East Fife (Scotland)

East Fife FC is a Scottish football club from the town of Methil on the east coast of Fife that was formed in January 1903 to fulfil the demands of the local public who wanted a senior football club.

Other clubs such as Cameron Bridge FC, Leven FC, Methil Rovers, Buckhaven United and Leven Thistle had all represented at different times from 1879. East Fife was formed following a public meeting.

The new club took over the Town Hall Park ground of Leven Thistle and renamed it Bayview Park; initially starting out life as a Fife League club before becoming members of the Northern League in 1905-06 after a season in the Eastern League.

‘The Fifers’ joined the Central League in 1909-10 after Bayview Park had been improved with fencing and a new seated stand. The new league would eventually be swallowed up and become the second division of the Scottish League at the start of the 1921-22 campaign.

Further improvements were made to the ground as the team generally finished around mid-table throughout its first few years in its new status. However, a tremendous run in the Scottish Cup of 1926-27 nearly brough home the first major honour.

40,000 fans had seen Partick Thistle dispatched in the semi-final at Tynecastle Park before Fife went down 3-1 to Celtic in front of an attendance of 80,070 at Hampden Park with John Wood scoring the consolation goal with David McLean managing the team.

Fife won promotion as runners-up to Leith Athletic in 1929-30. However, their spell in the First Division lasted just one season. Back in the second tier, the side finished no lower than mid-table without threatening promotion.

In 1937-38 East Fife went on to win the Scottish Cup. St Bernard’s were defeated in a semi-final replay to set up the final with Kilmarnock at Hampden. McLeod scored the goal in a 1-1 draw before the teams reconvened four days later.

Fife won the replay 4-2 in front of 92,716 fans with McKerell netting twice along with goals from McLeod and Miller to take the trophy back to Methil.

After World War Two the club was managed by Scot Symon from 1947; leading the side to the Second Division title in 1947-48 as well as a 4-1 replay victory over Falkirk to lift the League Cup through a Davie Duncan hat-trick and a goal from Tommy Adams.

The Fifers achieved a fourth place league finishes in the following couple of seasons, before reaching the Scottish Cup final of 1949-50 but found Rangers too strong as the Ibrox side won 3-1 in front of an attendance of 118,262.

Consolation came through a second League Cup triumph earlier in the same season with a 3-0 win against county rivals Dunfermline Athletic with Duncan, Norris and Charlie Fleming scoring the goals.

The team ended 1951-52 and 1952-53 in third place before Symon took the manager’s job at Preston North End, before going on to further glory at his former team Rangers, to be replaced by Jerry Dawson.

Dawson led East Fife to the League Cup in 1953-54. Partick Thistle were overcome 3-2 at Hampden as Frank Christie, Fleming and Ian Gardiner scoring the goals in what would be the last major honour in a golden era for the club.

As well as the players mentioned, the likes of Willie Laird, George Aitken, Allan Brown, Henry Morris, Andy Matthew, Jimmy Philp and Bobby Black all contributed heavily with some becoming full Scottish internationals.

The side gradually slid down the final table for three seasons before being relegated in 1957-58 before Charlie McCaig took over as manager before being replaced by Jimmy Bonthrone in 1963 who led the team to a third place in 1967-68 and 1968-69.

Bill Baxter was in charge for the 1969-70 campaign with Pat Quinn succeeding him and leading Fife to promotion as runners-up in 1970-71, with their spell in the top tier lasting three seasons before going down in 1973-74 under former player Christie.

A fifth place in 1974-75 was enough to secure a First Division place after the restructuring of the Scottish League with three divisions being introduced. Roy Barry’s term as manager was spent helping the side to narrowly avert relegation until 1977-78 when they finished bottom of the table.

Barry was succeeded by Dave Clarke, who’d played over 500 times for the team. He led his side to promotion in 1983-84 to the First Division. He departed to be replaced by Gavin Murray in 1987 before the team went back down to the Second Division in 1987-88.

After several seasons without threatening of restoring their second tier status, Fife employed Alex Totten in 1993-94 and then former international Steve Archibald, who took the team in 1995-96 before being replaced by Jim Bone.

East Fife were back down in the Second Division; which by now was the third of four divisions, twelve months later. The club left their traditional town centre home to move to Bayview Stadium by the waterfront near Methil Power Station in November 1998.

Steve Kirk was by now in charge of the team before Rab Shannon took over in 1999. He was replaced after the Fifers were relegated to the Third Division in 1999-00 and the team couldn’t recover their position the following year.

Dave Clarke returned but couldn’t take the side up, so he was replaced by Jim Moffat who led the team to promotion in 2002-03 before dropping back down after just one season. David Baikie became the next incumbent of the manager’s seat in the summer of 2006.

The goals of Paul McManus led East Fife to the Third Division title in 2007-08 before Stevie Crawford and then John Robertson had spells as manager while Bobby Linn top scored in 2010-11 as Fife consolidated their league place.

Ryan Wallace became the next goalscorer to give cheer to the Methil crowd as the Fifers escaped relegation in the play-offs in 2012-13 with a final win against Peterhead. The club went through a turbulent period with several managers coming and going.

Gordon Durie, Billy Brown and Willie Aitchison were in charge for short periods before Gary Naysmith offered stability. The team were relegated in 2013-14 as Stirling Albion came out on top in the play-off final.

Stenhousemuir ended dreams of an immediate return to the third tier through the play-offs in 2014-15 before the renamed League Two title was lifted in 2015-16 as Nathan Austin topped the goal charts.

Barry Smith took over as boss at Bayview in 2016-17 as Naysmith took the Queen of the South manager’s role. Darren Young was appointed in the job after Smith went down the road to Raith Rovers; initially as player-manager in June 2017.    

       

Chris Duggan’s goals led to a mid-table spot in 2017-18 before Scott Agnew came to the fore in 2019-20 as his side were in fifth place when the season was curtailed owing to the outbreak of COVID-19.

East Fife FC will play in Scottish League One in the 2020-21 season.

My visit

Friday 24^th January 2020

It was a cold but pleasant mid-morning when I boarded the number 7 bus near to the ground of local rivals Raith Rovers to carry on my adventures visiting the football grounds of Fife before heading to the evening game between Dunfermline Athletic and Dundee.

It seemed to take ages to leave Kirckaldy before we travelled along the coast through old mining villages including the three Wemyss’s and Buckhaven before arriving at Methil. I was ready with my Google Map App as we reached the designated football ground stop on South Street.

Bayview Stadium was in a trading estate between the old docks and where the power station once stood in an area called Innerleven. A small market had been set up. The signs pointing towards RT Stuart Bakers was tempting, but other matters occupied my mind.

A gaggle of gents were outside the stand at the ground. I went to the area containing offices and changing rooms used for hiring out the 3G pitch and got some photos through the gaps in the fence. A gent told me the others would let me inside the stadium if I asked.

Unusually for me I didn’t bother. I got the snaps I required using the elevation of my selfie stick and other views around the outside of the venue. I’d seen photos of the old ground, which though getting on, was four sided and in the heart of the community.

The solitary seated stand at Bayview Stadium was more than adequate for modern demands and was used regularly through its artificial surface, but it was a little sad to see no spectator accommodation on three sides.

The sea looked most bracing as I peered over the wall when taking a scenic shot. The wind turbines were certainly well located. A few small rigs; presumably looking for oil were out in the bay with the East Lothian coast in the distance.

Once complete I received confusing messages about the quickest way towards Glenrothes; my next target. In the end I caught a late running bus from Bawbee Bridge.