Tuesday is D-day for debt-ridden Dunfermline as preferred bidders Pars United, the fans' group seeking to exit the club from administration, find out whether their bid is successful when creditors meet at East End Park.
Creditors amounting to at least 75 per cent of the club's total debt must accept Pars United's pence-in-the-pound offer to pass a Company Voluntary Arrangement (CVA) which will secure the club's future.
Bryan Jackson, of Dunfermline's administrators BDO, says the club are almost certain to be liquidated if a successful CVA is not achieved at that meeting.
Jim Leishman won the First and Second Division titles with Dunfermline, led them to the League Cup final of 2006 and completed a fabled 'great escape' from relegation as manager in the 2005/06 SPL campaign. However, he feels the gravity of the current situation facing the 125-year-old club puts those successes in perspective.
"I've been through the highs and the lows here, and this has been the hardest time the club has ever experienced," said Leishman, who is spearheading the Pars United movement alongside local business figure Bob Garmory.
"Everybody has worked to get to this stage. Fans have had sponsored walks, race nights, bucket collections and the club shop has made £10,000. Donations to Pars United are at over £110,000, it is terrific. That has kept us going.
"But we have to remember, even if Pars United are successful on Tuesday, the hard work is only beginning. Fans will have to keep digging deep – it always seems to fall on them – with the running costs to be met. However, we are determined to put in place the foundation of something sustainable."
East End Park Ltd (EEP Ltd), a separate company which owns East End Park, are by far the club's largest creditor and are also in administration.
The voting rights of EEP Ltd are held by their administrators, KPMG, and they are expected to accept the Pars United deal.
HMRC are likely to reject the CVA proposal out of principle, believing it is unfair that business creditors will only receive a tiny portion of their debts while football creditors must be paid in full.
However, it is thought that HMRC only make up around two per cent of the club's estimated £8.5m debt.Previous majority shareholder Gavin Masterton holds a substantial amount of the debt, although it is unclear whether he possesses the 25 per cent which could block a CVA.
Dunfermline last published audited accounts in May 2011 and it is understood that even administrators BDO are unsure exactly how much debt each creditor holds, making the outcome of Tuesday's meeting extremely hard to gauge.
With a nervous 48 hours ahead, Leishman is hopeful that all creditors accept the offer, with Dunfermline's survival on the line.
"I'm sure the creditors will do the right thing," continued Leishman who, in the last set of accounts, was himself owed over £20,000.
"People I speak to all want this club to survive. I would hope that anyone who has lent Dunfermline in the past would not want to see this club liquidated. It's about starting again."
Why are you making commenting on The Herald only available to subscribers?
It should have been a safe space for informed debate, somewhere for readers to discuss issues around the biggest stories of the day, but all too often the below the line comments on most websites have become bogged down by off-topic discussions and abuse.
heraldscotland.com is tackling this problem by allowing only subscribers to comment.
We are doing this to improve the experience for our loyal readers and we believe it will reduce the ability of trolls and troublemakers, who occasionally find their way onto our site, to abuse our journalists and readers. We also hope it will help the comments section fulfil its promise as a part of Scotland's conversation with itself.
We are lucky at The Herald. We are read by an informed, educated readership who can add their knowledge and insights to our stories.
That is invaluable.
We are making the subscriber-only change to support our valued readers, who tell us they don't want the site cluttered up with irrelevant comments, untruths and abuse.
In the past, the journalist’s job was to collect and distribute information to the audience. Technology means that readers can shape a discussion. We look forward to hearing from you on heraldscotland.com
Comments & Moderation
Readers’ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers’ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the ‘report this post’ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules hereComments are closed on this article