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In the beginning. Having won every league and cup honour in the Lothian Amateur Association, they won the Premier Division in 1989 and 1991 and a host of cups during the 80's, Lothian decided to join the ranks of the Caledonian League, the most prestigious amateur league in Scotland. Again Lothian found success readily forthcoming. They were promoted from the First Division in their first season by winning the Division 1 title and also won the league's premier cup competition, the Challenge cup, in the same year. |
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The next few seasons were spent consolidating that of Lothian's first season in the Caledonian League and although they didn't quite manage to capture the Premier Division title they did win the Challenge Cup for a second time in 1994. Despite their success, travelling throughout the Central Belt of Scotland every other week began to take its toll on the players and Lothian were faced with yet another tough decision. With work and family commitments, many of the players could not travel to the Glasgow and Stirling areas regularly and the Club found themselves on the verge of collapse. It was a simple enough equation, either disband or leave amateur football after 25 years. Thankfully the latter was chosen and the Club made the bold move of applying to the semi-professional East of Scotland Senior League in 1995. Lothian's first season in the East Seniors was fairly successful and they acquitted themselves admirably, just missing out on promotion and reaching the Alex Jack Cup final which they narrowly lost to Manor Thistle. But their trait for attracting a good quality of player continued and it was not long before their first semi-professional title was won. |
