Published: Thursday, 20th November, 2008 17:30
Dunfermline Athletic announce five new directors
By Simon Harris
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FIVE new directors have joined the board at East End Park, the Pars announced on Wednesday.
Chairman John Yorkston refused to go into how much the five had invested but admitted their arrival was a “boost”, describing them as “the future of the club”.
Former Cowdenbeath owner and chairman Gordon McDougall is a surprise new board member, while the other four are Steve Curtis, who runs Steve Curtis Cars Ltd from its Dalgety Bay headquarters, Ian Jones, chairman of Rosyth-based KDM Shopfitting & Joinery Ltd, Craig McWhirter, MD of software development company Bitwise, based at the Carnegie Campus in Dunfermline, and Karen Masterton, the club’s commercial manager.
The injection of fresh faces around the boardroom table swells board numbers to 12 directors plus chairman Yorkston and he suggested there was still room for more.
“We want to get things right off the field,” Yorkston told Press Sport.
“We’ve done a lot of good things up to now but we want to make it better.
“They’ve all got various areas they want to get involved in and they’re all enthusiastic about getting involved.
“We’re enhancing the size and knowledge of the board and also, in four of their cases, the age of the board.
“The present board tend to all be in their fifties and sixties and four of them – I’m sure Gordon won’t mind me excluding him – will greatly reduce the age of the board.
“These people will be the future of the club.”
McDougall is a surprise appointment given his 19-year association with Cowdenbeath, which began in 1989.
A former champion stock car racing driver, he bought the Blue Brazil and developed Central Park as a stock car venue before selling the club in 2007.
He remained for a further 12 months before finally parting company with the club in June.
“I have known Gordon for years and when he told me he was selling Cowdenbeath, I thought his experience and organisation would be invaluable and I asked him to come on board,” Yorkston said.
“He has a lot to bring to the club with his knowledge, experience and expertise and he can run a club on a shoestring.
“He is very committed personally to youth development and while he was there, Cowdenbeath were one of very few lower division teams to get full youth status.
“He wanted to get involved in the youth side and help us get it where we want it to be.
“He has a big passion for youth development and we want people with passion for the kids and passion for the Pars.”
Although not a Pars fan – “he is now,” Yorkston quipped – McDougall is “a football fan” according to the chairman, who confirmed the other new directors were all Pars fans.
He said, “It’s a boost. We have 12 now and I’m not ruling out further additions.
“As long as we get the right people with the right desire. We don’t want folk just to sit on the board for its own sake.
“We want folk who can get their teeth into areas and be responsible for areas.”
McWhirter accompanied director of football Jim Leishman to Hampden Park for recent hearings following the Pars’ demotion and subsequent re-entry into the SFA’s elite level of youth football and is likely to help out with the administration side of the Pars’ youth set-up.
On promoting Masterton to board level, Yorkston said, “She’s done a good job on the commercial side. It’s all been revamped and it’s started to show good profits.
“It’s appropriate we have someone reporting directly to the board on commercial activities.”
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Pars boss gets go-ahead to strengthen for title push