David Cook has moved to reassure Dunfermline supporters that they ‘don’t have anything to worry about’, despite near £1 million losses in the most recent accounts.
The Pars announced last week they had made a loss of £929,250 for the 12 months up to May 31 last year.
Those figures came on the back of a deficit of £1,039,907 in the previous year when the team was in League One.
However, the Fifers have been quick to point out the club has since changed hands, with new owners James Bord and Evan Sofer, of Park Bench SFC LLC, buying out DAFC Fussball GmbH – and fans’ group Pars United – in January.
Cook has confirmed the transaction left Dunfermline debt-free and with Park Bench ‘understanding their financial responsibility’ in trying to drive a better future.
“First of all, I would say the supporters don’t have anything to worry about,” said the club’s chairman and chief executive. “I mean, yes, they were substantial losses – more than was budgeted for.
“The chairman’s statement within the accounts documented some of the reasons why those losses were higher than we were expecting.
“In the 23/24 season, DAFC Fussball GmbH covered those losses. When the club was sold, it was sold to James Bord and Evan [Sofer] as a club that was debt-free.
“With James and Evan, of course, no-one wants to lose substantial money. But there’s an understanding of their role and their responsibility of funding the football club.
Cook: ‘We’ll speak multiple times a day’
“So, supporters don’t have anything to worry about.”
Cook’s comments came in his first interview with the official club website since the change of ownership early in the new year.
He confirmed he will remain in position, and he is keen to stress the extent of the day-to-day involvement of the new owners.
“We’ll speak multiple times a day,” he added. “I’ll speak probably more to James. He is more hands-on on the football side. So I’ll speak to him more frequently – that will be five or six times a day.
“He’s interested in, and involved in, the little decisions as well as the big decisions, and he’s extremely passionate about the club that they’ve invested in.”
Bord and Sofer, both former professional poker players now involved in data analytics in the United States, have been described as ‘private people’ who are keen to keep out of the limelight at Dunfermline.
However, Cook knows fans will be keen on more frequent communication.
“I’m very conscious that, yes, people want to hear from me,” he went on. “But they also want to hear from the ownership, and I think that that’s a really important part of communication going forward.
“Probably from the initial communication, you’ll see that James and Evan are quite private people, and their intention will probably be to communicate more in a written form than video. And that’s something that I respect.
“But we understand the need for that to be quite frequent. In addition, we will share more information where we can.”
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