Gregor Buchanan says personally thanking Dunfermline’s suffering fans was the least the players could do after a miserable season.
The 25-year-old defender joined his Pars team-mates in shaking hands with a number of the travelling support after Saturday’s final-day defeat at New Broomfield.
A last-minute winner from Bob McHugh earned Airdrieonians victory and ensured the Fifers finished the campaign a disappointing seventh in League One.
Buchanan admits it has been poor stuff from the managerless Pars, but insisted the squad wanted to show their gratitude to the fans for standing by them through difficult times.
He said: “It must have been a hard season for them, and they will be as down as the players are. It’s disappointing.
“I think when you have a season like that, and the fans stick by you in numbers every week, it’s the least we could have done.
“A lot of people have paid a lot of money to watch the team home and away, and thanking them like that was the way we decided to do it.
“As a Dunfermline player, we know this season has not been good enough. We wanted to win the league but didn’t.
“The next best thing was to make sure we were in the play-off places and the fact that we’re not, for a team like Dunfermline, is totally not acceptable.
“Everybody knows it is not good enough. We will need to kick on next year, and for whoever is in charge it is a big job. We need to get this club back to where it should be.”
Dunfermline took the lead when Andy Geggan converted a Finn Graham cross, but Jordan Morton headed the hosts level just before the break.
McHugh put Airdrie ahead within two minutes of the restart before Josh Falkingham equalised, but the on-loan Motherwell striker popped-up to win it at the end.
Former Diamonds defender Buchanan reckons this dead rubber best described Dunfermline’s campaign.
He added: “That game probably summed up the full season we have played well but been punished when other teams have a good spell, and that was the case again here.”
Pars caretaker manager John Potter will now return to his head coach position, with the board in the process of appointing a new boss.
He said: “The place needs freshened up, and that will happen in the summer.”