East Fife chairman Jim Stevenson has told fans the only way to ensure the long-term future of the club is to support the existing directors’ bid to take over at Bayview.
The club remains on the verge of new ownership after an offer by Stevenson and fellow board members Dave Marshall, John Barclay and John Donaldson was agreed in principle by majority shareholders Lorraine Johnston and Samantha Twigg last month.
If the deal goes through, a separate holding company would be set up that would see the directors retain control of 52% of the club’s shares for at least five years before passing ownership on to fans.
Nevertheless, some have expressed concerns over the current financial state of the club and the ability of the prospective owners to steady the ship, while the East Fife Supporters Society, who had previously called on the directors to work with them on a joint bid, say the near-£800,000 value placed on the club was too high.
However, Stevenson last night told fans who gathered at Bayview to hear more about their plans that stability is needed now and warned that the club simply cannot survive on what have been dwindling attendances alone.
“Our intention has always been to be here five or six years due to our health and our ages but we thought we needed to stabilise the club and put it in a direction that is more favourable than at present,” he added.
“What we will say is that the finances are not good at the present moment but the four directors have taken the responsibility to assist the club in any way.
“But we really need help from the community and anybody and everybody who is willing to help the club. We’ve made an offer that we thought was fair and there has been a lot of hard work in the background.
“We know the EFSS was working on something as well but we felt the club was in a bit of a vacuum and it needed to be sorted. So we just need everybody pulling in the one direction.
“Our crowds lately have only been in the 400s and I’m afraid that will not run this football club.
“This club could not survive on those sort of crowds and the stadium itself costs an arm and a leg to run, never mind the football club.
“To get the best football team we can get our hands on, the budgets are probably more than we should be paying but we do our best.
“The directors are taking up the slack at the moment and there’s a lot of hard work going on to stabilise and reassert ourselves.”
Stevenson went on to dispel fears that the club could slip into administration and added that any money supporters put into a share offer would not be used to service the debt.
The chairman added that the directors agreed that the EFSS should have representation at boardroom level, also revealing that the board intends to form an “under board”, which would include people from the EFSS, two associate directors, the supporters club, the academy and East Fife Ladies.