FC Edinburgh 3-0 Cowdenbeath

FC Edinburgh 3-0 Cowdenbeath

Premier Sports Cup

Wednesday 20th July 2022

Before their relegation to the Lowland League a few months ago, Cowdenbeath was always a strong contender for the dubious honour of having the worst ground in the SPFL.

With the Blue Brazil now out of the way there’s only one winner!

Nope, it’s not the much-derided Cliftonhill - and that’s because Albion Rovers’ home ground has character, subtle irony and views of the pitch which are semi-acceptable. Instead, it’s the new Meadowbank Stadium (home to FC Edinburgh) which has FINALLY popped up after three years of construction at a cost of approximately £47M.

I’d been fore-warned by those who went to the opening game at Meadowbank against Arbroath on Saturday that the place is basically just a football pitch next door to a sports centre and, having now been (and I won’t be rushing back), I concur 100% with that analogy.

Lacking character, lacking soul, lacking atmosphere and with an over-zealous approach to stewarding, plus a vast amount of people stood doing nothing (albeit with lanyards dangling around their necks), the place doesn’t pave the way for a positive matchday experience whatsoever. It’s just awful - and it was more than ironic that the loudest cheer of the night came when Hibernian scored their equaliser over at Easter Road against Greenock Morton!

Despite being in the middle of a heatwave, you’re not allowed to take drinks from inside (despite a McDonalds being smack bang opposite the turnstiles) purely because the powers that be want to try and coercively control spectators and force them to spend money once they’re inside. It’s deplorable behaviour, all things considered, and just has a big whiff of unpleasantness about it.

The evening sunshine glares straight onto the three rows of seats and nowhere (not even in one place) is there any paraphernalia to say ‘This is Meadowbank: Home to FC Edinburgh’. I know the facility is council run and there’ll be teething problems to begin with - something which is usually the case at any new ground, but there’s already vast room for improvement. The mooted talk of a new stand, unless it’s directly next to the pitch, isn’t going to do much to improve things either because it’s clear that football spectators just haven’t been considered at any point during the design or construction process.

Having watched games in a few athletics stadiums across the UK, there are many better ones around of a similar size and they could do worse than take a trip to Bradford Park Avenue who’ve improved things significantly over the years. Moreover, the new ‘stadium’ is a pathetic replacement for the Commonwealth Stadium that it replaced because at least that had a vast grandstand offering elevation and good views.

The stadium/facilities (or distinct lack of them) won’t help FC Edinburgh to ingratiate themselves into the local community. The name change itself has already served to alienate a lot of their own fanbase who’ve claimed they’ll not go to games anymore.

Increasing ticket prices to £18 won’t help because which right-minded person would want to pay that price on a regular basis when you could walk 10 minutes further to Easter Road, pay a few quid more, and enjoy a game in a proper stadium with a proper atmosphere and get a proper view of the pitch?

It did make me laugh that FC Edinburgh invited a vlogger to their opening game and then retweeted his subsequent video saying the place was ‘amazing, brilliant and wonderful’ and would ‘help attract fans from all over the world’. I don’t know quite what that lad was smoking but it must have been remarkably strong and that kind of PR tomfoolery won’t pull the wool over people’s eyes. If said vlogger genuinely believes his own words once he’s escaped from inside the club’s pocket then he needs serious help - or a visit to a ‘proper’ stadium to see what good facilities actually look like.

Certainly, fans from around the world aren’t going to flock to an officiously-run, over-priced athletics stadium about a mile or so from the city centre and FC Edinburgh just ain’t no FC Barcelona!

It’s all a massive shame because, football-wise, FC Edinburgh actually have a half-decent team. They won promotion last season and SPFL League One will be the highest level they’ve ever played at and those lads deserve a bit of decent support as opposed to being surrounded by a shambles.

They brushed aside Cowdenbeath with relative ease in this game and opened up a two-goal cushion by the half-hour mark thanks to John Robertson who converted from a re-taken penalty and then added a second goal with an effort which went in off the base of the post.

Ryan Shanley slipped in a third goal after half-time and though the Blue Brazil gave it their best shot, they were always second best. A lack of available options on the bench (only being able to name three substitutes) hardly helped them and the last 30 minutes lacked anything of note other than a ball boy doing ‘keepy-uppies’ as the result was already sorted.

It’s fair to say that having been here now, I won’t be rushing back and unless there’s some drastic changes (or the SFA/SPFL see sense and deem this place as unfit for purpose), then Meadowbank Stadium is going to be reviled by most lower league fans in the months to come.

And I’d also hazard a guess and say this piece won’t be retweeted by FC Edinburgh!