Edinburgh City

Foundation and early history (1928–2016)

The original Edinburgh City was founded in 1928 and the club adopted amateur status, with the aim of becoming the Edinburgh equivalent of Glasgow club Queen's Park. Edinburgh City joined the Scottish Football League in 1931. The club played in the Lothian Amateur League during the Second World War and were only admitted to the C Division in 1946; by then the club had adopted professional status. After three more years of struggle, the club left the Scottish Football League in 1949. It switched to junior status and played in the Edinburgh & District Junior League. The club ceased activity completely in 1955 when the local council refused to renew its lease on its home ground, City Park.

A club called Postal United F.C. was founded in 1966 and joined the East of Scotland League. Their best league finish was third in 1985–86, having won the Qualifying Cup in 1982–83 and King Cup in 1984–85.

The Edinburgh City Football Club Ltd continued trading as a social club and Alan Day, who was a player with Postal United and also a member of the social club, approached the board to adopt their name. Approval was then granted in 1986 for Postal United to become Edinburgh City F.C..

Edinburgh City has participated in the Scottish Cup since the mid-1990s, when it became a full member of the Scottish Football Association. In the 1997–98 Scottish Cup they defeated SFL club East Stirlingshire, before losing 7–2 to Dunfermline Athletic, then of the Premier Division.

The club applied to join the Scottish Football League in 2002 after Airdrieonians had gone bankrupt, but Gretna won the vote instead. Edinburgh City applied again following Gretna's liquidation in 2008, but this time lost out to Annan Athletic.

Edinburgh City won the East of Scotland Football League Premier Division title for the first time in the 2005–06 season and became members of the new Lowland League in 2013. They went on to win the Lowland League title in 2014–15 and 2015–16 under the management of Gary Jardine. They then gained promotion to the Scottish Professional Football League by defeating East Stirlingshire in the play-offs with a penalty four minutes from time, converted by Dougie Gair.

Promotion to SPFL (2016–2022)

The victory over East Stirling meant it was the first time a non-league club had been promoted to the professional league using the newly established pyramid system below the SPFL.

Edinburgh City finished in seventh place during their first Scottish League Two season in 2016–17. Ross Allum scored City's first ever goal as an SPFL club in a cup defeat to Hamilton Academical at Meadowbank. Their first SPFL league goal was scored by Craig Beattie.

Under James McDonaugh they avoided the relegation play-offs in 2018, finishing eight points ahead of bottom placed Cowdenbeath. They fared better in 2018–19 following investment from Tom Tracy, finishing third and qualifying for the League One promotion play-offs. However, they were knocked out by Clyde in the play-off semi-finals, losing 4–0 over two legs.

Edinburgh City sat second in the table after 27 games when the truncated 2019–20 season was brought to an early finish in April 2020. In the 2020–21 Scottish League Two season, a limited number of fixtures were played due to the COVID-19 pandemic. City again found themselves in the play-offs after a second place league finish on goal difference. In the play-off final against League One opponents Dumbarton, City would experience play-off disappointment again, losing 3–2 on aggregate.

Finally, after finishing 4th in the 2021–22 season following the appointment of Alan Maybury, Edinburgh City navigated the League One play-offs and earned promotion to Scottish League One after victory against Annan Athletic. It meant the club would play in the 3rd tier of Scottish football for the first time in its history. They won the tie on aggregate 3–2 with Innes Murray scoring the winner.

League One, 'FC Edinburgh' and financial troubles (2022–2024)

Within weeks of Edinburgh City's successful promotion, club owner Tom Tracy and the board changed their name to FC Edinburgh in June 2022. They no longer felt the 1986 permission from the Edinburgh City social club to use the name was sufficient, and wished to own the club name outright.

When the social club refused to surrender the name, Edinburgh City became "Football Club of Edinburgh". The change was made with no prior consultation with supporters and was a deeply unpopular decision. The club clarified in October 2022 that it should be known as Edinburgh, rather than the full name of 'FC Edinburgh', in an attempt to ease frustration. The club would go on to finish a respectable 6th place in League One despite the off pitch turmoil.

City also faced criticism throughout the 2022–23 season following their move back to the redeveloped Meadowbank which was designed as a multi-purpose stadium favouring track and field facilities. This hindered the view for supporters due to the distance the main stand was from the pitch and lack of elevation.

In June 2023 it was announced that ownership would be transferred from Tom Tracy to a fan based consortium led by John Dickson. It was also announced the club would revert to being Edinburgh City pending SFA approval. With the supporters playing their part in influencing the SFA decision, in June 2023 approval was confirmed.

Due to limited time and resources available following the takeover, Edinburgh City would endure a challenging 2023–24 campaign and would encounter financial difficulties midway through the season. Michael McIndoe was appointed head coach following the departure of Alan Maybury. However, the club were soon penalised six points for failing to pay their players on time and many moved on as a consequence. This left a squad made up of youth players and loan signings to play out the remainder of the season. City were relegated back to League Two after a 5–2 defeat to Alloa Athletic on 16 March 2024.