Text of David Stevenson’s Letter to Shareholders as it is written.


C/o East Fife Football Club, First2Finance Bayview Stadium Harbour View Methil Fife KY8 3RW

7th July 2006

Dear Fellow Shareholder,

You may have received an offer to purchase your shares from Mr Sidney Collumbine.

We have never met Mr Collumbine and as such have no idea what his interest in East Fife is. However, given he has previously been involved in both Stenhousemuir and Dumbarton we can’t imagine he has any real care or interest in the long term future of our club. Indeed it is surprising to note that he did not even sign the recent Offer to Buy Shares letter bit chose to get Bruce Black to p.p. it for him. That probably tells all about his interest in our great club.

With 160,000 shares in the club this offer seriously undervalues the club we all support. Indeed it is quite insulting that Mr Collumbine values our shares that we paid in excess of £3 for at only £3 each. This places a value on the club of less than half a million pounds.

The Board I currently serve on are not perfect but what I do know about them is they are all genuine East Fife supporters who care about our great club. They were able to without any borrowing from any financial institution, secure the title to the stadium and surrounding land thereby securing the long term future of the club. It would have been easy for my colleagues to sell some of the land to another developer at that time for less than £200,000 but with the support of you my fellow shareholders we did the deal ourselves and we are now hopefully reaping the financial reward for the efforts of you the current investors. The news that there has been an offer of around £4million for the land around the stadium means the club have a very valuable asset that is understandably of significant interest to new investors.

We think it is vital for East Fife to remain in the hands of supporters who care about the long term future of the club. If you wish to sell your shares I would ask you to consider selling them to me and my Associates. We are prepared to pay £4 each for your shares and would be interested in purchasing all of your shareholding. If you have already sold your shares or think you have always remember that in accordance with the articles of the club, which have shareholder approval, the Board of Directors have the final approval to any transfer. We do believe the East Fife Supporters Trust will be able to gain Board representation with the 2100 shares which are on offer to them.

We do not believe the club requires to have another share issue at this time as the club is financially sound and any new issue would significantly devalue your current investment. Whilst we will be prepared to invest in the club the Collumbine offer is only to invest in return for shares not an investment without personal benefit. The provision of an artificial surface and enhanced facilities at the stadium will not now be possible until after the start of season 2007/2008 therefore the funding for this can be achieved from the proceeds gained from the sale of the land. Perhaps Mr Collumbine and his Associates will explain why they think there is need to extend the share ownership at this time?

We realise that you may not wish to sell your shares and would respect and fully understand your reasons for this. But if you choose to sell then please do so for the benefit of the club by selling to our group who do not seek to have overall control but who wish to prevent others from having this privilege thereby having the right to take decisions without recourse to others. Remember our recent past when it was the desire of you the investors to remove a former Chairman because of his personal circumstances. If he had held the majority shareholding then it would have been well nigh impossible to remove him from the Board.

If you are not selling but have already given Mr Collumbine a proxy for your shares then we would ask you to reconsider this and now give it to our group who have no reason to seek any personal gain but in fact are trying to secure the long term benefit for the supporters, the community and you the investors.

The will be changes within the Board, including the introduction of a Supporter’s Trust representative but that will be considered with the best interests of East Fife Football Club as a primary consideration and not change for the sake of change. If you have any suggestions for the long term benefit of our club which you think are worthy of consideration of me and my associates, then please do hesitate (sic) to let me know.

We have tried to make you aware of what the current position is at the club by giving you factual details and not a speculation and look forward to hearing from you.

Yours sincerely

D Stevenson

David Stevenson & Associates

I have never read such a long letter that doesn't actually say anything. This could only be written by one man.

The board are all genuine East Fife fans -

"We have never met Mr Collumbine and as such have no idea what his interest in East Fife is. However, given he has previously been involved in both Stenhousemuir and Dumbarton we can’t imagine he has any real care or interest in the long term future of our club."

"The Board I currently serve on are not perfect but what I do know about them is they are all genuine East Fife supporters who care about our great club."

Thats a bit hypocritical is it not? Wasn't it Stevenson who was at Cowden with Broon? And Gray was the Chairman of Raith Rovers, so how can draw those conclusions about Mr Collumbine?

PS. The primary school grammar and long winded rambling suggests that the author of this "letter" could be someone who's name starts with D and ends in ICK.

Am I missing something here? I presume the letter was compiled by 'Deek' In it he is stating about how it would be difficult to get rid of a chairman, using a previous chairman as an example. It doesn't acknowledge the difficulty experienced in trying to get rid of the present chairman. Who allegedly through scullduggery in buying shares, unexplained share purchase highlighted in the dodgy accounts,shares for travelling expenses. Legal agreements with major shareholders that would require courts to settle. Constant harping of how he saved the club from extinction, when in fact we have to thank the diddies at Anglea Water for our good fortune. Negative press for two years, univerally loathed. Is this the thing you want to lead East Fifes Future. Would you give this man two 5 pences for a ten pence? I think not, fuck off Deek and get your pension from COOdung take the other shits with you

I bet you had to have a wee lie down after that rant EF Supporter!

The points below represent my personal views as an individual and do not represent the views of any organisation with which I am associated.

Note the following:

The absence of the identities of Mr Stevenson's "Associates".

The absence of any indication as to where his funding to buy shares is coming from.

The absence of any evidence to back up the £4m purchase offer claim.

The absence of any detail concerning how many EFFC Board meetings Mr Stevenson has attended in, say, the previous 12 motnhs.

The absence of any detail as to any specific contribution he has made to the club.

The absence of any detail showing in what ways the present Board of the club are "not perfect".

The absence of any explantion as to how his buying other people's shares shares puts money into the club

The absence of any shame in claiming that this move is to "prevent others from...having the right to take decisions without recourse to others".

The absence of detail re changes within the Board

The absence of any contact details other than the club whose mail is generally responded to by Derrick Brown.

And that's just for starters!

Ladyfan
No time to lie down, tring to get my wife to iron my shirts. Well constructed critiscism is how I would have described my rant

It's a bit like Kremlinology but there's some hilarious points in there.

"We think it is vital for East Fife to remain in the hands of supporters who care about the long term future of the club." Except the supporters trust obviously

"always remember that in accordance with the articles of the club, which have shareholder approval, the Board of Directors have the final approval to any transfer."

They are threatening to block sales of shares?
What a bunch of muppets

Then the real reason for the panic
"any new issue would significantly devalue your current investment."

Also, at the beginning of the letter they talk about the long-term future being secured because of the "additional" land and then at the end of the letter they say the land will be sold to pay for a plastic pitch.

"the funding for this can be achieved from the proceeds gained from the sale of the land."

Why the rush to sell off the one asset the club has?
The whole area around the power station is marked for regeneration and the land is only likely to get more valuable.

Have to sell the land, no Bank would lend the money. Even some Irish Banks who are not too particular. Perhaps that explains it, don't know about plastic pitch anyway, good idea, but community and other interested parties wouldn't pay Deeks prices for use

The Purple Cat

It was Jim Stevenson who was at Cowdenbeath with Derrick,not David (no relation).

Eugene - just on a point of accuracy in the first line of your original post. "Letter to some shareholders" would be more accurate. Funny that not even all of the larger shareholders got it. I would say that the plot thickens were it not for the fact that it would be hard to get thicker than our present Board.

FAO Dave Marshall

Dave you said that you had not recieved a letter from Mr Stevenson, have you now recieved this letter.

I was wondering if Mr Stevenson is trying to buy up all the ''small'' amounts of shares that are out there. I personaly only have 200 and would assume that there are many like myself. To anyone who has a few thousand this may be too big an amount from him to purshase.

I say this because I have a sneeky feeling that its not the Board that have instigated this but Mr Stevenson himself. The fact that he has not approached the larger shareholders suggests to me that he doesnt have enough clout to go after a large amount of shares.

However, having said this there is some much confusion at the moment that it could be a smoke screen to divert our attention from the real issue and I for one am being distracted from what the issue actually is.

If after reading this you can understand it then you're a better man than me, but I'm sure you get my drift.

Walter Pidgeon

I have still not received this letter and don't expect to do so.I doubt that David would ask me to consider backing a board that I resigned from.There again nothing surprises me any more.

David Stevenson attended one board meeting all the time that I was a director and that only after being summonsed.David is too busy running his own business to want to involve himself in a charade like this.I suspect he is a convenient name.I am actually surprised that he has agreed to be used like this.

Amidst all the red herrings and muddying of waters going on there remains one simple solution to the whole affair and that is for Derrick to click shut his briefcase,go home and stay there.We could then see the task of re-building our club begin.

"However, given he [Sid Collumbine] has previously been involved in both Stenhousemuir and Dumbarton we can’t imagine he has any real care or interest in the long term future of our club."

Derrick Brown: between a year and two years as a director of Cowdenbeath. Boasts of never having paid to watch a match, one possible reason why he was never seen at Bayview Park before he clung on to Julian Danskin's leg like a puppy dog with a hard-on.

Willie Gray: 10 years as a director of Raith Rovers. Admits he is not an East Fife supporter.

David Stevenson: does anyone remember what he looks like?

“This places a value on the club of less than half a million pounds.”
- Surley the club is worth whatever someone is willing to pay for it.

“The news that there has been an offer of around £4million for the land around the stadium”
– thought deek said it was no where near that? Given that a site, in Kirkcaldy, by the sea, with housing planning , 3 times the size of the Entire bayview site, was sold for £5million, why would a strip at Bayview be worth £4million?

“We think it is vital for East Fife to remain in the hands of supporters who care about the long term future of the club.”
…like Neil Rankin I presume!

Perhaps Mr Collumbine and his Associates will explain why they think there is need to extend the share ownership at this time? – maybe so that the trust can invest 100K.

“The will be changes within the Board, including the introduction of a Supporter’s Trust representative” – another misleading statement – have the Trust actually applied to be on the Board? What are the changes?

Been away for a while and just catching up.

The letter is not unlike the sort of junk that turns up in your email inbox. If it arrived electronically you would just delete it. I do hope no-one is fool enough to fall for this.

"Boasts of never having paid to watch a match, one possible reason why he was never seen at Bayview Park before he clung on to Julian Danskin's leg like a puppy dog with a hard-on."

Now THAT is funny

Its lousy.

Personally would be embarassed to put my name to crap like this.

Not long now

Bye Derrick

EFST have been sent the letter (it went via our registerd office).

If it is nothing to do with any directors and is a personal bid, then why is the address given to reply to as First 2 Finance Bayview stadium? Why would the associates use this address and not a personal or other business address?

Also, the font on the letter is very familiar, now where have I seen this before?