Lothian Thistle Hutchison Vale Football Club (LTHV) are a senior non-league
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 ...
club based in
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 ...
, Scotland. Currently competing in the , they play their home matches at Saughton Enclosure in the Saughton area of the city.
History
Founded in 1969 as an amateur
works team
A works team (sometimes factory team, company team) is a sports team that is financed and run by a manufacturer or other business. Sometimes, works teams contain or are entirely made up of employees of the supporting company.
Association footb ...
for Lloyds Finance, they initially played as Lloyds & Scottish prior to renaming themselves Lothian Thistle.
The club originally competed in the Lothian amateur league before a successful spell in the
Caledonian Amateur Football League
The Caledonian Amateur Football League is a football (soccer) league competition for amateur clubs in Scotland. It was formed in 1983 by inviting what were deemed to be top amateur clubs from across central Scotland with good facilities with hig ...
. They then moved up to senior status when they joined the
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.
...
in 1995, gaining promotion to the Premier Division two years later in 1997.
The club is linked with the youth football club Hutchison Vale, and changed their name to Lothian Thistle Hutchison Vale before the start of the 2011–12 season to reflect this.
LTHV won the East of Scotland Premier Division title for the first time in the 2013–14 season, repeating this success in the 2014–15 season. They were runners-up in 2015–16 and won the league for the third time in 2016–17, although they did not take part in the play-off for promotion to the
Lowland League
The Scottish Lowland Football League (SLFL, commonly known as the Lowland League) is a senior football league based in central and southern Scotland. The league sits at level 5 on the Scottish football league system, acting as a feeder to the ...
because they were ineligible for licensing reasons. They narrowly lost out on the 2017–18 title after defeat to
Kelty Hearts
Kelty Hearts Football Club is a football club based in the village of Kelty in Fife, Scotland. Formed in 1975 and nicknamed ''the Hearts'', ''the Maroon Machine'' and ''the Jambos'', they play their home games at New Central Park. Their home c ...
on the final day of the season.
The club reached the 3rd round of the
Scottish Cup
The Scottish Football Association Challenge Cup,2017–18 beating League Two side Stirling Albion 5-3 away from home, before losing 1-7 at home to St Mirren. They became SFA members in 2018, allowing them automatic entry into the Scottish Cup.
LTHV gained promotion back 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 A in the curtailed 2019–20 season.
Ground
The club operates at Saughton Enclosure in the west side of
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 ...
, where they have been since 1998. The ground can accommodate up to 1,000 spectators.
Youth
The Hutchison Vale youth team was founded in 1940. Its first intake of players included future professionals Tommy Younger and
George Farm
George Neil Farm (13 July 1924 – 18 July 2004) was a Scottish professional football goalkeeper and manager.
Born in Slateford, a suburb of Edinburgh, Farm represented his country on ten occasions, the last three of which occurred after a g ...
.
A full list of 'graduates' was released by the BBC in April 2019 - Grant Brebner, Lee Bullen, Mark Burchill, Gary Caldwell, Steven Caldwell, John Collins, Alan Combe, Peter Cormack, Darren Dods, Andrew Driver, George Farm, Alfred Finnbogason, Darren Fletcher, Ryan Flynn, Paul Hanlon, Kevin Harper, John Hughes, Danny Galbraith, Gary Glen, Leigh Griffiths, John Inglis, Danny Lennon, Gary Locke, Gary Mason, Eddie May, Allan McGregor, Steven McLean, Marc McNulty, Michael McIndoe, Kenny Miller, Grant Murray, Ian Murray, Gary Naysmith, Sam Nicholson, Colin Nish, Garry O'Connor, Allan Preston, Derek Riordan, Scott Robinson, Michael Stewart, Danny Swanson, Paul Telfer, Kevin Thomson, Gregor Townsend, Steven Tweed, Mickey Weir, Steven Whittaker, Danny Wilson, Tommy Younger
In April 2019 it was described as "Scotland's most fruitful football academy".
Women
Hutchison Vale also have a women's section who play in SWPL 2, the second division of the
Scottish Women's Premier League
The Scottish Women's Premier League (SWPL) is the highest level of league competition in women's football in Scotland. Its two divisions are SWPL 1 and SWPL 2. The league was formed when the Premier Division of the Scottish Women's Football Leag ...
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 ...
. However this partnership ended at the end of the season, and they reverted to the Hutchison Vale name for 2019.
Hutchison Vale Ladies won the
Scottish Cup
The Scottish Football Association Challenge Cup,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.
...
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.
...
First Division
*Winners : 1996–97, 2019–20 (Conference A)
East of Scotland City Cup
* Winners: 2016–17
*''Runners-up'' : 2014–15
East of Scotland Qualifying Cup
* Winners: 1996-97, 2014–15
*''Runners-up (2)'' : 2016–17, 2017–18
East of Scotland League Cup
* Winners: 2017–18
King Cup
* Winners: 2003–04
*''Runners-up (2)'' : 2015–16, 2016–17
Alex Jack Cup
* Winners (5): 2000–01, 2003–04, 2005–06, 2007–08, 2016–17
*''Runners-up (6)'': 1995–96, 1997–98, 2002–03, 2010–11, 2013–14, 2016–17
South & East Cup Winners Shield
* Winners: 2016–17