Dunfermline Athletic’s new owners still await details of when they will be formally handed the reins at East End Park six months after the Fife club were placed in full administration.
Those involved with the supporter-led Pars United group have not yet been given a firm timescale on when they will take over the day-to-day running of the club from administrators BDO, but Pars United spokesman Bob Garmory insists the club is moving in the right direction after a turbulent year or so on and off the park.
Today is the six month anniversary of the Pars entering full administration at the Court of Session with the threat of liquidation hanging over them, although Dunfermline Athletic are still in business and sit second top of SPFL League One heading into this weekend.
That has not come without a price of course, with several players and staff made redundant, the Pars dropping down a division after a points deduction and wholesale changes made to how the club is run.
Nevertheless, Garmory insists there is a brighter future ahead for the Fife outfit.
He said: “We were on our death bed but we’ve moved from being on our death bed to being in intensive care.
“That’s only through goodwill and the strength of the fan base, and it’s only going to be goodwill and the strength of the fan base that takes us into a level of fitness that’s going to allow us to function in Scottish football.
“That’s not going to be done overnight. We’ve set ourselves the target of being in the play-offs and to do that we’ve got to be in the top four come May.
“At the moment we’re second top of the table and if we had beaten Arbroath we would be joint top with Rangers, although Rangers clearly live on a different financial planet than us.
“But if we can manage to get into the play-offs, the young squad that we have will have done exceptionally well.
“This season’s team is largely a product of our youth programme and if it hadn’t been for our youth players coming through the ranks, we wouldn’t have a football club.
“It is these young men who have kept the football club alive and if they hadn’t carried us through in the last part of last season, I don’t think there would be a Dunfermline Athletic Football Club.”
Courier Sport understands no date has been set for a formal handover from BDO to Pars United as yet, although due legal process has had to be followed after the CVA put forward to creditors owed cash was successfully passed on July 30.
A 28-day window for appeals came and went at the end of August but there are still a number of issues that need to be ironed out before BDO and KPMG administrators for the Pars’ East End Park stadium can pass full control to Pars United following their successful joint bid for both the club and the ground.
Pars United hope to take control by the end of this month, although it is more likely to be early October before the day-to-day running of the club can be passed from BDO to the new owners.
“We had a meeting with BDO last week and it’s going to be a very difficult thing to be definite about,” Garmory said.
“BDO discharge legal duties to the court and Bryan Jackson and Robert Barclay (administrators) have to be sure that they’ve signed off on everything.
“There will come a point where they will still have a part to play but it will be more bureaucratic and will be more of a tick box exercise, with Pars United taking over the day-to-day running of the business.
“When that happens, we want to be in a position where we can communicate various structures to the fans like the interim board, the Pars United structure, the ownership model of the football ground, and how everyone who has contributed to the Pars’ future, both fans and patrons, can have an input.
“We hope to have that resolved soon.”
Garmory added that the make-up of the proposed new interim board of Pars United representatives should be resolved within the next two or three weeks.