Walking Down The Halbeath Road

[Rammit Bawdeep]

31 minutes ago, Enigma said:

Your club is a just a wee experiment for your owners, day to day they probably don’t give much of a f**k. I don’t think I’ve ever seen them at Stark’s for a derby game for example.

Why would they, your ground is a shithole and Kirkcaldy is a zoo.

[Rob1885]

44 minutes ago, Enigma said:

Your club is a just a wee experiment for your owners, day to day they probably don’t give much of a f**k. I don’t think I’ve ever seen them at Stark’s for a derby game for example.

Aye they should f**k off asap

[The Toun Clock]

It's a sorry state at the moment. It's not all about us and I'm sure other clubs fans feel similar, but I genuinely feel like we've been living this sleepwalk phase for about three years whilst everyone else makes improvements. Take the L1 season away and it's been utter pish. The PG/Yogi season which seen us relegated and last season was really poor. As things stand we're well on track for another dismal season.

Lack of movement in the windows, gutless on the park, injury list as long as your arm. All these rumours about how the recruitment is being done, missing out on important players for the sake of a few quid.

We've been a shambles for a while and for me the straw that broke the camels back was the debacle with the young keeper. The fact we didn't have a keeper in place was bad enough, but starting the competitive fixtures with no back up keeper and then signing one but making an arse of the rules is borderline unforgivable.

Looking at @Islay post about the season tickets, I can't help but feel more people are feeling the same. I was hopeful for quite a while that we'd continue to make improvements to the squad, but I'm starting to become a bit of a pessimist with regards to the club. McPake saying yesterday that there's enough to work with is genuinely infuriating. We're threadbare and playing guys out of position to suit a formation that hasn't ever really worked.

Praying for a win tomorrow, build some confidence and hopefully get some new faces in before the season starts.

Edited July 26 by The Toun Clock

[Heaton]

Interesting that they'll refund the ST. I'll hold on to mine more out of blind hope and loyalty than expectations for the season. But if it goes like we fear it may then next season will be different.

[Islay]

12 minutes ago, Heaton said:

Interesting that they'll refund the ST. I'll hold on to mine more out of blind hope and loyalty than expectations for the season. But if it goes like we fear it may then next season will be different.

T’s and C’s are here:

https://dafc.co.uk/tickets/season-tickets-tcs/

14 days to cancel from the start of the contract period, after that they don’t have to refund. I wouldn’t usually do this, but I have and have provided my reasons. Hopefully things drastically improve so I can pick up a half season card.

[Salvo Montalbano]

I think when you look at all the clubs in Scotland (certainly in the Championship), we've signed by far the fewest. And this isn't a squad that had been kept together or were challenging at the top and so just needed the additional "last piece of the jigsaw" signings, it's a team that lost a fair few players in May and were toiling both with and without a lengthy injury list.

[parsboi]

3 hours ago, Islay said:

I cancelled my season ticket on Wednesday and requested a refund. Chris Addison (Marketing Manager) asked for feedback which I was more than happy to provide. I said the following:

"I'm more than happy to provide feedback. I've been a season ticket holder consistently since 1995, however to be honest the build up to this season has left me feeling unenthused for the season ahead. The league is there for anyone to win as there isn't an outright favourite like a Dundee Utd, however from the outside it appears that we are set for another season of consolidation. I bought the season ticket out of habit and if the price is going to increase then the level of ambition has to match.

I'm all for the development of youth, I believe it's something that all teams in Scotland should be focussed on as it benefits everyone. Although it should be a supplement to the first team and not a detriment, at the moment it appears that the focus is on youth to the detriment of the first team. After the recent debacle with Kai McLean's registration we are currently going into this season with one goalkeeper, we have known for a considerable amount of time that Max Little was never going to challenge Deniz Mehmet so I'm unsure why it has taken this long to find a replacement. The League Cup campaign is almost over, which we have been incredibly poor in, and the League campaign starts in just over a week - it's not good enough for a professional football club.  Competition for first team places is extremely important, from my perspective the squad is slightly weaker than last season and the results so far are verifying that for me.

Football for me should also be entertaining, and I recognise there is a fine balance between entertainment and achieving results. Watching Dunfermline last season was a bit like watching Scotland at the Euros, it was a chore. I was on board when we were relegated to League 1 that we had to get back to winning games (which we did), and consolidation last season was fine for a first season back however the entertainment value on the pitch was extremely lacking. I was hopeful for this season that we would build a bit more given the openness of the league, so I'm hoping this is a misquote from Thomas Meggle. I've taken this from the summary of the fans group meeting:

"They then have a target of 44 points, they want the team to get to 50 goals, and keep goals scored to 30 or below. They then break that down into where the goals come from - Kane capable of 15, the likes of Matty 12-15  if possible, defenders 3-4 from set peices, then 7-10 through the rest of the team. I want to stress I got the impression this is more TM's thoughts than solid targets for these players but the 50 goals is a team target."

44 points is two above the relegation play-off place from last season, and 1 less than we actually achieved as we finished on 45. 50 goals is only 7 more than we scored in the league last season. For comparison Dundee Utd scored 73, Raith 58, Partick 63 and Ayr 53 (who finished below us). 30 goals conceded is an admirable target, but only Dundee Utd achieved that last season with 23 whereas every other team was on 40+ so while it's admirable I don't think it's realistic. Even if they are minimal targets, they are very conservative which is why I hope at the very least the 44 points is a misquote.

I'll still be attending EEP, I'll just be a bit more selective with the games I choose to go to. Are we still doing half-season tickets as they are an excellent idea for someone like me who may wish to return in the latter half of the season?"

He responded in a way in which I would have expected a Marketing Manager to respond, which isn't a criticism as that is his job. At least he was asking for feedback and willing to engage which is why I'm happy to share this on here. I'm going to suggest that if we do hold a fans groups meeting in the future then the minutes are recorded and distributed through official channels so there is no ambiguity from various people summarising what has been said. He said that Meggle's comments were that 44 points was an initial target and once met new ones would be set, although I would argue that a 44 point initial target really isn't good enough and we should be aiming far higher than that.

That is an excellent email- well said.

 

As for Chris he’s a good guy from the exchanges I’ve had with him, he’s doing his best in his job, won’t be easy for him right now.

[DA Baracus]

The club can't not be aware of how bad the feeling is among fans. Social media alone will tell them but slow/lower ticket sales and folk asking for refunds should clue them in too.

They need to address this ASAP. An open meeting, where questions can be put to the club (and all the relevant folk from the club need to be there), needs to be sorted as soon as they can. 

[Enigma]

This signing a keeper and fucking up the registration is exactly the sort of thing that would have happened at the Rovers in years gone by. Remarkable the change in our fortunes and how the outlook is since our new ownership group came on board: passionate, full of ideas and just seem to be getting the job done.
 

I don’t think anything much will change at Dunfermline with your current ownership group in charge. It’s no good producing youth players if you’re in Legaue One (I’d wager your next relegation comes before your next promotion) and teams can pick anybody decent you produce for buttons.

[parsforlife]

3 hours ago, Enigma said:

Your club is a just a wee experiment for your owners, day to day they probably don’t give much of a f**k. I don’t think I’ve ever seen them at Stark’s for a derby game for example.

They are barely at eep for games, I can't see them being at away games.

[Raithie]

So fans not happy at such few signings, a f**k up with a players registration and two defeats in the League Cup group stage one of which was against a team just down from the Prem and suddenly it's 'time to hand back season tickets'? League hasn't even started yet you bunch of self entitled hoors. 

[DA Baracus]

13 minutes ago, Raithie said:

So fans not happy at such few signings, a f**k up with a players registration and two defeats in the League Cup group stage one of which was against a team just down from the Prem and suddenly it's 'time to hand back season tickets'? League hasn't even started yet you bunch of self entitled hoors. 

Ah yes, the old 'one fan actually equals the entire fanbase' nonsense.

[Brashy's Boots]

12 minutes ago, DA Baracus said:

Ah yes, the old 'one fan actually equals the entire fanbase' nonsense.

Yes, the same fanbase nonsense much loved by some of your fellow supporters on our page.

[The Toun Clock]

23 minutes ago, Raithie said:

So fans not happy at such few signings, a f**k up with a players registration and two defeats in the League Cup group stage one of which was against a team just down from the Prem and suddenly it's 'time to hand back season tickets'? League hasn't even started yet you bunch of self entitled hoors. 

It's a bit deeper than that though. We were terrible last season. Fair enough made light work of L1 but the season before was also a car crash. Since the owners came in things have been terrible, yes the L1 season was pretty good as a fan but I don't particularly see anything about Dunfermline playing in L1 as a positive.

There's been no difference this summer so rather than a few incidents it's actually 3/4 years worth of trash.

 

[Islay]

3 minutes ago, The Toun Clock said:

It's a bit deeper than that though. We were terrible last season. Fair enough made light work of L1 but the season before was also a car crash. Since the owners came in things have been terrible, yes the L1 season was pretty good as a fan but I don't particularly see anything about Dunfermline playing in L1 as a positive.

There's been no difference this summer so rather than a few incidents it's actually 3/4 years worth of trash.

 

Exactly, it's an accumulation of factors and decisions made by those in charge over the years.

Edited July 26 by Islay

[da_no_1]

I know it's a multi club forum but can I just put this out there and please don't take this the wrong way....... aw you Raith cants can go f**k yourselves inside out then back to front.....

[Salvo Montalbano]

For those of you interested in the minutiae of running a football club, you'll be glad to know the "NEXT GAME" boards gave finally been updated. So I'll see you all soon enough, for our next game on Aug 10th v Falkirk.

[Claudia Gentile]

How are the shares roughly made up at Dunfermline now?

Do the new/ current owners have over 50% of shares or are they just the largest shareholders?

I saw somewhere they initially took 30% with an option but no idea if that was taken up?

Would fan ownership be an option? Just going by season ticket numbers there could be an option to go down that route perhaps?

Main stumbling block would how much would be required to buy out the incumbents before any monies go direct to club as well as any debt.

 

 

[parsforlife]

19 minutes ago, Claudia Gentile said:

How are the shares roughly made up at Dunfermline now?

Do the new/ current owners have over 50% of shares or are they just the largest shareholders?

I saw somewhere they initially took 30% with an option but no idea if that was taken up?

Would fan ownership be an option? Just going by season ticket numbers there could be an option to go down that route perhaps?

Main stumbling block would how much would be required to buy out the incumbents before any monies go direct to club as well as any debt.

 

 

Some details may be incorrect but basically,

In the run up to covid they were due to take full ownership but this wasn't completed when things blew up.

This became a 30% agreement so they could provide funds in the short term by sept 2020 they agreed to go ahead with purchase of the remaining shares by end of 2021

In sept 2021 they agreed to take up a further 45.1% to gain full control. 

Before the deadline for taking up full control ran out they backed out and instead agreed a complex loan that meant they put money in and this loan could only be repaid with them taking up shares up to 80% within the next 5 years and if they didn't we could force them to do so.

So aye, they only have 30% shares, but they can turn that into 80% at any time they choose. The only option to get rid is if they are bought out + there £1 million loan repaid before 2028 or nothing happens for 4 years and then we only need to find a way of buying them out.  Original agreement was pars united would have first refusal but not sure if that's still in place.

We're kinda stuck as things stand unless someone has the finance to really shake the boat.

[North West]

DAFC Fussball GmbH have invested as equity around £2million. We've experienced a £1million loss last financial year and we'll be close to that again this financial year.  Not sustainable, and GmbH said they were all about being just that. I reckon that this Friedrich fella new to the board has been put into the club to sort out the mess we're in. I reckon he's there to nail everything tae the flair till he susses out what's been going on. So don't be surprised we've no cash to spend just now.