The Board have deliberately chosen not to comment on the protests until now in anticipation that the protesters might actually have something constructive to say about what their future vision for the club is. However despite the well publicised march and protest outside the ground at home matches the Board are not aware of the protesters wishing for anything other than the removal of the Chairman and Board as being the way forward for the club. The protesters don’t appear to be able to answer the “what happens then question”



The Board are as disappointed as the supporters at the way results have gone this season. However they are as determined as ever to support the manager in his efforts to assemble a squad capable to achieving promotion to the second division. They hope that in doing so they will be able to work with all sections of the supporters and the local community.



The protesters have mounted a campaign that seeks the removal of the Chairman and the Board of Directors. The recent verbal abuse from a section of the protesters directed towards the Chairman and Directors during the fixture at Cowdenbeath was nothing short of disgraceful and a stain on the clubs name. The Board wish to make it clear to the protesters that their campaign will fail as neither the Chairman nor the Directors have any intention of walking away from the club. The Board and Chairman are fully supportive of each other. The Board through their own personal investment and the investment of others enjoy the support of the vast majority of the shareholding and they have been assured that this will continue for many years to come.



The Board are plotting a course that they feel will ensure the long term stability and future for the football club. In recent months Scottish football has lost 3 of its major sponsors and the Board in common with the other 29 Scottish Football League clubs are currently setting financial budgets for next season without knowing whether or not the Scottish Football League will have a sponsor.



The protesters have mounted a campaign that as far as the Board are aware has offered not one suggestion as to where the protesters wish to take the club or how they are going to generate additional revenue or gain sufficient shareholder support to take over the running of the club. Neither the Board nor the major shareholders wish to sell their shareholding in the club.



The Board do not claim to have all of the answers in taking the club forward and the best way of taking the club forward will be for everyone associated with the club to work together. The Board would urge all supporters to end this protest and get behind the new manager and players for the remaining 4 games of this season and use the close season to work together on moving the club forward. The Board will not be stepping down either now or in the foreseeable future and as such they would urge the club’s supporters and the wider Levenmouth community to continue to prove that there is a desire to retain a professional football team in the area.

This is an attack on our supporters.

We will not fail.

We will win.

Down with Brown, long live EFFC!

Just beat me to it Igor, what an absolute disgrace! The board have their heads in the clowds,i am surprised i managed to read it all without being sick.

FFS..I was that keen on being the first to break the news that I forgot to read the rest......Unbelievable!

How thick are this board?
Don't they realise it is their attacks and total alienation of the ordinary everyday supporters that caused this furore and the protests in the first place?

So, they've given the job to a convivted thug. Pretty much what I'd expect from this bunch of cretins.

And, as for the attack on the protestors, it just comes across as another pathetic whine from a bunch of incompetent no-hopers.

I expect this to give the protests added impetus.

Btw, note this part of the statement...

"The Board will not be stepping down either now or in the foreseeable future and as such they would urge the club’s supporters and the wider Levenmouth community to continue to prove that there is a desire to retain a professional football team in the area."

Sounds like a pre-cursor to blaming the fans when the Board shut the Club down, whether that be through deliberate plan or through their evident incompetence.

The Board will not be stepping down either now or in the foreseeable future and as such they would urge the club’s supporters and the wider Levenmouth community to continue to prove that there is a desire to retain a professional football team in the area.

Where have we read this statement before!?
This was used against the Rovers supporters last season.
To Hain McKay Hamilton, no words for you, but SPINLESS does come to mind.
The board have NEVER listend to the fans, why do you think we are not comeing to Bayview??

SPINLESS and THICK!!

Lets get some letters in the the East Fife Mail before the deadline tomorow morning. We need to bite back.

efmeditor@fifetoday.co.uk

What a pile of whimpering pish from that collection of cretins masquerading as a board of directors.

Only in football could a company have the sheer brass neck to blame the "customer" when they complain. They make Basil Fawlty look f*%^%^* professional.

The protests are working though. There's 9 lines of text that cover the new manager, thanking Greg Shaw and plans for the bright new dawn. 30+(!) lines of text on a rabid rant about protests. The undertone of is panic and desperation. Getting twitchy Derrick?

Roll on Saturday.If Brown and his spineless Board think they have won,then they are wrong.
To brandish the protesters as disgraceful and a stain on the name of East Fife really takes the biscuit.
They are nothing without us,the supporters...We are everything without them.

Derrick,Betty,Andy,Kenny,Davie.
Have you actually read what you have published.
A more abject dereliction of duty I have never read.
To admit that you have allowed this club to reach crisis point just to see if the protesters could come up with answers to the problems is unbelievable.
I am sorry but as a Board you are in place to come up with all the answers,to admit that you don,t beggers belief
Over the last year or more the supporters have pleaded with you to let them help you take the Club forward ,something you rejected at every turn.
Please read all you have written,remove it and apologise.
Derrick,Betty,Andy,Kenny,Davie it is not the fans fault for this unacceptable situation which exists ,it is yours. I don,t need to tell you what the honourable solution is.

What an absoloute bunch of arseholes.

Ok, I cannot begin to comment on the majority of that statement coz I might get myself into trouble.

East Fife FC do not conduct their business throught the media.............

'East Fife Supporters Trust have just made another application to purchase 1100 shares and the Board will be considering this in conjunction with the shareholders in early course.'

IF THIS IS THE CASE THEN MAYBE REPLYING TO THE TRUST DIRECT REGARDING THE APPLICATION FOR SHARES MAYBE WOULD HAVE BEEN A TAD MORE COURTEOUS THAN POSTING IT IN YOUR OFFICIAL SITE FIRST.

Unbelievable.

Notice Broon has to get his tuppance worth in about being the saviour of the club blah blah blah:

"This month marks the sixth anniversary of the clubs financial plight being so grave that the electricity supply to the stadium was within 48 hours of being cut off. Thankfully through the actions of the present Board of Directors the club is no longer in the financial difficulties that came very close to allowing third parties with no interest in the future of East Fife to be in a position where they could make the club cease to exist."

The whole thing just make me more determined to win this battle.

We're in it for the long haul and we will come out of this victorious.

I'm going to email Igor with some ideas as to how we can take our boycott further if we have to take it into next season.

Would suggest we all have a long think as to what we can do and keep our ideas off here and private so as to fully surprise.

Thank you to the Board for giving us even more impetus and momentum.

We will not lose this fight.

I've got a letter in to the EFM, hope it beats the deadline.

Okay, Broon says he wants what's best for the Club with everyone working together.

Let's give him a chance to prove it. If he steps down, we agree to work with the Club.

If he accepts this, he shows that he has the Club at heart. If he rejects this, he proves he is only interested in himself and not the Club.

Comments?

Another own goal by Mr Brown. This should ensure an even larger number of protesters at East Stirlingshire on Saturday.
No hiding place Derrick. We are still going to win and victory will be oh so sweet...

First of all, however wrong or right the appointment of Dave Baikie is, I advise all supporters to write letters to him and let him know he and the players have our support but let him know of our grievances with Brown.

Secondly, we have to all get our backsides to Firs Park on Saturday and have banners, flags, t-shirts etc etc

Thirdly, we need a HUGE plan for our final home game.

The local community and supporters do want a professional football club, that is obvious. What they don't want is our club run by you cretins. There are of course constructive answers on how to take forward the club. But as you say arsehole Brown we don't do our dealings through the media. How can you possibly believe that shareholders will stand by and support a near 50% reduction in gates. I will buy your shares when they are worthless and you and your diddies have lost your investment
Personal Views Blah Blah

Just to echo what Kerriann has stated, it would be nice of the football club to let the EFST board know what is happening with our application to buy a further 1100 shares before announcing it on their website.

We observed confidentiality when we made that application, the same should apply from the other side.

" AT THE END OF THE DAY " Derrick you are in the final throes. You're finished, washed out, kaput. You blame the fans who love the club for your inadequacies. How can you say they have no idea of what happens next, when you will not listen to what any of them say. By saying you have no intentions of selling your shareholding I presume you are talking about not selling shares to the trust. Get a grip man and just do us all a big favour GO GO GO. Just think you can have spend idyllic Saturdays with the family. We can enjoy ourselves watching our team again. You know it's a win win solution all round. You know you will lose in the end. Cut your losses, go now.

You can probably buy a multipack of plain white vests or tshirts for a few £ from somehwere like Asda. I'm sure a photo with a load of us wearing them with the usual "Down With Brown" slogan would look good in the press.

Im trying to get a lot of t-shirts made at present,hoping to have them ready for sat,hold tight and i will let you know when i can get them.

I think it might be an idea if we were all to make our own t-shirts and at the end of the game, give them to the board. I know they wouldn't accept them but the effect for the meedja might be good, if we were to inform them before hand that this was what we were going to do.

On a purely professional note it is very poor PR practice to have two conflicting items in the same statement.

To make a positive announcement about a new manager and then continue with a lengthy, repetitive and abusive rant against supporters (some might use the term "customers") should not happen. Again it betrays the ill-thought out and amateurish approach to communication we have come to expect from Mr Brown.

And this man sees himself as some sort of leader. Dear God!

Oh dear Oh dear Oh dear!

Thank You Derrick for yet again underlining the sheer ignorance, ineptitude and stubborness of you and the bunch of yes men and wife in charge of East Fife.

As a board of directors you do not even have the courtesy to reply to letters. You do not have the intelligence to understand what the protests are about.You do not use an opportunity of what should be good news regarding a new manager sit alone as a statement, instead you couple that with yet another attack on the fans.

You are absolutely beyone belief.

Davie Hamilton at least was showing his true feelings at Cowden by telling us to shut our pusses, pity you hadn't done the same. You have only given the fans and the press further ammunition with this latest outburst.

Yet again congratulations Brown,Brown,Hain,Hamilton, MacKay amd Stevenson.

You lot couldn't run a bath never mind a football club.

I now fear the worst!

I've just read it again.
Who on earth is advising these guys!
Let's find out so that the rest of us are sure to never use their professional services.
I thought I'd seen it all.

Has to be Derricks own work Mike, surely there isnt anyone else involved that stupid.

I really despair

Igor
I have sent letter too.

Theres some of Grays handy work in their to.
The whole board are now in contempt as far as i am concerned.

WE WILL GET YOU OUT BROWN AND THE REST OF YOU WILL FOLLOW!

Article in Tuesday's Courier.

http://www.thecourier.co.uk/output/2006/04/04/sportstory8192402t0.asp

Totally one-sided article and he's even trying to wriggle out of the Rix controversy.

Courier will give right of reply. You MUST use this to the full. Insist on equal space and prominence for your article and I'm sure they will oblige.

Meant to add, you really have to go to the nationals with this (Bill Leckie's the man). Letters to East Fife Mail will get you nowhere fast.

Going with the closing statements of this article it looks
like brown is pressing the self destruct button or he wants
to take over the SFA too so it might not only be our club in danger

As for Deek's slagging of the SFA chiefs, and hinting at their removal, he doesn't seem to provide an answer to the "what happens then" question. Indeed, it seems that Brown isn't wishing for anything other than the removal of the Chairman and President as being the way forward for the SFA. So another fantastic piece of self-contradiction by Deek there. Something else which troubles me is he always uses capital letters for Board and Chairman - does he have some sort of God complex? Apart from that, i too am excited at the future of the club, particularly with the current Board and Chairman at the helm. Or not.

hit the nail on the head there Kots.

Derrick has lost it. He's feeling the pressure allright. The statement reeks of blame, inbalance and the now familair attack on those who see differently to him. He wants to keep down the same path that has brought the club to this point. The 'bunker' meantality has set in.

His SFA days are numbered. His Fife FA days the same.

The turning point will be what Willie Gray makes of all this. He has the money to get rid of brown. Will he be fooled by this press release, or will he see right through it.

Another point of note - the shareholders said No to selling the trust shares - what has changed. I thought Brown "did not bow to pressure". Is he now showing the same contempt for shareholder opinion as he has for supporters opinion.

I met with Brown, Marshall & Hamilton at the start of the year - just as the protests had started. The dicussion point then was how Brown must change the way he runs the club and how treats the fans. He was advised that protests would only escalate, and that only he and the rest of the board were in a position to sort it out. What action did he take after the meeting.... he dug up the mound! In one ear and out the other.

He has neither the desire nor ability to work with others. His press release show signs of a desparate man trying to hold on to the 'power' he (thinks) he has.

Brown - your time is over. Realise this now for the good of the club.

i-10,"what Willie Gray makes ov it all".That cunt stands shoulder ti shoulder wi um.First Broon then Gray.The rest kid day what they want as far as i'm concerned!!

It was rather decent of The Courier to add some punctuation to the official press release.

In my opinion, the Courier has left out the parts of the quote which are most offensive to the supporters and attempts to show Brown in a good light.

The recent verbal abuse from a section of the protesters directed towards the chairman and directors during a fixture at Cowdenbeath was nothing short of disgraceful and a stain on the club,s name.
Well,Derrick, you will now know how I and other East Fife fans felt that day in the stand at Stenhousemuir when you launched a verbal attack on a local supporter who,s only crime was to tell the referee that he had been bias towards us. So disgraceful and a stain on the club,s name was it that you had to be shepherded away and in to the boardroom by your own directors
Derrick,it is always better to think before you leap.

I had totally forgotten about that.Well done Dave.

Are we not forgetting about Broon's previous comments concerning boltholes, etc.? What about the stain they put on the club's name?

U notice he didn't say 'good name' in that statement. Coz we didnae have one.

Don't know what planet broon's on,but it's not our's,and 4r the rest of the (board) so called i might add,are just a bunch of nutters.Doon wi the all.

"the electricity supply to the stadium was within 48 hours of being cut off"
By association the board seem to want to take credit for the fact that it did not happen.A group of supporters "paid" the bill thus forming the Millenium Club.A club whose rewards the present chairman did his utmost to cut back on as soon as he took over.
Gratitude is a two way street,Derrick.

Just read that statement and it's hilarious. Brown and the Board are trying really hard to put us down, but if this doesn't fire the supporters up even more, nothing will.

Roll on East Stirling on Saturday! The Board and Brown are complete shower of tossers!

Well said dave about the millenium club and browns thoughts about it. I think they ran in the words like "they would not have gotten that deal if I had been in charge."

Great to hear from you ,Jim.I trust life is treating you well.