VIDEO: East Fife boss Billy Brown’s job not in danger after outburst

By Neil Robertson, 16 April 2013 4.42pm.

East Fife Chairman Sid Collumbine.SNS





East Fife chairman Sid Collumbine insists boss Billy Brown’s position is not under threat following an astonishing after-match interview the Methil manager gave on Saturday.


Brown had earlier taken control of the microphone from the club’s stadium announcer at half-time during the game against Stenhousemuir to tell a section of the home support that their abuse of the players was not helping anyone.

Then, following the final whistle in a game which the Methil men lost 2-1, leaving them locked in the relegation play-off spot, he continued to vent his frustration, targeting the Bayview boo-boys and questioning whether his own players were actually good enough.



Some of his comments included: “The second goal we conceded was as bad as I have seen at this level.

“I have done all I can with them (the players). The players here are what we’ve got and they are struggling. When they get abuse it’s very difficult but a mixture of Jose Mourinho and Alex Ferguson wouldn’t make a difference.

“I thought I was coming to a club where everyone was at one but that’s not the case here.

“The directors of this club are keeping it going. It takes a lot of money to run a club like this and all they get, and I get and the players get is abuse.”

Despite Brown’s blast, East Fife supremo Collumbine has stressed the manager’s job is safe and insists that while he may have gone too far in his criticism, it was borne out of frustration.

And the chairman has also issued a rallying cry pleading with everyone connected to the club to band together.

He said: “The board do not intend to take any action and there are no plans to hold an extraordinary meeting.

“The manager was just exasperated and he is very passionate about his football. He maybe went overboard but it doesn’t help that a small minority of the support were giving the players dog’s abuse.

“The team are definitely lacking in confidence at the moment and look a bag of nerves taking two or three touches when one would do.

“But they do not deserve to be barracked. We have a lot of dedicated fans who give 100% but there are a few who prefer to fire abuse down from the stand which is why Billy was so annoyed.

“He also criticised the players, hinting they weren’t good enough and that was the only aspect we weren’t happy about.

“Personally, I feel they can do a lot better than they are doing at the moment but I don’t agree with Billy. We just aren’t getting the breaks at the moment and if things had gone our way in the second half on Saturday, we could have won the game.

“Overall though, Billy’s position is not in danger. The club has gone with knee-jerk reactions before and we are determined to have some stability.

“Admittedly, there have been reasons for losing managers recently. We sacked John Robertson because every time a job came up, he was putting himself in the shop window and was constantly complaining about the amount of travelling he was having to do.

“We also lost Gordon Durie because of illness so there have been other factors. However, we continue to have faith in Billy and as a board we would call on all our fans to get fully behind him and the players.

OK with this call. Need all the support we can get on Saturday.