Tynecastle Football Club are a Scottish

football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kicking a ball to score a goal. Unqualified, the word ''football'' normally means the form of football that is the most popular where the word is used. Sports commonly c ...

team playing in the . The club was formed in 2005 by the merger of Tynecastle Boys Club and Tollcross United. They play at the

Meggetland Sports Complex Meggetland Sports Complex, owned by Edinburgh Leisure, is a Sports Pavilion used for a number of International fixtures across the five outdoor facilities they hold; 3G Pitch, Astroturf, Football Pitches, Rugby Pitches and Cricket Pitches. They r ...

Edinburgh Edinburgh ( ; gd, Dùn Èideann ) is the capital city of Scotland and one of its 32 Council areas of Scotland, council areas. Historically part of the county of Midlothian (interchangeably Edinburghshire before 1921), it is located in Lothian ...

History

The original Tynecastle Boys Club were formed in 1928, and the club take this to be the date of their formation as can be seen on the club crest. As a youth team, a number of young footballers played for Tynecastle Boys Club on their way to successful careers. Former

Scotland Scotland (, ) is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. Covering the northern third of the island of Great Britain, mainland Scotland has a border with England to the southeast and is otherwise surrounded by the Atlantic Ocean to the ...

captain Captain is a title, an appellative for the commanding officer of a military unit; the supreme leader of a navy ship, merchant ship, aeroplane, spacecraft, or other vessel; or the commander of a port, fire or police department, election precinct, e ...

Darren Fletcher played for Tynecastle during the 1990s. On 5 June 2005, Tynecastle Boys Club merged with

East of Scotland Football League The East of Scotland Football League (EoSFL) is a senior football league based in the east and south-east of Scotland. The league sits at levels 6–9 on the Scottish football league system, acting as a feeder to the Lowland Football League. Fo ...

side Tollcross United to form Tynecastle F.C. This merger meant that Tynecastle were admitted to senior levels of

Scottish football Association football ( sco, fitbaa, gd, ball-coise) is one of the national sports of Scotland and the most popular sport in the country. There is a long tradition of "football" games in Orkney, Lewis and southern Scotland, especially the Scot ...

for the first time, taking Tollcross United's place in The East of Scotland Football League First Division. Tynecastle's chairman, Douglas Dalgliesh said of the merger: ''"The coming together of the two organisations will be of enormous benefit. Having a team in the East of Scotland Association is seen as another step forward in our plan for growth."'' Tollcross United secretary, Alastair Wilkie added: ''"For some time now we have struggled to encourage younger players to join and the tie up with such a club as Tynecastle is the only way forward. It is sad that the Tollcross name will disappear after all those years but we need to look to the future and the new set up will allow us to move forward."'' On 5 August, the club played their first ever senior match, a

pre-season friendly An exhibition game (also known as a friendly, a scrimmage, a demonstration, a preseason game, a warmup match, or a preparation match, depending at least in part on the sport) is a sporting event whose prize money and impact on the player's or ...

against

Scottish Premier League The Scottish Premier League (SPL) was the top level league competition for professional football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kicking a ball to score a goal. Unqualified, the word ''football' ...

side Hibernian. The match ended in a very credible 2–2 draw, thanks to a last minute Tynecastle equaliser. On 5 December 2005, Keith Summers was appointed as the first team manager of the club. He had previously been interim manager for just over a month, following the departure of Ronnie Dignan on 25 October. On 13 November 2007, the club received a windfall of £114,000 after former player and

goalkeeper Craig Gordon was transferred from Hearts to

Sunderland Sunderland () is a port city in Tyne and Wear, England. It is the City of Sunderland's administrative centre and in the Historic counties of England, historic county of County of Durham, Durham. The city is from Newcastle-upon-Tyne and is on t ...

for £9 million. Chairman Douglas Dalgliesh said: ''"We thought that if a player was over twenty-three we wouldn't be entitled to any money, so it was a shock to receive this news."'' He added: ''"We've always lived from year-to-year and month-to-month, but now we have funding like we've never had before."'' Gordon said of the news: ''"I'm sure it will keep them going for years to come and hopefully it will nurture a few boys through to play in the SPL."'' In January 2008, the club set up a sister club in the

American American(s) may refer to: * American, something of, from, or related to the United States of America, commonly known as the "United States" or "America" ** Americans, citizens and nationals of the United States of America ** American ancestry, pe ...

city of Everett, Snohomish County,

Washington Washington commonly refers to: * Washington (state), United States * Washington, D.C., the capital of the United States ** A metonym for the federal government of the United States ** Washington metropolitan area, the metropolitan area centered on ...

called Tynecastle International F.C. It was set up by former Tynecastle and

Bolton Wanderers Bolton Wanderers Football Club () is a professional football club based in Horwich, Bolton, Greater Manchester, England, which competes in . The club played at Burnden Park for 102 years from 1895 after moving from their original home at Pike's ...

player and resident of Everett,

David Hoggan David Leslie Hoggan (March 23, 1923 – August 7, 1988) was an American professor of history, author of ''The Forced War: When Peaceful Revision Failed'' and other works in the German and English languages. He was antisemitic, maintained ...

. Under the initiative, young players from the US will be given professional coaching and take to the field in the traditional maroon of their Edinburgh counterparts. In the 2007–08 season, Tynecastle finished 3rd in the East of Scotland League First Division. This was their highest league finish since the team were formed, having previously finished 5th in 2006–07 and 9th in 2005–06. At the start of the 2008–09 season, former

Livingston Livingston may refer to: Businesses * Livingston Energy Flight, an Italian airline (2003–2010) * Livingston Compagnia Aerea, an Italian airline (2011–2014), also known as Livingston Airline * Livingston International, a North American custom ...

and Gretna striker, David Bingham was appointed as player/coach of the club. He joined former Hearts player

Gary Mackay Gary Mackay (born 23 January 1964 in Edinburgh) is a Scottish former footballer, who made over 500 league appearances for Heart of Midlothian and also played for Airdrieonians and the Scotland national team. After retiring as a player, he m ...

on the coaching staff at Tynecastle. On 16 May 2009, Tynecastle defeated Gretna 2008 4–0 to secure the East of Scotland League First Division title, and as a result were promoted to the Premier Division for the 2009–10 season. In August 2009, Tynecastle was awarded the SFA Quality Mark, which is awarded to show good practice in on and off field matters. Tynecastle also opened the new Fernieside Recreational Ground pavilion with a game against a Heart of Midlothian XI, the new pavilion was given to Tynecastle on a long-term lease. The club gained promotion to the Premier Division for

2020–21 The dash is a punctuation mark consisting of a long horizontal line. It is similar in appearance to the hyphen but is longer and sometimes higher from the baseline. The most common versions are the endash , generally longer than the hyphen b ...

after winning First Division Conference B in the curtailed 2019–20 season.

Colours and Badge

The club's home kit is a maroon design similar to the home kit of Heart of Midlothian, but with a white swoosh across the shoulder. In 2008, the club announced a new sponsorship deal with a local

Indian restaurant Indian cuisine consists of a variety of regional and traditional cuisines native to India. Given the diversity in soil, climate, culture, ethnic groups, and occupations, these cuisines vary substantially and use locally available spices, herb ...

. It was also announced that they would be playing in a new yellow away kit during the 2008–09. The club's badge displays an image of a

castle A castle is a type of fortified structure built during the Middle Ages predominantly by the nobility or royalty and by military orders. Scholars debate the scope of the word ''castle'', but usually consider it to be the private fortified r ...

over the top of large maroon 'T'. To the top of the logo, the words 'Founded 1928' are displayed in a yellow banner and similarly, 'Edinburgh' is displayed in a yellow banner beneath the Logo. The words 'Tynecastle' and 'Club' are written in a maroon text above and below the rest of the badge respectively.

Stadium

Tynecastle moved to the Meggetland Sports Complex in 2018, where they share the main stadium grass pitch with

Boroughmuir RFC Boroughmuir RFC is a rugby union football club in the Scottish Rugby Union. The club's home ground is Meggetland, in southwest Edinburgh and the club plays in the , where they are known as the Boroughmuir Bears. Founded in 1919 and admitted to ...

. They originally played at the Fernieside Recreation Ground, which had been Tollcross United's home since 1971, before sharing Saughton Enclosure with Lothian Thistle Hutchison Vale from 2015.

Current squad

As of 15 November 2020

Honours

First Division * Winners: 2008–09, 2019–20 (Conference B) Alex Jack Cup * Winners: 2017–18 South & East of Scotland Cup-Winners Shield * Winners: 2017–18

References

External links

Official Club website
{{Football in Edinburgh Association football clubs established in 1928 Football clubs in Scotland Football clubs in Edinburgh 1928 establishments in Scotland East of Scotland Football League teams