Administration would have a dispiriting and demoralising effect on a lot of people, but Jim Jefferies is not one of them.
He felt the pain of staff and players at Dunfermline Athletic who had wages paid late for month after month, with some of them ultimately losing their jobs but from that despair, a crop of exciting young footballers at East End Park has emerged.
That is what has re-energised the veteran manager for what lies ahead for the Fife club.
Jefferies will sign a new contract in the near future now the ownership of the Pars has been formally concluded, and it might be a long one.
He said: “When I was asked to stay on, it was the way that the Dunfermline fans have taken to appreciating what we’ve done here and they have enjoyed the young boys coming through.
“I’ve got a fantastic rapport with them. That meant a lot to me and it’s one of the reasons I stayed. I got fans coming up to me saying, ‘you’ve got to stay, you’ve got to stay’.
“The major reason I stayed is because I brought all these young boys into the club, and then some of the young boys we’ve brought through.
“We had a 15-year-old laddie in goals for the under-20s the other night, and some of them will soon be knocking on the door.
“The players have made it easy because they’re great to work with, and you get the enjoyment side from seeing these boys. I’ve definitely been galvanised by everything that has happened. ”
He added: “They asked me that (about a new contract) months ago and I said it was best to get control of the club first. When they got the preferred bidder status they asked me and the answer was ‘yes’. I said, ‘if you get in then I’ll definitely stay’.
“You don’t expect to get, in this division, a fantastic contract. I’m certainly not getting £800,000-odd. It was not about that, I enjoy being at the club and seeing what pathway they wanted to go through.
“I would not like to have done it and then it all collapsed at the last minute and then someone else came in. That’s on the agenda now to get it all sorted out for me and my staff.
“There are players I want to identify as well, the players were on months to months and that was a problem. We maybe need to sit down and identify for longer term.
“They (the board) might try to help me in the transfer window.
“A couple of experienced boys would be good, I don’t mean 35, 36. I said to them if it’s not possible and the money is needed for other things I would rather the club stayed afloat because we have enough to be in there challenging.”
Jefferies revealed he also plans to prepare the ground for a young successor.
He said: “I thought the emphasis would be on a year’s contract but we might sit down and consider a couple of years and then a stage when we’re trying to groom John (Potter) and Neil (McCann). Not so much Neil, Neil wants to continue on the coaching side and helping out because he has his Sky work and that’s a big thing for him.
“John Potter has done a fantastic job with the young boys and he knows them all and everything, just him picking up things.
“Maybe there will become a day when I eventually get to retire and enjoy a few years. I can’t get to retire because people keep offering me jobs.”
Dunfermline are a big club in League One, but not the biggest. Not with 100% Rangers for company. Jefferies has not raised the white flag as far as the title is concerned, though.
He insisted: “If we’re not pushing Rangers hard for the title, we have to be in the play-off situation.
“We should not be in League One, it was outwith the playing side’s fault that we’re in it. We were flying and challenging and then we found ourself in the play-offs.
“We have to try and get close to Rangers, you’re going to get set backs along the way but Rangers are strong and they’ve not dropped a point, they’re everyone’s favourites and rightly so.
“If we play to our best we can make it very difficult for Rangers but if we don’t, we have to be in the best position to get up.”