Meet The Manager Night

"The players know how we feel about it, we want to get better but there is no magic wand.

A Meet the Manager evening organised by the Pars Supporters Trust was held at East End Park on Thursday night attracted a full house.  Stephen Kenny said he did not expect the "place to be stuff midweek" but for 90 minutes fans were happy to listen rather than watch. After answering many questions the Manager ended up with a team talk directed at the fans:-

"We need everyone pulling in the one direction, regardless of how results go in the next few weeks. There are 20 games to go and we need everyone to rally around.  Before I joined I met Gavin Masterton and all the Board.  Their hearts are in the right place. Everyone here, Colum, Declan, Jim, Craig and Hamish will work every hour of the day to make sure that the club improve.  We do not guarantee it but we will do everything in our power to make sure that we get better.

"The players know how we feel about it, we want to get better but there is no magic wand.  You can't come in with ten players on the treatment table and expect results to come in.  Over a period of weeks with good spirit and people pulling in the one direction - players, supporters, staff - you are going to stay up.  There is no question, you are definitely going to stay up if you rally around like that."

Fielding a top table of Colm O'Neill, Declan Devine, Jim Moffat, Craig Robertson and Hamish French, Stephen Kenny led the answering.  Questions covered a large spectrum of issues.  First questioner asked if there was any likelihood of Noel Whelan and Jim McIntyre playing for Dunfermline? The Manager replied:-

"With Noel it is a battle to see if he will ever play again because of his back problem, we shall see how it goes.  Jim McIntyre is different completely. Jim had a very serious injury with his neck and the operation he had was a very risky one for him.  He took it, and I think he is trying to get training but he can't head a ball at the moment or get in aerial collisions. For a fellow who is 34 he is absolutely brilliant, he is a credit to himself how he has kept himself.  He is different and he will be back. He went to see a consultant a few days ago and he is now on a 12 week programme.  He is four weeks into it so it will probably be eight weeks before he is back playing - it might be mid February before we see him."

Retaining our Premierleague status is imperative to the club, points against St Mirren, Inverness and Motherwell are more important that the Scottish Cup tie against Rangers.  Steve Kenny said:-

"The players themselves do not want to be playing in the First Division.  The difference between the First Division and the Premier Division is like night and day.  There is such a contrast and it is up to me as Manager to make sure that the players do understand that and that they do everything in their power to make sure that we do stay up."

Next question asked whether or not 4-4-2 would be deployed every game?

"In the situation we are in at the bottom of the league, I do not think that we can tie ourselves to any one system. With the difference in quality in the teams we face, for example it is different playing St Mirren than it is playing Celtic, the way they are at the moment. You have to adapt your strategy accordingly, you just can't play the same way every game.  Ideally, in the long term, you want to build a team where you can put out the same team every week and have confidence in it. You do not want to alter too much but the situation we are in - I don't think you can do that.  You have to adapt accordingly. Against good teams like Gothenburg and Paris St Germain we played 4-3-3."

Asked about the general fitness levels that he has inherited at the club Stephen Kenny replied:-

"The problem with the levels of fitness are because we have had so many players out injured. There are different levels of fitness within the group. You have a few players who are outstanding professionals and are in really top condition. We have a number of players who have been injured for a period of time and their fitness has been affected because of that.  Recurring injuries should not really be happening.

"There has been a bit of bad luck like the Noel Whelan case and Jim McIntyre case, but generally you shouldn't have that over a period of time. We have to condition the players to be at their ultimate level. With them and the coaching staff we need to get their body fat under ten per cent or even nine in some players.

"The thing about fitness levels is that every player is different, you can't do the same programme for a right winger that you'd use on a centre half or your goalkeeper or centre forward. So that is where Colum O'Neill comes in; he will work one to one with every player individually to assess all their strengths and weaknesses. Not only will he give them programmes he will stay with them and work them in the afternoons or evenings, whatever needs to be done.

"It just doesn't happen overnight that you go from a situation where if you are injured you are going to get to your top level.  There are phases that you have to go through to achieve that. There are a lot of good professionals at the club; they have had some bad luck as well which you can't deny but we want to make sure that we make our own luck."

It was interesting to hear the Manager, somewhat reluctantly (because he said he was not there to talk about himself), explain that both Longford Town and Derry City were in threat of relegation when he took them over, both in mid season.

"They were both near the bottom of the table though neither of them were six points clear at the bottom as we are. We did not have twenty games left thouigh.  In the situation that we are it is not too bad to have twenty games left.  If you are going in with nine or ten games left you would still have a chance but you'd be really up against it."

The controversial SPL split that comes along in April was also identified as giving teams needing to catch up a real lifeline:-

"With five games against left against the bottom teams and we improve at such a rate and even go into those last five games three points adrift, with improvement and all our best players fit we still have a great chance of staying up. So with 20 games left I certainly wouldn't be panicing but we are going to have to get our finger out and get a few results.  You have to take a view over 20 games rather than say every game is a must win."

Craig Robertson replied to a question aimed at him and Hamish French seeking an insight into what differences the two of them had seen since Stephen Kenny's arrival:-

"What we have seen is more staff!" joked Craig. "It is brilliant for Hamish and I.  What the boss has brought in with Declan and Colm has been first class without a doubt.  They have started so much with the squad, so much with the training already.  Yes we have seen a difference.  Hamish and I are all for it and are delighted at the arrival of quality people."

Retired businessman Jim Morris asked, given a hypothetical blank cheque from the Chairman who would he bring in, would it be a defender, midfielder or striker?  Stephen Kenny replied

" The Chairman might write me a blank cheque but the Chief Executive would take it back off me. I would like to see Ronaldinho in a Dunfermline shirt; what position he'd play I cannot tell you because he plays everywhere. I think we could fit him in somewhere in our team without a doubt!"

Fans were interested to know if Stephen Kenny had noticed any exciting prospects coming through the ranks in the youth teams:-

"To be honest I have only been in the door a few weeks. Craig and Hamish have done a lot of work, Jim Leishman and the Board have appointed Jim Moffat so it is really his area and any help that we can give him we certainly will."

Jim Moffat came in for his first comments of the evening, thanking supporters for the welcome and adding it was the first time in a while that he had been in front of Dunfermline supporters and not been booed:-

"I can see a clear way ahead and got full support from Jim Leishman earlier tonight. There are lads in the Under 19 squad who are full time and have made their way up through the Dunfermline system. There are two or three in the Under 17s who are beginning to shine a little."

Hamish French added:-

"I just try to get the Under 19s as prepared as they can be so that when the Manager wants them to join in any of the coaching sessions they can shine.  If they can take the Manager's eye they can progress in the future. A lot of the 19s just now are having to play a lot of reserve games which the Manager will watch."

Steve Kenny had noticed one or two youngsters however:-

"Iain Williamson is a good young prospect.  He has done well for the Under 19s and the reserves. We had hinm in with us today when we were playing 11 v 11 and he had the temerity to score a goal against the first team today.  I said to him 'how dare you, Dorus de Vriers confidence is at its highest and you are demoralising it'.  These lads are young, they are only 18."

A quip from the floor pointed out that was the first Dunfermline player to score first this season. Kenny quickly picked that one up.

"We have to sort that out this weekend.  To go three or four weeks is too long but to go half a season is unbelievable."

Craig Robertson returned to the subject of why younger players have not been given their chance in the first team:-

"Calum Smith has done well in the reserves without a doubt but we don't think he was ready to play in the first team at that precise moment. Iain Wiliamson has changed from midfield to striking position now and Iain and Calum are vying to get in the first team squad. The boss has been quite impressed by the two of them.  Calum is working on his strength but to put him straight into the first team when we were struggling would have been a big ask of the kid.

"It was like at Ibrox when Roddy got injured.  At half time Roddy should really have come off but because we only had Greg Paterson on the bench, he is a very good goalkeeper but he is just a young kid (17), to throw him in at Ibrox at his stage in his career could have been detrimental.

"OK, we would love to put six or seven young kids in but you have got to watch not just for just now but in the future for their career."

There was a discussion on how to retain more local talent at Dunfermline.  Steve Kenny said:-

"We want the people in Fife to play for a team in Fife.  The only way that can happen is for the club to be vibrant with an exciting team. There has to be a culture of young players coming through and being developed."

On the subject of the fans and the encouragement coming from the crowd the Manager had noticed:-

"There is a lack of colour in the ground. Four or five of those giant flags would help." Cue uproar as the audience pointed out that these are not allowed at East End Park.  It is understood that it is the Police who have banned these yet comments suggested inconsistency in the policy to flags throughout Scotland.  The Manager could not make sense of moves that detract from lifting the supporters and went on to suggest having a co-ordinator to orchestrate the fans vocal support in the same way as happens on the continent:-

"One of the things I have noticed is that the support is fragmented. If there was a co-ordinated effort where people work together to lift the team.  I have not heard one complaint from a player about the supporters."