Mr Masterton to Resign from Board of Directors

05/03/13: Mr Masterton will shortly be stepping down from DAFC Board of Directors

Mr Masterton has announced that he will shortly be stepping down from the Board of Directors of Dunfermline Athletic Football Club.

Mr Masterton who has been a fan of Dunfermline Athletic since he was a small boy joined the Board of Directors in 1991. Since then he was very much the man behind the scenes and was responsible for the building of the Norrie McCathie stands and East stand in 1998. During Mr Masterton's time on the Board DAFC achieved three cup final runs in 2004, 2006, 2007 and secured a place in Europe twice. Mr Masterton personally invested substantial sums in to the club in his time in charge and within the last six months a further million has been pumped in to the Club simply to keep it alive.

Speaking about the reasons for his imminent departure Mr Masterton stated:-

"DAFC has always been a great passion of mine. Over the past few months, many parties have continually asked for unity between the supporter groups and the board and this has obviously not happened. I hope therefore my decision to step down from the Board of Directors will have a unifying effect. Every group can have a potential role to play in the future of this great Club and the key then is for people to sit down calmly and discuss each and every option.

"I have stated repeatedly that Dunfermline is too a small town for squabbling about the clubs direction and that everyone must pull in the one direction otherwise Dunfermline risks losing a huge asset to the town and local economy. I have found the intense pressure that I and my family have been placed under over the last 6 months has become unbearable. As such I feel for the club to move forward it is only right that I and my family now take a step back. I still have a substantial investment in the club therefore it is in my interests to see the club go from strength to strength, I do hope the Club will get back to where it belongs."

With immediate effect Jim Leishman will lead a working party which is being formed consisting of local business people to take the Club forward over the next few months and meet the most pressing challenges. A transitional working partnership between Gavin Masterton and the new parties will exist for a few handover months.

Mr Masterton remains firmly committed to the realisation of a successful Club once again and it is for that reason he remains committed to making a proportion of his shares available for re-distribution through the DAFC Share Option and nullify part of his personal loan to the Club as that still remains the only means to stabilise the Club for the remainder of this Season. For legal reasons Mr Masterton's name will still appear as the promoter of the Share issue. Mr Masterton will work hard to get the share issue progressed as quickly as possible, as it is essential to the club to go ahead with this extremely important income stream.

Mr Masterton explained:-

"It's quite simple, if the Club can not go ahead with the share issue, there simply will be no Club - our aim is to raise £300,000 to £500,000 through the share issue which will help provide stability to the Club's cashflow. The share issue will also provide fans the chance for their voice to be heard on the Board and will provide three seats on the board. The Club has to progress with this to secure its future. Any fans interested in the share issue are asked to email shareissue@dafc.co.uk. "

It is planned that Karen Masterton and Tracey Martin will also step down from the Board of Directors, they will at present stay in their day to day roles at the Club over this transitional period.

John Yorkston will be appointed Honourary President in recognition of all his work over the years as Chairman.