Chairman left humbled by fans’ response to fundraiser

Chairman Ross McArthur admits the response of the Dunfermline fans to the Support the Pars fundraiser is “very humbling”.

The East End Park faithful have already raised around half their £40,000 target after launching the scheme on Sunday.

McArthur has already confessed the SPFL shutdown as a result of the coronavirus pandemic has left the Championship outfit with “substantial financial challenges” in the face of a lack of income.

He was, however, reluctant to go cap in hand to the supporters, just seven years after the fans rallied to pull the club back from the brink after it was plunged into administration.

But with supporters’ clubs taking the initiative by banding together to offer help, McArthur is thrilled with the level of backing so far.

He said: “It’s going to be difficult for every football club.

“We’ve taken measures to try to reduce our costs as much as we can, but it’s really difficult because our last income stream was at the start of March when we played Queen of the South.

“And it’s not just the football, there’s the retail side, the hospitality, the private functions, all of which are income streams for us normally and all of them have gone.

“We’ve put in place an emergency plan already.

“We know the contingencies we’ve got to work out and we’ve got really good people on the board at the club, really experienced businesspeople.

“I’ve asked the fans to help out if they can but I feel as chairman I can only do that in terms of season tickets and our Centenary Club Lifeline.

“But it was really pleasing for me to see all the fans’ groups get together last week and set up this Support the Pars fund.

“I’m delighted by the response of the supporters. Only seven years ago we went through the experience of administration and everybody rallied behind the club then.

“We’re close to £20,000 within four days of its launch. That’s incredible and it’s very humbling to see what the club means to people.

“It’s fantastic. There are going to be challenges ahead but you just can’t get too far ahead of yourself.

“At the moment, we’re just planning month to month, doing what we can and we’ll see where it takes us.”