ATHLETIC'S fans have been urged not to become complacent when it comes to providing financial and other assistance to the club.

Ross McArthur insists that continuing to contribute cash through the Centenary Club Lifeline, and offering skills and time on a voluntary basis, is vital to ensuring that the external investment announced last week will allow the Pars to move forward.

Hamburg-based investors Thomas Meggle, Damir Keretic, Nick Teller and Dr Albrecht Gundermann – through the 'DAFC Fussball GmbH' group – have bought a 30 per cent stake in Dunfermline's shareholding, which could rise to 75.1 per cent by May 2022.

If they choose to do so, they will then have the option to purchase the company which owns East End Park by May 2024, and McArthur has described them as a "very impressive group of people".

While he told Press Sport that "you pinch yourself that we've managed to land them as an investor in Dunfermline Athletic", the Pars chairman was quick to emphasise that the quartet's involvement will not result in a large chequebook being opened for new additions.

The creation of a youth academy and securing a permanent training base for the club, who are training at Alloa Athletic's Indodrill Stadium this season, are part of the investment but McArthur explained that the revenue generated by supporters since the club exited administration seven years ago must continue.

The relaunched Centenary Club Lifeline initiative has donated more than £1.3 million to the coffers, while contributions from the 1885 Business Club, the DASC Shop, Pars Supporters Trust and a number of other fan-led fundraisers, as well as volunteering from supporters, has helped greatly with costs.

That is not lost on McArthur, who revealed that the club lost £600,000 two seasons ago when the club finished seventh in the Championship, and explained: "What we've got is that everybody's done tremendously well to get us to this point but we need everything to be maintained in terms of the volunteering and the contributions we get from the Centenary Club.

"With external investment coming in, that gives us another layer on top.

"There's no point us bringing in external investment and everybody thinks: 'Ah well, we don't need to do this any more, I don't need to do that', and then that just gets eroded.

"The education piece is getting everybody to understand that we all have to keep working together to drive the club forward collectively. So, because there wasn't an appetite within the existing shareholders (to put more money into the club), the board took the decision we need to look for external funding.

"We've got to make sure that people don't become complacent and think that they don't need to keep contributing to the Centenary Club, they don't need to do this, they don't need to do that. Yes, everybody does. If that's the view people take, it just erodes the capital.

"We need to use this extra investment to push on and add another layer to the cake to allow us to get the club back to where we think it should be."