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Away From The Numbers

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

 

East Fife
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four months in where we at? Team, January Window if naysmith was replaced who would you want to see?

Hi guys, with the form so quiet we have a free weekend due to other teams playing in scottish cup but where do we stand as a team, our performance's lately, the manager and the direction on archiving promotion?
last season after been relegated from league one by the play-offs naysmith built his own squad and it was up until january we made it into the play-offs with decent signings made in the january window ie attacking playmaker in Dickson, Riordan and Julen those players have left in the summer and we added to the squad around campbell, brown, smith, fash, page, walker and mullen. At start of the season we have had a great start only losing to shire and was top of the league now we are fifth and i know we are only points off the top but is this a reality check, has the injuries made the difference to key players been unavaliable ie smith, is all the talk about fash joining a so called big team would it happen would we keep him i hate when fans think we will be a sell club and see our stars leave for big clubs just like Julen and the time we sold Kenny deuchar to a team that went all the way to SPL and went bust. Were we lucky to even beat shire at home if they didn't have two players sent off for bad fouls? are we seen this year east fife team underachieve or is the likes of elgin and annan just better and have improved side under a better manager off the park than on it.
I think we will finish in the play-offs it just we have had two seasons out of naysmith like the rest of us on here i like naysmith and was happy he succeded a manager that kid himself on to be a manager when we got rid of brown but his negative tactics and lack of success to get out the bottom division for a club like our self should be where ayr and albion are at the moment and it just painful our performances mostly with sides with 10 men most weeks we should be putting them away or defending better mostly at set pieces as we have saw at stirling, elgin and arbroath. has our keepers performace went downhill since the team's confendance is lacking very badly and why does gary get game time ahead of Leyden? MacDonald? most people have said he is our expeirence player yes he is but when he plays it cost the team and doesnt look good for the team manager to give away ie penalty last season to annan (Away from home and sent off) and gave away a foul at elgin there i still think we are a better team and any team is better when there manager is in the dug out giving out orders, players have a good understanding and leader of the field is Anderson a good leader he is someone i see on match day that is very quiet not like hegarty was when he, gary and him first came into the club and might be great on training field but you as a club need a leader off the field managing the team.
With the loans nearly expiring will they be worth another stay until january, will fash leave or stay, will fans be panicking then? will we sign a replacement or another striker then? will we finish in the play offs by may?

Goodfellow - always going to be first choice when he signed, fans favourite at the start but has his form dip due to teams performance of late?
O'Kane - signed basically because we had campbell injured long term at the start and julen left and we needed a back-up brought in as a trialists.
MacGregor - only right back this club has and manager thinks otherwise
Page - best defender the club has and scores goals in the opposite box, worth a keep next season.
Campbell - Long serving player, experience first team player but is he past himself by date.
Mercer - best full back i rather see him that the gaffer
Naysmith - everyone thinks he is the best left back in the league but gives away needless fouls and always seem to play every game of late.
Murray - been in and out the team, i perfer him to mullen and walker.
Brown - same as murray this season, last season was playing in every position bar keeper.
slattery - gives us 110% when he plays.
smith - a bit injury prone but on his day can be a handful to opposition.
macdoanld - experience winger has assist some goals but needs to see more will here be here in january question mark? stranraer?
fash - this is one of his better season of far, i would wish people would shut up about he is going in january he isn't going no where and its only november fs.
wilkie - cant fault the guy gives you 110%, would keep him next season.
McGovern - one game (fife cup) at this rate should be giving the chance.
Leyden - not seen much but then again was on the bench on saturday not used.
walker - not missed him this season, experience midfielder.
mullen - what has he done since his wonder goal vs clyde?
Insall - i would like to see more of jamie, learning curve.
Kerr - Should stick to CB were dreadful with three at the back and has been great to watch.

if we were to axe naysmith i wouldn't want another player-manager or assistant manager so i go for Grant Murray (won ramsden cup) or Jim Jefferies (sacked at dunfermline) who i wouldn't like to see would be another want to play every week "Colin Cameron"!! if we were to get rid of the current manager we have got otherwise like i said its too early so ill give him to the summer see if we've got far and in the play-offs.
If we are in this league next season i would love to sign Nathan Shepard, Gunn, Brian Cameron (Elgin), McHardy (Elgin), Easton, Smith (Goalkeeper at Stirling was at st mirren and dunfermline) and lavery (Berwick).

Re: four months in where we at? Team, January Window if naysmith was replaced who would you want to

History shows that over this period we are coming into, one or two teams will start to break away from the pack.
Will we be one of those teams?
The next few games I think will tell us.

Re: four months in where we at? Team, January Window if naysmith was replaced who would you want to

Agree that the games over December will be crucial and games we can win. Pretty much fed up of hearing our hard luck stories about how we didn`t deserve to lose, about the chances created, about the chances missed etc.
Our early season form is a distant memory now and where we are at present is where we deserve to be.
Gary Naysmith recently commented that other players need to step up to the plate and help Nathan Austin out and then he say`s at the weekend that any striker on form would have scored 12(?) over the last few games. In my opinion, far too much pressure has been put on Fash and that is due to Naysmith`s style of play, tactics and formation. Maybe if another striker played regularly up front with him it might have eased the pressure?
I feel that the style of play that Naysmith adopts is too predictable and has now been found out by opposing managers.

We don`t have a Scottish Cup game on Saturday after losing to a bang average Stirling Albion team, who will no doubt fancy their chances to progress to the next round. We could and should have been in that position this Saturday.

Re: four months in where we at? Team, January Window if naysmith was replaced who would you want to

After a decent start to the season our recent form and results are very disappointing to say the least To put things into context we have won only one of our last 8 competitive matches. Now at any level of football you would have to say that isn't good enough. We are no different from any other part time team where consistency would appear to be a hard thing to come up with. The nature of finances in the game dictates that part time teams run with a squad of around 15 players with the teams sprinkled with loan signings. A few injuries and you start to run into trouble, you have to start playing guys out of position and there is no continuity to your team selection. The problem we have just now as Naysmith said on Saturday is the toxic combination of really poor defending and not taking our chances at the other end. Going back the last few games our inability to defend crossed balls is nothing short of shocking. Goals against Annan, Arbroath, East Stirling, and Elgin have all come from cross balls or corners into our box. I like Goodfellow as a keeper but he doesn't command his area enough for me, he very rarely comes for a cross ball. However he is as good as we have had for a few years just look at his performance 2nd half at Arbroath. the next 4 games against Q park, Clyde, Montrose and Stirling will take us to the half way point of the season. I only hope we can get enough points to stay in touch with the leaders. Our consistency has to improve and we really have to start winning the games where we are well on top, too many times we have lost games when the opposition have been far inferior on the day, The shire, Arbroath, Annan, Stirling and Elgin are all games we have failed to win when we have been the far better team. I believe in Gary and the players and I think we have the team to get us out this league but we must turn the corner soon and start to grind out a few wins before the turn of the year.

Re: four months in where we at? Team, January Window if naysmith was replaced who would you want to

Always laugh when I see Fife fans touting Craig Gunn. The guy lives up North and plays for them because they are local. Who in their right mind thinks that he'd fancy an extra 1000+ miles a season of travelling for the same wages?

Also, what's the point in listing other managers when we're not looking for one? Gary Naysmith will at least be the manager until the end of the season, and at least deserves the chance to continue this campaign. Although we've had a few really poor results, there's certainly no basis for sacking him, and even if there was, it would cost us too much money.

Re: four months in where we at? Team, January Window if naysmith was replaced who would you want to

We have to just hope for a play off place now can't see Fife winning the league for a start can't beat Annan or Elgin if we don't beat Queen's Park and Clyde we definitely need a new manager and I agree grant Murray would be aright

Re: four months in where we at? Team, January Window if naysmith was replaced who would you want to

What's better about Murray (who all the Raith fans wanted sacked) than Naysmith?

And please don't say he won the Challenge Cup. Aside from that what did he manage? We had Chisholm in charge who led QOS and Dundee Utd to Scottish Cup finals and look how that worked out for us.