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The East Fife Thread


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On the Supporters Society buy out and pledging to support it.

I'm completely behind the principle of a supporter-led buyout and a supporter-run club. The situation we've been in for the past 20 years is ridiculous, dangerous, and not sustainable. As much as it would be lovely to have a benevolent sugar daddy who has the club's and supporters interest at heart and can run the club well and provide financial security, there's nobody like that on the horizon and just wishing there was isn't a realisitic course of action.

I absolutely do have concerns and criticisms of the way things have been done. I understand that, legally, the SS board isn't in a position to give 100% of all the financial and legal details. That's fine. But I do think that the communication with members and supporters hasn't been good enough. I don't think we've been presented with a clear or compelling vision at all and I think that absolutely leads to less enthusiasm from people to get behind it.

There's been a hint of the 'well, if you wanted to know more, you should have gotten more involved' and 'if you're a real supporter, you'd just sign up'. I get why it's tempting to fall back to these kind of positions but I don't think most people respond well to that. And I'm concerned there doesn't seem to be an understanding of that and that the SS Board are falling into some of the same frustrating behaviours that the EF Board have been criticised for.

All that being said, signing up, gettning behind the SS and pledging a bit of cash each month is a bit of a no-brainer for me. The current situation is dire. The SS buyout is the best, realistic, vehicle we have to improve the club so that's the best bet right now. I'd like things to be better but there's no point making perfect the enemy of good. And, crucially, with the SS, members can change things if they're not working. There is no way to do this with the current owner and board.

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Don't know what the club are waiting on it's obvious his managerial career has failed and has failed at Stirling Albion, I wouldn't put it past the board to renew his contract...which is also laughable where we are or find ourselves at once teams round about us win their game in hand, they have had months on from the Dunbar game and it's February.

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We've tried to run as a self sufficient club for the last decade or so. That was seen as the correct way to go back then. The game changer now for clubs like ourselves, is the abyss of relegation to the lowland/highland league. We can all see where the club is heading just now. 

With no sugar daddy/foreign billionaire on the horizon, we are going down the supporters trust ownership model. 

I'm unsure what people don't understand? If 300 people put in £10 a month, we would hsve an extra £3000 a month (£36000 P/A) on top of gate receipts, prize money, sponsorship etc. (400 fans paying £20 would give us nearly £100k) Obviously we'll have to pay the loan back, but the more that comes in the more budget East Fife fc have. If you support the club, what's not to like? 

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I would have thought that as things stand at present and subject to the loan being approved, that any payments made by supporters would be ring fenced to repaying the loan. ie for that purpose only .

There would appear a willingness by Rankine to sell his shares.

Why then has the EF Board not made a Statement on the proposed fans takeover? The club's principal shareholder wishes to sell. Do they have a counter proposal?

Personally I do think that the take-over is the way forward. Publicity is key to driving this forward and I really do think that access to the EF website, local councillors endorsing the takeover or at least informing the wider community on social media, and press releases would increase public awareness.

A fans meeting may however be the first port of call.

There are many well documented problems  at all levels within the club. The fans have control of ridding the club of Mr Rankine. 

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3 minutes ago, Beachcomber said:

So the pledge page, can someone clear  this up  for me.

Why is money being taken when no deal has been struck?  Will this be held until the deal happens and what if it  doesn't ?

I was wondering the same thing myself.

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59 minutes ago, Beachcomber said:

So the pledge page, can someone clear  this up  for me.

Why is money being taken when no deal has been struck?  Will this be held until the deal happens and what if it  doesn't ?

I contribute already, and admittedly I have only managed to attend one of the EFSS meetings, but I would surmise that items such as lawyers acting on behalf of EFSS are not free. 

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The lender would also require to know that there is enough interest within the EF community for any loan to be repaid.

An opportunity to get rid of the principal shareholder who has absolutely no interest in EF and who in the past has asset stripped the club,by purchasing the land at a knock down price.

I would encourage those who have an interest in EF to take advantage of this opportunity.

As I said in an earlier post ,I really do think that to the EF Board should give an opinion 1 way or another.

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He's a club legend and it's sad it turned out like this, but it's ultimately the right call. Everyone could see where this was headed, I'm just glad Greig did too before things got really toxic. Ultimately, whilst I don't think our squad is good enough right now I also don't think he's getting the most from the players. 

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6 minutes ago, FifeSons said:

You lucky b*****ds.

I rarely dish out red cards. Only for racism or sectarianism. Consider yourself lucky sunshine.

Greig remains a legend amongst those of us fortunate to be of a black and gold persuasion.

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9 minutes ago, Fifer4Life said:

Only one man for the job and that's Dick Campbellp

If that happens, there’s a chance you’ll catch us.

3 minutes ago, Cosmic Joe said:

I rarely dish out red cards. Only for racism or sectarianism. Consider yourself lucky sunshine.

Greig remains a legend amongst those of us fortunate to be of a black and gold persuasion.

I’m only jealous ours hasn’t done the honourable thing.

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