East Fife hire manager convicted of assault
DONALD WALKER

ONE of Jack Vettriano's most recent works is a painting by the name of Long Time Gone, featuring a couple's embrace in the shadow of Methil power station.

The unlikely backdrop has drawn attention to the proposed demolition of the industrial eyesore, and its disappearance from the Levenmouth coastline of the artist's childhood which features so prominently in his portfolio.

There must be something in the sea air at Methil docks, because the setting has again become the focus of high passion. At a mound in the shadow of the power station, angry fans of East Fife FC gather at 3pm every second Saturday to watch their team by looking over the perimeter wall of Bayview Stadium.

The reason for this course of action has nothing to do with thrifty Fifers, or even fly ones. Regular readers might be aware that supporters are in bitter dispute with the club's unpopular chairman, Derrick Brown. Here is a brief summary: the club's major shareholder is an eight-year-old girl, whose mother says the shares are an investment; those shares are proxied to Brown; supporters believe the chairman is responsible for the club's decline; chairman responds by attacking his club's fans.

At the club's agm, Brown issued a 2,000-word statement (500 more than this article) attacking the East Fife Supporters Trust for "running down the club at every opportunity". Recently, he was caught on camera berating fans: "If you [think you] support East Fife more than I do, then I can assure you - you do not!" It was galling for supporters who recall Brown was a director of Cowdenbeath FC from 2000 to 2001. Then this week, a press release to announce a new manager had 250 words on the formalities followed by almost 600 words criticising protesters, whose conduct was referred to in one passage as "disgraceful and a stain on the clubs (sic) name".

Most small clubs suffer from local difficulties, but events at Bayview seem to have escalated beyond repair. The chairman's attacks on his own customers would send most businesses to the wall. With ever-dwindling crowds now averaging 300 - the figure was 800 the season before Brown took over - it's perhaps the way East Fife are going. It is a sad situation for the once-proud club to find itself in, just as East Fife are about to hit the radar again. Later this month, Gretna will attempt to emulate the Bayview club's unique achievement of winning the Scottish Cup while playing outside the top division.

Protestors have decided to donate part of their 'attendance' money to Rachel House, a children's hospice. "Those of us who have been protesting refuse to give any financial support to the club as long as the current chairman is in place," said Matthew McLean, a relation of legendary East Fife and Hearts manager Davie McLean who led East Fife to Scottish Cup glory in 1938. "The money we are not spending should go to a good cause."

Brown's conduct has come under increasing scrutiny in the national press, with much exposure given to a recent incident whereby a protestor in a giant chicken suit appeared pitchside during a match, pushing a wheelbarrow and bearing the slogan 'Taxi for Brown'.

The chairman also courts controversy on national matters. This week, the Fife Council payroll assistant used the press to criticise David Taylor, chief executive of the Scottish Football Association, and John McBeth, the SFA president. "The SFA pays the chief executive and president a considerable salary to run the association and I, along with others, remain concerned at the job they are doing," declared Brown.

It was not Brown's first foray into the affairs of Scottish football at the top level. Earlier this season, he raised at the SFA the appointment of a sex offender as head coach at Hearts. Graham Rix and Hearts were forced to go through an embarrassing series of hearings to ensure Rix met the "fit and proper person" criterion, a process that had not reached a verdict before the coach was sacked.

Hearts supporters will have looked on with dismay this week as Brown appointed Dave Baikie as the new manager of East Fife. Baikie has not worked in senior football since resigning as manager of Cowdenbeath last year, following his guilty plea to a vicious assault that left his victim scarred for life. If Rix's conviction for unlawful sex with a 15-year-old girl was enough to cause concern, Baikie's crime should have alarm bells ringing at Hampden.

Baikie, 52, admitted assaulting David Evans, butting him, knocking him to the ground and kicking him on the head, all to his severe injury, permanent disfigurement and permanent impairment. Dundee Sheriff Court was told that the victim had left a bar after an argument with Baikie, but was followed outside and attacked in the street. Door staff intervened to prevent Baikie from assaulting Evans further. Baikie ran off.

A surgeon said Evans had the worst eye socket injury he had ever seen, akin to being kicked by a horse.

"By any standards, this was an appallingly savage attack, albeit on a man you had a poor relationship with," Sheriff Grant McCullough told the court. "He has been left with significant injuries that have affected his personal appearance and his livelihood. There was some history between you two, but nothing to warrant this level of violence. Such levels of violence are not to be tolerated in this city, or this country, ever."

Baikie was ordered to perform 300 hours of community service as well as pay £3,000 compensation to his victim. "This is a rare step," said Sheriff McCullough. "I would never expect to hear myself saying that a headbutt followed by a kick to the head would result in anything other than a custodial sentence."

If the attack was not bad enough, the identity of Baikie's victim makes his crime even more alarming. Evans was the father of one of Baikie's former players. It would be no surprise if East Fife find the appointment is raised at the SFA under the same "fit and proper" criterion used to examine Rix. If Baikie is looking to rebuild his reputation, he has jumped into the frying pan at Bayview.

The irony would not be lost on some when Baikie said of the club's situation this week: "Peace is never negotiated by war and it's only by achieving peace that the club will move forward."

The new manager was appointed after the club's caretaker manager, Greg Shaw, walked out. "The football is a sideshow here," said Shaw. That's probably just as well, because last season East Fife finished in the club's lowest ever league position, 40th out of 42 teams. This season, they have climbed to 39th.

Shaw follows director Dave Marshall out the door, who resigned after failing to remove Brown with a vote of no confidence - the rest of the directors, including Brown's wife, support the chairman. Marshall last week joined the protestors on the mound where the mood is turning darker by the day. One fan, Eugene Clarke, said of the club: "Your business is haemorrhaging customers, you've fallen miles behind the competition, and you're getting dozens of complaints. What do you do? Insult your customers!"

The club issued a statement last night to refute Clarke's remarks.

"The great majority of supporters will have been pleased at our announcement of a new manager and of the board's intention to proceed with plans to take the club forward," said the statement. "These supporters, and the wider community, will be shocked at the hostility to the chairman the announcement generated from a minority. Statements on internet forums and sent to the chairman and club will be condemned by all right-thinking people.

"We urge protesters to return to join with the other supporters in being part of what will be a very bright future."

However, the protestors could be the least of Brown's worries if a colleague at the SFA questions the Baikie appointment. The chairman may find that this time, his chickens really have come home to roost.