After numerous delays, an appeal by East Fife against a guilty verdict of racial abuse by midfielder Kevin Fotheringham is set to be heard on Wednesday.
EAST Fife chief executive Sid Collumbine and club lawyers are due at Hampden tomorrow (Wednesday) to appeal over the misconduct ruling against Kevin Fotheringham.
And the Bayview vice-chairman has warned legal action by the club could follow if th
e player is not acquitted.
Midfielder Fotheringham was found guilty by a Scottish FA disciplinary committee in January of making racist comments against Stranraer player Gregory Tade when the clubs met at Bayview in the opening game of 2008.
Fotheringham (32) was hit with an eight-match ban, which he will have to serve if the appeal fails.
However, while the player himself has strongly denied making racist remarks, the club has also backed him publicly during a protracted wait for the appeal, which was first arranged for the end of February but has been postponed several times.
Mr Collumbine believed the SFA had been "playing for time" to try and find legal loopholes in East Fife's case and it now appeared they had "changed tactics".
As the East Fife Mail went to press, he was due to have another talk with the club's lawyers, as it seemed the SFA might contest the appeal from more of a legal standpoint.
Mr Collumbine said the club was still "reasonably confident" of appealing successfully – and insisted a bigger club would not have been targeted in this way.
Fotheringham was `convicted' of misconduct of a sectarian, racist, sexual or other discriminatory nature stemming from an incident in the Bayview tunnel after the January 2 game, in which he was alleged to have shouted a racially abusive remark towards Tade.
Both East Fife and the SFA are likely to be represented by QCs and the Methil club have already racked up a legal bill of around £10,000 in fighting the case.
But Mr Collumbine said Fotheringham was determined to clear his name and he still believed the player had suffered "rough justice" at the original hearing.
Had the Fifers' concerns over the case been dealt with properly, he added, a guilty verdict would never have been returned.
Mr Collumbine said if the appeal was not upheld, the club would contemplate legal action.
"It would never have come to this if it was Celtic or Rangers, or another of the bigger clubs," said Mr Collumbine.
"Because small clubs are involved, the SFA wants to show it is strong against racism, and I have no objection to that – but all I want is fair play."
Mr Collumbine said the club had told the SFA it would not accept any more delays over the appeal – which is set for 7pm – and it was disappointing the organisation could not find a daytime slot for it within a five-day schedule.
Fotheringham scored seven goals for East Fife during their promotion-winning season – one came in a match just three days after the Tade controversy engulfed him, while in April he netted the last goal of a memorable campaign.
