East Fife boss John Robertson settled into life in the Methil hot-seat and immediately challenged his new players to haul themselves up the second division table.
The 46-year-old, handed the task of turning the Fifers’ fortunes around until the end of the season at least, hopes to repay the faith of the club’s board by bringing the good times back to Bayview.
Robertson’s return to management comes three years after leaving his post at Derry City and represents something of a fresh start for East Fife after previous boss Stevie Crawford’s resignation at the start of the week.
The former Hearts and Inverness Caley Thistle manager, who was approached by the board on Monday evening, reckons his experience and passion for the game can only benefit his new side and is determined to make a go of it during his stint on the Fife coast.
Prior to his first training session on Thursday night, Robertson told Courier Sport, “East Fife has always been a welcoming and hospitable club and the people behind the scenes have been fantastic, but we’ve got to try to not be as hospitable on the park.
“I know a lot of the squad and have worked with one or two before Robert Sloan obviously at Hearts, Stevie Hislop at Inverness and Livingston, and other lads like Mickey Deland from Hearts.
“You look at the quality of the players we’ve got available, the likes of Jonny Smart, Bobby Linn, Kurtis Byrne on loan from Hibs, and you can see the talent is there. What we need to do now is find a bit of confidence.
“They showed in the early part of the season they are a match for anybody in this league, but the table doesn’t lie.Belief”The simple statistics are that 21 goals for is fantastic, but 21 goals against is something we need to stop. I want the players to go out and believe they can win every match and the most important thing now is to get the players calmed down.
“It’s been a shock for everybody at the club this week and the players will have felt it the most. Football is a simple game and I want the players to play simple football, go and attack and express themselves.
“Repetition of technique, repetition of shape, repetition of good habits will eventually come through on a Saturday and that’s what I need to find out do they have the good habits, the concentration and more importantly the will and desire to be the very best they can be for themselves and East Fife.”
The Fifers sit third bottom of the table, just five points ahead of this weekend’s opponents Dumbarton. It was that situation which eventually prompted Crawford to step down on Monday, leaving the door open for Robertson to swiftly take charge on Tuesday.
Although his contract is only on a part-time basis until May, Robertson has no qualms about combining his day job in Inverness with his football work and was delighted to be offered the job.
“It’s nice to be asked to be the manager,” he admitted. “I got a phone call late on Monday evening and the board asked me if my situation had changed from last year. I spoke to them once Dave Baikie had left and at that time I had an ongoing thing with Derry so I thanked them kindly but couldn’t do anything back then.
“Obviously circumstances change, the questions I asked were answered very quickly and they gave me what their vision of the club was.
“I had a chat with my wife Sally and a few other people and decided to go for it, initially until the end of the season. There’s nothing sinister in that. It’s my first go at part-time management and obviously there’s the travel involved as well, but I’m down here two or three times a week anyway so I don’t see that as a major problem.
“Hopefully we can now get the players going in the right direction and keep the club going in the right direction. We need to match the club’s performances off the field with performances on the field.”