Meadowbank Thistle reunite 30 years after their controversial switch to Livingston

When Meadowbank Thistle’s players trudged off the pitch at Greenock Morton’s Cappielow Park on 13 May, 1995, they were taking the final steps in the Edinburgh team’s history. A move to West Lothian that summer, and a rebrand as Livingston FC, left many among their small band of supporters disconnected. Thirty years on, a reunion is taking place in a small corner of the Capital just two miles from the redeveloped Meadowbank Stadium which Thistle called home.

There is still a a great degree of fondness for Meadowbank among those who remember them. It is one of many reasons that dozens of former players are getting back together three decades since the controversial switch. Among them are some involved on that fateful day in Inverclyde, including manager Jim Leishman, and even some followers who watched on from Cappielow’s terracing.

Morton won that final game of season 1994/95 in the old Scottish League Division Two in front of 3,165 people courtesy of a penalty by Derek Lilley. He would ironically become a Livingston legend nine years later by scoring in their League Cup final win over Hibs. Meadowbank’s final starting line-up read: Horace Stoute, Stuart Thorburn, Craig McCartney, Graeme Davidson, Mark Thomson, Gordon McLeod, Lee Bailey, Stuart Wilson, Ian Little, Stuart Sorbie and Jason Young.

The reunion is being organised by David Stoker, a childhood Meadowbank supporter who later became a Livingston director, plus devoted fans David Baxter and Morgan Nock. Former Thistle players Stewart Williamson, Jim McQueen, Lawrie Dunn, Tom Hendrie and Alan Banks also helped with the event. Familiar names including Darren Jackson, Walter Boyd, David Roseburgh, Graeme Armstrong, Grant Tierney, Victor Kasule, John Jobson and Mickey Lawson will be in attendance. Tickets cost just £10.

“I’m in the minority of people who think Livingston are the same club as Meadowbank,” says Stoker. “A lot of people who went to Meadowbank disagree with that and feel their club ended in 1995. It’s a bit like the Rangers 2012 thing - everybody has their own opinion on it. I was a fairly young kid at the time going to watch Meadowbank and it was a really welcoming environment, very family-orientated. I went myself as a 10-year-old. That wouldn’t happen now, would it?

“My first game was in 1998 at the end of the season when Meadowbank finished second in the First Division and almost got promoted to the top flight. It was one of the best part-time clubs in the country back then. I originally came from a Hearts family but my Dad wasn’t into going to matches. So I asked my Mum if I could go to Easter Road to watch Hibs. She said it was too dangerous, loads of casuals, all that stuff, so I asked to go to Meadowbank instead and she said that was fine.

Scottish football ticket prices in 1980s

“She took me there for my first game, I was 10 years old and it was £1.50 to get in. That was me hooked. I forgot how much I enjoyed that time. I’ve been doing the programme for this so I got to interview players who were my heroes as a kid, Wattie Boyd and David Roseburgh. It’s been brilliant. Morgan has been driving it all. We have a committee helping to organise the event and there are former players on that who I watched as a child. It’s just great to be part of it.”

Nock is originally from England but is now a passionate Livingston follower who attended Monday night’s dramatic play-off win against Ross County which took the club back to the Premiership. He also considers himself a Meadowbank fan even though he never got to see them play. “I support Livingston and my idea is that it is not the same club,” he says.

“I discovered this story and I don’t feel anybody ever did it justice. I want to shine a light on it and bring it back into the public eye. I did history at university and I feel this story hasn’t been captured accurately, so now I need to write that history book. I’m really enjoying it. When people start unlocking these memories it brings them a lot of joy.

“The main reason I want to do this is because I feel there is a huge injustice. The likes of Wattie Boyd, David Roseburgh and others don’t have the legacy that they deserve. If all this had happened at Stenhousemuir, for example, then right now Stenhousemuir would be playing at the Terry Christie Stadium. There would be a Wattie Boyd Stand. There would be a statue of David Roseburgh. They don’t have that and they might never have it, but if I can do anything towards getting to that end goal then that’s what I want to achieve.

“I’ve been working with David Baxter, who was programme editor and secretary of the Meadowbank supporters’ club for years. We are collaborating on a book about Meadowbank Thistle which will hopefully be ready for Christmas 2026. When we were discussing that, we realised this month is 30 years since Meadowbank’s final game so that’s the platform to recognise it. I’ve also started a podcast series, interviewing former players and supporters and helping them tell their stories. Again, they don’t have a platform for that.

“What I’d love to achieve at the end of this is that we set up some kind of historical trust or an organisation that exists to preserve the memory of Meadowbank Thistle. As part of that, I would want the football club to sign over the rights to any logos, names, achievements and stuff like that.”

• The Meadowbank Thistle Reunion 2025 is this Saturday, 31 May, at 7pm at Parkside Bowling Club next to Edinburgh’s Commonwealth Pool. Tickets are £10 and include a buffet, a programme, with guest speakers Jim Leishman, Terry Christie and Alan Banks. Tickets can be purchased via social media @MeadowbankThis [X and Instagram] or from www.meadowbankthistle.co.uk