Peter Grant First Interview part two

28/05/21: PG - “My plan is to start winning games of football as quickly as possible and get a squad together that makes the Dunfermline fans proud.

Peter Grant explained how it came about that he filled the vacancy for First Team Manager at Dunfermline Athletic:-

“Last week the chairman got in contact with Raymond Sparks and asked if we could have a meeting. I wasn’t being arrogant but I did not put in a cv at any club and I was getting mentioned with a lot of clubs.

“When Raymond spoke to me saying that Dunfermline would be interested in speaking to me and would I mind meeting Ross, I was delighted to. When I spoke to Ross it was meant to be a ten minute conversation and it ended up being nearly ten hours!

“The biggest thing for me when I spoke to Ross, the first question I asked was he a Dunfermline supporter? When he said yes I said that makes me excited because you are representing the football fans. That is always important. It was the same with Mike Mulraney. Mike was an Alloa supporter and he wants the best for his club.

“It was important for me that Ross knows what the Dunfermline fans are wanting to achieve. We all get criticism when things are not going well, that’s part of football. I have lived with it all my life but when he spoke to me and spoke about Thomas in Germany, it was important that I spoke to them and I was really excited by their plans looking ahead.”

The experience of one of the investors in Dunfermline Athletic, Thomas Meggle, former Bundesliga professional, Head Coach and Sports Director at legendary German Club FC St. Pauli was also called upon and he also spoke to Peter:-

“People know what a job that you are doing and Thomas was on the phone and talking about the performance we had against Alloa when they beat us 4-1. I thought it was quite bizarre that he was talking about that game. He said that you played very well in the game and Kevin (O’Hara) came on as a substitute and scored a hattrick.

“That impressed me more that anything probably, the fact that he wasn’t working off anything else other than seeing how the Alloa team tried to play.

“My plan is to start winning games of football as quickly as possible and get a squad together that makes the Dunfermline fans proud. That is my aim now and I can’t wait to get started.”

Asked about the length of his contract, Peter replied:-

“When people say what is your contract I always say to myself, well ‘next day’ because if you are not doing your job I will not be here, if you are doing your job people come and try and take you away, that’s football. It doesn’t matter how long it lasts but I’m hoping that I’m here for a long time. The plan is for a long time.”

So during his spell at the helm everyone will be hoping that Peter Grant’s Dunfermline will play entertaining football. He discussed the potential for that and his plans for recruitment:-

“You have very good players here but when people talk about entertaining it is winning games, scoring goals, getting crosses into the box and defending your own box well.

“Alloa played in a certain style and everybody talks about how well we played but we ended up getting relegated through different circumstances. In the entertainment business people want to come through the door be excited and like what they are watching. That is what we have got to try and achieve.

“The one thing that I will demand is 100 per cent commitment. I have to give that to the players and the players have to give that to the supporters because that is what football is. We are there to produce for them, that never changes, that is what your job is.

“I want to excite them. People talk about certain styles, it is not about styles people want commitment from your players. I know the style that I want to play of course - fast flowing attractive football - but we did that last year and got relegated.

“You have got to be able to defend better as a group. There are different ways to play the game and still win the game. I have a style that I want to play and I know that I have the players here who can do that. That was one of the things that excited me because I know that there are players here and hopefully we can add some quality to that to help them along the road.”

Peter is faced with several players out of contract at Dunfermline who have started negotiations with other clubs but has sixteen players already with contracts in place with the club.

“We will look to add to it, there is no doubt to that. I want to make sure that if I did think anybody was going to be part of the plans, I wouldn’t be hanging them about promising this or that.

“I think it is important that football players play football. I will not be wasting anybody’s time. I will look at the group and I am really looking forward to working with them. I wish I was starting today in that respect.

“Hopefully the boys will enjoy working with me. Everybody will get the opportunity in pre season, the ones that re-signed will all get an opportunity but I will be honest with them, if I don’t think that they are going to be part of it I would tell them there and then. I would not waste their time, hopefully I can add quality to help the boys.

“That is more important because I have a right good group of players here. Maybe a wee bit unbalanced in certain areas, we can look at that and bring that bit of quality in.”

While at Alloa Peter Grant signed Kevin O ‘Hara from Falkirk. Kevin moved on to Dunfermline after one season at Alloa and of course now Peter is looking forward to the reunion:-

“I am looking forward to that as I am working with all the boys. We have a fantastic front line and that has been proven with goalscorers. That is important, it is just getting the balance right.

“Kevin knows me well enough, you have to work hard and play hard in the game. That is every day in training you have to finish as many chances as you get in training. The enjoyable part should be on the Saturday, the hard work comes during the week. I think Kevin enjoyed that with us. He scored fourteen goals and ten assists in that period.

“I knew he had something, you have got to have that trust in your players. You have got to give them trust because that is when they will produce their best performances. It is important that we give that to the group of players.

“This group did exceptionally well last year and fell at the last hurdle. This time we have to make sure that they jump it.”

In terms of recruitment, the manager said that he would be looking to use the loan market but qualified that with caution claiming that you don’t take on players just because they are involved with a so called bigger named club.

“Sometimes you have very good players of your own here. Lewis McCann is a player that excites me as a young man. What chance is he going to get? I would give him an opportunity because you can only see opportunities for him if he plays. From afar I really like him, I don’t know what he is like to work with.

“The young boys will get an opportunity because I played seventeen year olds for Alloa. I think it is important, if they are good enough I am not interested in their age. We had players at Alloa, I didn’t know that they weren’t even getting paid and they were playing in the first team. It doesn’t bother me, I just take them for what they do on the training pitch and play.

“I made my debut at seventeen years of age. I am not a great believer in waiting until they are 22 or 23, if they are good enough they will be playing. I am looking forward to seeing Lewis and I’m sure that there will be some other young ones here who given an opportunity could maybe surprise us.

“Of course you want to look at the loan market and if we can see guys who are out of contract because there is a lot of changeover in the summer. With this being announced today people will realise that I am in control of the football so all of a sudden you get the phone calls telling me who is available and who is not available.

“It is important that we bring the right players in, that is always the case. We have to be careful of not changing just because they are coming from a bigger club. That’s not for me. If a player is at Dunfermline and good enough he will get the opportunity. “

Can we expect recruitment to revisit the Indodrill Stadium?

“I had a lot of good players at Alloa but they may have moved on to pastures new already. I can’t say too much on that. The bottom line is that I just look for good players. We have to make sure that we are not bringing in the same or a lesser quality.

“When you bring in that player you want your players to want to impress him and he raises the standard of your group. That is what we are looking to try and do, it is not always possible but that is what you have to try and do.

“I will not bring in people who are just on the same level or because they play for a certain club. I want to bring them in because I think they have a chance of improving the group and the team.”

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