Edinburgh City chairman on league reconstruction vote, start date, £6k raised and James Anderson

Edinburgh City are preparing for the new season. Picture: SNS

Edinburgh City chairman Jim Brown has revealed the club are keen to return to action in October.

He also confirmed the club voted in favour of league reconstruction.

A revamp to 14-10-10-10 structure would have seen City move into League One due to their second place finish in the fourth tier.

Jim Brown is keen for League Two to restart in October. Picture: SNS

Now the club must wait for further clarity from the SPFL on when they can return to competitive action.

No date has been set for the start of League One and League Two with the Premiership scheduled for an August return with the Championship to begin on 17 October.

Brown said: “Previously we stated our position to be that no club should find themselves disadvantaged either from a competitive or financial perspective as a result of the Covid-19 enforced lockdown. Additionally, in light of our own recent heritage, we strongly believed that the pyramid system in Scottish Football should be maintained; it should not therefore be any surprise that we voted in favour of the proposed reconstruction. Clearly there would have been an immediate benefit to our club in terms of moving up to League 1, however I would like to hope that those with a progressive view of football would identify with the merits of trying to help all clubs under the current circumstances, whilst also rewarding those who have shown substantial ambition to advance their club and progress through the tiered system as it exists.

“Sadly ours was not a view held by the majority and as such we now need to focus on the road ahead, drawing a line under what will most likely be considered an unfortunate period in Scottish Football’s history. To that end I would like to state that we are extremely keen to get back to playing competitive football as soon as is reasonably possible. Currently the Championship is due to restart on 17 October, playing only three rounds of fixtures; the proposals for Leagues 1 and 2 have not been finalised yet, however we would ideally prefer to start on or as close to this date as can be achieved.”

Generosity

Edinburgh City have been making moves to prepare for the 2020/21 campaign, on and off the field.

New contracts have been announced for goalkeeper Calum Antell, versatile Liam Henderson, midfielder Liam Brown and attacking Danny Handling, who finished as the club’s top scorer last season.

It has been helped by the fundraising by the club which has brought in more than £6,000 as the club aim to reach £10,000.

“As a club it has been a very difficult period for all involved and I would like to thank once again the management and backroom teams, plus the playing staff who have worked with us through the furlough scheme and acted at all times with the best interests of the club at heart,” Brown said.

“As I touched on previously, we are tentatively moving towards recovery and as part of that it has been great to see some of our out of contract players committing themselves to the club for another season; we will be making more announcements on the playing side of things as the weeks go on!

“At the risk of repeating myself, it really is humbling that so many people from all across the football fraternity have been kind enough to donate, especially given the pressure we are all under; this money will make an enormous difference to the club and I thank each and every person or group that has kindly made a donation.”

Brown also praised Hearts benefactor James Anderson who donated more than £3million to the SPFL Trust for clubs to apply for a fixed grant of £50,000.

On top of that he also provided £250,000 to Scottish Women’s Football.

Brown said: “On the topic of generosity, I would like to put on record my thanks for the unbelievable gesture by James Anderson, who’s benevolent donation to the SPFL Trust will benefit the game at all levels. At a time where negativity has become all too normal, James’ actions have been a welcome good-news story.”

You can donate to Edinburgh City via their JustGiving page and read Jim Brown’s full statement on the club’s website.