Part Six - The Halcyon Years
The appointment of former Rangers and Scotland internationalist Scot Symon as Manager in June 1947 signalled a huge turnaround in the club’s fortunes. The Division ‘B’ Championship was won with ease in season 1947/1948 along with the Fifers’ first League Cup win after Falkirk were beaten over two games at Hampden. The promise of further success and larger attendances at this time meant that further improvements were required at Bayview Park, and land to the north of the ground was purchased from Wemyss Estate to allow the main terracing to be re-constructed and extended. This additional land also allowed the playing surface to be widened by a yard. Permission was also granted during the summer of 1948 for the east terrace to be extended into the Aberhill School playground.
The following summer, concrete anti-tank blocks that had been placed strategically on Leven beach during the Second World War were transported to Methil and used to heighten the terracing at the west end of the ground.
It didn’t take the Methil Men long to establish themselves as a major force in the Scottish League. During their first season back in the top flight, following a winning run that included the club’s first ever win against Celtic, the team went to the top of the table before the end of the first half of the campaign. Alas, despite further impressive wins against some of the better sides, East Fife finished their first season back in the First Division in fourth place.
For almost a decade, East Fife were regarded as one of the top teams in Scottish football. The Methil men twice finished their league campaign in third place and were fourth on two occasions. One season in particular, season 1953/54, saw the Fifers lead the championship race for most of the season, only to be pipped at the post by Rangers. Despite maintaining a strong challenge for the title throughout most of their stay in the top flight, however, the Scottish League Championship flag never did fly above Bayview Park. Many blamed the failure to land the title on the fact that the Fifers made many energy sapping mid-week trips to England during the early to mid 50’s for glamour ‘floodlit friendlies’. Such was East Fife’s popularity at this time, they could attract huge crowds to places like Newcastle and Sunderland, not to mention ventures further south to places such as Gloucester and Bristol!
The Scottish Cup also eluded the club during the ‘halcyon years’, although the Fifers did reach the Final for the third time in 1950, when they lost 3-0 to Rangers at Hampden in front of almost 120,000 spectators.
There were, however, another two League Cup wins during this time, with the trophy brought back to Bayview following cup final wins against Dunfermline Athletic in season 1949/50 and against Partick Thistle in season 1953/54.
The club was also represented at full international level no fewer than thirteen times during the late 1940’s and early 1950’s. The first cap won by an East Fife player since Dan Liddle in the early 1930’s was Davie Duncan, who made a scoring debut for Scotland in their 2-0 win against Belgium at Hampden on 28 April 1948. Over the following month, Duncan won a further two caps for his country against Switzerland and France. Further international recognition was to follow over the next five years with George Aitken (against England, France, Wales, Northern Ireland and Switzerland), Henry Morris (Northern Ireland), Allan Brown (Switzerland, Portugal and France) and Charlie Fleming (Northern Ireland) all picked to represent their country at full international level.
Remarkably, four of the aforementioned players, Duncan, Morris, Brown and Fleming, all scored on their international debut! One of that number, Henry Morris, actually scored a hat-trick during his one and only game for his country, a World Cup qualifier against Northern Ireland in Belfast in October 1949. One little known fact concerning this match is that when Morris scored the first goal, he became the first British player to score in a World Cup match!
The Fifers also had players capped for the Scottish League side during the late 40’s and early 50’s, with Davie Duncan, Allan Brown, Jackie Stewart and Ian Gardiner all honoured at that level. In addition, Andy Matthew gained an ‘unofficial cap’ against the British Army in season 1953/54.
The departure of Scot Symon for Preston North End in the summer of 1954 marked the start of a general downturn in the Fifers’ fortunes and, despite the aforementioned League Cup success later that year, East Fife were transformed from championship contenders into relegation candidates.
Just a year later the club avoided relegation by just two points. Season 1955/56 saw a slight improvement, although the Fifers still languished in the bottom half of the table, but the following season the club were once again fortunate to avoid the drop. The writing was on the wall, however, and in April 1958, following a disastrous season which included the club’s record defeat of 9-0, East Fife were relegated to Division Two.
The Halcyon Years were over.
