All good things come to an end. Or so they say. AFTN has been around since 1989, first as a fanzine and then making the jump to a website and forum in 2003. We've been through the many ups and down at East Fife in those 12 years but policing the forum has become a giant pain in the ass in recent years. As such, we made the decision not to renew it when it expired.
The forum is no more and will remain as a locked archive until it is eventually deleted by the host. We're looking in to try to save some of the content as an archive.
This is not the end of AFTN though. The site will continue and will be revamped and return in its full glory for the start of the 2016/17 season. Maybe even sooner. There will be a comment sections and possibly even a new, registered forum. Check our Twitter (@aftnwebsite) for all the latest info and we'll also post in on the EFFC memories Facebook page.
Until then, have a last browse here, thanks for all your support over the years, and 'Mon the Fife.
GoF
Please, please leave.
Can't defend this shite any longer
This club is a fucking joke.
^^^ agreeing with him^^^ fucking joke he needs to go
Give us all an early Christmas present Gary and resign please, you are never a football manager.
Utter pish, we'll be lucky to finish 9th.
Piss off now Naysmith before any more damage is done.
Hope the donkey reads this.
GO NAYSMITH. YOU ARE CLUELESS!
A really nice guy and is certainly trying but it is clear that this is not doing either party any good.
EastFife are not the club for Naismith, and Naismith not the manager for east fife.
New start required.
I'm struggling to answer these questions myself anyone else able to?
1. Why is Naismith still manager we haven't improved since the Forfar game getting worse every week.
2. Why doesn't coalon mcaleer get a game
3. Why does Scott smith get a game he's far too slow and over weight its ridiculous
Shut up
If you were lucky enough not to be there words cant describe how bad we were. We got a goal of a start then we were 2nd best for the next 85 minutes. Alan Fleming kept it from being 5 or 6 with 3 brilliant saves. Clyde were well worth their win. Our 5 man midfield allowed them the freedom of the park and we never won a tackle or header, and this left our 3 man defence exposed time and time again. Our front two in Mcshane and Fash never controlled the ball once or were able to hold the ball up. At least 6 passengers in that team today. On that display today major surgery is needed in the January window or we could see our once proud club spinning out of league football. If you want to make an excuse it was rumoured before hand that several players were suffering from a virus. It was clear at half time that the 352 wasn't working so why we didn't change things is any ones guess. Gutted to watch our team so easily swept aside by a team who had went 5 games without a win or a goal. There is just no width or any pace in the team and in all honesty our tactics are being exposed most weeks, when the opposition is direct and run at us, we are a poor 2nd.Hard to see how much will change without new faces, and different tactics are deployed.
The real people behind the downfall of this club are the insufferable arseholes who find the need to come on this forum and slag off the team, the manager or the board at every single opportunity. Prior to this, you find the same "supporters" generating the worst atmosphere I have ever encountered at a game of football in Scotland, sitting in silence for the majority of the game and only getting out their seats to shout abuse, which clearly influences the boys performances on the park. Have a look in the mirror and ask yourself "Did I really get behind my team today for the full 90 mins, encouraging them enough to go win that game?" if the answer is no then you are just as culpable for what happens on the park in my opinion.
Get john mcglyn now.
Can we get some crowdfunding going to buy out his contract.
That's my first game in a few weeks and I have to say it was shocking. No tactics at all and this against a Clyde team who'd lost 5 in a row without scoring a goal. I've backed the manager since day 1 but that was abysmal. Do t know if it's the manager or EF in general but something has to change.
Yours losing interest
Doug Pirie
The harsh truth is that Gary Naysmith is not ready for management. It is the same situation we had with Stevie Crawford. An experienced pro, who happened to be at the club when the manager's job became available. Craw held his hands up and passed on the job, while remaining as a player. He went on to work with Alex Smith and Pressley at Falkirk, and is now heading back to the top with Hearts.
Naysmith might have to take a step back to move his career forward.
Honest interview from Gary Naysmith, not good enough from certain players, individual errors, still think play is so slow & players need to increase workrate. As already said Clyde were on a bad run, we score first & then basically give up!! Not what a Professional footballer is paid for, saying that we'll probably beat Arbroath on Saturday as we're so unpredictable just now but Good Luck to the team, I'll still be there supporting them!!
Sadly even replacing the manager will not change on thing at East Fife.
We've been completely run into the ground by muppets for years now. There's no way back from this I'm afraid.
It is the same old excuses from the manager. Individual errors. How often have we heard this? Brechin Forfar Arbroath Stenhousemuir Cowdenbeath Stranraer Albion Rovers etc. How the hell have we been allowed to fall below them?
See Exile is back.
Sad little man.
Anyway, best thing that could happen to this forum is change to pre registration. Same as P&B. 1 username.
Either that or shut it down.
Stops idiots like cockldooodle sad sacks.
And muppets? Ffs hardly offensive is it.
Naysmith has to go hopefully he walks away but he said he won't and that sucks
I don't get wound up about results or the manager any more. They are just the consequences of the state the club is in.
We dropped a league and we can't compete there either. Nothing will improve until change at the top dictates so.
The directors are East Fife men and have good intentions, but look at where we are and what our prospects are. We need a different approach. The directors will not agree with this because they believe that by putting money in they have earned the right to do things their way. If only it was that easy. If only putting money into a company bought you wisdom.
There is sympathy for the directors but sometimes you have to be cruel to be kind. The club is withering away. Good luck to the Trust, they offer real hope and a better future.
If only dreamers could explain the wisdom they speak of? What is this correct 'way'? What is this hope that the Trust can provide with no money?
The manager prepares and picks the team and yes, the players have to go out and perform which they are patently not doing as well as they should. But who appointed that manager? Santa Claus?
East Fife are in the business of running a football club and to say that that those at the top of the organisation are somehow not responsible for the clubs lamentable performances in recent years is laughable. You can't always blame it on the workers you know. As in any poorly performing organisation the buck ultimately stops at the top.
Unless Mr Reminder! you think we are not performing poorly?
Fuck of back along the road then .you only came to this club when willie gray was here .iv seen you with a Rovers scarf around your neck .
Let's just be truthful here
Manager sticking out saving face and leave at end of season just saying it ain't worked out
Board of old guys with not s football or business brain amongst them
Fan but out going knowhere not enough people interested
Arbroath cruising league full of managers rejects
Oh happy days at bayview got fans flocking out the gates
Please tell me this is not true somebody please
Gary Naysmith please leave.
You are a laughing stock.
Leave leave leave leave.. Please!
We all need to make protest broads and banners saying Naysmith Out, Taxi for Naysmith etc, they are not going to be made by themselves!
Don't know where we go from here ? The manager sign'd this dross and can't take us any further. Feel sorry for the young players having to play when they are not ready .
Naysmith will be sack some time this week if not its a joke
There can be no doubt the new board have a decision to make. Here we are at the half way point of the season with 5 wins, 5 draws, and 8 defeats, couple that with the poor style of football being served up, and it is hard to defend. In Garys defence the decision making and errors the players have made on an industrial scale, would have the best of managers fighting for their jobs. I would argue the biggest tactical mistake has been putting players in wide midfield areas with no pace. This has resulted in the midfield being far too deep and having no width. The rumour is we cant afford to put Gary on gardening leave, but with the trap door up for grabs in May, then I would say the financial fall out from losing our league status would be worse. Looking at his interview yesterday he knows the fans have turned, the million dollar question is how long would you give him to turn things around. The board have the power they were looking for so lets hope they come to the right decision very soon. These are big moments in the history of East Fife as what I have witnessed the last two weeks our league status is in jeopardy if things don't change one way or another.
Gary has had ample time to turn things round. He has been given the chance to build his own team and get them playing to the style he wants. Unfortunately we are going backwards instead of forward and this decline can't be allowed to continue much longer. His interviews are beginning to sound like a repeat of the previous week.
As a team they are failing to entertain and I we have hardly played well for 90 mins since he started as Manager. I had every confidence in him and was happy he got the job but it's got to the stage that people are voting with their feet and the club can't continue to lose fans who refuse to pay to watch absolute rubbish.
On current form, play offs are a distant hope and I doubt very much this bunch of players and Gary as Manager can lift us out of this mess.
Sadly, he has to go.
Wait a minute, I thought all our problems were Paul Hegarty's fault?
So here we are 3 days on from the latest on field shambles as we hurtle ever closer towards the Lowland league. Yet the manager remains in his post with the board seemingly blind to our plight and incapable or unwilling to make a decision on his future. Are they backing Naysmith or will they sack him? Will it take a defeat at Elgin for them to wake up to the situation or will there be total silence as usual?
If east fife had the money he wood have been away by now wait till tonight there might be news tonight just have to wait and see
John McGlynn is available and would provide plenty of experience and a decent track record. He would be a significant upgrade on Naysmith. But you're probably right, why would anyone want to work for us? Rookies are about it for us it seems.
I think tonight there will be big news at east fife
About maybe getting page
Greig McDonald is free maybe our former player is the answer and most of the supporters would agree he would be a decent appointment at the helm maybe not the experience type we would look for, might have not won leauge 2 with Stirling Albion but the team was promoted by beating us in the 2nd leg at Bayview last season after a rookie start the season before. Im sure he would want Marc McCulloch as number 2 and bring in Darren Smith to boost midfield increase our numbers in our squad.
Aswell we could go down the route and appoint a more experience manager that has been a manager like John McGlynn, Billy Reid, Jim Jeffries, Craig Brewster or Jimmy Calderwood its upto the board now to make that judgement.
We have seen rookie's appointed like B.Brown, Crawford, Willie A and now Naysmith and it suggest after we appointed Robbo and Baikie the club was getting somewhere and we do need to be looking at that than appointing a new Hartley type of person it doesn't work at east fife.
Todays courier reporting that Gary Naysmith has been backed by the East Fife board. Jim Stevenson says no plans to change manager, Gary is the man for the job. Jim says we have had bad luck with injuries and Gary is working very hard to get new players in during the transfer window. Well at least we know where we stand.
Not good what happings if elgin beat us I tell u this is crap news
The board are backing Gary as they can't afford to sack him and they can't afford to replace him with experienced manager. Nothing further to see here.
Aye, heaven forbid they let trust, loyalty and belief get in the way.
You mean they didn't have the balls to make the difficult and right decision.
Well he's got the vote of confidence now. What could possibly go wrong?
How about sticking by a young manager and giving him a few years to develop his skills instead of chopping and changing every 6 to 12 months?
Radical for some but sensible for others.
Naysmith should have been shown the door right after the stirling game.He had plenty time to get us out the mess we were in,and failed badly.The points swing between ourselves and Airdrie must have been around the 20 point mark.possibly more.Yet our then chairman ,kept him on.Just another blunder,one off many,he made on his watch.
Agree mate I am
Mad he's not been sack yet if we lose to Elgin he has to walk away I don't care gray just do us all east fife fans the right think and leave before we are bottom
I got an Enigma machine for Christmas and have entered into it, several of the above posts by the likes of Colin H etc, to try and decipher what they are actually saying, but it still comes out as pure shite and still completely undecipherable!
My grand plan would be to eradicate your kind of mentality and introduce a way of thinking that takes us beyond the misconception that only the people who are on the board at the moment are capable of running the club.
That would be a start.
I smell John.
Hiya John. Hiya pal
Doesn't change the fact that we're stuck with a board that's not up to it.
Not you.
Stupid boy.
Yet more infantile shite from a not too intelligent delinquent.
It is plain to see why we shouldn't take much notice of the bile spouted on this site. All the negative posts are just that - negative. No substance in any of the posts that Jack and his pals make, only negativity that they make up in their tiny heads.
There is an opportunity for the fans to really be involved with the club's future, but they cannot do it alone. The sensible option is to get fans who are able to invest the money needed, which includes the fans who are currently directors. Too many forget the club still needs running in these difficult times, but Jack and his cohorts are unable to understand that and just see this forum as somewhere to have a laugh at the club's current predicament.
Yeah but I've confirmed my name is Grant Malcolm.
Whereas you won't confirm your name..... wonder why....
Instead of all the infighting, how about just turning up and supporting the team?
?
The way forward is this.
1) Gang Of 4 drop their "takeover/rental"
2) Gang Of 4 (or whoever owner decides) run club on interim basis while buyer is sought.
3) All interested parties (including those in the Gang of 4) work together under the umbrella of EFSS. The collaboration is to achieve:
a) business plan on how to run the club once ownership achieved
b) strategy on how to achieve ownership (including the type of ownership model that is agreeable to all)
Unless the Trust, Supporters club and Gang Of 4 can work out a joint approach that is satisfactory to most of the supporters there is no way forward.
Step 1 is with the Gang Of 4. The longer they pursue this takeover (which does not have the backing of the supporters) the more damage they are doing to the club and the more distance they put between themselves and the support. There will come a point that this distance will be too great to ever be reconciled, or the damage too great to repair.
Note - the interim running of the club is merely to keep things ticking over and maintain the status quo. Improving the business, tackling the debt, bowing to the owner's demand in not on the agenda during this interim period. Very much a hands off approach. If things get worse during this interim period then so be it. The owner then has a choice ..... find a new interim board, take the deal from the EFSS, lose everything when the debts are called in.
Change needs to happen. The Gang of 4 "takeover....rental" is in fact blockage to change and unfortunately keeps us on the same path.