Welcome back to Edinburgh as we enter Season Three here at Spartans and our first in the Scottish Championship.
Arguably our biggest season of the save so far is upon us as we venture into the Scottish Championship for the first time in the club’s history. We remain a semi-professional club heading into the season, dictated mainly by the club’s financial position. Before we look at what has been an overhaul this summer, it is worth assessing the financial stability of the club.
Finances
As you would expect, most things are in the green following the conclusion of the 2024/2025 season. Our attendances were up to the 1,500 mark and our reputation growth has no doubt assisted. Competition money isn’t far off Season One but we did have a slightly worse season in terms of domestic competitions so it was to be expected.
Season ticket sales are up by almost double which is good news! I am hopeful that we will be able to push our average attendance above the 2,000 mark and start selling out on a regular occurrence. We currently have a capacity of 3,500 but if we are able to maintain our position and continue growing our reputation I see no reason why we can’t get big attendances in the near future.
This is how our books look as we sit in August 2025. I’m never one for hugely monitoring finances as I’ve always managed bigger clubs where it isn’t really an issue. I don’t see any concerns yet as we have shown steady growth year on year. We still haven’t paid a single transfer fee for a player and I suspect that it will remain the case until we reach the top flight! Big cup runs will also be key to keeping the coffers healthy, and we’ve shown we can do it over the past two seasons.
Summer Transfer Window
The title of this blog post may give away the fact that we’ve brought in a lot of players over the summer. In all honesty, it had to be done given the progress being made at the club. However, before I transformed the team, I had a mission to replace my Director of Football.
And that is exactly what I did! Please welcome, Sean Murphy who joins the club following his retirement from playing in the Scottish Lowland League. Murphy is a considerable upgrade on my previous Director of Football and he had played a key part over the summer in finding suitable targets to bring in as free transfers.
Starting with the outs, there wasn’t a huge exodus this summer. I took the approach that the players who were good for us last season would at least be decent rotation options this season and I would keep them if they were happy to stay as squad players. Only Jordan Cropper and Josh Todd left on permanent deals as both were unhappy at the club.
The rest of the outs were loan deals in order to allow some of our younger players to gain valuable experience elsewhere. I have high hopes for James McConnell, who you will see later in this post arrived from Liverpool on a free. It is also satisfying to keep all of the loan players in Scotland which means that they can help improve the teams and leagues around us and start to push the national rankings up.
Now onto the new recruits! Oh boy, there is a lot of them…
Goalkeeper
With Scott Fox underperforming last year, he was slowly phased out with the loan arrival of Harrington. Harrington came and went and I decided to pick up Jordan Eastham from Blackburn Rovers upon the expiration of his contract. A solid addition for us who will do a job in the Championship. I don’t think he’s the future of the club but given what was on offer, he will do.
Defenders
No less than seven new defenders joined the club over the summer. With Jack Kingdon returning to his parent club and Rhys Bennett not the most gifted, I knew we needed central defensive reinforcements. In the end, I brought in four new centre backs. Kyle McClelland looks a very well rounded defender and joins from Queen of the South. Michael Forbes arrives from Harvorford West and at 21 could improve a decent amount. Callum Perry arrives on loan from Coventry and his mentals and physicals are just incredible for this level. Finally, Jadel Katongo joins us on a free after being released by Manchester City. Four decent central defenders that really should do the job in this league.
In the full back area I was also keen to strengthen, especially with Cropper leaving. Cesay and Water performed well last season but I wanted options ahead of this season. This saw the arrival of Colombian, Juan Jose Tello who made the brave decision to leave his native Colombia and settle in Edinburgh. At 23, he is well rounded and will no doubt add quality at left wing back. At right back we made two additions. Daniel Chesters joins the club after leaving West Ham and I was incredibly excited to get this deal done. He is an attack minded full back with excellent speed and cross. Defensively he’s not great, but our system puts us on the front foot so I am confident he will perform. Finally, I brought in Habeeb Ogunneye on loan from Nottingham Forest and he will add strength in depth at both centre back and right back.
Midfielders
I’ve got to start with Saliou Faye, he looks like some talent. We were able to pick him up on a free after he was released by Generation Foot in Senegal. I haven’t quite decided where I am going to play him yet but I have no doubt he will be lighting up the league this season. Cameron Blues arrives on loan from Airdrieonians. This was a kick in the balls as he had agreed to join us on a free and then Airdrieonians triggered an extension. He joins us for now on a season long loan and will slot into defensive midfield. Rafael Caroca comes in to provide some experience and backup to Blues but I don’t expect to see him play all too much going forward.
Surprisingly we were able to pick up James McConnell on a free after he left Liverpool. He’s not quite ready for first team action and so he’s gone to Montrose on loan for a season to get some first team experience under his belt. Kerr Robertson is another youngster that we’ve taken on and he will go out on loan. I’m unsure if he will ever be good enough but I think he’s worth a punt. Finally, we’ve managed to secure the services of Kyle Turner who joins on a free from Ross County. He has real technical quality and will be able to play at both CM and CAM in our system.
Forwards
Last season’s success was heavily reliant on Robbie McDaid scoring an obscene amount of goals up top. We really struggled with goal contributions from our wide players and that was something I was keen to address over the summer. As you’ll see, we were actually able to attract some very good forwards to the club and on relatively small wages.
First up is a well known name, in the form of Amadou Diallo who joins from Newcastle, where he made three premier league appearances. A real coup for us, especially as he joins on £1.4k per week. He can contribute goals and I will hoping for a good return this season. Equally as good a signing is that of Conor Wilkinson who joins us from Motherwell and he will provide competition to McDaid up top and adds some top level Scottish experience to the ranks. Tai Abed is an interesting signing, as we pick him up from Jong PSV. At 21 he has potential to grow and I think he will be a useful impact sub for us this season.
Now here is one I am really excited for and that is the loan signing of Max McFadden from Leeds United. I mean, just look at him! He’s got bags of talent, he’s technically very good and I just have a good feeling about him. Szymon Plesiewicz, Victor Musa and Daniel Cummings all arrive with some potential and I will look to find loan deals for them.
July and August 2025
Out with the old and in with the new is pretty much the narrative of the summer and it trickles through to what I consider our best eleven as we enter the season.
First up is my favourite part of the season in Scotland, the Viaplay Cup. We absolutely smashed the group and ended up finishing top, ahead of Motherwell. Albeit, our group was not the hardest, we did still have to do the job and came away with three wins, one loss and a penalty shootout defeat.
Our hard work set us up for a Second Round tie at home to Hearts.
It wasn’t to be for us, sadly. Juan Jose Tello decided he fancied an early bath and left us with ten men for the second half. We responded well by taking the lead on 55 minutes, courtesy of Saliou Faye but we were then outclassed in the final third of the game with Hearts scoring three. A hard one to take but our second half performance was not good enough.
At least something good came out of the defeat. A record attendance of 3,500 packed in. I am really hoping we can continue to increase our attendances. I don’t think the finances could cope with an expansion or new stadium at this point though!
August is done and dusted and things are looking positive for us. It’s been a mixed bag for sure but we’ve managed to pick up 9 points from a possible 15 in the league. For a club merely looking to avoid the drop, I’d say that’s pretty good going. A huge 4-1 over Dunfermline was especially pleasing, as well as a last-gasp winner away at Inverness CT.
Not a bad start to life in the Championship! Lots to work on and I am still trying to figure out my best eleven but 9 points on the board so far.
The squad is slowly gelling together, although we have seen some slightly below par individual performances but that’s to be expected when the squad is overhauled in the way it was over the summer.
Max McFadden has been particularly impressive for us so far, with 8 goals and 3 assists to his name already. Robbie McDaid continues to score goals as he picks up 5.
Daniel Chesters leads the way for assists from right back with an impressive 6 to his name so far. His partner in crime on the left hand side, Juan Jose Tello has also impressed in spells with 3 assists.
Summary
In short, it’s been an encouraging summer and start to the season for us. I am still trying to figure out how to get us playing consistently well, but I must remember that we are only aiming to stay up this season. Initial signs are that we may be slightly short at the back in terms of quality. I am yet to settle on a central defensive pairing and that really annoys me.
Next time we will be back and reviewing season three upon the conclusion of the 2025/2026 season. Thanks so much for reading!
The FM Library 
Leave a comment