East Fife boss Stevie Crawford confident Alan Trouten will make his mark

Trouten has been a standout in the lower leagues for some years now, the 36-year-old playing over 500 senior games and scoring over 175 goals.

Most recently with Alloa Athletic, he became the Fife manager’s third signing of the summer, joining Allan Fleming and Scott Shepherd at the club.

Crawford believes his influence will be felt at East Fife both on the park and off it, saying: “He’s a boy who just loves his football.

"He said to me that a big thing about where he wanted to play his football next season is that he wants to enjoy it.

"That’s refreshing because he’s not getting any younger and sometimes when I’m speaking to players it comes down more to the financial side of things, which I totally respect.

"I spoke to Alan more about football.

"I admire the way he plays, I think he has goals in him, plays the game on the half turn and, equally, is good out of possession as well.

"He’s also a player the younger ones can look up to as well.

"But he wants to win games of football and didn't hide that fact that, wherever he went, it was to win games.

"It works for both parties.”

Crawford’s business in the transfer market is far from complete but there’s certainly a strong nucleus of a squad developing at Bayview.

The manager says it’s now about completing that jigsaw ahead of the big kick-off, which he’s likely to do with a few more permanent signings as well as loan deals.

"Since I’ve come in to the job I’ve been looking at what’s out there,” he added.

"A difficulty last season coming in to the job was that the focus was on staying in the league and I couldn’t take my eye off the ball and say ‘can we recruit for League One or recruit for League Two’.

"It’s been full on for myself, Paul (Thomson, coach) and Greig (McDonald, assistant) with a lot of conversations had with players and trying to work out if it’s right for both parties.

"The loan market is something I’ve build up a good relationship with in the game but, equally, I want signings for East Fife so it’s about getting the balance right.”