East Kilbride Thistle Football Club are a Scottish

football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kick (football), kicking a football (ball), ball to score a goal (sports), goal. Unqualified, football (word), the word ''football'' generally means the form of football t ...

club, based in the town of

East Kilbride East Kilbride (; ), sometimes referred to as EK, is the largest town in South Lanarkshire in Scotland, and the country's sixth-largest locality by population. Historically a small village, it was designated Scotland's first "new town" on 6 Ma ...

South Lanarkshire South Lanarkshire (; ) is one of 32 unitary authorities of Scotland. It borders the south-east of the Glasgow City council area and contains some of Greater Glasgow's suburban towns, as well as many rural towns and villages. It also shares bor ...

near

Glasgow Glasgow is the Cities of Scotland, most populous city in Scotland, located on the banks of the River Clyde in Strathclyde, west central Scotland. It is the List of cities in the United Kingdom, third-most-populous city in the United Kingdom ...

. 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 . They wear all black; their change strips are all red, or white tops with red or black shorts.

History

Original club

There was a club with the same name that existed in the 1920s. The team won the Second Division of the

Scottish Junior League The Scottish Junior Football League (SJL) was a Scottish football competition that, through various incarnations, existed from 1892 to 1947. It was based in the west of Scotland and largely consisted of Junior clubs that were not considered good ...

and the Lanarkshire Consolation Cup in 1922–23. 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. After Thistle disbanded, Strathclyde Juniors who were homeless applied to SJFA for permission to use ground for season 1965–66.

Modern club

The first trophy to be won was the

West of Scotland Junior Cup The West of Scotland Junior Challenge Cup was an annual Scottish football competition played in a one-leg knockout format (played at 'home' team grounds as drawn, until the final at a neutral venue), organised by the West Region of the Scottish ...

in 1974. Cambuslang Rangers were beaten 3–1 in the final. The team reached the final again two years later, but lost to

Arthurlie Arthurlie is an area of the town of Barrhead, East Renfrewshire, Scotland. History of Arthurlie The lands of Arthurlie were held in medieval times by the Stewart family, a branch of the noble Stewarts of Darnley. Later the lands became the prop ...

in a replay. The biggest success was the

Scottish Junior Cup The Scottish Junior Cup is an annual football competition organised by the Scottish Junior Football Association (SJFA). The competition has been held every year since the inception of the SJFA on the 2nd October 1886 and, as of the 2023–24 ed ...

win in May 1983, with victory over

Bo'ness United Bo'ness United Football Club is a Scottish football club, based in the town of Bo'ness. The team plays in the after winning the East of Scotland League and gaining SFA membership in 2020. They presently play their home games at Newtown Park, ...

Ibrox Stadium Ibrox Stadium is a football stadium on the south side of the River Clyde in the Ibrox area of Glasgow, Scotland. The home of Scottish Premiership team Rangers, Ibrox is the third-largest football stadium in Scotland, with an all-seated ca ...

. The final result was 2–0 to Thistle, with goals from skipper Joe Reilly and Kenny Gordon. Thistle's previous manager was former

St Johnstone St Johnstone Football Club is a professional association football club in Perth, Scotland. The team competes in the , the second division of Scottish football. The club's name is derived from St John's Toun (or Saint Johnstoun)—an old name o ...

and

Hamilton Academical Hamilton Academical Football Club, often known as Hamilton Accies, or The Accies, is a Scottish football club from Hamilton, South Lanarkshire, who currently compete in . They were established in 1874 from the school football team at Hamilto ...

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 Partick Thistle Football Club are a professional association football, football club from Glasgow, Scotland and currently plays in the . Despite their name, the club are based at Firhill Stadium in the Maryhill area of the city, and have not ...

Firhill Stadium Firhill Stadium, also known as Wyre Stadium at Firhill for sponsorship reasons, is a Association football, football and former rugby union, rugby league and Greyhound racing in the United Kingdom, greyhound racing stadium located in the Maryhil ...

in 2002 with a 2–0 win over

Bellshill Athletic Bellshill Athletic Football Club is a Scotland, Scottish football (soccer), football club based in the town of Bellshill, North Lanarkshire. It plays in the . History The history of the club can be traced back as far as 1897 when Bellshill Ath ...

, thanks to goals from Martin McVey and Stephen Brogan. Brogan later returned the club to

Firhill Firhill Stadium, also known as Wyre Stadium at Firhill for sponsorship reasons, is a football and former rugby union, rugby league and greyhound racing stadium located in the Maryhill area of Glasgow, Scotland which has been the home of Partick ...

for another Sectional League Cup Final in 2005 but were unfortunate to lose to

Neilston Neilston (, , ) is a village and List of civil parishes in Scotland, parish in East Renfrewshire in the west central Lowlands of Scotland. It is in the River Levern, Levern Valley, southwest of Barrhead, the last remaining town in greater Glas ...

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 Clydebank () is a town in West Dunbartonshire, Scotland. Situated on the north bank of the River Clyde, it borders the village of Old Kilpatrick (with Bowling, West Dunbartonshire, Bowling and Milton, West Dunbartonshire, Milton beyond) to the w ...

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. Aaron Connolly was appointed caretaker manager following the departure of Garry O'Hanlon.

Players & Current Squad

On 16 April 1972, Christie and Meechan played for Scotland Juniors against

England England is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is located on the island of Great Britain, of which it covers about 62%, and List of islands of England, more than 100 smaller adjacent islands. It ...

in a 2–2 draw at

Saracen Park Saracen Park or Ashfield Stadium, also known as Peugeot Ashfield Stadium for sponsorship reasons, is a stadium in Glasgow, Scotland. It is currently home to Glasgow Tigers for speedway. It has also previously been a venue for greyhound racing a ...

(home of Ashfield), whilst playing for East Kilbride

Willie Pettigrew William Haddow Pettigrew (born 2 October 1953) is a Scottish former footballer, who played as a striker for Motherwell, Dundee United, Hearts, Morton and Hamilton Academical. Pettigrew also represented Scotland and the Scottish League XI. ...

was another player

capped In sport, a cap is a player's appearance in a game at international level. The term dates from the practice in the United Kingdom of awarding a cap to every player in an international match of rugby football and association football. In the e ...

at Junior level with Scotland. He would go on to gain full international honours with

Scotland Scotland is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It contains nearly one-third of the United Kingdom's land area, consisting of the northern part of the island of Great Britain and more than 790 adjac ...

later in his career. Current Squad Season 2024-25 Matt Borland Liam Comaskey Adam Edgar Alex McKenzie Ryan Anderson Matthew Mullen Declan Morrison Tyler Flynn Connor Dunlop Ally McDonald Mark Steele Aedan Dunnett Ryan Menzies Dino Molinari Ryan Kealy Jude Rodger Lewis Gray Jordan McBride Jay Scott Ross Duncan Callum Jamieson

Honours

** Winners: 1982–83 ** Semi-finals: 1972–73 ** Quarter-finals: 1971–72, 1977–78, 1980-81

League

SJFA West Region The Scottish Junior Football Association, West Region was one of three regions of the SJFA which organised its own distinct league and cup competitions. The SJFA used to be split into six regions, but in 2002 they decided to reform into three (Ea ...

The

was one of the three major reformed regional league systems after the merger of

Ayrshire Ayrshire (, ) is a Counties of Scotland, historic county and registration county, in south-west Scotland, located on the shores of the Firth of Clyde. The lieutenancy areas of Scotland, lieutenancy area of Ayrshire and Arran covers the entirety ...

and Central Region Junior Leagues between 2002 and 2019. * Central District First Division ** Runners-up: 2005–06 * Central District Second Division ** Promotion: 2016–17
SJFA Central RegionThe Central district region was one of the six major reformed regional league systems after the merger of the Central and Lanarkshire Junior Leagues between 1968 and 2002. * Central League Division A ** Winners: 1974–75, 1975–76, 1979–80, 1981–82 ** Runners-up: 1972–73, 1973–74, 1980–81 * Central League Division BLater known as Central League First Division. ** Winners: 1992–93 ** Runners-up: 1977–78 ** Promotion: 1971–72 * Central League Division CLater known as Central League Second Division. ** Runners-up: 1998–99, 2000–01 ** Promotion: 1969–70

Cup

* West of Scotland Cup ** Winners: 1973–74
** Runners-up: 1975–76 * Evening Times Trophy (Central League): ** Winners: 1974–75, 1975–76, 1981–82 ** Runners-up: 1979–80 * Evening Times Cup Winners Cup ** Winners: 1982–83 * Central Sectional League Cup ** Winners: 1974–75, 1982–83, 2002–03 * Central Drybrough Cup ** Runners-up: 1972–73 * Red Hackle Trophy ** Winners: 1974–75 * Whitebread Trophy ** Winners: 1974–75 * Erskine Hospital Cup ** Runner-ups: 1971–72 * Langs Trophy ** Runners-up: 1978–79

Other

* Tommy McGrane Cup ** Winners: 2009, 2015, 2016, 2017

Notes

References

{{SJFA West Region Football clubs in Scotland Scottish Junior Football Association clubs Football in South Lanarkshire Association football clubs established in 1968 East Kilbride 1968 establishments in Scotland West of Scotland Football League teams