Manager at Christmas

25/12/19: SC - “ We have got to have the ambition that we want to be up in the play offs with Dunfermline Football Club. If we don’t have that ambition then there is no point in any of us being here.

Dunfermline have reached the half way point in the 2019-2020 season with 25 points from their eighteen league matches. They sit fifth in the Ladbrokes Championship three points behind Ayr United and Dundee, the two teams immediately above them.

Manager Stevie Crawford praised the part played by the club’s supporters and gave them this Christmas message.

“The fans have played a big part in turning the home form in the manner that it has. It took a bit of time in coming, it doesn’t mean that we are going to get complacent because our record against our next opponents, Alloa Athletic, isn’t good enough.

“The fans have helped us get over the finishing line. They were massive in helping us turn around the Ayr United game and even in the Morton game when we went 2-0 up there was a spell in that game where it became a tricky contest. I thought the fans played their part.

“The majority who followed us to Inverness on Saturday stayed to the end of that game which can be tough at times. It wasn’t as good a watch and travelling that distance up and down to come away with nothing is disappointing for them but one that we can hopefully right on Saturday.”

Stevie’s review of the season so far was split it into the two quarters.

“The first quarter you could ask did we get enough points on the board? Probably not. Did we have the opportunity to? Yes, definitely but we never.

“The pleasing thing looking back at that now is that we have a better points tally in the second quarter so there has been a big part of the squad who had learned and managed to put more points on the board.

“I still genuinely believe that, even in the second quarter, we can look back at it and say that we have probably slipped up and let points get away from us but then every team in the league will be saying that.

“It is not getting carried away because you would say first quarter we could have done better, second quarter we are happy. Can we better what we have managed to put together in the second quarter? That will be our goal for that third quarter.

“The most pleasing thing from the season is that it matters to them. Saturday was a different way of saying that we are disappointed. We were up against a team that is continually up about the play off positions and at a tough venue. Was there a spark to us on Saturday? No there wasn’t but I think there has been reactions when we have been on the back of a poorer performance.

“We are not always going to get everything our way. It is far too competitive in football, never mind this league, in any league you play in. The pleasing thing for us is not two, three or four games where you turn around and say that you are waiting on a reaction. It shows a little bit of maturity from within the group. Fifteen points from the second quarter, lets better that in the third if we can.”

The manager has no crystal ball that tells him that his side can win promotion through the play offs and cautions about setting expectations too high:-

“We can not sit here just now and say that we are going to win anything, that is dangerous. We have got to have the ambition that we want to be up in the play offs with Dunfermline Football Club. If we don’t have that ambition then there is no point in any of us being here.

“To sit down and say that we are going to win promotion through the play offs in a league that is as competitive with a squad that we have just put together as quickly as we have over the summer, can be dangerous and also put a pressure on the squad that is unnecessary at this moment in time.

“Right now I would like to wish every Pars fan a very Merry Christmas and hope that the team can rely on your much valued continued support in 2020.”

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