It looks like a fantastic July for both our Mens and Womens teams.  The mens team start their pre-season friendlies with an away game at Arbroath, scene of our most famous away win in the Scottish Cup.  The ko is 3pm as we try to emulate the 4 – 1 scoreline of January 2004.

Gayfield

Celebrating the 4th goal

The following weekend sees our pre-season tourney at the Academy on the stadium grass pitch.  Our first game is a 3.15ko against Blyth Spartans on Saturday 18th July.  We will then play Hamilton Accies or Raith Rovers on Sunday 19th July.  The following weekend we have another double header.  Saturday 25th sees a friendly against Wallsend BC on the synthetic pitch with a 3pm ko.  The Mark Burns testimonial against Falkirk is on Sunday 26th with a 2pm ko.

Our Womens team start their preparation with two games on the synthetic pitch.  On Sunday 19th July we play Newcastle United WFC who finished 4th last season in the 1st division (below the top league).   On Sunday 26th July we play losing FA Cup finalists and 1st Division champions Sunderland WFC.  Both should be great games.

Our East of Scotland under 19 team are looking to strengthen their coaching team.  We’re looking for a well qualified coach, ideally someone who has already worked in Senior football.  The team has a great track record and have won the league and a couple of the cups in recent seasons.  Equally important the team has produced several youngsters who are now 1st XI regulars.  Manager Gary McLelland said “it would really help with the development of the boys if we had another good coach.  We train at both the Academy and Peffermill so our facilities are superb as we look forward to another exciting season.”   If you are interested please send your details to the Chairman Craig Graham at craig.graham@spartansfc.com

Omar - came thru' 19s

Our 3rd XI are also looking for a new manager.  Doug Cowie is still keen to be involved but wants to hand over control to a new face.  The 3rd XI play in the Lothian Amateur league.  They also train at both peffermill and the Academy and will play all their home league games on the FieldTurf pitch this season.  Again we’re looking for someone with a good coaching qualifications, perhaps a young coach keen to develop within the Spartans structure.  If you are interested please send your details to secretary Ross Hutchison on  ross@dunalastairestates.co.uk or to Craig on the above email address.

Firstly well done to the 13 Whites who beat Inch Colts 5 – 1 to win their League Cup at the Gyle tonight.  Keiren Spiers scoring all five goals.  Well done to all the boys!

It was the AGM of the the East of Scotland League tonight.  It was decided that the competitive season will kick off on Saturday August 8th.  The King Cup and the Image Printers Cup were also drawn:

King Cup R1 bye

King Cup R2 Spartans vs Lothian Thistle or Craigroyston

Image Printers Cup R1 Spartans vs Lothian Thistle

Image Printers Cup R2 Preston A or Selkirk vs Spartans or Lothian Thistle 

At least we will go further in the King Cup this season than we did last season!

Euan Hoy’s Old Boys team started last night in the Academy’s over 35 7 a side league with an 8 – 5 victory over Forthside Sporting Club.    Despite a defensive line up the team came back in the last ten minutes after trailing earlier in the game, the squad was Kellacher, Robertson, Marsters, Skivington, McKeating, Black, McLelland, Lumsden, and McDonald.

Unfortunately our 17s lost 2 – 0 to Fauldhouse in the final of the East of Scotland Cup to Fauldhouse in Dunbar this afernoon.  Fauldhouse opened the scoring thruogh McCabe after ten minutes, a header from a corner.  We fought back and cam close on a few ocassions before having the ball in the net just before half time but the offisde flag was raised.  We opened the second half well but a goal after 53 minutes from player of the match Brown sealed it for Fauldhouse.  We didnt play as well in the second half and Fauldhouse deserved their victory.

Anoth Spartans Youth cup final this week – on Thursday at the Gyle our 3rd XI at 13s play Inch Colts in the final of their League Cup, ko 6.30pm.

It was our busiest day of the year at the Academy this afternoon as we hosted a Hibs/Hearts Legends game against Dunedin to raise funds for the St Columba’s Hospice – a great day as the charity raised over £4000.

The squad is beginning to take shape for next season even although pre-season training is still two weeks away.  Nearly all the squad have re-signed with only a few leaving and a small number of new faces.

Nicky Walker and Daryl Devlin have moved on.  Nicky is yet to sign for another club but Daryl has gone to Whitehill Welfare seeking a more regular game.  Our very best wishes to both of them – Nicky scored the two critical goals against Pollok which kick started our Scottish Cup run.

Nicky fires home the winner against Pollok

James Hair is also seeking a  regular game however we are hoping he stays at the club. 

We have signed a defender from one of the other Edinburgh EoS teams but we’re just waiting until the paperwork is complete to announce it.  Stepping up from within the club for pre-season training are Michael Moffat, Adam Perry, Chris Smith and Keir Anderson. 

Michael

We’re looking for Michael and Adam to carry on their great form of last season and at 21 both have great potential.  If they are nearly as successful as Gavin and Deano in the first season with the 1st XI they will have a great season.   

Bob Mitchell is also back at pre-season after missing all of last season.   Bob has been really unlucky with injuries but with a good pre-season he will hopefully be ready to push for a starting place.

Bob - celebrating Jonny Seeley's goal against Queen's Park with Craig Manson and Donal

From next season Spartans will have an adult team playing on a Sunday in the Fair Play League, the Edinburgh & District Sunday Amateur Association. 

Our hugely popular Community Coach Kenny Cameron will manage the team. 

Kenny

He originally formed  it  at the start of the 2008/09 season under the Foot Ball Club of Edinburgh, highlightling the fact that the World’s First Football Club was formed in Edinburgh in 1824.

“The Foot Ball Club of Edinburgh” was formed way back then by an Edinburgh University student lawyer called John Hope.  The club was made up mostly of professional people, mostly lawyers and accountants from the New Town.

The Foot Ball Club of Edinburgh

Kenny takes up the story “When we reformed, we tried to keep the clubs ethos, and managed to raise nearly £5000 for charity last season.  On the park, we have a promising,  young team. We have people from all walks of life ranging from students to builders and foster parents.

We are delighted to be joining the Spartans Family, and recognize the potential we’ll have to grow.  However we firmly believe that we bring something to the table too, we will be looking to give local people from North Edinburgh the chance to play Sunday football and join Spartans.

We have players who could play at a higher level, in fact some already have, and we’ll be looking over the next few years to adding to the trophy cabinet at the Academy!”

The team will train and play home games at the Academy on the FieldTurf.

This is another piece of the jigsaw for us as we aim to become the no 1 community club in Scotland by 2012.

Kenny is always looking for good player to join his squad,  if interested email him on kennycameron@spartanscfa.com.