 | |||
| Full name | Lothian Thistle Hutchison Vale Football Club | ||
|---|---|---|---|
| Nickname(s) | Thistle,LTHV, Hutchie | ||
| Founded | 1969; 56 years ago (1969) (asLloyds & Scottish) | ||
| Ground | Ainslie Park, Edinburgh | ||
| Capacity | 3,534 (534 seated) | ||
| Chairman | Tom Allison | ||
| Manager | Ryan Harding | ||
| League | East of Scotland League Premier Division | ||
| 2023–24 | East of Scotland League Premier Division, 5th of 16 | ||
| Website | https://www.lthvfc.co.uk | ||
Lothian Thistle Hutchison Vale Football Club (LTHV) are a senior non-leaguefootball club based inEdinburgh, Scotland. Currently competing in theEast of Scotland League Premier Division, they play their home matches at Saughton Enclosure in theSaughton area of the city.
Founded in 1969 as an amateurworks team forLloyds 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 theCaledonian Amateur Football League. They then moved up to senior status when they joined theEast of Scotland 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 the2011–12 season to reflect this.
LTHV won the East of Scotland Premier Division title for the first time in the2013–14 season, repeating this success in the2014–15 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 theLowland League because they were ineligible for licensing reasons. They narrowly lost out on the2017–18 title after defeat toKelty Hearts on the final day of the season.
The club reached the 3rd round of theScottish Cup in2017–18 beating League Two sideStirling Albion 5–3 away from home, before losing 1–7 at home toSt Mirren. They became SFA members in 2018, allowing them automatic entry into the Scottish Cup.[1]
LTHV gained promotion back to the Premier Division for2020–21 after winning First Division Conference A in the curtailed2019–20 season.
The club operates at Saughton Enclosure in the west side ofEdinburgh,[2] where they have been since 1998. The ground can accommodate up to 1,000 spectators.
The Hutchison Vale youth team was founded in 1940.[3] Its first intake of players included future professionalsTommy Younger andGeorge Farm.[3]
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[3]
In April 2019 it was described as "Scotland's most fruitful football academy".[3]
Hutchison Vale also have a women's section who play inSWF Championship, the highest division of the SWF which sits below theScottish Women's Premier League.
In 2018 they merged withEdinburgh University Ladies and were renamedEdinburgh University Hutchison Vale, playing their home games at the university's Peffermill Sports Ground,Edinburgh.[4][5][6] However this partnership ended at the end of the season, and they reverted to the Hutchison Vale name for 2019.[7]
Hutchison Vale Ladies won theScottish Cup in 1993 & 1994.[8]
As Lothian Thistle prior to the 2011–12 season
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