Dunfermline Athletic chairman Bob Garmory has demanded clarity over the club’s training base amid fears continued uncertainty could harm the team’s promotion bid.
The Pars continue to train at Pitreavie Playing Fields but complex arrangements surrounding its lease remain unresolved, meaning the club’s players are still waiting to find out if they can keep training at Pitreavie or will be forced to look elsewhere.
The situation was clouded last month when solicitors acting for former club owner Gavin Masterton and ex-chairman John Yorkston who previously provided DAFC’s interest in the lease at Pitreavie as security for a loan against their pension fund said their clients intended to call up their security interest from February 2.
Fife Council own the land and DAFC have the head lease on Pitreavie, but a historical sub-lease was put in place between DAFC and the Pars Trust a charity set up by Masterton which fans group Pars United had to take over when it acquired the club and East End Park in October.
But with the February 2 deadline having come and gone, Garmory revealed the Pars’ future at Pitreavie which is falling into a state of disrepair remains up in the air.
“We have received no official confirmation from either Fife Council or the pension trustees that there is a change in circumstances,” the Pars chairman said.
“We do know that Fife Council have organised a visit by an agent to come and look at Pitreavie with a view to ascertaining the scale of work that needs done, and that is on Thursday (today), and we are playing host to that because we are still the lease holders.
“But there’s been no communication apart from that but I think some clarity would be a great help to us in planning our future strategy in relation to the club’s training.
“We’re coming to a very important part of the season and in the next couple of months we need to secure a number of victories to be assured of a play-off place.
“And if we assure ourselves of a play-off place, we need to make sure we’re in the best possible position when it comes to participating in the play-offs because the outcome will have such a profound effect on our club.”
The playing fields and pavilion are owned by Fife Council and were originally leased to Vida Sports Ltd, but the lease was assigned to Dunfermline Athletic in 2006.
Pitreavie was then subsequently placed in the hands of the Pars Trust, which was designed to not only give the subtenant greater security but would allow them to apply for external funding for improvements.
Since then, of course, the club fell into administration and the relationship between the club’s former directors and the club’s new owners Pars United has been strained at best.
Team boss Jim Jefferies has spoken of his wish for the club to continue training at Pitreavie and hopes something can be agreed.
But he told The Courier: “If that’s not possible then we’ve got other irons in the fire. If it wasn’t at Pitreavie, we’ll report to East End Park where we’ve got facilities. I’m sure common sense will prevail.”