Bayviewboy

What was the team today Liam ? Any new trialists ?

It's Darren Young who won 7 Under 21 caps !

My info was it finished 3-1 to Saints who were 1-0 up at half time. Darren Young was involved as a player !

According to Motherwells Official website Luke has been allocated squad number 30 for the coming season !

Would really like to Luke Watt back on loan from Motherwell - thought he looked really good last season

Calum Davidson (St Johnstone) or Steven Pressley would be decent appointments

Jules would be a great signing but can't see him dropping to part time. Mark Rodgers is allegedly Livingston bound. I wouldn't be too fussy for any of the other ex players named. Cook was always injured. Dickson was a player who no-one really worked out his best position. McBride did ok for us but but was very inconsistent. Fisher was ok but hardly a stand out at Albion Rovers. McCormack has played a lot and was often suspended. Not a big fan of ex players returning as it rarely works out positively. Not a fan of Paul Willis but will always support any player in a Fife shirt. Hope Barry Smith can entice some new players from other League 1 clubs or Championship teams to make us challengers next season.

Ryan Wallace has signed for Stranraer. Pity as I would have liked to have seen him and Chris Duggan as our striker pairing next season. Oh well, Duggan and Messi it'll have to be then !

You are right in the fact there will be less pitch maintainenece required once the AstroTurf pitch goes down. They won't have to buy grass seed and paint for the pitch markings but in terms of the pitch maintainence, was this not done by unpaid volunteers so the savings will not be substantial. They may have initial purchase of the equipment required to brush the AstroTurf to regenerate the rubber crumb. Savings will be made on training facilities if the Club use Bayview for training although this may deter some players especially from the west signing for the Club.

Having been taken aback by the huge increase in Season Ticket prices and the fact there was no explanation from the Board for their reasons for doing so (although communication from the Club has been very poor for much of the season) I have taken time to look at it objectively. Yes it is a major increase, especially if you are buying for other family members as well as your own and maybe some sort of family discount could be offered even if it is two or more adult tickets (10% discount?) Prices of Season Tickets and paying at the gate have stayed the same for a few seasons. We were promoted last season and there was no increase. Paying at the gate this season has seen us charge towards the lower end of the price scale. Livingston was £12 and Alloa & Airdrie charged £16. Indeed even Albion Rovers yesterday were dearer at £14 (must be paying for the view and celubrious surrounding !). Maybe we've had it too good for too long. Stirling Albion, & Arbroath have been charging £13 in the League below. i realise that for some, the increase in St prices put it out of their reach to pay in one lump sum. The Club can't afford to lose loyal supporters so why not do what most Golf Clubs do and allow payment by Direct Debit either monthly or twice per year ? The costs of running the Club must be increasing as we are all finding in our day to day lives. An increase in cost of watching OUR team adds an extra financial burden we could do without but how many of the fans who are saying they won't purchase a season ticket and some saying they won't be back, have been at any away games this season ? Yes they give the players their support during these games which I'm sure is greatly appreciated but financially this does not help East Fife. What is the cost of travel, admission, programme food and drink for this day out ? £25-£35 depending on who we are playing ? I know a family who follow the Fife and went to Alloa to support the Fife and it cost them £48 entry. By the time transport costs and food was added they were £70-£75 for the trip. If they have to make choices financially, would they be better saving their money by not going and using the money to attend home games where they support the players on the park and support the Club financially ? We all want the best possible team in an East Fife shirt and to do this they must have the finances to support the Manager and allow him as big a budget as possible to bring in the quality required to allow us to take the next step of reaching the Championship. Will there still be the same disgruntlement if we somehow go up this season through the play offs ? This season Gary decided to run with a small squad with the budget he had, which let's be honest at times has left us so short of players due to injuries that we have been unable to name a full squad. Would we not prefer to have a slightly bigger squad which this season may have seen us already qualified for the play offs ? Whether a member of the Board, Season Ticket holder, regular supporter or can only make the occasional game, we all want the same thing - a successful team on the park. Everyone must do what they can to help the Club achieve this anthis means all pulling in the same direction. Yes things could be done better - communication from the Club, possible discounts for family members, Direct Debit scheme, fans making choices of having one less pint of beer per week to cover the extra cost of supporting East Fife, deciding to miss maybe two away games to watch every home game and support the Club financially. The list could go on. The Board have choices to make as well as the fans and they have to make sure that the choices they make do not alienate the fans as the Club can I'll afford to lose anyone who currently support the team. Whilst I was surprised and disappointed at the large increase, instead of giving my thoughts in a knee jerk reaction, I have tried to look at things more objectively and decide whether to renew my season ticket or to even pick or choose my games next year. However I am East Fife through and through and anyone who knows me will know that I will not turn my back on the Club I love and have followed for 50 years. If it means making choices of how I can continue to follow East Fife, I think I will make the right choice to allow me to watch the team and support the Club. I fully expect other supporters to disagree and have a go at my thought but the game is about opinions but at the end of the day we all want the best team possible on the park to bring success to OUR club. Mon the Fife !!!

Spoke to Pagey at the Peterhead game and he was hopeful of being available before the end of the season

If Pages returns next week and Duggan is suspended, I think we could do a lot worse than putting Jason Kerr up front. He knows where the goals are, has a bit of physical presence and we are not exactly awash with options.

I notice Albion Rovers are charging £14 tomorrow. Alloa & Airdrie were £16 this season. Arbroath in League 2 have been the same as us this season at £13. To be fair to the Club, prices have remained unchanged for a few seasons so we're probably due to increase. However, the way the Club have made ticket prices known with no explanation given has led to many fans being disgruntled and possibly not buying season tickets. It is quite a hike in Season Ticket prices and may prevent fans from buying but for the team to be strengthened more money is required to bring the quality required to progress. Time will tell whether this move will indeed see the Club take more money in or not. Alloa who were charging £16 and have had a great season have had average gates of 532 compared to 608 at Bayview where entry was pegged at £13. At a time where disposable income in most households is decreasing, I think more effort should be made to increase revenue by getting more people through the gates rather than trying to get more income from regular fans with the chance of actually decreasing the number attending games. I appreciate the Board have had to make a decision on the way forward but if discussions had been held with fans to explain the reasons and a chance for ideas to be discussed, the backlash regarding price increases may have been avoided.

Who is his Assistant ? Can't see any announcement anywhere.

Tony Wallace tweeted that he has torn his acl and will be out for the season. Hope Kyle Wilkie hang done the same. Good luck to both of them

No record on SPFL suspensions list that we'll have anyone missing for the game tomorrow. If correct, I'd go with Hurst Kane Kerr. Page. Penrice Slattery. Wilkie Lamont Robinson. O'Hara Austin Subs - Brown, Insall, Duggan ?

Your opinion obviously differs from mine but there is nothing to say I am right or you are right. We both have our opinions. You are right their playing careers mean nothing in terms of management ability but it is more likely to buy them a bit of time to settle as players will respect what they achieved in the game. You are right, nobody knows how good Barry Robson would be, just the same as Hearts are taking a gamble with Ian Cathro. At the same time nobody knew how Robbie Neilson would have done when he took over at Hearts as a rookie manager. It didn't work out too badly. Ian Murray did very well at Dumbarton but bombed at St Mirren, the same as Alex Rae after him. Your opinion is that Barry Smith is dreadful but you don't state why. Mark Burchill didn't set the heather alight at Livi but he kept them up despite a points deduction and won the Challenge Cup despite major financial and signing constraints. You make no mention of who we should be considering but it seems like you would recommend Greig McDonald or Tam Courts who have also management experience. Greig took Stirling up then straight back down. Tam has done really well at Kelty but has had an open chequebook which he won't have at Bayview. In fact some of his players are earning more than players at Bayview. You are correct When you say Gary took over when we were 8th in League 1 and has left us in 9th in the same League. When he took over he was left with the players already signed and he did indeed oversee our relegation. He then helped us win the League last season with the team he built. We started the season well, but have faded and our small squad has come back to bite us. He did however have some signings lined up for January but then QOS came calling and he deserved his chance at a full-time club - again my opinion, but one obviously shared by the Board at QOS. He may fail as Ian Murray did at St Mirren but he has the chance to prove himself at that level. I respect your opinion and would hope you do mine but by the tone of your original post, I doubt it

I would be happy to have Mark Burchill as Manager along with a few others. I am really concerned with the fact Greig Mcdonald and Tam Courts seem to be the front runners. Nothing against them as they are both really good guys but I worry that they would find it difficult to gain the respect of the players at the Club, especially after the respect they all had for Gary. As an ex-Internationalist, he gained respect quickly for what he had done in the game and the respect increased as they realised how much he was putting into the job, despite being on a part-time contract. He used contacts wisely and managed to bring in some good young players as loan signings and i believe he had already lined up a few players to come in, in January to bolster our small squad. No disrespect to Greig or Tam but their careers will not afford them the same luxury and I would be concerned at thecalibre of player they may be able to attract. Mark Burchill, Ian Murray, Barry Robson, Barry Smith etc.may all have better contacts to lean on to help steer us away from relegation which would be a disaster for the Club having just managed to escape from League 2. I really hope the Board think long and hard about this decision as it could well shape the future of the club and they must not let their heart rule their head or take the cheapest option. fingers crossed !

Think John Rankin would be good as a player/Assistant, but given our present predicament, I think we need someone with management experience. Having fought our way out of League 2, the last thing we need is to go back down again. Gary would be the first to admit that he made mistakes early in his tenure at Bayview due to his lack of experience and we can't afford the new manager making similar mistakes. I'm happy for the Board to take time to make the right appointment but at the same time we need some stability quickly as we don't want to be cut adrift in the play off spot. We have to start picking up points quickly hopefully starting at Brechin but the following two games against Peterhead and Stenhousemuir could go a long way to defining our season. With loan spells of O'Hara, Hurst & Kerr up at the end of the month, plus losing Gary as a player, leaves us extremely short in terms of numbers. The sooner a new manager gets started will give him 3 or 4 games to assess the squad and to try to bolster the squad with new signings in January. Whoever comes in, hopefully has contacts at other clubs that he can use wisely to get us away from the bottom of the league.

It might be beneficial for both Jamie and East Fife if he signed a short term deal. He hasn't been playing recently so by playing for us and scoring a few goals he puts himself in the shop window. We are short of striking options with Chris Duggan another 3-4 weeks away from returning to action. Kevin O'Hara has just been selected for the Scotland 19's squad so no doubt he will be unavailable for a couple of games. Jamie coming in short term would give us options as we await us returning to having a full squad available. he will be under contract at Hibs if we could pay part of his wages it allows them to pay less but also have other teams looking at him with a chance of signing him. it would be a win, win for all parties.

I'm pretty sure Gary will know in his head who his starting 11 will be on Sat but it probably depends on the formation he decides to go with. I'd like to see us go 4-2-3-1 Muir Mercer Kerr Page Naysmith Robinson Slattery Lamont Wilkie Smith McManus hopefully we can get the League campaign off to a winning start as its followed by two extremely difficult away games at Peterhead and Alloa.

Kane and Slattery should have appeared in front of the back 4 as defensive midfielders in a 4-2-3-1 formation - bloody iPhone !!

Been a decent preseason and the new additions have done well. Don't think we have been able to field our strongest starting 11 yet. Been impressed with Kane & Robinson in particular. For the Dundee game next week, I'd go with Muir Mercer. Page. Kerr. Naysmith Kane Slattery Wilkie Robinson Smith McManus Game maybe just too early for Duggan. Lamont looks decent at times going forward but don't think he does enough defensively in a game where we are likely to be on the back foot.

Was quite impressed with all the new players. As previously mentioned Lamont will give us width on the right. Stevie Campbell was still signed as a player until he goes to Dubai to work in early August. He has been at Pre-season training but has decided that it would be unwise to play, in case he gets an injury which jeopardises his teaching job in Dubai. Him and the Club decided to tear up his contract. I think it's a wise decision and wish him all the best for the future

Team started pre-season training tonight