East Fife have strongly refuted suggestions the club is facing a financial crisis and said continued speculation could hurt their attempt to install a plastic pitch at Bayview.
Courier Sport revealed last month how the Methil club recently reported an annual loss of £142,174 for 2013/14, up from £41,030 in the middle of 2013, and that the club are considering the sale of land around the stadium to help ease the situation.
But the Methil outfit hit back yesterday, once again stressing that an action plan is in place to help balance the books and progress the club on and off the pitch.
A statement on the club’s website yesterday stressed that, since changes were made at board level last year, East Fife have “sufficient funds” for their needs and expressed disappointment that speculation to the contrary may have affected plans to bring a community pitch to Bayview.
Fife Council is understood to be looking at a number of sites where money could be made available to facilitate the creation of a community-use 3G pitch, and Bayview is one of those locations being examined.
And speaking to Courier Sport yesterday, director John Barclay stated that the club are ready, willing and able to accommodate such a development.
“There are rumours going around that East Fife are in trouble and that’s simply not the case,” he maintained.
“We can’t keep going around to people and saying ‘here’s our bank statement’ but we’ve covered ourselves for the rest of the season and we’ve got an action plan moving forward.
“It has been a hard job picking up following the board changes but we’ve had to recover from that and we are recovering from that.
“So as a community club it’s important to let people know that East Fife are not in trouble.
“Obviously we’ve got to find the finance to pay bills like any club, but that’s exactly what’s been happening, so I’d be very disappointed if the reason this pitch didn’t come to Bayview is because of suggestions the club are in trouble.
“We take a great deal of pride in our football and in our pitch, and sometimes the quality of it can backfire against us because other teams love to play on our surface.
“But at the end of this season, we could have the grass pitch lifted and replaced with a plastic pitch in time for the start of next season and it could be used every week.”
A meeting is due to take place in the coming days between the club’s four directors and members of the East Fife Supporters Society (EFSS) over the best way to take the club forward, with both parties apparently pushing forward with separate bids to secure the majority shareholding.
In the meantime, the directors’ bid led by interim chairman Jim Stevenson remains the only option in the pipeline and, despite the EFSS calling on them to withdraw that offer in favour of a joint bid with them, that is the only one progressing at the moment.