User:Craig Thomson

Brief History of Meadowbank Thistle F.C.

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Meadowbank Thistle were a Scottish Football League team from Edinburgh who were formed in 1974, joining the Scottish Football League after a change in format allowed space for 1 extra team. They were originally a works team called Ferranti Thistle who were renamed Meadowbank Thistle and played their home games at the Meadowbank Stadium ( built for the 1970 Commenwealth Games which were held in Edinburgh ).

There first ever match was against Albion Rovers and finished 0-1 to Albion in front of their record attendance of 2818.

Meadowbank Stadium was rented to Meadowbank Thistle from the City of Edinburgh Council, whom they enjoyed a good relationship with but the police ruled that 4 teams - Celtic F.C., Rangers F.C., Heart of Midlothian F.C. and Hibernian F.C. would not be allowed to play at Meadowbank Stadium due to segregation issues. Supporters were allowed to sit anywhere in the main stand which had a capcity of 6600 ( although the Council set a capacity limit of 4400. )

In 1995, Meadowbank, who only had a hardcore support of about 400, evolved ino Livingston F.C. who retained their distinctive club colours of gold shirts, black shorts and gold stockings. The club was moved out of Edinburgh to the West Lothian new town of Livingston and would play their home games at a brand new stadium called Almondvale which had a capcity of 10,000 and it was hoped they could draw bigger crowds as West Lothian's first Scottish Football League team.

Their record victory was 6-0 versus Raith Rovers F.C..

Their all time top-goal scorer was David Roseburgh ( nicknamed Rosie who was a firm favourite with the fans ) with 44 goals.

The most goals scored in one season was by John McGachie who scored 27 in the 1986-87 season as Meadowbank won their only honour, the Scottish Football League Second Division title. A reunion match was played on Sunday September 16th 2007 at Meadowbank to celebrate that occasion.

--Craig Thomson 23:56, 23 June 2007 (UTC)