Dunfermline boss Jim Jefferies admits he has a difficult decision to make over whether or not to strip skipper Josh Falkingham of the captaincy ahead of Saturday’s derby with East Fife.
The midfielder has turned down the offer of a new contract with the Pars and as things stand looks set to leave for nothing in the summer, although Jefferies is still holding out some hope the playmaker will change his mind.
But with his captain refusing to commit himself to a longer deal at East End Park, Jefferies concedes he may have to hand the armband to someone else.
“I’ve told Josh that he is risking his position as captain of this football club,” he told Courier Sport.
“I can’t have other players out there who have committed their future to this club and wanting to drive us forward, while the captain may have his future elsewhere.
“He knows that and I am bringing it to his attention. That should not be the deciding factor regarding whether he stays or goes.
“But I’m only telling him that’s the position he puts us in because you need someone who is going to go out on that pitch knowing that they are going to be at Dunfermline next year, trying to get them up.
“I’ve said to all the players that the one thing they can rest assured of is that at the end of the season if it doesn’t work or they want to move on or a decent club comes in and they think they would like to go, I’d do a deal.
“The thing is, if they don’t then I can’t do a deal and they would just go automatically.
“I think Dunfermline deserve something back for their loyalty and to repay the fans who have kept this club afloat because we couldn’t have done it without them.
“We’re not talking hundreds of thousands of pounds we know the markets we work in and the division we’re in. We know what clubs can pay.
“I’m talking an amount that wouldn’t be I think out of the way for these boys which might go to helping me replace them or improve the side.
“We would just accept the fact that they want to be ambitious and want to play at a higher level. It’s all fairly basic straightforward stuff and you don’t have to be a Philadelphia lawyer to deal with it.
“That’s the message I’m trying to get across to them: that the fans have worked hard and if they see that someone is committed to helping the club get up rather than just walking away I think that would hold them in big esteem with the supporters.”
Contract talks are continuing with other players and Jefferies revealed that Andy Geggan has intimated a wish to stay, although negotiations will not take place until Monday at the earliest, while centre half Callum Morris has requested more time.
However, sources close to the club suggested Morris is minded to turn the offer down.
With the future of some players therefore still up in the air, Jefferies has warned them that the grass is not always greener.
“They are at a big club,” he stressed. “I’ve managed Kilmarnock this is as big a club as them, they are just in a bigger place at the moment.
“We had a bigger crowd than St Johnstone when they played Ross County, when we were playing Stranraer. We have the potential to go into the new Championship and attract twice as many people here. I’ve told all the boys they could become greats if they take the club back to where it belongs.”
Jefferies will be close by his phone all day as he tries to tie up two new unnamed signings before the transfer window closes tonight.
Former Hamilton striker Jon McShane has been training with the club and the 22-year-old is due to be confirmed as a Pars player today, with perhaps one or two more added before the deadline.