This article appears today (Thursday) in the Dundee edition of The Courier. It may be more detailed in other editions.

http://www.thecourier.co.uk/output/2006/04/06/sportstory8200186t0.asp

East Fife fans hit back
DISSENTING East Fife fans have hit back at the club’s board after directors released a statement calling their protests “nothing short of disgraceful.”

Fans have been calling for the head of chairman Derrick Brown due to concern over the way the club is being run, with demonstrations held at New Bayview and in Leven High Street in recent weeks.

However, when announcing Dave Baikie as the club’s new manager on Monday night, Mr Brown and his colleagues slammed the protesters’ actions as a “stain on the club’s name.”

But supporter Eugene Clarke echoed the views of several fans who contacted The Courier to express their anger that the relationship between fans and the board had deteriorated to such an extent.

“Your business is haemorrhaging customers, you’ve fallen miles behind the competition, and you’re getting dozens of complaints daily—so what do you do?” asked Mr Clarke.

“Well if the business is East Fife Football Club and you’re its current chairman Derrick Brown, you simply insult your customers.

“Now conventional business analysts may be wrong, but if your customers are being as negative about you as the fans of East Fife FC are about the club’s chairman, then the usual starting point is to ask why they are feeling and acting that way.

“The protesters described by Mr Brown as ‘nothing short of disgraceful’ include local businessmen, former directors, grannies and grandads, newcomers and those who have been supporting for over 60 years.

“This is not an ad hoc group of juvenile delinquents—it is a highly responsible and well-organised cross-section of the local population.”

One of the biggest splits between the board and the club’s Supporters Trust has been over the purchase of shares, with the club apparently reneging on a deal to sell hundreds of shares to the trust.

That matter was one of those which angered former director Dave Marshall and, after failing in his proposal to seek Mr Brown’s removal, he resigned from the board earlier this year.

The trust has since submitted another application to buy 1100 shares and the board this week confirmed that it would consider the matter as soon as possible.

Mr Clarke, a member of the trust, claimed the board had refused help on a number of occasions, including local businessmen offering to pay for a team bus and protesters asking for a ‘clear the air’ meeting.

Thought I'd add the whole piece as it was submitted. It's really good that the Courier has used so much.
Both it and the East Fife Mail have been very fair in their treatment of this issue - remember they have to remain fairly neutral.


It Wiznae Me!

Your business is haemorrhaging customers; you’ve fallen miles behind the competition; and you’re getting dozens of complaints daily. So what do you do?
Well if the business is East Fife Football Club and you’re its current Chairman Derrick Brown you simply insult your customers!

Now conventional business analysts may be wrong, but if your customers are being as negative about you as the fans of East Fife FC are about the club’s chairman then the usual starting point is to ask why they are feeling and acting that way.

It’s time to declare an interest: I am one of the protestors, one of the many people who have marched and stood outside the ground at New Bayview in order to make clear my feelings that Mr Brown should go. I have done so, not because of any personal feelings about the man but because on all the available evidence, he has brought the club to a state where it is alienated from even its most long-standing and conventional supporters.

Make no mistake. The protestors described by Mr Brown as “nothing short of disgraceful” include local businessmen, former directors, grannies and granddads, newcomers and those who have been supporting for over sixty years. This is not an ad hoc group of juvenile delinquents; it is a highly responsible and well-organised cross-section of the local population.

So why are these people protesting? Why have supporters of many decades changed from standing in the High Street distributing pre-match publicity on behalf of the club to standing outside the ground protesting against the chairman?

The answer lies in Mr Brown’s complete refusal to accept help, advice or involvement from anyone other than himself. Many groups have offered their help to the club. Over 18 months ago the Supporters’ Trust offered to compile a skills audit of its members and make them available to the club for any task the club felt appropriate. The club did not respond other than to say that part-time volunteers were “no use”.

On the financial side a local businessman offered to pay the cost of the team bus. Mr Brown refused to accept this.

The shares saga is well documented but suffice to say that the club rejected an injection of £10,000 from the Trust after first of all saying it would sell it shares. This event incidentally was the final straw as far as former director Dave Marshall was concerned and, after failing in his proposal to seek Mr Brown’s removal, he resigned.

On the day of the protest march the organisors hand delivered a letter to the club proposing a meeting with the club to discuss plans and try to find common ground. To date the club has not responded other than to say they had “not spoken” about the matter.

To these constant and frequent refusals to accept assistance we must add the regular abusive comments made by Mr Brown of groups such as the Supporters’ Trust and the Young Fifers. Perhaps I need another declaration of interest here: I helped set up the Young Fifers (current membership 200+) and am a current member of the Trust (current membership 160+). Both these groups exist only to support EFFC albeit in different ways yet both are subjected to ridiculous charges such as being described as “the biggest off field challenge facing the club” by Mr Brown at the club’s AGM. Only a very unusual Chief Executive would treat his existing and future customers in that way.

We who are protesting have one immediate aim and that is the removal from influence of the one individual standing in the way of the club’s progress. Mr Brown did the club a good turn when he organised the removal of prvious Chairman Julian Danskin but he must realise that he does not have the skills or competence to lead the club in the way it should be.
Effective leaders have vision which they share with all their colleagues and communicate to their customers. They surround themselves with strong people and they listen to what these have to say. Derrick Brown has shown he has no concept of leading effectively. It is time for him to step down as Chairman of the club.

Spot on Eugene

brilliant Eugene!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Excellent Eugene, it's only a pity they didn't print the lot!

Stop praising the man for goodness sake. His head is big enough!!

Wasn't it the shouting at board memebers at the Cowdenbeath game which was called, nothing short of disgraceful and a stain on the clubs name, not the protest and protesters as a whole?

Still, don't let the truth get in the way of a nice wee rant.

Well done Eugene

Padent
The fans who were through at cowdenbeath were giving broon pelters, but like i said in a previous post there was NO swearing directed at them just facts on how he is running/ruining the club, if that hurts him TOUGH there is more to come.
You know what to do broon to get our club back on track!

superb eugene.

First class Mr Clarke.

My point was that Eugene Clarke blatently spun and misrepresented what the clubs press release said in an attempt to drum up hostility towards the chairman and board.

Coincidently, the club themselves have said exactly the same thing in their most recent press release.

If you want examples of spin and hostility look no further than the two statements from "the board" (Derrick). You seem pretty silent on that though?

Pedant

Perhaps I should simply have quoted "stain on club's name" instead.

The point is the same and both sets of words were used by DB.

But please continue in this vein - there's nothing like a dose of arid pedantry to distract us from the current misery at New Bayview (or should that be "First2Finance Stadium????)

Igor, there are plenty of people who will comment on the boards wrongdoings. I'm simply trying to hold the protestors to the same standards they expect f the board.

Eugene, you know fine well that you completely imsrepresnted what the board said about the protests.

No he did not misrepresent the statement. If the board did not want their statement quoted back to them, they should not have included such a provocative remark.

Can you please try to remember: the contentious words were written by the board, and issued on a press release by the board. A press release is intended to gain publicity, with its contents sent to media outlets in the hope of achieving publicity. Media outlets, naturally, will not publish entire press releases, and will highlight the main points.

Try to think of it this way - if Tony Blair says midway through an interview that he can't stand Gordon Brown as a person, do you think the media will concentrate of what he said first about inflation instead of focussing on the Brown remark? And do you think that the media will say: well, he's only talking about him as a person rather than as a politician, so we can't take this out of context and imagine for a moment that it has anything to do with Brown's chances of taking over from Blair.

Simple solution: if the board does not want to suffer a counter-attack over its own remarks, then don't be so stupid as to utter them in the first place.

The original letter is superb and nowhere does it suggest that Eugene is talking about anything other than the sub-group of Protestors as described by Derrick Brown. In fact, it goes out of it's way to confirm that fact.

"The protestors described by Mr Brown..."

He also doesn't say that Brown insulted ALL customers, just that he insulted customers which is undoubtedly true.

If the courier choose to publish the contents out of context, the fault is theirs surely?

Compared to the verbal gymnastics that are released by the P.R.(Ha!) of Derrick Broon FC it is very small beer.

Realist, if Tony Blair said that Labour rebels were a disgrace to the Labour party but a letter to a newspaper claimed that Tony Blair branded all Labour MPs a disgrace, that would be a clear misrepresentation.

The protestors who shouted at the board at Central Park didn't look like grannies and grandads to me.

Anyway, continuing with this argument is pointless. It is, as football at New Bayview has become, a side issue.

You are right, continuing with this argument is pointless. The problem does not lie with Eugene, or The Courier. It lies - how appropriate - with Derrick Brown.