Looking back on 25 years supporting East Fife

‘There used to be a powerstation over there: 25 years of following East Fife’ was released recently by the former Kirkland High pupil who had the idea to write it on the back of a nostalgic Tweet put out by the Methil club.

The social media post was in reference to a game 25 years ago, which happened to be the first Liam attended, and the anniversary kick started a process of reflection on the two and a half decades which had passed following the black and gold.

“It was on October 2, 2018 when I first had the initial idea to write the book,” explained Liam.

“There was a Tweet on the official club Twitter page which recalled that, 25 years previously, East Fife had beaten Forfar Athletic 3-2 at Bayview.

“This was the first East Fife match that I had ever went to. I had therefore stumbled across the fact that it was actually the 25th anniversary of me being an East Fife supporter.

“Naturally I started to reflect on various matches, players and experiences over the years and it was at this point that I wondered whether it might be an idea to put pen to paper.”

Writing was something that came naturally to Liam, who had contributed articles down the years for the East Fife match day programme.

But this was something quite a bit more substantial and he decided the best way to tackle it would be to chronicle the last 25 years by putting together a chapter on each, starting in 1992/93 up until the present day.

Following the Methil men has been a passion of Liam’s since the early 90s, his fires stoked for the weekend thanks to the coverage in his local paper.

“Every week my family used to buy the East Fife Mail,” he said.

“Every Tuesday it went on sale.

“It was always dated for the Wednesday but was available in the shops around 4pm the day before.

“On Tuesday afternoon it was a common sight around the area to see small queues of people eagerly waiting outside the local shop for the newspaper to be delivered.

“As a kid I started to read it and started to become interested in East Fife after reading about how they were doing on the back page.

“I soon wanted to go and see them and it was my grandad Fred who took me to my first match, as my dad worked most Saturdays.

“He was an Aberdonian who came down to Methil to work in the Wellesley Colliery.”

There have been highs, and lows, down the past couple of decades.

Following East Fife is rarely dull, and a couple of results stick out for Liam, now of Glenrothes.

“Undoubtedly the best result of the last 25 years was the victory over Aberdeen in the League Cup at Pittodrie in September 2011,” he said.

“Nobody gave East Fife a chance and they had suffered a 6-0 hammering by the Dons only nine months previously in the Scottish Cup.

“The 2007-08 campaign was incredibly special. East Fife were outstanding and were the first team in Britain that season to win a league trophy, when they were crowned champions in the middle of March.”

The book is already gathering rave reviews online, and there are plans in place for something of a follow up along with the voice of East Fife TV, Steven Mill.

To get your hands on a copy of Liam’s book, visit Amazon and search for the title.