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Chairman's Newsletter - 2nd November 2020

Dear Supporter,

In these ever changing and difficult times I hope that you are well and healthy?

It has been a couple of months since my last newsletter and I felt that this would be a good time to bring you up to date with events in and around Bayview.

The country’s public health issues regarding Covid-19 have meant that we have had to do a lot of work around the stadium to allow competitive football to resume at Bayview. Our volunteers have worked tirelessly to ensure that we are as Covid-19 compliant as we can possibly be under the guidance of our Covid-19 officer John Donaldson. I cannot praise them all highly enough, but my sincere thanks go to John as the paperwork involved has been massive. We have received many excellent comments from the clubs that have used our facilities so far this season and they have all been very grateful for the safe environment we have given them to use for access & changing facilities on match days.

As point of interest, those eagle-eyed viewers of this week’s game against Dumbarton will notice that the home & away changing facilities will be swapped with East Fife using the upstairs lounge and Dumbarton using the existing home & away dressing rooms. This is being done at the request of the players & management team who would prefer to have everyone in one room as the lounge permits.

Still on stadium improvements you will have noticed that our new LED floodlights have now been installed. There are still some final adjustments to be made to the positioning of each light, but these will prove to be energy efficient & long-life units which will help with the financial running of the stadium.

The league has not started as we would have hoped with two defeats and a draw, but it is early days yet. Hopefully, we will start climbing the league table soon and the Dumbarton game would be a good time to begin.

On the playing side we have been hampered with team selection due to the unavailability of key players due to injury and suspension. Saturday at Falkirk saw the second of Danny Denholm’s two match ban while Ross Dunlop, Ryan Wallace and Aaron Dunsmore returned to the squad following injury, awaiting a family member's test results, and suspension, respectively. That leaves us with Danny Swanson as our only injury worry now. He has been feeling a niggle in his groin and is to undergo a scan, but it is not expected to be a long-term injury.

The return to competitive football has also seen the full launch of our EFtv live streaming service and for the first time we can stream to viewers within the U.K. & Ireland.  I understand that there have been a couple of issues with the streams, but I would ask you to bear with us on this. EFtv is run by a team of volunteers who are doing their utmost to provide the best service possible. The issues at the start of the Montrose game, I am told, were due to trying to stream in too high a quality. I believe this was resolved after 15 minutes and that the stream for the rest of the game was excellent and I thank all the EFtv team for their efforts. We are currently awaiting delivery of a new 4K camera and are in the process of installing a dedicated broadband service to provide a more stable and reliable connection, both of which should improve the end users viewing quality.

Whilst discussing this I think it would be wrong if I did not address the matter of pricing of the match streams. As a board we decided on £12.50 for a few reasons, but mainly out of deference to our season ticket holders. Our ST holders purchased full price tickets during the close season out of loyalty and support for the Club. It was the Board’s feeling that to charge any less than the rate per match on a full priced season ticket would be wrong. I have also heard suggestions of having a ‘virtual season ticket’ for live streaming but this is not permitted under the SPFL broadcasting regulations for domestic viewers.

I have to stress that the money raised from these live stream is the only regular income the Club will receive until fans are allowed back into stadia in Scotland and is essential to the long term stability of East Fife Football Club. Whilst we are currently on a stable footing, with ongoing expenses such as staff wages and stadium maintenance costs it, that situation could change in a short space of time. I would urge as many of you as possible to take advantage of the streaming service as a means of regularly contributing to the club we all love. 

As a club we have not directly asked our fans for financial help but unless we are allowed fans back into the stadium within the very near future, and that seems unlikely, that day may not be far away. The Board, as always, are actively looking at revenue streams but in the current economic situation, particularly the local area, this is proving difficult to achieve. We are very grateful to those who have contributed to Mel & Mandy’s GoFundMe page that has raised nearly £15,000 over the last few months.

Many of you will have seen and taken part in our virtual half time draw at the Montrose game. It proved to be a success and we will be running this at all future home games. Tickets for our match against Dumbarton on Saturday are now on sale from the Club Shop.

Still on financial matters, we are being careful with the use of the James Anderson money donated to all clubs via the SPFL Trust. As most of you are aware this money came with a lot of conditions on use and must principally be used for community-based projects and COVID-19 testing. Should we be fortunate enough to qualify for the latter stages of the Betfred Cup or be drawn against Premiership opposition in the Scottish Cup, then we will require to be tested before these games with substantial costs involved. We are not prepared to leave ourselves in a situation where we cannot fulfil a fixture due to being unable to afford testing and therefore will not leave ourselves short.

I do not wish to paint a picture of doom & gloom but merely wish to keep everyone informed of the current situation.

The Club needs your support more than ever and I sincerely hope that we will see you all back at Bayview soon. In the meantime, please stay safe and well.

Yours in sport

Jim Stevenson

Chairman