A CALL has been made for an investigation into events which led to the demise of a West Fife Football Club.

Last month, Rosyth FC announced it had been forced to fold last month following a long-running saga which saw it turfed out of its previous home, Recreation Park, in 2018 to make way for a new Lidl store.

Hopes had been high that a new home had been found at the Pitreavie Playing fields however this fell through following the supermarket's decision to pull out of their plans to come to the town.

Announcing the news, Rosyth chairman, Russell Craig said they were "absolutely devastated". He has now called for a probe into the issue surrounding the team's collapse.

"As Chairman of the Football Club I have been involved in all the dealings throughout the process and the ultimate demise of the football club," he said.

READ MORE: Lidl withdrawal 'impacted club's agreement for new home'

"The decision to fold was certainly not an easy decision and was certainly not one that was taken lightly."

Mr Craig said they were left with two options after the Lidl deal fell through.

The first would be to agree to new terms of conditions with Pitreavie which he said "no club at this level could realistically afford" or continue as a football club with no football park.

Following news of the club's collapse, Fife Council leader David Ross told the Press they were unhappy how the situation had turned out.

"We had been in discussions with Rosyth FC and there was an offer on the table for the money," he said.

"Looking back on the history of it, we had been looking to get something back from the sale to Lidl and that money was going to go towards improving facilities or alternative facilities for Rosyth.

"When that development fell through, we continued to offer that funding, which we'd find in some other shape or form, but unexpectedly the club rejected that.

"I don't know why and they said they were going to fold. Whether there's something else going on, I don't know. I wasn't directly involved with the discussions.

"But Fife Council was prepared to live up to what we promised before in terms of supporting the football club. We would have got the ground sold or developed for housing and got income from that.

"We were prepared to give that money up front and get it back at a later stage. I'm not sure why the club didn't want that."

However Mr Craig refuted the suggestion that they would have received funding from the sale of the land.

"I was left in no uncertain times this was not the case," he said. "Similarly, to suggest there may have been something wrong behind the scenes at the football club which led to us making the decisions is a deflection to allow Fife Council to get away with their behaviour.

READ MORE: Rosyth FC announces decision to cease operations

"At the last minute, the football club was offered £10,000 financial support over a four year period. This was the only financial support we were offered.

"I was also told there was absolutely no other funding available.

"The behaviour of Fife Council throughout this whole situation has been unbelievable and for anyone to suggest they tried their best to support the Football Club is not true.

"I would request consideration be given that a full investigation/public enquiry is carried out in relation to the involvement of all individuals as there are certainly questions that need to be asked."

Fife Council's head of property services, Alan Paul, said it was "really disappointing" that Rosyth FC decided to fold, saying  the council had worked hard to support the club with a move to new facilities.

“Since Lidl took the decision in December to withdraw from longstanding proposals to purchase land at Admiralty Road Rosyth, we supported discussions between Rosyth FC and the operator of the sport facilities at Pitreavie," he said.

“While the council had no planning or legal obligation to rehome the club, we did our best to help them through this process.

“We offered financial support which would have allowed Rosyth FC to take advantage of significantly discounted hire charges at Pitreavie as well financial support to help with the transition.

“The discount would have enabled the Club to play in the newly constructed fully league compliant facility at a reduced cost, for a minimum of four years.

“We will continue to work with local stakeholders to mitigate the impact of the club's decision and to support the development of sports provision for Rosyth and surrounding communities."