We are deeply saddened to announce the passing of our Vice-Chairman Dave Marshall earlier today.
After retiring from a career in the Royal Navy, and working as a Heating Engineer in civilian life, Dave spent almost 10 years on the ground staff at Bayview before taking on the same job at King George V Park, maintaining a pitch widely regarded as one of the best in Junior and Amateur football.
Dave joined the Board of Directors in 2003 and, except for a short sabbatical, has been a member ever since. Dave has also served as Vice-Chairman of East Fife Girls and Women’s Football Club, Secretary of East Fife Supporters’ Club and the Club’s Ambassador for Show Racism the Red Card.
As a life-long East Fife supporter, Dave was a massive presence around Bayview and will be sorely missed by all who knew him.
Our thoughts are with Dave’s daughter Maureen, son David, and their families at this time.
A full obituary will be published in the next edition of The Bayview.
We’re delighted to announce the signing of left-sided player Ryan Blair.
Ryan has most recently been playing with East Kilbride but counts Falkirk, Dunfermline Athletic and Stenhousemuir among his previous clubs.
Ryan goes straight into the squad for today’s match against Montrose.
Welcome to Bayview Ryan!
We welcome Montrose to the Locality Hub Bayview Stadium this afternoon for our first match of 2022. Montrose currently sit in 2nd position on 35 points, recording a 2-0 win over Peterhead last time out.
Squad News
With the squad having been sent ravaged with injury & health issues last week, manager Stevie Crawford expects to have several players returning his weekend. However, as is commonplace in these times, final availability will be dependent on the results of daily lateral flow tests. Danny Swanson and Mikey Cunningham remain the only long-term injury absences.
Jamie Allan, Cammy Dow and Jack Healy have been recalled from their loans at Linlithgow Rose, Berwick Rangers and East Stirlingshire respectively so their progress can be more closely monitored.
Team Colours
East Fife will be in our traditional home colours of black/gold tops, black short and black stockings with the goalkeeper in all green.
Montrose will be in their traditional colours of all-blue with white sleeves with the goalkeeper in teal.
Match Tickets
Due to Scottish Government Covid-19 guidelines, attendance for this match is limited to 500 and social distancing between groups will be enforced.
There is very limited ticket availability remaining for today’s game. Tickets can be purchased here.
Season tickets are valid for this match. Turnstiles will open at 2pm.
Car Parking
Car parking is available at both ends of the stadium for both home and away supporters free of charge.
Live Streaming
Those unable to attend today’s game can watch the match live on East Fife TV for £15. Coverage will begin at 14:45PM BST. UEFA blocked hours for England do not apply for this match. Commentators this afternoon are Daniel Hughes and Stephen Mill. The match can be purchased here.
Matchday Catering
The stadium bar will be open for today’s match however due to thew current Covid-19 guidelines, numbers will be strictly limited. Face coverings must be worn while moving around inside the stadium.
Pie stalls will be open at both ends of the stadium from 2pm. Please note, our pie stalls are cash only.
Matchday Programme
Issue 09 of our matchday programme is available to purchase for £2. Please look out for our programme sellers around the stadium before the game.
A Happy New Year to all our fans and I hope you all had a good Christmas.
As we approach 2022, I felt it was only right that we reflect on a turbulent last 12 months.
Over the last year we have had many challenges due to COVID-19 and an unusually high number of injuries to players which led to a poor first half of the season and the club parting company with manager Darren Young.
Stevie Crawford has come in and I know already that he's working flat out every day to improve things at the club, and we hope he will be able to turn our results around very soon. We also welcomed Greig McDonald back to the club as Stevie's assistant as well as the addition of coach Paul Thomson to the backroom staff.
I would like to pay a special tribute to my staff at Bayview, they have been magnificent from the start of the pandemic to now with all the hard work they all do. From the volunteers to the Directors, all have played their part in keeping the club running through these difficult times. I assure you we will do all we can to improve our league position in the coming months and hope that we all get back to some semblance of normality soon.
Our thanks must also go to all our sponsors for their continued support throughout 2021, and to everyone at Fifers for the Community and East Fife Community Football Club for their hard work in keeping our local youngsters training and using Bayview.
We also reflect on all those we have lost throughout the year. The loss of our colleagues Ken Henderson, Tom Irvine and Ian Cook has hit everyone at club hard and we miss them all dearly. We, as a club, have also lost too many friends who were lifelong supporters, and our thoughts go out to all who have lost family and friends during another very difficult year.
As always thank you for your continued support of East Fife Football Club.
Yours in sport,
Jim Stevenson
Chairman