A new fund-raising campaign called 'BuyThePars' has been launched in a bid to buy Dunfermline Athletic.
Assisted by Pars Supporters Trust and Supporters Direct Scotland, Pars United are looking to raise a minimum of £500,000 before the end of July to purchase the Fife club from administration, assuming a Creditors Voluntary Arrangement (CVA) can be reached, and put control in the hands of the supporters.
All capital raised will be held in secure trust accounts to allow the money to be repaid to those pledging support if a CVA is not successful.
Bob Garmory from Pars United, who is leading the initiative, said: "Our club has been through a traumatic period in recent months and throughout that time many fans realised there was a distinct possibility of there not being a Dunfermline Athletic as we know it.
"We now have a very real chance, through the 'BuyThePars' campaign, to take the club into community ownership.
"The club is of course still in a period of administration but we want to be ready and in pole position to buy the club from the club's administrators.
"We need to act now to be in a position to make an offer to buy the club as soon as the opportunity arises.
"We are acutely aware that Dunfermline Athletic fans have already been extremely generous and without question they saved the club from moving straight into liquidation.
"We are now moving into a new phase, from saving the Pars to buying the Pars, so we need everyone to make a final push and safeguard our club for the community and for new generations of Pars fans."
Paul Goodwin, head of Supporters Direct Scotland, said: "In recent months the resilience shown by Dunfermline fans to save their club has been fantastic.
"They are now moving into an exciting phase where they want to become the latest community owned football club in the UK.
"Fan and community ownership schemes are not unheard of with five in Scotland already and very recently down south we have seen Portsmouth becoming a fan owned club.
"Europe also has some very high profile clubs - such as Benfica, Borussia Dortmund and Barcelona - operating under this structure and there are many more clubs considering community ownership
"Supporters Direct Scotland has been working with the Pars Supporters Trust for some time now to help them develop its 'BuyThePars' campaign, a vehicle for its fans to buy into their club and hopefully now they can achieve their goal of owning the club they love."
Manager Jim Jefferies said: "The fans' backing for the club and the team in recent months has been nothing short of outstanding.
"Without them the club would not have survived and that is why I'm right behind their efforts to raise the money needed to buy the club and place it in the hands of the fans themselves."
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