New FC Edinburgh boss aiming big as he prepares for club overhaul

Newly appointed FC Edinburgh manager Lee Zavaroni may have only joined the club earlier this month but that isn’t stopping the former Hibee from eyeing up the SWPL1.

As the women’s game continues to grow in Scotland, more and more teams continue to eye up the promised land of top-tier football. While it may be a distant dream for some, FC Edinburgh remains continuously determined of reaching its aspirations. After the shock departure of Andy Enwood to Boroughmuir last month, Zavaroni was appointed as his successor alongside assistant manager Paul Alexander. Now they have both started to settle into their new roles, Zavaroni insists he sees no reason why the club can’t be playing the Old Firm in the near future.

“At the moment, the club has not set expectations for us,” he told the Edinburgh Evening News. “My five-year plan for us right now is for us to be in the SWPL1. We have no plans to leave the club if anyone bigger comes in for us, we are in here for the long haul to make this club bigger and compete in the top league like Spartans, Hearts and Hibs.”

FC Edinburgh has certainly been on the right trajectory over recent seasons to match these goals. Last campaign, the capital side finished as the League One champions unbeaten as well as lifted the Championship and League One Cup. However, with success comes a cost with many of the club's stars now being potentially prized away from the project by bigger teams. While this will most certainly be a blow for the new management team, it is a challenge that they are looking forward to.

Lee Zavaroni (right) and Paul Alexander (left) will be hoping for a good start to life in the Championship. Credit: Craig Doyle

“Myself and Paul were at Hibs for the last nine-and-a-half years,” Zavaroni explained. “We knew a lot of the players in the current squad either through the club or them being our opposition in teams we have coached against. Some have even been on our scouting list and it is normally me who watches them so I was aware of 90% of the players. We had no intention of leaving Hibs, when the job came up it was just one we thought we should go for. We were delighted to get it and to come in now and have to do almost a rebuild is a surprise but we are looking forward to the challenge.”

The team are currently preparing for life back in the third tier after a year's absence. Yet despite being a recently promoted side Zavaroni is aiming for another league title. However, if the club are set to meet these expectations, incomings are certainly needed which may come to be a thorn in the capital club’s side.

“I watched the play-off game last month with Rossvale,” he added. “I believe our players are at that level. We should be going and challenging for the league or at least a play-off spot. If we can get the players that we are looking at, there is no doubt that we will be up there.

“Our immediate aim is to get out of this league and to get to the SWPL2. We feel if we can retain the majority of the players and add to the squad we have now, we have a good chance of going and doing that. I hope with the way the team played last year, we can keep that going. It is going to be difficult to get players in certain positions, goalkeepers are hard to acquire and that is one we are probably going to lose at the moment, that is going to be the hardest one for us to replace. Our style of play is reliant on a goalkeeper that can play with her feet and there are not a lot of very good goalkeepers that can do a bit of both. It could be a case of bringing in somebody younger that we can mould.”

Over recent months FC Edinburgh has also developed a positive relationship with Penicuik Athletic which led to a youth partnership. Penicuik has had a very successful pathway to date, with the Under 16’s lifting the Challenge Cup last December. With players needed through the door over the coming months, Zavaroni has not ruled out looking towards the Midlothian side to bolster his ranks.

“Myself and Paul [Alexander] both coach and come from Penicuik,” he stated. “We regularly go and watch them and have an eye on a few of their players. We have spoken to Steven [Clarke] already and it is completely up to him when he thinks they are ready to make the jump up. A few of them are quite close at the moment but we will leave it up to his judgement. We want to utilise the partnership as much as possible.”

Zavaroni will have plenty of time to prepare for the upcoming with the first game of the Championship season not scheduled until August 27th, two weeks after the top two divisions. As a result, multiple friendlies against SWPL2 teams are set to take place over the coming months as the team looks to continue their momentum from last season.

First up, the Edinburgh side will travel to St. Johnstone on July 16th with kick-off taking place at 10:45. An away trip to Queens Park will follow seven days later at 14:30 as well as a game against Livingston on the 30th. The final friendly confirmed so far is a trip to Glasgow Women on August 6th.