Rosyth Rec were 48 hours from disaster
0 - 0 • Published 27 Mar 2008 11:00
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ROSYTH Recreation were 48 hours from going to the wall until a group of local businessmen stumped up the cash to keep them in business.
Bottom of the league and with two sponsors pulling out, the junior outfit were on the brink but now have a future and a new management team in place.
Paul Mooney, who will take over immediately, and John Lumsden have stepped up from amateur side Rosyth Civil Service but there was almost no team to manage.
Chairman Iain Gardner admitted, 'A decision was looming on whether we could survive or not and, personally, I was two days away from putting down the proposal that we dissolve the club.
'The consortium has saved the club and it"s a massive weight off my mind.
'I got into this as a hobby but myself and other members of the committee had to look at an executive decision as any debts liable to the club would have fallen to us as office bearers.'
The consortium led by Ewan Cameron, of Cameron Harris Design and Build Ltd, will take over the running of the club and has already given Rosyth a shot in the arm.
Mr Gardner said their business acumen and the cash would be a huge benefit and he added, 'Money doesn"t buy success in football but, by God, it helps!'
Rosyth also need success on the pitch as they"re now rooted to the bottom of the Whyte and Mackay East Region Premier League.
The chairman said, 'Both Paul and John have enough experience and football history and this was the next obvious move as they"re at the top of the tree in amateur football.
'They won"t work miracles overnight and we may go down but if that happens we"ll expect to come straight back up. We won"t resign ourselves to that until it happens but we"re sure we"ve got the right guys in the job.'
He said the club still needs help from the business community as they plan for a secure future on and off the pitch.
Mr Gardner said he wanted the club to be at the heart of the community with local schools getting involved and the possibility of a youth structure from under-nines to under-21s.
He added, 'We want to upgrade the dressing rooms and hospitality facilities, try and build the support and sponsorship and eventually try to sell the club back to the community. It would be a community-owned entity but that could be five to 10 years away.'
Rosyth"s fortunes on the pitch looked positive too as they took the lead twice at Penicuik with Craig Morrison"s penalty and a Dean Ogg strike but eventually lost out 3-2.
Oakley United are also in relegation bother in the Whyte and Mackay East Region Super League after the Fife derby ended with revenge for Kelty Hearts.
After losing 1-0 to Oakley last month, Kelty turned the tables with a 3-0 home win with Graham Findlay, Iain Mauchlen and John Martin the scorers.
The result leaves Oakley at the bottom of the table, three points behind their nearest rivals.
In the Whyte and Mackay East Region Central League, Crossgates lost 1-0 at home to St Andrews while Steelend went down 4-1 at Scone Thistle.
Saturday"s fixtures: East of Scotland Cup second round - Kelty Hearts v Newtongrange Star, Lochee United v Rosyth Recreation, St Andrews United v Oakley United.
This article appeared in Dunfermline Press 27 Mar 08
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