Penicuik Athletic Football Club are a Scottish juniorfootball club. They were formed in 1888 and are based in Penicuik. Penicuik Park is ten miles south west of Edinburgh on the A702. The club is currently playing in the Super League of the Scottish Junior Football Association's East Region at their home ground, Penicuik Park.
History
The Beginning
Penicuik turned Junior in 1951 with the supporter's club buying Eastfield Park from the National Coal Board and built a new pavilion. The new ground was opened with a match against a strong Hibernian side which the Athletic lost 5–0.
The chairman at the time, Mr David Masson and Jimmy Ketchen, were two prominent figures in the club. Their manager was Dick Walker and coach Harry Verth.
Penicuik won their first silverware in 1949–50 season (before turning Junior) winning the Border Cup.
In 1966 the Athletic reached the semi-final of the Scottish Junior Cup only to lose by the narrowest of margins to local rivals Bonnyrigg Rose.
Scottish Junior Cup Final Run 1969-70
Penicuik Athletic's biggest achievement is undoubtedly reaching the Scottish Junior Cup Final in 1970 at Hampden Park, Glasgow. Penicuik's opponents on Saturday 16 May 1970 was Blantyre Victoria who they drew with 1–1, only to be defeated in the replay the following Tuesday night 1–0. The crowd at the final was in excess of 30,000, with the replay attendance published at 14,225.
Penicuik beat seven Junior clubs based in the West of Scotland to arrive at the final. Here is how it was done in 1970:
The 1970s saw probably the most successful period in the clubs history when a social club was built at the ground. Many local trophies were won and the team was considered as one of the leading teams in the East of Scotland. However the biggest prize of all, the Scottish Junior Cup still eluded the Athletic despite the club’s best efforts.
The club’s fortunes fell into decline both on and off the park in the 1980s and the Social Club was forced to close in 1986 with mounting debts. The park had been used as security for various loans and the creditors put the park up for sale to clear the debts. The team continued to play despite the off-field problems and were showing signs of revival when a near fatal blow was delivered as the ground was sold on to be developed into a supermarket which stands on Eastfield Park today.
Throughout the 1990s several initiatives were embarked on to secure a new pitch but for a variety of reasons were unsuccessful. The last and ultimately successful project to establish a pitch which met the criteria laid down by the Scottish Junior Football Association grew out of an initiative by three local Midlothian Councillors, Russell Imrie, David Fletcher and Adam Montgomery to improve recreational facilities in Penicuik.
Return to playing and the Willie McGinley years
However they reformed in 2002 playing at their new home Penicuik Park in the centre of the town.
Penicuik decided to set up a competition to design a club badge/logo which would be on the football strip and letterheads etc. In order to involve the local community, four local primary schools were invited to submit designs to the club. The schools involved were: Sacred Heart, Cornbank, Mauricewood and Cuikin Primary schools. There were over 100 entries to the competition and the winning design was submitted by Scott Anderson. Scott was presented with a plaque of the logo and a complete Penicuik Athletic youth strip. A plaque is displayed in the new changing rooms. The presentation was made to the winner, Scott Anderson, age 11, from Mauricewood Primary, by Club President, John Fraser and Councillor Adam Montgomery.
Penicuik Athletic were accepted back into the re-organised East Region (with the introduction of the Super League) and took their place in the second division in season 2002–03. The long awaited first game was played at Armadale in the first round of the League Cup on 6 August 2002, resulting in a 5–1 defeat. Over 500 spectators turned up at the new pitch in Penicuik Park on Saturday 8 August to witness a no scoring draw in a league match against Harthill Royal. Re-entry into the Scottish Junior Cup saw a win against Blackburn before defeat in the next round against an experienced Renfrew Juniors. Penicuik just missed out by a point on promotion to the first division after a 1–0 defeat in their final league match against West Calder which was controversially switched to be played on a Thursday night.
The following season saw promotion again narrowly missed with another third placed finish. However, the club won its first trophy, the Supplementary Cup when a late Brian Hancock goal secured victory over Whitburn in the final played at Blackburn Utd's Murrayfield Park. The manager that night was Willie McGinley and of the team below only Billy Bald remains at the club. Paul Lindsay and Brian Hancock scored in the 2–1 win.
Further success was to follow for McGinley's side as they won the Lothians League Division Two title in 2004–05 with 41 points from 18 games played. As a result, Penicuik Athletic were awarded Midlothian Council’s Senior Team Award in their annual Greatest Achievement in Sport awards. The following season they finished second in Division One and gained a place in the new East Premier League. Penicuik were also beaten finalists in the pre-season League Cup going down by the odd goal to Musselburgh Athletic.
The Athletic found the going tough in the new Premier League and narrowly escaped one of the three relegation slots back to the District League. They narrowly avoided relegation with a last match win over Scottish Junior Cup finalists Kelty Hearts at Penicuik Park, in front of a 500+ crowd. Penicuik lost in the final of the Brown Cup to Bonnyrigg Rose after defeating Scottish Junior Cup finalists Linlithgow Rose in an earlier round.
Penicuik improved their position in the Premier League by finishing in sixth place in the 12 team league during Season 2007–08. Irvine Meadow came to Penicuik in the first round of the Scottish Junior Cup and won by four goals to three while the club did not progress beyond the third round stage in any of the local cup competitions. At the end of the season, Willie McGinlay who had been team manager since the team started playing again in 2002, stood down for business and personal reasons.
Stuart 'Snowy' McKean takes charge
Manager McGinley stood down after six-years in charge in May 2008 and was replaced by his assistant Stuart 'Snowy' McKean, who had a distinguished junior playing career with Armadale Thistle and Bonnyrigg Rose. Season 2008–09 saw a further improvement in the league position with Penicuik finishing in fourth place. Penicuik’s best performance in the local cup competitions was reaching the semi final of the St. Michael’s Cup only to lose out at home to Linlithgow Rose in a penalty shoot out. However the following season, Penicuik started poorly. Failure to qualify from the sectional league cup was followed by a first round knock out in the Scottish Junior cup. A run of only one win in seven league matches before an enforced break for bad weather saw Penicuik drop into second bottom spot in the Premier League. McKean resigned in December 2009 and was replaced by the duo of the then club captain Craig Meikle, and former player Brian Ryrie.
The Meikle/Ryrie years
Former player Brian Ryrie and current player Craig Meikle were chosen from a strong list of applicants to replace McKean. Despite losing their first match in charge, sufficient points were gained from the remaining league fixtures to claim seventh spot in the league, finishing clear of the three relegation spots. There were second round exits in both the East of Scotland and Fife & Lothians Cup. The St. Michael's and Brown Cups went uncontested because of the length of the break for the bad weather.
Their first full season in charge saw several changes made to the playing squad and the league position showed an improvement with fifth place being achieved. A missed penalty in the last-minute, when the scores were level, proved costly in the first round Scottish Junior cup tie at Kilwinning as the home replay was lost. Penicuik did not progress from their league cup section but enjoyed good runs to the semi finals of both the East of Scotland and Fife and Lothians Cup, losing to Newtongrange Star and Bo'ness United respectively.
Promotion to the Super League was the target for season 2011–12 and it went right down to the wire. Penicuik went in to their last league game of the season at Broxburn Athletic needing a win to gain the second promotion spot but lost out to the home side who were promoted in their place. Penicuik finished fourth in a very tight finish. Broxburn were also Penicuik's downfall in the League Cup where Penicuik topped the section but were pipped by Broxburn who successfully appealed against Livingston fielding an ineligible player in their tie, and as a result progressed to the knock out stages. Early exits were suffered in both the East of Scotland and Fife and Lothians Cup. After first and second round Scottish Junior Cup wins against Glenrothes and Glasgow Perthshire, eventual runners-up and Junior giants, Auchinleck Talbot proved too strong in the third round, handing out a six-goal defeat at Auchinleck.
Season 2012–13 was a stop-start one, with Penicuik only having played nine competitive games, following the pre-season League Cup, due to weather and the postponement of their Junior Cup tie against Kelty Hearts, by January. Promotion went to the last day of the season again with Penicuik in a three-way battle with Bathgate Thistle and Armadale Thistle. Despite Penicuik winning 2–0 against Broughty, Armadale were promoted after their victory at the same time. Penicuik's Scottish Junior Cup run consisted of four games, a 4–4 draw at Dunbar United and a 3–1 win at Penicuik in the first round, a 3–0 victory away to Girvan before finally crashing out in the third round to Kelty Hearts 2–1 in a match held at Oakley's Blairwood Park due to drainage problems at Kelty's ground. Penicuik didn't fare well in the other cup competitions, losing 5–3 to Newburgh in the Fife and Lothians and losing 5–2 to Ballingry Rovers in the East of Scotland second round following a 3–1 win against Forfar West End in the first round.
Co-manager Bryan Ryrie resigned from his position at the end of the season.
Penicuik's season 2013–14 was a successful one, with promotion clinched with a 1–0 away win against Livingston United in May, and the Premier League Championship following later that month with a 2–1 home win against runners-up Fauldhouse United thanks to goals from captain Dougie Cunnison and long-serving midfielder Ryan Gay.
Current squad
Note: Flags indicate national team as defined under FIFA eligibility rules. Players may hold more than one non-FIFA nationality.
The 2014–15 season sees Penicuik Athletic compete for the first time in the SJFA East Region Super League as well as competing in the Scottish Junior Cup, East of Scotland Cup and the Fife and Lothians Cup.
Keith Barr
