Keeping faith with a squad that came up well short last season was the key to securing the First Division title for Dunfermline this time around, according to Pars boss Jim McIntyre.
They may have finished 15 points adrift of champions Inverness Caley Thistle 12 months ago, but the East End Park manager resisted any temptation there may have been to overhaul his playing squad drastically.
The rewards were reaped in Greenock on Saturday when a 2-0 win over Morton clinched promotion back to the SPL, and rookie boss McIntyre was filled with pride at his team’s achievement.
He said yesterday, “I felt we should have mounted a better challenge last season but our consistency levels let us down.
“We spoke about it in pre-season and I didn’t make wholesale changes because I believed in them.
“I felt I could get that extra 10 or 15% out of them that would enable us to put together a better challenge and that has proved to be a good decision.
“You’re only as good as your players. You can say what you like about systems and shape but it’s them who win matches.”
McIntyre also believes there’s a moral to the Dunfermline story that boardrooms across Scotland could take heed of.
He explained, “This is maybe a sign to chairmen that chopping and changing your manager isn’t the best way to go if you’re trying to build something.
“I’m only on the bottom rung of the ladder as a manager and I know I’ve been lucky.
“I was lucky to get the opportunity in the first place.
“I was the most experienced pro at the club with coaching badges who could take over as caretaker and that’s the reason I got a start.
“From there we went on a six-game unbeaten run and I was offered the job.”
It was fitting that it was against Morton that Dunfermline’s return to the top flight was achieved, as McIntyre believes a crushing home defeat to Allan Moore’s men a few weeks ago proved to be a pivotal moment in the campaign.
He pointed out, “We gifted three goals that day and it would have been easy for people to get on our case at that point.
“But I got the right reaction from the lads, we won in stoppage time against Ross County, and we haven’t lost a game since then.”Click here for a full match report and here for a photo gallery.