club have been strengthened over the summer, though perhaps only by a couple of first-team starters. Depth is definitely better, though. They have faced one League One rival in the League Cup and picked up a draw against Airdrie in that match. As a yardstick, it suggests that FC Edinburgh will at least be competitive in the season ahead.