Edinburgh City ready for new era of Friday night football as target date set for Meadowbank return

A new era kicks off for League Two Edinburgh City this week as Friday night football gets underway with the visit of Stenhousemuir.

Edinburgh City hope the switch to Friday night football will bring more fans to Ainslie Park (pictured) ahead of the return to Meadowbank Stadium in November (Photo by Mark Scates / SNS Group)

The Capital outfit announced they were switching their home games to the last day of the working week in June in an attempt to entice more supporters along.

It's a bold move that saw Gary Naysmith's side seek approval from the SPFL and nine remaining clubs in Scottish football's fourth tier before rubber-stamping plans to ditch the traditional Saturday, 3pm kick-off slot.

The Citizens are eager to tap into the Friday night market where people in and around town will have a prime opportunity to take in a football match after work or as part of a night out with friends while still having their weekends free.

Club chairman Jim Brown says that after much deliberation it is a venture he hopes can deliver what the club have set out to achieve.

"What we need to do as a club is build the fanbase for the long-term plans that we have on and off the field to get it to where we want it to be," Brown told the Evening News. "There were a lot of different things that we looked at but we just felt this was the right one to pursue.

"If we can pick up some Hearts and Hibs fans then that would be great but there so many other groups we are hoping to attract. We're just thinking out of the box and it has worked in the past with a couple of clubs down south where they have been in a town or city that has a lot of sport on.

“We know it's not going to happen overnight, it's not going to please everybody and we have had people say to us they aren't going to be able to come along as they can't make it due to work commitments and what have you. But we've had other fans who are really behind the idea and are looking forward to something different.

"We don't want to lose supporters but we just feel it is worth a try. We managed to get the league to agree to it as well as the other nine clubs in the division so they are on board too.

"The remaining clubs want us to share the information we gather over the course of this season as we are really a pilot scheme so, if successful, it may be something they might look at introducing. Hopefully it will work, we'll push it. We'll look at it at the end of the season and take it from there."

Tomorrow's visit of Stenhousemuir to Ainslie Park represents and exciting couple of months for City who are scheduled to return to their spiritual home and redeveloped Meadowbank in November.

Brown added: "We're still on target to be going back to Meadowbank on November 1. Obviously that is subject to change but we are very hopeful we'll be back then. If that's the case then it would be November 5 when we'd welcome Albion Rovers so we could have a wee fireworks night to celebrate too. We're hoping the move to Friday night football will be boosted by the fact we're going back to Meadowbank in a couple of months."

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