Some facts for the truth seekers out there,

1.East Fife made £150,000 from the The Rangers tie.

2.£120,000 has been put aside to ensure the clubs financial survival against the backdrop of a long recession, reduced central funding, lack of sponsorship and dwindling attendances.

3. The remaining funding will be split between the playing budget and costs incurred to keep the stadium up to standard required.

4.Colin Samuel is not under contract at the club. If he gets to stay in the UK he might be signed , then again he might not , that will be the managers decision.


Some opinions for the interested.
1. The chairman of any organisation should be the central point of leadership and communication with the wider organisation. In a football club I believe this includes players, manager,coaches, ground and admin staff, medical staff, fans and the wider local community.

On that basis I believe the East Fife chairman is failing in his duties.

The issue of the real ownership of the club remains the elephant in the room and until that is resolved and a more forward thinking leader or set of leaders is in place the club will stagnate. The best solution would be for the club to be in community ownership with a real connection and commitment to the local area.

On the football front my belief is that a fully recovered Gordon Durie will re ignite the team this season and will prove to be a good manager for us.
The playing squad assembled is of a higher quality than we've had at our disposal for a number of years and the signings of Bobby Barr and Jamie Pollock are proof that East Fife have reputation as a club where players get good opportunities and coaching. East Fife will make the play offs for Division 1 this season if the manager is able to return at the end of his current rest period.

In summary as has been the case through most of my time as an East Fife supporter the club have a good manager, some good young players and a chairman devoid of any long term vision or plan.

Solutions? On the pitch a few older heads to talk the young lads through games
Off the pitch an increase in trust owned shares, a public share sale and a chairperson with some interest and ability to investment in the club and the Levenmouth Area in the long term.

Agree with most of your post, but don't know how you can say that quoted above. Bobby Barr is on a short term loan too.

The very recent squad with Wallace, Linn, Park, McGowan, Young etc was better. The squad which Gray/Baikie bought was better too. Even the Deuchar promotion squad was arguably better than this one too.

Folk have said we need a whole new defence including full-backs, a winger (two when Barr goes) an attacking midfielder, a holding midfielder, an old head, a pacey, young striker - you name it. That doesn't sound like the highest qaulity squad we've had at our disposal for a number of years. Pretty far from it. We are on our own at the bottom of the league already.

The ownership thing could slowly kill the Club, right enough.

Community ownership would be fine, and could work well, but would need to be preceded by a community buy-out. Where is this substantial amount going to come from? Ball park guess as to how much - £500,000? Looks a bit of a problem doesn't it. An impossibility really.

Still think wee Kingy should have been signed,couldny have done any worse going by recent results.

My thoughts on the current squad are based on potential rather than what they've done so far. I agree they have done nothing so far and the table disny lie.

Re the other squads mentioned some were better than others. From my recollections, the Deuchar promotion winning squad struggled badly in the second once teams had sussed our one dimensional play. It needed strengthened after promotion... that didnt happen and we went back down.

The Baikie promotion squad were generally well paid 1st and 2nd div standard players that took two bites to get promoted, we did strengthen at the right time (again with high earning former SPL and Div 1 players) but never really looked like going up.

This year we have managed to keep the younger talent like Campbell and have brought in players who have either good potential (the hibs lads) or experience in higher leagues/full time football (Willis, Pollock,McCormack, Wardlaw).

My optimism is (so far) only based on what these players could and should achieve.

East Fife did not make £150,000 from the Rangers tie

You're right "Broxy" there's no way we made as little as 150 thousand pounds out of the match. Unless Rangers managed to claim that the staging and policing of the game cost over 130 thousand pounds then we would have made considerably more. And that's as long as we haven't challenged the "under 40 thousand" nature of the attendance which seems to be a lot higher for league games with as many gaps in the crowd.

Yet again the poor communication point is brought up, and it is valid. A simple statement from the chairman stating what monies were received from the Ibrox cup tie and what the intentions were would put paid to the speculation.

152,000!

If your not happy with the board don't go to the home games, they will soon sit up and take note then!!

It was less than £150,000

40% of gate receipts less VAT

Broxy's few previous posts have related to the knuckle draggers so the name ties in. EF have always attempted to be on a par with the bigger clubs so like the knuckle draggers will cheat HMRC and avoid paying tax (and if we are not careful end up in the 3rd Div. as well)

I think all those who post on here demanding that East Fife should be telling the world how much income they make,should do likewise. Surely East Fife have the right to ask for the same information back, no?

I didn't know East Fife directors gave the fans their earnings like the fans who pay their money and are customers of the club. The board are clueless.

Okay, go down Leven High Street and ask a small business (that you are a customer of) what they made last week. Let me know how you got on please?

By the way, some of the fans have businesses themselves, so maybe they could let us know what they made eh?

Why? The folk with business are paying the going rate to watch East Fife. Oh well just be happy we'll be down to 300 fans in the third and then you can wonder. If a local shop was dodgy with it's ownership and folk were going to lose jobs authorities would ask what's going on as it happens.

East fife stick accounts into companies house every year showing the financial performance, thats all they need to do, and to be honest thats all i would expect them to do.
I doubt there is a club in the land where the owners will come out and say how every pound is being spent, how much was earned from one game etc. that would be like walking into you local pub and demanding the owner tells you about their finances just because you drink there every week.
I know fans want to know about the club and how its run etc, but if the club starts releasing sensitive information like that then its not just the fans who will see it. Say for example EFFC did want to buy pitch covers with the rangers money, if they come out and say they earned 150k and thats what they are going to spend, do you think they'll get a good deal from their supplier?
The same principle would apply to trying to get players in, if other teams know how much money you've got, what stops them outbidding you for players wages etc?

At last some common sense from some people,i could never understand all thus squealing about how much we made,we must know! There is no club in the land that give out this type of info ffs clubs nowadays dont disclose how much they get or pay for players during transfers.Enough to say that i dont think it would matter what the club did it would never be enough for some,do we not have a trust member on the board so i'd like to think eugene would be on top of anything untoward.We may or may not go down and likewise may or may not get 300 thru the gate but i'll be there cos thats what supporting YOUR team is about thru good/bad times.Lets get realistic please,we are only just into the season and the usual moaners have us written off and going down,there's a hell of a long way to go and i'm not anywhere near ready to give up on the team or the manager yet.C'MON the FIFE

Untoward?

What about the Rankin clandestine ownership issue? What he wants for/from his investment? Is that untoward enough for you?

I can't wait to hear from you how Eugene is going to 'get on top' of this with the board on behalf of the Trust/Fans and whether the owner(s) give a shit whether there is an East Fife playing football in any league within the next few years. Does relegation matter to the owner in the grand scheme, particularly with the recent windfall to keep the Club ticking over for a while.

What does it matter to you like? You've washed your hands of East Fife haven't you? You don't support them any more, do you?

Stop being childish Jocky!
SPF makes some valid points.

SPF does talkj a lot of sense he just narks people with some of his writing style. At the end of the day if you cut him in half he would bleed black and gold.

SPF does talk a lot of sense he just narks people with some of his writing style. At the end of the day if you cut him in half he would bleed black and gold.

Valid points? Explain please, with facts?

The clandestine ownership issue for starters. I'll add to that once you've given your take on that in particular. Over to you, Jocky....

Naw, you SPF, are the one who is implying something irregular. You explain, with facts, what you are talking about! Tell us what is wrong and/or illegal if that is what you are suggesting.

Rankin owns, or has a large stake in, directly or indirectly, East Fife Football Club. No one knows why he got hold of the cut-price shares or what he plans to do with/exploit them. That's what I'm implying. You tell me, if true (you may think it's untrue), why he doesn't openly hold shares in his own name and what the implications of that would be. Over to you...

We'll discuss Twigg afterwards...

Are you saying something dishonest is going on? If so, why don't you take it further? Posting anonymous comments on here is going to get you precisely nowhere and will haunt you forever!

PS - I have nothing to discuss, I just support East Fife - end of!

I've actually heard countless number of times a club chairman say after a windfall from a cup tie " The £250k we made from that game will keep us going for 2 seasons blah blah" It's hardly asking too much is it, especially as it would end all the speculation!

If I had to put money on it, I'd guess Jocky is a board member who is quite happy with the ownership of the club because any threat to the status quo might cost him his own position.
I'd also hazard a guess that he's the kind of person who annoys everyone he meets, even those who are trying to help the club.
And he has plenty of time on his hands to keep an eye on this forum. Maybe he doesn't have to work.
Is there anyone at Bayview who this kind of description would stick to?

SPF, you are just fishing here because you know that a football club director cannot own shares in more than one club (I think ?). What possible reason would Neil Rankine have to be seen openly either buying or owning EF shares ? He is a business man and I assume was approached or identified an opportunity to buy these shares at a discount when Danskin had more pressing matters to attend to. Who holds these shares is irrelevant. Mr and Mrs Brown were "share sitters" until his taxi arrived.

As far as I know the owners of around 50% of EF shares have made no attempt to interfere with the running of the club or dispose of any assets. That of course could happen but in the meantime I am sure all the supposed "Rankine" shares could be bought by anyone offering the correct price.

To me it's not clandestine but good business unless of course Bayview is built on radioactive land.

How much are you willing to bet? You are way wrong mate, so I would suggest you don't waste your money. It seems you can't understand why some fans actually like being fans of East Fife. Maybe it's in the blood, I don't know, but I simply support my team and that is that. I am not interested in writing crap on here about who owns what shares, that really is none of my business, unless I buy into the club myself. Trouble with SPF (and some others), is that they are forever whinging about the board, the managers, the players and any supporters who defend any of them. It is f'ing tiresome to say the least and this forum is all f'cked up with all the negative pish that is written on it! If it is not a criricism of the manager or a player, he then points fingers at the board. What the f'ck is wrong with him? He is simply a perennial pessimistic, moaning and tiresome person, who wants to think that he is an authority on all things he posts about!

Nicely bodyswerved. Who said anything about taking it further ? I was asking your opinion which you strangely can't give. You support East Fife but you don't care if it goes down the pan or we fall 2 leagues below the other Fife teams. Nice.

NTOC, I'm shocked at a few points you make;

Are you implying he does have shares in more than one club, if so, that it doesn't matter, untoward or not - and if it does matter, shouldn't you as the Chairman of the Trust be doing the fishing in this instance ?



Surely it's not irrelevant if it's untoward or against SFA rules ?



So are we to assume that no one is steering the East Fife ship, at all ? The shareholders aren't particularly interested in the running of the club ? So, who is the majority shareholder, and do they want to interfere (postively) ?



It certainly is clandestine if Rankin directly or indirectly owns the club and no one at the club, nor the man himself, are open about it (in fact, publicly stating otherwise) due to it being against SFA rules for Rankin to own shares in more than one club.

This post from NTOC must be a spoof, or an attempt at irony that missed.
I should be resisting the opportunity to state the obvious, but under the previous 'share sitters' the club we4nt into freefall, and the current 'share sitter' does just that - sits, and does nothing else.
If the owners of 50% of EF shares have made no attempt to interfere with the running of the club, herein lies our problem. The club's owners don't care, and have no ambition or vision for East Fife. In the absence of this, there has been no leadership at Bayview for over ten years.
I'm sure, as you say, Rankin's shares would be available at a price. I'm also sure they would not be available at the knock-down price he paid to get them in the first place.
Not clandestine, but good business, you say? Good for Rankin when he cashes in his cut-price shares or takes his cut of a land/property deal at the docks. Not so good for East Fife, who will get nothing in return.
I've been had, haven't I? Your post was a spoof, wasn't it NTOC?

The fact that seems to be undisputed by anyone is that it has been a very long time since we had a chairman who was not in position due to the "generosity" of a person or persons unknown. That cannot be a healthy situation for any club unless we are following the business model of the Govan Zombies.
The difference between us and them (aside from being fully human) is East Fife fans and in particular the supporters trust have had a healthy scepticism towards successive incumbents which may have actually saved our club from being bulldozed to make way for flats.

I will say it again, until we have either a community share ownership or a chair person/major shareholder who is in it for the long run and cares about the team , the area and its people we will stagnate off the field. Henry McLeish would be a good candidate but his distancing of himself from the club hierarchy perhaps tells a story in itself.

I dont know the inner workings of Alloa, Arbroath and Stenny to name a few but these formerly smaller clubs are overtaking us in attendances, links with the community and stadia. (I know Gayfield is an older stadium but it has four sides and a decent seating are).

If we did have any vision we wouldn't have had to piggy back onto a big developer to try to get a new stadium. We would be forming a community trust to draw down match funding for an all weather pitch and training facilities that would actually benefit Levenmouth rather than some hidden shareholders.

It wasn't a spoof or an attempt at irony.
NR does not own any shares in EF,nor to the best of my knowledge does any blood relative so where is the illegality. Other parties own 50% of EF but they are content to sit back and let their "manager" look after things at Bayview.
All that has happened to EF over the years has been self inflicted by successive boards and uninterested supporters.
Indignation and hot air will not change the fact that the majority shareholders are not interested in EF as a football club, they are interested in it as a property investment.
If anyone thinks for one minute that these shareholders are going to invest in EF then they are living in cloud cuckoo land.

Only money or direct action will change the situation. Apathy rules out direct action so who has a few pounds to spare.

SPF mentioned the Trust and that is probably the way forward. The AGM will be soon and all those who attend will be split into five groups of two and the revolution will start,unless there's a Champions league match on.

p.s.
Just read Scully's post and in amongst what he has written is the answer. He is offering a solution rather than stating the obvious but offering no solution.
I visited Spartans with another Trust Board member last week and it is a set-up you could only dream about. It is a perfect example of community involvement at every level.

I don't doubt it. Any momentum or enthusiasm that the Trust once had has long since disappeared. The Trust has to ask what needs to be done to get members interested, to freshen things up. Does the Trust have a voice? Can anyone hear it?

Nicely bodyswerved??? You surely jest SPF? It is yourself that is body swerving by making the comments, but stopping short of coming up with actual facts.

East Fife have not 'gone down the pan' in over 100 years. SPF somehow thinks that they will do just that imminently, maybe because he is around now and knows better than anybody else. He obviously thinks something about the ownership of East Fife is illegal and posts comments to suggest that. However, he stops short of explaining why, other than innuendos.[


C'mon SPF, you are the one that is saying something is not right at Bayview, so tell us the FACTS!!!

Also you say I don't care about East Fife. Well all I can say, is that I support them week in, week out, home and away, win or lose. YOU DON'T!! You only support them if they are winning!

Just for the record, can SPF confirm if he is a Trust member?

Yes. Are you in the Trust?

Something tells me you are not a fan of Supporters' Trusts, Jocky.

Supporter, The Trust can only act on the wishes of it's membership. Having an elected board who push their own agenda simply defeats the purpose of the Trust. We worked hard to get a full board member,have you contacted him with your concerns and the course of action you would like the Trust membership to follow ?
Your current approach is to ask on an unofficial website what the Trust is doing but seem to have missed the point that the Trust is it's members. The board will try to act on the member's wishes.

Email me your name and membership no. and me and at least one other board member will meet you and listen to your proposals

I said after the 2ND half of the arbroath game that we would tank someone. I was quoted as delusional. Well get it right up ye and stop moaning when we have a spate of bad results. Keep the faith. It is obvious that the individuals are ther, just needed some timevto gel. Some of the posts on certain players were terrible . follow Angus fifers way follow everywhere and NEVER slags a player, team performance, yes, but individuals? No. Lets enjoy our week now and push on up