First name emerges in bid to buy Fife Flyers - former player reveals his vision for future

Former player Lee Mercer, who owns North London based team, Haringey Huskies, has confirmed his interest in buying his home town team following the announcement by directors Tom Muir and Jack Wishart that they were stepping down after 28 years at the helm.

Rumours continue to swirl about possible bidders, including at least one consortium, but no-one has put their head above the parapet - until now. Some sources also suggest a deal has been done with a yet to be named group of interested business parties, and the club has made no comment since announcing it was up for sale last month.

Mercer, 46, was part of the new group of young players who made their breakthrough under player-coach Mark Morrison as Flyers stepped into the newly formed Northern Premier League in 1996-97.

He had a season with Paisley Pirates in 1999-2000 before heading south and his association with Haringey stretched back to 2005.

He was a player and coach with Haringey Greyhounds, before buying the team in 2017 and re-naming it as the Huskies and continuing to play in the NIHLSouth 2 league, based out of the Alexandra Palace.

In a statement today on Twitter/X to UK Ice Hockey Podcast ‘4000 And Counting’ – which is by former player Nicky Watt - he confirmed his interest in running the club where his career started.

Mercer said: “While I cannot go into too much detail due to various factors - mainly out of respect for the Flyers’ organisation and the on-going process -I can confirm that I am an interested party. I have expressed both my interest and my vision for the club’s future.” Being an ex-Flyer and already having the Huskies, I felt it was only right to put myself forward and try to help bring the glory days back.”

Mercer’s vision sees Flyers swapping the top flight, import saturated EIHL for the NIHL where there are more home grown players.

“As part of that vision I have emphasised the importance of working with the National League if I were to take the helm at Fife Flyers,” he said. “I strongly believe that Fife’s young talent, along with Scottish players as a whole, should be at the forefront of the club’s development.

“The National league provides a great balance, offering opportunities for British youngsters to develop while still allowing non-British trained players to contribute to the roster.” One of the biggest barriers to Flyers dropping into the NIHL is geography - other than Solway Sharks, the league is made up of English team, and it is not known how they would take to factoring in the expense of long road trips to Kirkcaldy. Any new owner at Flyers would only have a limited time to hammer out a deal - they also have the option of staying in the EIHL which has also deferred its franchise for two seasons, leaving the door open should more time be needed to decide on any next steps.

But Mercer stressed the goal going forward has to be to revive the club after several poor seasons post lockdown.

He said: “As a fantastic hockey community in Fife we need to get behind whoever takes over, but we also must ensure we bring success back to Kirkcaldy while producing the next John Haig, Steven King, Gordon Latto - the list is endless.”