Yes

NO

mibbe

no,im happy wi walter

50 50

i wouldnt call for his head but i wouldnt be bothered if he left.

Yes.

Can't understand the 'no's or 'maybe's.

He's had his chance.

Definately yes, Baikie cost us promotion with his negative tactics.

I agree with Grant 1903

Naw! You should be careful what you wish for. Looking at the two lower leagues, what other manager has achieved what he has? With tight transfer windows, you cannot make all that many changes, when the season has started. If you brought in a new manager, would he know the team as well as Baikie? I think you have to give him another season (and let him buy his own players).

If you are going to tell me that the new Stevie Archibald was waiting in the wings, then give Baikie the boot. If you are telling me that Dick Campbell is waiting in the wings then tell Bailkie to please, for Christ's sake, stay.

had a good go, and I thank him for it but is past sell by date, need young man to take the club forward.

got to go

I know this is meant to be yes or no but I agree with Dougie Hope. There are no progressive young managers with teams below us and any in the leagues above will want to move up a league not down. Try making a list of that type of manager !!!
At the moment the answer is no - not because DB is the answer but because at the moment I do not know of a suitable alternative.

NO

Aye! The punt up the park approach is way past it's sell by date. No vision, no flare, no clue!

Sorry Dave.

Baikie should have gone four months ago, when it was obvious that the season was going to end in tears.

Now the 'give him until the end of the season' brigade have switched to 'give him another season.' Why? The football East Fife play has failed, and it is brutal to watch.

"There's no-one else" is the lamest argument I've ever heard. If the East Fife job was up for grabs there would be a stampede to Bayview, and that includes managers who are already in a decent job. A club with money to spend is what every part-time manager dreams of.

Undoubtedly Yes!

Dave Baikie is not the man to take us to the next level and to get us playing some decent football. Queens Park have shown that you can get promoted by playing an attractive passing game and that's what we need to start doing.

No

Yes.
DB has a fantastic record at junior level and has probably laid great foundations for next manager to take the club forward. This seemed to be the case at Arbroath & Cowden where his respective succesors Brownlie & Mixu paid him homage.
Billy Stark has shown that playing football can take you out of the 3rd. Billy Stark has shown that playing yougsters can take you out of the 3rd.

I think DB is too "old school" in his approach and we need someone with fresh ideas and who can motivate. I hardly seen DB on the pitch yesterday pre-match working with the players.

Who is the new Steve Archibald - Steven Tweed maybe?

Let's face it the tactics have been suspect since the beginning of the season. How we got to the top is a mystery to me but seems to justify the tactics employed. But in the end we failed in our objective of winning the league. The lack of development of the players to improve skills and awareness of the game could have meant that JM was still with us although we reaped a greater result than we deserved.

I feel that being top of the league and by such a margin went against us and the manager tried to hold onto what we had instead of improving and we all know where that lead. We never reaaly recovered although we did well to get to the playoffs but unfortunately did not generate the skill through the season to sustain our push for promotion.

Is there anyone better out there? I did hear that DB was the man for the job last season but I never rated him even though he took us to the top for a time.

Sorry,but yes. Look at Stirling Albion,we are bigger than them,but they are in Div 1 and we are in Div 3.
The money available for players would indeed attract managers from other clubs.

now that it's the end of the season, yes. But uncle fester campbell doesn't impress me either.

Yes, unless he can stop being so negative with his style of play

Yes, he was negative at Tayport and rarely changed tactics. Nothing has changed.

For the good of our club I have to say YES.

Would have normally said no ,but i have ti agree with spirt ov the mounds post. Also still mind us saying the same hing aboot Moffat.Give him till end ov season etc.A want ti watch,like many others on here,a flair team.Dave, i think cannot give me this.Also,if its true,his way with the younger players is no use ti me.I will continue to support him however, if he iz still at the helm,but my answer has ti be yes.

A million times YES! Any manager who plays two of the slowest players in Scottish football against the fastest team in Div. 3 (first leg in Glasgow)deserves to go.

Yes, although not too sure who I would like to replace him!

Have to say yes, i've never seen such a disappointing performance from East Fife than saturday. We had a massive support and needed to score goals. The lacklustered defensive tactics were unbelievable. The more i think of the game the more i cant believe it.The performance was so brutal that it was hard for the supporters to get behind the team. We have a good crop of players(some very good) and good financial backing, with a better manager we could easy make Div1 in a few seasons, look at Stirling Albion.

If Baikie's still in charge next season I won't be there. Simple. Couldn't suffer that football again.

If we get ANYONE else to have a go - I'll be back with a season ticket.

Harsh but that's the way it is for me.

I'll probably be branded a part-time supporter (of 20 years week-in, week-out, home and away) but I'll just stay away rather than burst a blood vessel in frustration and having my Saturday ruined watching the ball being humped up the park with good players being paid high wages.

YES

He aint a bad manager for the Juniors however if we are to continue to progress we need someone more tactically asstute and a motivational leader

I don't see the point in changing manager until there's someone better available, and i'm afraid there isn't.

Baikie has to go as his style is to negative and he does not appear to have the ability to change things when it is obvious his tactics are not working - at the start of the season we played a tight narrow game and got some success but when the others teams sussed out what was happening it all went down hill - Baikie simply did not have a plan B, C or any other - so we got to the playoffs - but that was due to the quality of players we had - who in spite of Bailies poor management - got us there - we need someone who knows more than one way to make the team play and who can also motivate players and play to there strengths - Baikie has shown he does not have the ability do this.

But where do we find this great manager? I remember people saying exactly the same when Moffat was in charge, and Baikie was the best applicant we had by 100 miles.

I'm not saying you are wrong, I just don't think there's much in the way of great managers who'd be willing to come to East Fife (at the moment anyway).

We might have an impressive budget, but is it impressive enough to convince a boss to leave a first or second division club to drop down to div3?

Igor, sorry mate, that makes no sense.

We're East Fife FC not a pub team. Of course there'll be contenders for our job - even if it's an untried, young manager. WE would appeal to most lower league managers.

That's no excuse to keep going with Baikie

The FACT is, that if Baikie were to go (a return to Tayport is possible i've heard) then we will 110% be appointing Dick Campbell and his brother.

Ask yourselves, is this a step forward? There's no Stevie Archibald waiting in the wings right now, sadly.

Last time the job was advertised, the "runner up" was David Robertson.

That actually terrifies me (okay I know JDB was still there, but christ...)

Are people like Paul Ritchie or Ally Mitchell looking to get into management? Is it worth taking a punt on someone untried or should be looking for a guy with experience? Baikie had plenty of experience but looked tactically inept and out of his depth on ocassions. Maybe we need a younger man with a fresh outlook and a bit more in touch with the modern game. Someone like Billy Stark actually...

No easy yes or no for this one. Dave Baikie failed at the final hurdle and lost out to a team that has been nurtured over several years.
I would say that just about earns him the right for a second crack at the title.
We need a bit of consistency at the club after the turmoil of the last few seasons...

This attitude that there is "no-one else out there" is a prime example of why we find ourselves in the Third Division. You just accept we are crap, then shrug your shoulders and sigh: "What can you do?"

Is that the attitude that attracted Steve Archibald to the job? No.

Open your minds to the idea that the job is more attractive than it has been for years and years.

We are wasting time with Baikie - we know what he is capable of, and it does not match this club's ambitions. At his age, what you see is what you get. He's not going to improve. We need to identify someone better suited to what lies ahead. The longer Baikie is in charge, the longer we put off making real progress.

When we had to stand up and be counted Angus, Dave Baikie failed at the final hurdle abysmally !! You were at the game (both games). We scraped into the play-offs and lost three from 4 not including being embarrassed and taught a football lesson at home in the ultimate game. We were not ravaged by injuries and it wasn't a case of merely 'bad luck'.

There's no excuse. He HAS to go. Tactiaclly nieve. I don't see how he can be defended.

We were beaten by the better team agreed. Baikie also got us there to the final, so it wasn't a complete disaster.
I just think that between the two options of starting from scratch (again!) and giving him an opportunity to go one better and take us up, I'd plump for the latter option...

Starting over or giving him another chance aside - he's obviously tactically nieve.

You know he's NEVER going to play anything like attractive football (which we are given our resources more than capable of doing).

I wouldn't say he built any foundations as such but hindered progress with the tactics and gameplans he was employing.

St Pauli makes a point that I can't get away from - that it is not going to get any better under Baikie. With him, we're looking at the finished article. We need things to get better, but we know what he has to offer. It wasn't good enough this season, and even if we go up next season, it won't be enough to survive in the Second Division. If we don't change now, we're going to spend the next two years finding out what we know already. That is going to be painful for us, and damaging for the club.

No.
I think it would be wise to see what happens next season. Lets all forget about Brown and this seasons dissapontments and get right behind the Manager and the new squad of players that are pulling on the Black and Gold next season.

NO
I will pas judgement on next season. We have to give him a chance one season is not enough. Arbroath are a good side and gave us a run for our money this year but i dont hear the head of there manager being called for.

I'm all for giving managers time, but I wouldn't want East Fife to give time to Baikie, because he's shown he doesn't deserve it. However, Igor is right, who else is there?

The best short-term solution is to bring in someone experienced above Baikie, in a Director of Football-type role, to advise him. This new consultant could sit in the stand and have a better perspective of the game, he could communicate tactics to Baikie via radio.

Would such a move be costly?

I think the word that is missing from all of the posts here is 'ambition'. If the club are ambitious and want to climb the leagues to a position that we all think we should be in then we need to look to another leader. Everybody seams to be looking for another Archibald and I'm sure there are one or two of them out there. There is one name that has been mentioned in the papers whenever there is a managerial vacancy and that is Colin Hendry.

Considering that all we were asked for was a one word answer, there'as a lot of people out their that like the sound of their own keyboard.

I think he has had his chance and not taken it despite the resources he has had. Colin Hendry has been mentioned - he has stated somewhere he would do the job for nothing just to get the chance to prove himself. John Robertson has been mentioned - did well at Hearts till he got the bullet. What about Davie Kirkwood ? Local lad who played for East Fife and is now a Coach at Ibrox. He was highly thought of at Ross County. Maybe he could bring John 'Bomber' Brown with him ? Billy Kirkwood ? When Hearts eventually get round to making a new appointment this summer, maybe Stevie Frail will want to get into Management just like John McGlynn. Craig Brewster - does he want to keep playing or is he keen to get another crack at Management ? I'm sure there would be a number of candidates for the managers post at Bayview should it become vacant.
The last point is that when Baikie applied last year, he probably was the best candidate, but remember at that point Brown the Clown was still here which frightened many men from the job !!!

It depends on what level of manager East Fife could attract. It might be that Baikie is the best we can get.
If we attract someone like Colin Hendry then that would be brilliant. However we have to be realistic. Baikie does have a proven record managing at the level we are at, and what he achieved with Arbroath and Tayport was excellent.
I still dream of Steve Archibald buying the club and taking over as manager....

Walter, didn't you ask for a thread with a good discussion.
I wish you would make up your mind!

What about these for managers....

Scott Crabbe
Alex Totten
Shaun Dennis
Jimmy Nicholl (long shot - I'm sure would love to get back into management)
Ally Mitchell
Colin Hendry
Steve Paterson
Gordon Marshall
BILLY STARK!
John Robertson
Untried managers - Ex Scotland players like Kevin Gallagher, Tom Boyd, Darren Jackson etc and so on

and many more

tenor, what baikie has achieved in the past is exactly that - in the past. how good is he today? well, this past season is how good he is. fourth in the league and stuffed 7-2 in the play-offs. that's how good he is.

some of the suggested managers are good shouts, but already some are on the move. jimmy nicholl is favourite for the northern ireland job, and billy stark is wanted by partick thistle.

i bet there is not a team in the senior leagues would try to lure dave baikie away from bayview

davie kirkwood would be ambitious, popular, and hungry.

I'm a don't know for the answer to the original question but it got me thinking. What ever happened to Terry Christie? And if we are mentioning possible future managers for East Fife - is our own Davie Kirkwood not a possibility - is he not a coach at Rangers?

Sorry Bayview boy - must have missed your post before posted my post about Davie Kirkwood

Why would someone leave the post of full-time coach at one of the Old Firm (albeit one of the youth teams) to take a part-time post in the Third Division?

Shaun Dennis, thug and twat, don't want him near Bayview, EVER.

Anymore a thug that our present manager?

Without a shadow of a doubt yes.

If i were in your shoes i would go for Jim Weir at Montrose, he is a very good man manager and has a lot of contacts within the game. I think they will be the shock team of the 3rd division next year. Jim was down to the last three as the next manager of us i am told.

"Why would someone leave the post of full-time coach at one of the Old Firm (albeit one of the youth teams) to take a part-time post in the Third Division?"

good question, but kirkwood left rangers last year to become a youth coach at ross county, now in the second division. look at ross county - they didn't sit back and say 'we need a youth coach, there's no-one out there so let's not do anything'.

every coach wants to manage his own team. it wouldn't take much to tempt kirkwood to bayview if we are serious about getting this club on the move again

i no that the players are behind baikie and he has done well this season compared with last maybe we should be looking forward to next season then judge him, to many clubs in scotland do this to managers little time and call for his head i remember at montrose we were 3-0 uop and shouting theres only 1 dave baikie 30 mins later calling for his head, come on guys he has done a decent job hes brung in guys like smart from amautuers when other teams prob wouldn't and hes been an asset tam courtts juniors also loyd young juniors hes showed bags of pottential lets look at the bigger picture, fans on here are moaning about given the younger players a run out, okay say he did then we didnt get the result hed be enemy no1, so he brings in experience and they get INJURYS and bleed us dry but hes brought them in to take a gamble with instant sucsess as that is what fans now adays do create this illusion that you nedd instant sucsess, Billy stark was at queens how long? 3 years and won nothing and has finally won the playoffs he was giving TIME so lets back him at the mo and if things dont improve next year then okay judge him !!!!!

"we should be looking forward to next season then judge him"

We were told by the Baikie supporters to wait until the end of the season.

This defies belief. Granted he's made some good signings. Granted managers need time BUT we are PISH and unwatchable and were NINE points clear and one point not so long ago and as was said there were no injuries or excuses.

PS friend of a player - Im also a friend of a player and while hes popular they fully admit that they dont know what they are doing on the park. I can quote "he tells us to have a good time and enjoy playing but doesnt really have a game plan, great guy"

Ask your mate that.

i would not call myself a 'friend' of a player but i know at least three of them well enough to be able to state that it is plain wrong to say 'the players are behind baikie'.

'he has done a decent job'. No he has not.

'he's showed bags of potential'. No he has not.

'he has done well this season compared with last'. That is not in any way an achievement

Agree Billy Stark took 3 years ti build his team.In that 3 years he played youngsters.This season Davie loaned out our only good young player ti the juns.Christ the guy was oor best player the season before.Sam Linton is an ither example.Got sent aff once un then aff loaded ti the juns.Also whats wrong wi sticking a couple o thum(youngsters) on the bench???It must bi prity soul distroying fer thum sitting in the staund every week.Maybe the under 19s er jist no gid enough???Judging fi there results un the guys that watch thum,they seem o.k ti me.But what de a kin????

Do you think Billy Stark ever humped the ball up the park with his team over 3 years ?

Is that a simply answer Yes or No question???

More of a rhetorical question.

ie, he always had his team playing or attempting to play football and his got his reward.

We have no excuse to play the kind of football served up to the fans - even if we are 're-bulding'.

I don't know how we coped all season with our sparse squad and the only getting £200-300 a week.

I suppose in 3 years Baike will be paying £500 a week and we'll really start playing football.

This rebuilding give him time thing is nonsense. We have rebuilr - we have (had) the players.

Completely agree with you. The football we have watched in the latter half of the season has been dire. At the start of the season we were superb at times sublime, the football was on the deck, everything flowed through Jabba and Blackadder, we were top of the League nuff said.

The problem was when other teams sussed out how to play us, snuff out Jabba, cut out the diagonal routes that Blackadder used, we were stuck looking out to the bench for an answer and nothing was the reply.

After the terrible thirteen game spell his answer came start punting it and miss out the midfield altogether.

Just go back a couple of years to Davie Clarke’s second spell at East Fife, we probably played the best football seen in Black & Gold jerseys since the move to New Bayview with players who cost the previos incumbent his job and with players who probably wouldn’t get into the current side. Perhaps if Clarkie had been given time and the sort of money Baikie has squandered we wouldn’t even be in this division.

Please don’t take this as a Clarkie for the job plee but just a summation of differing abilities of managers.

Did Stevie Kirk not get sacked for failure to take us up, despite finishing second? Can't remember..

Wouldn't want Sean Dennis as boss. Would smell trouble, he used to be out drinking and hanging around his Mum's chippy the night before a RR game. Heard he hasn't changed much.

If he finished second would we not have gone up???

please don't ever again mention clarkie and baikie in the same sentence

Maybe it was third then, it was ages ago...

What position in the league were we when he was sacked?

You may have a point if it was third it would still have been higher than Baikie

clarkie's second spell was undermined by the club's enormous debt. he quit because he could see no way ahead when we could only pay players £20 a week. at that stage, few would have argued with him. no-one saw the debt 'settlement' (or anglian water cock-up) coming

times have changed. big time.

All true, but the point I was making is that Clarkie had the knowledge and tactical awareness to turn a team of kids and wasters into a team that could play fine football.

I somehow doubt Baikie could do the same!!!

Could you image the buzz if we managed to get a Clarkie and Kirkood management team with the funds we have.

imagine even

I think we were 2nd when Kirky was sacked but it wasn't at the end of the season, it was mid-season.

so does anybody fancy uncle fester as manager?

I remember Stu the blu shouting at his son at the replay at east end park 'hey campbell, hope you take yer looks aff yer maw's side'.

Classic lol!

what was kirkie sacked for again?

When I spoke to him at the time he told me he was 'legally gagged' from saying anything about his sacking. Think he got an out of court settlement.

No rumours? Was Danskin chairman at the time?

"Could you image the buzz if we managed to get a Clarkie and Kirkood management team with the funds we have."

Don't know if that would work, remember that was the set-up with Kirkie when he came back, and he hated it as Clarkie did or wanted to do everything, tactics, picking the team, making the subs.

It is a pity that Clarkie was just better at it than Kirkie was.

What about Davie Kirkwood, heard he was doing great things at Murray Park and with the youngsters at Ross County

Probably Yes. Which may well mean 'not yet'; the first month of next season is really make or break. One-dimensional, predicatble tactics. The team certainly needs pace throughout and must have some width. Do his new signings for next season have these qualities?

YES

This has got to be one of the best threads for a while. I do not agree with getting rid of Baikie, because I think you have to give any mananger enough time to prove themselves. One season is not enough time. Baikie deserves another year.

I cannot argue with a lot of what is being said here though. I do not think we have progressed or improved as the season went on. We did recover from the bad spell at the turn of the year, but didn't really improve all that much. I just felt a bit of the belief came back.

Maybe a lot of the improvement is hidden from view just now. Maybe Stefan Fortune, John Martin, Sam Linton etc will all come back, bigger and better players for playing in the juniors for a bit. A lot of maybe's but we will only get to know in the new season.

I said earlier that I did not think that there was another Stevie Archibald out there, but if Baikie was to go, I would love to see Davie Kirkwood make a return.

no

YES!

Definitley NO clark a step backwards ruined kids the last time he was here

this is the second time I have had to enter this thread. YES it is time. He's signed Big bouncy slack baladder. The bloke is a turkey. He will bankrupt the club as we are going to have to by a pair of shorts wide enough to cover the filght deck of an American Aircraft carrier to fit his FAT LAZY OVER RATED UP ARSE. How much will that cost? On the football front lets be realistic. How hard is it to coach blokes to improve in our leauge. Pass to our own players, when you've not got the ball make yourself an option for the man with the ball, communicate, when not in possession, get behind the ball keep tight (there are no ronaldos in our division) and WORK HARD FOR 90 !! ROCKET SCIENCE EH.

No. But - this coming season I want to see a team being built. Keeping JSmart, Mc Donald, JMartin, Martin Fowler etc seems to be the start of it. Lets hope that it continues and the success we long for is delivered.

BT - You seem to know your stuff, why don't you offer your services. You obviously know how to motivate, get players to play for the jersey and fans, just the kinda guy we need.

Nah, that'd be silly.

What wouldn't be silly is East Fife getting a new, eager manager in charge who plays positive football with more than one gameplan for the new season.

And maybe supporters who don't slag off players on this forum at every opportunity,

Mr O, I can honestly say that there is only one player I have slagged off. That is slackbladder. He's been signed and will stay. I will take my hat off to him if he comes back after the close season 1/2 a stone lighter and a yard quicker. further lets see if he can keep up any sort of pace for the whole of a game. I am sick of seeing and hearing about him strolling around.

BT - "I am sick of seeing and hearing about him strolling around".

Maybe there are a few people think likewise about you mate? Why are you being so personal? What has he done to you?

Well its like this, he walks on to the park wearing our shirt! he walks off the park wearing our shirt and in between he generally walks about. But for some unknown reason some people seem to think that thats ok. Well its not in my eyes thats my point.

Maybe it is abit over the top me insinuating that he's a porker. In reality compared with many of us he is'nt. But he's charged with being part of the most physically demanding area of our team and physically he's not up to scratch. He could be, if he was bothered!

Let's not beat about the bush, he is a stone overweight and his performance proves that he cannot operate effectively when he is so unfit. Saying he is overweight is not personal, it is a blunt fact about someone who is paid to be fit.

He is not the only overweight player in the squad! You are concentrating on him because he has reacted to those in the crowd, probably you lot, slagging him off!

You could not be more wrong. I have never once shouted at Blackadder. Greig McDonald is heavier than he was before his injury and looks like he has lost pace, but he turns in very good performances. Blackadder, however, is so out of shape that his brain is still tuned into a type of game he could only play when he was a stone lighter.

And yet again who was first off the park on Saturday?Thanks to the rest of the players for staying on to thank us for our support throughout the season.

Blackadder came back out of the tunnel with a couple of others to applaud the crowd.