SFA obstacle as FC Edinburgh request another name change

New owners confident of overcoming SFA obstacle after Edinburgh City rebrand request

FC Edinburgh must overcome a Scottish FA hurdle to change their name back to Edinburgh City, but the club’s new chairman is confident of a “positive outcome”.

The governing body suspended name change applications from all clubs in the SWPL, SPFL, Highland and Lowland League club before a fans’ consortium took control of the League One club based at Meadowbank.

The moratorium on name change requests has been in place since May 11 because of “marked increase in applications” but will remain only until a new SFA policy has been formalised. It follows a similar request from Open Goal Broomhill to revert back to Broomhill FC.

Meadowbank Stadium is home to FC Edinburgh, who want to change their name back to Edinburgh City

Ownership of the club nicknamed the Citizens was officially transferred from businessman Tom Tracy to a fans’ consortium on May 31. That prompted rumours that the owners would seek to change the name back to Edinburgh City, just a year after it was changed to FC Edinburgh.

John Dickson, the new chairman, confirmed in a statement this week that he had made the case “robustly” to the SFA. He said: “I intend for us to revert to the name Edinburgh City Football Club. Almost my first act as chairman was to make representation to the Scottish FA to this effect, and confirm our desire to return to our traditional club identity. My commitment to this is absolute, and I anticipate that having made our case robustly to the SFA, once their due processes are complete, we can bring City back.

“I am a supporter of the club and as such, the name Edinburgh City is incredibly important to me; it represents the heritage of the club and I know that the fans echo that view. Indeed, we are doing this with and on the mandate of their endorsement, so I look forward to a positive outcome later this month.”

The initial change was announced last summer due to an apparent legal dispute with the social club which uses the same name. The Edinburgh City Football Club Limited is registered with Companies House as the name of the Edinburgh City Social Club. It had been granting permission since 1986 for the football club to use the name but was reluctant to relinquish it.

Fans were furious when the name change and rebranding exercise was announced with no consultation last summer, shortly after the team had secured promotion to League One. Four month later, the club said it would prefer to be known as Edinburgh, rather than FC Edinburgh.

A successful businessman who owned the club for four years, Tracy decided to relinquish control at the end of the season just finished after repeated appeals were made for additional outside investment. He bankrolled the club’s ascent up to League One, but has now handed over a debt-free club to a fans’ consortium led by Dickson and a new board.

The name change has been welcomed by the board’s fans representative Boab Fallon, who said: “We cannot stress enough just how important this is to the support, and John has our full backing for this, as well as the wider aspirations for the club.”

Manager Alan Maybury has lost a few players after their contracts expired. Goalkeeper Robbie Mutch has joined Ayr United. Top scorer John Robertson has signed for Linfield in Northern Ireland. Midfielder James Craigen has departed for Spartans, Callum Tapping has joined East Kilbride and Robbie McIntyre has moved to Tranent.