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| Full name | East Kilbride Thistle Football Club | ||
|---|---|---|---|
| Nickname(s) | The Jags | ||
| Founded | 1968 | ||
| Ground | Showpark, East Kilbride | ||
| Capacity | 2,300 | ||
| Manager | Aaron Connolly | ||
| League | West of Scotland League Fourth Division | ||
| 2023–24 | West of Scotland League Fourth Division, 7th of 16 | ||
| Website | Club website | ||
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East Kilbride Thistle Football Club are a Scottish football club, based in the town of East Kilbride, South Lanarkshire near Glasgow. Nicknamed The Jags, they were formed in 1968 and play at the Showpark, situated in the Village area of the town. Currently playing in the West of Scotland League Fourth Division. They wear all black; their change strips are all red, or white tops with red or black shorts.
There was a club with the same name that existed in the 1920s. The team won the Second Division of the Scottish Junior League and the Lanarkshire Consolation Cup in 1922–23.[1][2]
The original club disbanded so that Clyde could move to the town in to the early 1960s. After the move fell through, the junior team was reformed.[3]
After Thistle disbanded, Strathclyde Juniors who were homeless applied to SJFA for permission to use ground for season 1965–66.[4]
The first trophy to be won was the West of Scotland Junior Cup in 1974. Cambuslang Rangers were beaten 3–1 in the final. The team reached the final again two years later, but lost to Arthurlie in a replay.[5]
The biggest success was the Scottish Junior Cup win in May 1983, with victory over Bo'ness UnitedatIbrox Stadium. The final result was 2–0 to Thistle, with goals from skipper Joe Reilly and Kenny Gordon.[6][7]
Thistle's previous manager was former St Johnstone and Hamilton Academical striker John Brogan, who took charge along with Martin Clark on a co-manager basis in November 1999. Clark left to coach Celtic's youth players in 2002, but Brogan remained in sole charge and won the Sectional League Cup at Partick Thistle's Firhill Stadium, Glasgow in 2002 with a 2–0 win over Bellshill Athletic, thanks to goals from Martin McVey and Stephen Brogan.
Brogan later returned the club to Firhill for another Sectional League Cup Final in 2005 but were unfortunate to lose to Neilston 4–3 on penalties, after a 0–0 draw. However it wasn't all bad news when the club won promotion to Super League Division One, from Central District League Division One, with a 3–0 win over Clydebank in the last game of the season on 1 May 2006.
John Brogan left the club in June 2008, and was replaced by former players Colin Mitchell and Ian Penman, as manager and assistant manager respectively. In 2008 Thistle also launched their own youth development structure, which sees coaching an teams from under 4s up to under 21s for both boys and girls.
In November 2010, Mitchell and Penman were replaced as team management by Jimmy Kerr and Tony Gallagher. In 2012 following relegation back to the Central District First Division, most of the playing staff, along with the management team left the club. After a season of turmoil on and off the pitch which resulted in relegation to the Central District Second Division, Thistle regrouped and started looking forwards to the future, the appointment of Alan Wardlaw as manager in late 2013 led to a change in fortunes for the club and they managed to win a few games, including a home league win for the first time in over 2 years. The team are managed from the end of the 2014–15 season by Billy Campbell.[8]
Aaron Connolly was appointed caretaker manager following the departure of Garry O'Hanlon.[9]
On 16 April 1972, Christie and Meechan played for Scotland Juniors against England in a 2–2 draw at Saracen Park (home of Ashfield), whilst playing for East Kilbride[10]
Willie Pettigrew was another player capped at Junior level with Scotland. He would go on to gain full international honours with Scotland later in his career.[11]
Current Squad Season 2023-2024
Dawid Sauermann
Liam McLaughlin
Adam Edgar
Andrew Mooney
Ryan Anderson
Dean Fitzpatrick
Matthew Connelly
Kieran Bell
Iain Stewart
Ryan Anderson
Ally McDonald
Mark Steele
Michael Blues
Ryan McDade
Ross Kennedy
Ryan Campbell
Luke Jackson
Ben Alston
David Gray
Campbell Tough
James Scott
Simon Millar
Mitchell Rooney
Jack McQuade
Jay Convery
Dino Mollinari
Zak Moynes
55°46′01″N 4°10′20″W / 55.76682°N 4.172219°W / 55.76682; -4.172219
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