Connolly calls coup for club
Wednesday, 17th Nov 2021“He is very switched on and his CV speaks for itself and it’s bit of a coup for the football club to get someone like John in.
Mark Connolly has only been at Dunfermline for seven weeks but he can feel the sense of relief to get the monkey off the back with the league win at Inverness on Saturday. The new manager effect certainly worked in the first match since John Hughes was announced as successor to Peter Grant but Mark claimed it won’t just be a case of clicking the fingers:-
“The manager won’t wave a magic wand and everything changes, it is going to take time but so far, he’s been brilliant. That win was huge for us. It’s a great start for him, also. Winning that game makes it a bit easier for a new manager coming in.”
The 29 year old central defender who is on loan from Dundee United agreed that short term the priority is lifting Dunfermline out of the relegation zone but he thinks that the new gaffer can see a bigger and brighter picture for the club that is constantly described as a sleeping giant.
The sleeping giant has had a nightmare start to the league campaign at Dunfermline but Hughes clearly has a dream to move the club forward, upwards and back into the Premierleague. Mark believes that the new boss’ knowledge of the game and understanding of players will be a great asset:-
“It is just my opinion but I think that it is a really good appointment from the football club in the situation that we are. He has done it last season at Ross County and he has done it in the Premiership. He is very switched on and his CV speaks for itself and it’s bit of a coup for the football club to get someone like John in.
“The biggest thing is he’s a good person, the boys can tell that straight away. He’s been bubbly and tried to change the mood about the place. He’s having a laugh and a joke but when it’s time to work, it’s time to work. The boys have all bought into that but when you’ve not been winning games for so long, it’s tough. It is difficult coming in and training every day when confidence is low but he has tried to get the spirits up.”
The ability to raise spirits appeared to have an immediate effect and although Greg Shields and Steven Whittaker took the team on Saturday, it was in the full knowledge that the manager was in the stand and that got extra out of the team. Mark reflected on its importance:-
“Going up to Inverness which is a tough place, first half we weren’t great but second half we went out and with the young boy McCann upfront we were outstanding. But we need to get Dunfermline up the table. Where we are isn’t good enough. We know that as a team and a football club. Looking at the league, we should be up there in the top half - but you can’t just turn up and think because your Dunfermline, you’ll win.
“You need to work hard, roll your sleeves up. I don’t think we’ve done that enough at times. On Saturday everyone to a man put their bodies on the line as the balls came into the box at the end. We need to do that. Being in this league with Dundee United I know exactly that at times you have to do that. It is not going to be pretty, there are not many teams play fantastic football and winning loads of games in this league.
“I think the manager is definitely going to get that level out of the boys. He also wants to get the ball down and play football but he understands that the confidence needs to be higher and it is going to take a little bit of time.”
At United we could look at the league table and smile at the 15 point lead but he admitted that right now he avoids looking at the Championship table:-
“Moving forward, if we can move up the table and things happen, then we can look up. Right now, we are bottom of the table for a reason. We haven’t been good enough from day dot.
“If we win a game we could be sixth. That’s just this league. But if you lose a few, you are right down there. We just need to make sure that we take every game as it comes. Ayr on Saturday is going to be an extremely difficult game again, different to how it was on Saturday so we need to make sure that we are matching them without the ball, being aggressive and then the quality that we have in the forward areas will win us games. But we need to make sure that we are at it.”
The Ayr United match will be John Hughes first in charge and Mark hopes that he will be given a warm welcome from the fans:-
“I certainly hope that it’s a good one because that feeds on to the pitch and the players sense that. I would like to think that the fans will turn up and give him backing because he is certainly leaving no stones unturned and he is working very hard.”
When Ross Graham came on to replace the injured Rhys Breen in last Saturday’s match it was a case of two on loan Dundee United players forming the central defence. They had played together before but never at senior level. Mark thought Ross Graham was “absolutely outstanding” when he came on.
“He was really aggressive, he won all his headers and was communicating and talking to me a lot. I know Ross really well from being at Dundee United with him and I know he had a tough start here. He was playing left of a back-three and it was a challenge for him.
“To be fair to him, he has gone through the divisions doing well in League 2 and League 1, so the jump up to the Championship was the right one for him. I’ve no doubt he can do well in this league, but could also go back to Dundee United and push on there.
“He works tirelessly every day, he’s a good character and the type of boy you want to have around. So, it was great to see him back on the pitch. He hasn’t been involved as much as he probably would have wanted, so you can either throw your toys out of the pram and think ‘I’m not in the plans’ or you can wait for your chance and grab it.”
“You have to be mentally strong in football — that’s the same in life! You’ll have good days and bad days, but it’s about how you react and how you come back from the tougher times, especially in football. It’s public, thousands of people watching you and giving an opinion on how you played.
“Sometimes you’ll be criticised. That’s the line of work we are in. But you’ve got to stay strong, bounce back and prove the doubters wrong. As long as you know you are doing everything you can to be as good as you can be, you can look yourself in the mirror.”
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