Desperate for first league win

14/09/21: PG - “I want to turn the negativity around, I want that opportunity to try to do that, and the only way I can do that is by winning games of football.

Speaking to the media today Peter Grant acknowledged the expectations of him and his strong desire to get Dunfermline back to winning ways:-

“Every week you have got to win, that hasn’t changed from the first week of the season. Unfortunately, as a manager, that’s the nature of the beast, you can be judged on that.”

The biggest problem when Dunfermline take to the pitch is that they have made too many individual errors that have cost them dearly with the consequence of only one point taken from the first four league games. Asked if any points or win targets had been set by the board for the next few weeks, Peter replied:-

“The support from within, from the chairman and from the board has been fantastic but I know as a manager you have to win games. They’re all fantastic people but if they sacked me on Saturday or they sacked me on Monday, I could never say I’ve had anything but the utmost support from them. I would have no qualms.

“I’m trying desperately to turn it around so I can still be the Dunfermline manager. That’s what I’m desperate to be, I’m desperate to be a success as Dunfermline manager. I work my socks off trying to do that, along with the staff and the players.

“Of course, I want to turn the negativity around, I want that opportunity to try to do that, and the only way I can do that is by winning games of football. It doesn’t matter how good the guys are and how supportive they are, I know the bottom line is you’ve got to win games of football.”

Peter admitted that he always questions his own decisions, thinking over things said prior to the match and after the match, and he makes sure the information he gives is correct.

“I can’t ask the referee to stop the game and say, ‘can I fix this a minute’. I’ve never lost a game on the blackboard or on the training pitch, because you can stop and start and move things. But, unfortunately, you’ve got an opponent playing against you, trying to beat you as well, or somebody is going to make a mistake.”

The manager repeated his understanding that there is no better feeling than when you are winning games. That gives everybody a feel-good factor and makes the players feel more confident in what they are trying to do:-

“I`m desperate to do well, I’m desperate to be the manager of this football club and I’m desperate to be a success at this football club. If that changes, it won’t be through my choice. Of course, you always question yourself, but it’ll not be through my choice, because I want to do the job.

“As long as I’m trying to do the job and I’m 100 per cent committed to it then they’ll have no problem with that. If I felt I was letting myself down or letting the group down then I would’t be sitting here.”

Looking forward to the weekend, Peter added:-

“I understand the fans’ frustrations, 100 per cent. You want them to come through the door and be supportive of you, of course. But I’m not going to be condescending and ask the fans to get behind us or whatever, because I know the only way you get support is by winning games and playing well.

“At this moment in time, just winning the game would be so important. That’s what we’re trying to do every week and you hope to bring that feel-good factor back and take away the negativity.

“I’ve been involved in it before many times and I understand the fans’ frustrations. If I was sitting here thinking, ‘you’re out of order or this or that’ then I’d have a question mark over my own head because at the end of the day fans come to see their team winning and I can understand the frustration when you don’t.”

Following fans venting their feelings after the defeat to Ayr United, the manager feels that the players are old enough and wise enough to understand the criticism even though there is no getting away from it:-

“They cannot expect praise for losing games of football, that’s not going to happen. People think it’s a new craze. It’s not, it’s always been there, if you’re not playing well and your team’s not playing well. It’s about how you handle the criticism.

“The best thing you can get from this criticism is to remember how hard it hurts you, because I know how much it’s hurting me. That’s why there would be nothing to give me greater pleasure than winning games of football to turn this around. That would be the ultimate for me and that’s what I’m trying to do, to get people to come back to watch us play and go home happy after a victory. I’m sure the players are the exact same.

“I totally understand it at this moment in time. It’s not nice but the only way we can turn it around is by winning. As a group, that’s what we’ve got to try to do.”

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