Allan Johnston agrees new contract

22/05/18: AJ - “We want automatic promotion, if possible. We know that’s difficult, only one team can do that, but even if you get into the play-offs it gives you a massive opportunity.

Allan Johnston has accepted the challenge and signed up for another attempt at taking Dunfermline Athletic out of the Championship. He confirmed his new contract saying:-

“I’m delighted to sign a new contract. I’ve made it clear I want to be here. I think, as a club, we’ve been moving forward every year and we’ve just got to make sure we keep doing that.”

The manager feels that Livingston’s success after finishing just three points above the Pars has demonstrated just how valuable every three points is in the league.

“It’s massive, and it’s important we take the momentum from the end of this season into the next one. We need to start really well and make sure we’re up there challenging, because obviously that’s the ultimate goal, to get promoted.”

There will be four new teams in the Championship next season - Partick Thistle, Ross County, Ayr United and Alloa Athletic - each trying to make an impression. It will be a tough league next season AJ unsurprisingly predicated:-

“It’s going to be a really difficult league. If you look at Partick coming down, they’ll get the parachute payment, which is a lot of money. But we’ll be competitive. We want to be progressing as a club, we want to try to get promoted, we want to make sure we’re up there.

“That’s got to be the goal and we’ve got to make sure we get players capable of doing that. We’ve got to try to improve. I don’t think we were far away at the end of the season so if we can just a wee bit more quality to the team I think we’ll be up there challenging.”

The contest could well be one to relish as it gets as competitive as the Premiership, with the teams that are in it.

“Inverness had the parachute payment last year and still had a of Premiership players, but they never made the play-offs. So, it doesn’t guarantee you anything” commented AJ:-

“We know that we’ve got good experience in this league now, we know what it’s all about, we’ve had a taste of getting into the play-offs, and we want to, at least, be back there again.

“We’ve progressed every year, and there’s no reason why we can’t do it again. Finishing fourth this season, we want to try to finish above that. We want automatic promotion, if possible. We know that’s difficult, only one team can do that, but even if you get into the play-offs it gives you a massive opportunity. We’ve just got to keep progressing as a club, and keep improving every year.”

Livi proves you can win promotion via the play-offs probably shows you the advantage finishing second makes and at the very least Allan would target second place since that means two less games to negotiate to get through.

“Sometimes it’s just about timing, and it was Livi’s time. They had a fantastic season and fair play to them. It just shows you it can be done. That’s what we’ve got to try to achieve, we’ve got to try to match that, and I don’t see any reason why we can’t.

Related Stories

• Beadling’s about for next two seasons
• Craigen confident for Championship challenge
• Ashcroft put play offs in past
• Career clicks for Lee