East Fife have been forced to shelve plans to rip up the grass pitch at Bayview and replace it with an artificial surface for the time being.
Although the playing surface in Methil is well-renowned as being one of the better ones in the lower leagues, the club has long harboured ambitions to harness more revenue by installing an astroturf pitch which could also be used by the wider community.
However, Courier Sport has learned that club directors have been left disappointed after it emerged that Fife Council are unlikely to help fund the £300,000-plus scheme.
A designated group was set up to look into the issue and the council has been looking to invest in such a facility, although it is now thought that the local authority has earmarked sites away from the Levenmouth area for such a project.
Club directors, who are in the midst of a takeover bid at Bayview, have been told this week that the likelihood of the Methil club benefiting from any funding for a plastic pitch is now “fairly slim”.
Allan Duthie, from the East Fife Supporters Society, confirmed that work on the pitch plan is no further forward than where it was three years ago.
“It’s long, slow heavy work and there seems to be wheels upon wheels involved in it,” he said.
“The current situation is that if this group doesn’t have a viable proposition into the council within the next couple of months then certainly this group will fail in any bid that they are going to put forward.
“Partly because of doubts about the viability of the club, and partly because there seems to be an awful lot of people behind the scenes that we don’t see or hear from.”
Chairman Jim Stevenson expressed disappointment at the news but remains keen to explore any viable means of installing a synthetic surface at Bayview.
“From our point of view, hopefully the issue will never go away,” he said.
“We’ve been chasing this for over 12 years and we’ve investigated every avenue.
“There has been work going on and genuinely we would always want an astro pitch, especially for this area and the community.
“We were still hoping that there would be consideration given to it.
“There’s been a lot of hard work done over the years and it’s very difficult to get funding from the council, especially in this area.”
Even if any plastic pitch is not installed at Bayview, club officials hope to investigate the possibility of securing priority use for first team training, youth academies and the East Fife Ladies set-up if and when any project comes to fruition.