Dunfermline chairman John Yorkston has formally unveiled the man charged with masterminding his club’s great escape from relegation and insisted ”Jim’ll fix it”.
Former Hearts and Kilmarnock boss Jim Jefferies has taken over in the East End Park hotseat from the sacked Jim McIntyre on a 15-month rolling contract.
The Pars are rooted to the foot of the SPL table, four points behind second bottom Hibs and when asked if he felt the new man could put things right with just eight games left, Yorkston replied: ”We are hoping Jim will be able to fix it. He knows that the priority is to keep us up and hopefully we can get off to a good start on Saturday against St Mirren.
”We are looking for Jim to make an impact as he is a highly-respected manager in this league. We know it will be difficult to stay up. If Jim does it, great; if he doesn’t, then he has time to reshape us and get us in a better position the following season.”
Jefferies, who has been out of work since being sacked by Hearts at the start of August, admitted that while delighted to take up his new post he would have liked to have had more than the remaining fixtures to salvage Dunfermline’s season.
However, if he needs any inspiration he need look no further than the legendary Jock Stein who took over at Dunfermline in 1960 when they hadn’t won in 15 games and were heading for the drop with six matches to go. They won them all and stayed up.
Jefferies said: ”I said to the players when I met them this morning that you’d like to come in with a better opportunity. I look at Steve Lomas and even Stuart McCall when they first went to their clubs they were in the top half of the table following on from successful managers who had moved away and that’s always a nice situation.
”I have come into a different situation where we are running out of games, although I must stress there are still enough to give ourselves a chance. That’s football though and I have accepted the opportunity. I wouldn’t have taken it if I didn’t think we had a chance.”
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”There has to be a quick fix but it can’t be done with a turnaround of players. It has to be the same players as the transfer window sees to that.
”The players here have done well in a lot of games, but there have been crazy moments where you can look back and say how did they lose that goal or that one?
”They have certainly been good to watch at times and I don’t think I’ve heard anyone say they don’t want to work or put a shift in. They are struggling because they are making mistakes, and in the SPL you will be punished.
”It could all change though with just one winning result as there is no point not winning if the other teams slip up as well. If it goes your way, then it is a whole new ball game with seven games to go.”
Jefferies was initially offered a short-term contract to take charge at Dunfermline until the end of the season but wanted a longer deal, something which the board of directors have granted him.
He said: For a while, if anybody had offered me a position I would probably have turned it down. It was nice to have the wee break and not wake up thinking ‘I have to do this and sort that’ but I think when you’ve been in football it’s in your blood and you have that competitive edge to do well.
”This could be a big club. We have a big stadium and the fans will come out when we are doing well. The challenge was there and, dare I say it, I look at this as maybe my last job…Maybe when I’m finished my management career, I could go somewhere as a director of football or chief scout of a big club, to keep actively involved in the game, but in terms of managing a football team, this will be it. But the club have been very, very good in offering me the rolling contract that keeps everything open for the future.”
Jefferies, who admitted one of his first priorities will be bringing in an experienced goalkeeper to work alongside Chris Smith, also took time to praise the contribution of his predecessor McIntyre.
He added: ”I’ve met Jim a few times and you couldn’t meet a nicer guy. He did a fantastic job getting Dunfermline into the Premier League, but he found out just how tough it can be at that level.
”He had very bad luck with injuries but we’re in a results business. The timing of his departure surprised even me though. He’ll get another job and, even if we stay up, Jim will have played his part in that.”
Photo by Kirk O’Rourke/PA Wire