Stars of tomorrow are lined up to put East Kilbride on the map

It is one of the largest towns in Scotland not represented by a professional football team.

And while that is perhaps not the most conspicuous blemish on the town’s reputation considering the shopping complex it contains, it is one that East Kilbride FC is endeavouring to resolve, and to some avail.

Following a peculiar endorsement from the club’s honorary president, John Hartson, East Kilbride FC is currently the club on the ascent in the South Lanarkshire town. Back in 2010, the former Celtic striker and Welsh international supported their ambition to reach professional level within five years, a sentiment echoed by other influential figures at the club including Iain King, the club’s director of football.

In truth, the new facilities and the involvement of prominent ex-professionals seems an appropriate recipe for success and, at pitch level, East Kilbride FC – the newly-formed amalgamation of previous clubs Stewartfield FC and Jackton Boys Club – is performing more than respectably.

The amateur team compete in the Scottish Amateur Football League (SAFL) and are currently placed top of Division Two, having won a remarkable eight of their 10 games thus far this season, accumulating some 45 goals in the process. As such, immediate promotion should be attainable and meeting the self-imposed five-year deadline for professional status could be a tangible feat.

However, what is perhaps particularly important is the development of youth in the town, a crutch on which any successful amateur team will lean. Presiding over the development is Dave McKenna, East Kilbride FC’s head of youth development and seasoned coach in youth football.

Speaking to The Journal, McKenna said: “There are a lot of youngsters here so there’s almost a ready-made player base. Our ultimate aim is to have three teams at each age group.”

With a population of over 70,000, mining for such eager youth in East Kilbride shouldn’t prove to be fruitless work and the club currently boasts some 26 teams, including ladies and girls groups, spanning all ages.

Yet, while attracting a large volume of players will be paramount to the club’s progress, East Kilbride is also striving to create an environment that truly accommodates player development without over-reliance on financial support or over-emphasis on matchday results.

“There’s a much healthier approach particularly for the younger kids,” McKenna added.

“It’s not non-competitive, that’s a bit of a misnomer. The games are still competitive: the kids want to win and there’s nothing wrong with that but it’s a non-confrontational environment.”

Such a novel approach has become prevalent in Scottish football in recent years and for McKenna it is merely to ensure that once younger players mature to the competitive level “they’ve had a good grounding, they’ve learned how to play football, not just how to win football matches. That to me is the big difference.”

It is a difference that could indeed propel the club to professional ranks without the momentum provided by heavy investment, leaving the question hanging of whether locals ought to expect East Kilbride’s first ever professional outfit.

“I’m not a betting man,” McKenna said. “But if I were, I would say that there will be a professional team here in a few years”.

Such a club would not just represent a town, but rather the community that helped to build and sustain it, as East Kilbride FC is proving to be a project in which people invest time rather than money and while the ambitions may be grand, the ethos of the club will hopefully remain intact.

Having said that, locals may soon be in a position to invest just a little money into the club; blue and gold replica shirts could be on sale in that local shopping complex before we know it.