Jim Jefferies will consider retirement if Dunfermline bounce back

Dunfermline manager Jim Jefferies has revealed he is ready to consider retiring from the dugout if he leads the relegated Pars back to the SPL at the first attempt.

Jefferies insists restoring the club’s top-flight status is his final challenge in a career that has spanned 24 years and taken him to Hearts, Kilmarnock, Bradford, Falkirk and Berwick Rangers.

The 61-year-old has watched Aberdeen counterpart Craig Brown maintain his enthusiasm for the game into his 70s but is determined to take a step back from the stress of frontline management so he can enjoy life.

The Pars take on Kilmarnock tomorrow in their final game of the season after their demotion to the First Division was confirmed on Monday evening with a 4-0 defeat in the basement battle at Hibs.

Jefferies, who is contracted to the club until the end of next term, having succeeded Jim McIntyre in March, said: “If I can get them back up in one season I’ll have satisfied the club and myself. I’m not looking beyond that. Even if I was to bring them back up, there’s no guarantee I’ll stay. If I feel it’s time to go then I’ll go and hand over to someone else to challenge in the SPL. I believed there was one last challenge when I got back into the game and I won’t look beyond that.

“I came into this job because I wanted to, not because I needed to. I tell you one thing, I won’t be doing this when I’m 70-odd like Craig up the road. Good on him. You want to enjoy your life by that age after years of being in a stressful job.

“Celtic manager Neil Lennon was talking about it the other day, being a stressful job. I’m not taking that decision now because you don’t know how you’ll feel in a year. Maybe I’ll be out of a job by Christmas if I’m not challenging. I’m a big boy and I know how this business works. You can never say never, but I would like to stay in the game in some capacity other than management.”

Dunfermline’s 18 out-of-contract players face an anxious wait to learn what the future holds, but Jefferies won’t know the extent of his budget cuts until Tuesday’s board meeting.

He added: “I’ve had a word with the players before training, but I have to know what the intentions of the board are regarding budgets. There will be an important planning meeting on Tuesday and a lot will depend on the outcome of that.

“I’ll be speaking to the players next week about that. You also never know whether there’s going to be any changes to the SPL set-up or whatever. Nobody knows what’s going to happen, so it’s not an easy thing for any board of directors.

“We’ve got two scenarios, but the main thing is we have to accept we’re down and budget accordingly.”