Fife Flyers: new director added to company taking over Kirkcaldy ice hockey club

Max Birbraer, who iced with Cardiff Devils across six seasons, is now listed as the sole director.

His name has been widely touted for weeks as the new owner - or a key figure within the organisation – which will run the club next season following the retirement of Tom Muir and Jack Wishart after 28 years at the helm.

No official statements have been made by any parties since the current owners confirmed they’d reached an agreement in principle to take the club on. That was at the start of April, and fans have been anxious ever since to hear who is in charge, and their plans for the 2025-26 season.

The updating of the records at Companies House for the newly created Fife Flyers 2025 Ltd would suggest that news may be inching closer.

Birbraer was appointed a director on April 24 - the same date that Thomas Dyer terminated his directorship 12 days after being listed on the documentation. It’s understood his role was to get the company set up, and effectively make the formal separation from the previous Fife Flyers Ltd run by Mr Muir and Mr Wishart.

With that legal process moving forward, fans are hopeful of hearing news about the road ahead for the club after a disastrous 2024-25 season saw them finish bottom of the league with just five wins in 54 league starts.

It has yet to be formally announced Flyers are staying in the Elite League, but the statement announcing a deal in principle alluded to the retiring directors finding “new owners/operators who they could pass the baton on to and who would take the team forward in the EIHL” – a clear indication of the direction of travel.

The club retained its EIHL franchise with the option of deferring it and sitting out the forthcoming season, returning in 2026-27, but that seems highly unlikely given the emergence of new owners and the transfer of the team name and assets.

Birbraer, and any other directors yet to be unveiled, will start, effectively, with a clean slate, and key appointments will include a new head coach and general manager - and a quick assessment of an imports they may want to retain from last season as well as any marquee signings to re-ignite the sport in the region.

Forty-four year old Birbraer’s career took in spells with Telford Tigers, Swindon Wildcats and Bristol Pitbulls in the NIHL, before switching to Cardiff Canucks in lower league, NIHL2