Jim Jefferies draws on Jock Stein spirit in bid to save Dunfermline

EVEN now, almost half a century after he left the club, Jock Stein remains a reference point and source of inspiration for every Dunfermline Athletic manager.

As Jim Jefferies settled into his new surroundings yesterday for what many consider the highly improbable task of keeping the East End Park club in the SPL over the remaining eight games of the season, he paused to reflect on the remarkable salvage mission successfully undertaken by Stein in not dissimilar circumstances.

It was in March 1960, following Andy Dickson’s resignation, that Dunfermline turned to then Celtic reserve team coach Stein in a time of crisis. With six games of the campaign left, they were in the relegation zone of the old 18-club First Division, three points adrift of safety in the days of just two points for a win, and were without a victory in their previous 15 fixtures.

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Starting with a 3-2 home win over Celtic, Stein guided Dunfermline to a club record sequence of six consecutive victories to ensure top flight survival and kick-start the most successful period in their history.

“Jock did it when they were in big trouble,” said Jefferies, who also recalled director of football Jim Leishman’s return from the boardroom to the dugout in 2005 following Davie Hay’s dismissal when Dunfermline were bottom of the SPL with three games left.

On that occasion, they won the first two of those games to ensure their safety. So in relative terms at least, Jefferies has greater leeway as he bids to overturn the four-point gap currently separating Dunfermline from second-bottom Hibernian in this season’s relegation dogfight. “It’s not ideal in the sense that you would like to come into a club with a better opportunity,” he said. “For example, Stuart McCall and Steve Lomas joined Motherwell and St Johnstone when they were in the top half of the table which is always a nice situation.

“I’ve come into something different, where we are running out of games. But I must stress there are still enough games and points available to give ourselves a chance. I wouldn’t have taken this job if I didn’t think we had a chance of staying up.

“I asked the players this morning at my first meeting with them that if anyone thinks we can’t stay up, they better tell me now because there’s no point going on. But they all nodded in agreement that they are up for it. They are still determined to give it their best shot, so we will just have to make sure that they are organised and give them the belief that they can do it. If we can win at home to St Mirren on Saturday, it could make a huge difference. It is suddenly a whole new ball game with seven games to go.

“Everybody is saying it is just between Hibs and Dunfermline but, if we could put a couple of wins back to back and teams above start to falter, they could then face the pressure. Football changes very quickly and I bet some of their managers are already saying they aren’t safe yet and they have to get a win.”

Jefferies has signed an initial 15-month contract, keeping him at the club next season irrespective of what division they are in, and will then revert to a rolling 12-month deal. Gerry McCabe remains at the club as his assistant, having carried out the role for Jefferies’ predecessor Jim McIntyre, who was sacked last Friday.

It means that, for the first time in his long managerial career, the 61-year-old will not be assisted by his closest footballing friend and ally Billy Brown. Instead, he could become responsible for Brown suffering relegation with Hibs where he is now No 2 to Pat Fenlon.

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“Football does tend to throw these things up,” said Jefferies, “but Billy is part of a backroom staff at Hibs, he’s not the manager. It would be the manager in focus if Hibs went down. Don’t get me wrong, Billy wouldn’t want relegation to happen while he was there, but he wouldn’t be responsible for it.”

Jefferies was speaking on a glorious spring afternoon at Dunfermline’s training ground, adjacent to Pitreavie Golf Club where many were making the most of the kind weather. He knows his own visits to the golf course, which had been regular since being sacked by Hearts last August, are about to be drastically reduced again. It was during one round last week with Mike Aitken, the former chief football writer of The Scotsman and latterly golf writer before his retirement, that Jefferies contemplated the prospect of spending the rest of his life at leisure. But coaching footballers, it seems, is far more addictive than interviewing them.

“Mike, who is semi-retired, asked me ‘Why would you want to come back? You must be enjoying the quality of life.’ I could see where he’s coming from. I don’t mean to be disrespectful but, 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. Dunfermline 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.

“I’d never say never, so that’s not cast in stone. I’m not saying I wouldn’t like to stay in football in another capacity but, in terms of management, this will probably be it. It would be fantastic to keep Dunfermline in the SPL or, in the worse case scenario, bring them straight back up next year.

“If that happens, then I might be in the position where the chairman wants to offer me a new contract. I don’t think I would go to another club as manager now.”