After several internal meetings between the Board of East Fife Football Club and East Fife Supporters Society, the Board of East Fife FC are disappointed that the East Fife Supporters Society felt it necessary to take recent discussions to the local media.

Agreement will only be reached through internal meetings and the Board would encourage the East Fife Supporters Society to join us in this way forward.

The Board would like to emphasise that we have duties to all our Shareholders and are required to act on their behalf at all times.

Just noticed this on official website. What is going on? I have been trying to discover what happened at last Saturday's meeting called by the trust. All have gathered from here is there is debt but no one willing to say how much.

What was the board's proposal and what did the directors have to say embarrassing or not. What were the trust's view on things as they stand now? I know they are busy people but after nearly a week not posting the outcome of the meeting is disappointing.

As an ex-pat with long supporter of the club I am now losing interest in supporting a bid for the club as conflicting views on here with no real knowledge of what is happening. And now this announcement from the club seems to indicate a sort of underground war going on which in the end will be of no use to our cause.

The outcome of the Rankine case may also have some bearing which is why the shareholders are now willing to sell at around 400K when according to Rankine reported by STV sport they were offered 1.2 million several years ago.

I've also been watching the situation, waiting for information. It appears the board are placing some restraints on what EFSS are allowed to make public, and this is handicapping EFSS in their quest for financial supporters.

I'm wondering if I'll have the motivation to attend forthcoming home games, knowing the club is run by those who stand in the way of fan ownership.

Wonder if this is the story in question?
http://www.thecourier.co.uk/sport/football/league-2/east-fife-fans-urge-directors-to-abandon-takeover-bid-1.642249

Both the meetings have been made public. Nothing has been shared that wasn't at the last meeting. This is four scared men worried about getting their ball nicked and they're wanting to make fans look like the bad ones.

On you all go in your collective wee group. We'll pick up the pieces for cheaper after you've all made a total arse of it.

Below is the text of the newsletter that was sent to over 300 of our supporters earlier this week before there was any media coverage. Anyone who would like to receive these should simply email their contact details to member@buyeastfife.org.

Newsletter No 4 October 21 2014
Meeting on 18th October 17.00 FRIC
About 70 supporters attended the meeting which was addressed by Allan Duthie and Eugene Clarke along with input from EFFC directors Dave Marshall and John Donaldson whom we welcomed. The format was firstly a short explanation of the club's current directors' bid provided by Allan Duthie, followed by a lengthy questions session and ending with the opportunity for those present to indicate how they might like to be involved in the eventual running of the club. Messrs Marshal and Donaldson arrived at around 17.40 and were then able to respond to the many questions about the club.
What follows is a summary of the main issues and responses that were heard during the meeting.

EFFC Bid
This bid is being made by the four remaining full directors of the club: Jim Stevenson; Dave Marshall; John Barclay; and John Donaldson. It involves setting up a separate holding company which would buy the majority shareholding from the Twigg/Johnstone group. This company would have 80 shares and sell 40 of these to others at, for £5000 per share. The total amounts to £400,000 which represents the claimed value of the shares according to the majority shareholders. The directors would retain the control of 50%+ of the holding company for approximately five years which would give them continuing control of the club. They would then offer its shareholding to the EFSS at the original purchase price. During that same period the EFSS and others would be invited to buy the other 40 shares as well. After this time period the directors would sell their shares in the holding company and would no longer play a part in EFFC.

EFSS Concerns re Directors Bid
These included the fact that supporters would be paying money into the holding company for five years or more without any control over the club; the valuation of the shares at £400,000 that the directors had accepted despite strong professional evidence that this is excessive; doubts about the financial viability of the club during this time bearing in mind past performance (see below).

EFSS Bid Progress
Due diligence is still being carried out by our professional advisers, Begbies Traynor, Initial reports indicate that valuing EFFC at roughly £800,000 (remember the £400,000 mentioned above is for 52% of the shares) is excessive bearing in mind the land value (approximately £150,00) and the current financial state of the club. They have stressed that as a business EFFC Ltd in its current state is worth far less. It was stated at the meeting that at some point we the fans would have to make a decision about paying a valuation that seems unrealistic. We would much prefer to join with the club directors to ensure a single bid was made.

Comments and Questions
It was clear that most fans present felt that the EFFC directors and the EFSS should work together on a joint bid. A specific suggestion was made to the club directors present that they do not continue with their bid and instead they and the EFSS work together to create a viable business plan and then submit a joint bid. Many commented that there was no rush as it was unlikely there were any other bidders around at the present time.
A question was asked as to whether the Trust rules allowed it to buy shares in a holding company rather than the club itself. Rule 3 of the constitution says: "The Society may acquire an interest on the club or any limited company owning or controlling the club either itself or through a subsidiary" This seems clear enough.

Club Finances
Several questions were raised about the current finances of the club and Dave Marshall confirmed the situation was very serious but both he and John Donaldson stressed they felt it was manageable and the club would survive this season. It nevertheless seems that a significant loss is anticipated for 2014 despite games V Rangers and Dunfermline
After the meeting the EFSS checked its shareholder copy of the accounts for the previous few seasons.
2013 Loss of £26,000 despite getting £140,000 from the tie at Ibrox
2012 Loss of £13,000 despite £40,000+ from tie at Pittodrie
2011 Loss of £38,000
2010 Loss of £125,000

Help Offered
We had a very positive response to our request for volunteers to help with both the planning of our campaign and the eventual running of the club should we eventually make a successful bid. It was stressed that this request for help in no way meant that the current team of volunteers would be replaced. In fact it would be the opposite.
We will be holding smaller meetings of those who expressed an interest to start planning in earnest. Details will be announced publicily and anyone who wants to be involved will be welcome.

Next Stages
There is another Working Group meeting on Thursday 23rd October when we will discuss the outcome of the Saturday meeting and what we do next. The feeling at the moment is that we await the outcome of the Due Diligence process while keeping avenues of communication open with both the club directors and the representatives of the majority shareholders.

CONTACT DETAILS
If you want to ask any further questions get involved in any way please
email member@buyeastfife.org and we’ll take it from there.
You can call also Allan Duthie on 07962 245388 or Eugene Clarke on 0779 088 1760

Did Derrick Brown actually leave the building?
What an embarrassing piece of crap from the board. All information which was aired at a public meeting.
Where is the transparency from Stevenson,Barclay and Donaldson?
Come clean to the fans. Where has the money gone? What are your realistic plans for the future of the club and why would you pay £400,000 to the Twigg/Johnstone consortium if the club id in serious debt as you stated last Saturday?

Lovely explanation of what happened at the meeting. I thought I left my email address when asked for input from the EFSS questionaire but despite that would it not be advisable to post on the dedicated website? This lack of foresight makes me doubt the ability of the trust.

I can understand the concerns of the board in that at a negotiation through the media is detrimental but I also respect the trust's attitude of transperancy. The board's proposal is totally not worth considering but maybe there is some compromise.

JJ you are perfectly correct and the report is now on the www.buyeastfife.org website. It's also been distributed via the Twitter account, @BuyEastFife and Facebook page, https://www.facebook.com/BuyEastFife

We haven't yet put in place our procedure for media integration but it will be done before our next newsletter comes out, thanks to the volunteers who have come forward.

If you would like to email member@buyeastfife.org with your contact details we'll make sure you're on the mailing list.

Strikes me as two sets of hams about to fuck up anything that's in front of them.
The current board are useless and i'm confident fan ownership will not get off the ground.
Sorry state of affairs for a once great club.

Anyway, its a fine day for golf.

mister jones, I put it to you that you have a hidden agenda, that perhaps you are a blazer at the golf club trying to drum up business, that you are a well-known AFTN cleek of one person using a whole load of different usernames (1 so far) and that you are on both sides, not transparent enough, and giving too much information to the press. Geez, this is getting complicated.

Sadly though, you might turn out to be right.

What planet are the board living on? The 800k valuation for a business that hasn't made a profit in years is ludicrous. Paying an inflated amount for the club then trying to run a solvent operation isn't going to happen. I just hope the EFFS mangage to pull together a coherent rival bid or I fear the club is finished.

Am I missing something here? I thought that the Supporters Trust had a member on the Board over the past few years? He/she will presumably know (or certainly should if they've been doing their job properly) just where the money went.

I'm missing something here ..... are you saying that an associate director with no voting power is somehow accountable for the financial situation the club is in?

If there is anyone guilty of neglect here it is the owners.

And that is why they won't be getting the asking price that they, or anyone who represents their interests seek.

An Associate Director? Really?

Ok, let me rephrase that question. Are you saying that a trust rep with no voting power is somehow accountable for the financial situation the club is in?

If there is anyone guilty of neglect here it is the owners. Their neglect has killed the club And who was it that brought them in again - Bruce black.. And a few weeks back he was on here trying to broker another deal for them. If this club dies he'll have blood on his hands. Trying to blame the token trust rep for East fife's demise is utter nonsense.

Board Stiff is simply asking how the Trust associate director, had no knowledge of what was being spent. He is not saying that he was responsible for the debt. Would he not have been present at all the board meetings, or was he excluded from some of them? Try to answer the question NC and not with another question, questioning the questioners question!

Instead of trying to defend yourself, sorry the trust associate director, by distorting Mr Stiff's comment, try to explain why the trust appear to be saying they knew nothing?

I can't answer that question - I've not been involved with the trust for while.

But what the rep was / wasn't party to is hardly an issue compared to the situation that the owners, Bruce black and those controlling the club have put us in.

I'm neither defending myself or the trust - like you I don't know the answer to the question. But unlike you, I don't see it matters

Of course it matters. The trust are driving the EFSS bid, so if the debt is as bad as it is being made out to be, then WHY are they prepared to take it on?

It matters, because that suggests to me at least, they also think the debt could be managed, just as the directors stated themselves. In other words, the EFSS are not putting out everything they know, possibly because the directors might be shown to have done a good job, contrary to the perception on this forum by the trolls. They are quite happy to put out information to the press with comments against the recent seasons debt figures, with comments on each figure such as "despite the rangers game income" and let the trolls do the rest for them. That type of comment is obviously trying to discredit the directors and intended to make the public think it has been misappropriated. Poor show if you ask me.

By the way? You are now admitting you HAVE been involved with the trust? Involved, is definitely not just being a member, so how INVOLVED were you? C'mon now NC. out with it?

NC is a well known supporter who is a long term Trust member. Many people on this forum know exactly who he is and what his name is. What about you, Ringo? Your opinions and concerns match the directors almost exactly. I haven't heard anyone back the directors like this, either at the open meetings or in the media or in the stand or in the bar. If you are not a director, why do you back them at every turn without even a suggestion of a possible alternative to their strategy, or a possible improvement that could be made? All your arguments match those put forward by the directors last week, and you take offence at the same things. Your trouble here is that you are taking offence at stuff the directors have taken personally. Why are you affected the same way?
Why have you not spoken up at either of the public meetings, where your opinion would be far more valid and respected than it is on this anonymous forum? NC has raised his points in public. What about you? The only person I have heard expressing your views is a director. Virtually word for word.

Hello nail. You've just been hit right on the head.

If that is the case about NC being a long term trust member, why did he tell porkies elsewhere in his posts about his association with the Trust and didn't actually know if he was, or was not a member??

I think I know exactly who NC is and I know his ambitions. I think he may have ambitions to become a EFSS ogilarch. To be honest, he is a very nice guy, but I think a bit misguided at the moment.

As for your allusions, they are quite wrong. I could say exactly the same thing about your comments which are obviously promoting the EFSS bid exclusively. I would not be surprised in the least if you are involved with their bid. You guys will just have to get used to the fact that there are other fans who do not agree with your comments. I would really like to see a much bigger fan involvement in running the club, but I am afraid I cannot agree with that if these fans have not contributed significantly to the EFSS component of their investment to achieve their goal. Can you imagine a club director shouting from the stand how f'n useless a player is and shouting at the manager about how to coach his team? It's all very well this democratic dream, but it will not work if a fan with one share worth a fiver or whatever it will be, is effectively controlling other fans who may have invested thousands of pounds, and there are a few already, in addition to the directors. The only way it would work if it was one share per fan and we ain't got enough fans to do that unless we are talking thousands for one share.
The real world beckons and I suggest you dreamers embrace it.

FFS, FFS. You are a bright one!

Mrs NTOC has just asked me if she can be an EFSS ogilarch.

Not you I'm referring to NTOC, because I know you are loaded and will probably become C if all goes well!

God, i hope not

I didn't tell porkies about my trust membership at all. I've no idea if I am still a member. I haven't paid membership fees in years! I've got vague recollections about being a lifetime member......but then that all changed at some point. I really don't know....or care!

My ambitions, as stated earlier, is not to run the club, buy the land, pursue a personal vendetta, take over the world, get stovies in the pie stall or whatever else it is you imagine those ambitions to be.

This infatuation with me is getting a bit daft ...... But.......since you're keen, I am willing to sell you nude photos of me in whichever position you like. £400 a go.....and because I know what an eager buyer you are, I know you'll pay full price.

Oh, and I'm not a nice guy. I've been working on the "bad boy/ plays be his own rules" image for a number of years. Either you've got the wrong guy or I need to work harder. Maybe I need a neck tattoo just to set things off right.

While it's nice to be centre of attention, I'm sure there is something more important than me to be discussed.....oh yeah, the club going bust.

As for 1 member 1 vote regardless of one's wealth - I'll take a socialist philosophy over a Tory one every time.

It's not a socialist view you are taking NC, it's a communist view. Two quite different things. And there is no way I take any Tory view, I would rather jump in to a burning pit!

Last years Chairman owned 120 shares (in the annual return). Out of nearly 200,000.

The guy before him had 100 shares.

They'd both been voted into the position by the majority shareholders.

That's capitalism.