Meet the Manager Night

"If we do pull it off, which we are well capable of doing, the fact that you have gone through all of that and been there for the whole season - if we do pull it off, you will apprecia

Legends hosted a questions and answers session with Manager Stephen Kenny, First Team Coach Declan Devine, Sports Scientist Colm O'Neill and first team players Scott Wilson, Dorus de Vries, Darren Young,  Jim O'Brien and Tam McManus.  Programme Editor Duncan Simpson put forward the questions that had been submitted in writing from the fairly full Legends Bar.

The first question was one that will be pursued with the Board but Stephen Kenny replied to the best of his knowledge.  Asked whether or not  bonuses and incentives were in place between now and the end of the season, the Manager referred to the bonus structure that had been in place three years ago. He said that had been knocked on the head but confirmed that a win bonus did exist.

Scott Wilson was asked whether the players were confident for the remainder of the season:-

"At the start of the season relegation wasn't in any of our minds with the squad we had.  But as a team we have not scored enough goals.  We have got a great bunch of guys at Dunfermline, that is why Greg and I signed for longer.  We are really enjoying our football.  The squad is doing well and the work is fantastic.

"The win at Inverness was a massive boost for us.  We have important games coming up and if we can win we can have St Mirren shaking in their boots."

Stephen Kenny was asked what were his ambitions for next season!

"You have to crawl before you can walk.  There is no point me standing here making statements about what we are going to do next season when we are six points adrift at the foot of the league. We have a strong chance of staying up. Over the last ten games we have beaten Hearts, Rangers, Partick Thistle and Inverness. We lost three games to Rangers (1-0), Celtic (1-2) and Aberdeen so we won four, lost three and drawn three. Unfortunately three of these games have been in the Cup.  We need to carry that form into the rest of the season."

In answer to the specific reference to next season, Stephen acknowledged that fans expected better than mediocrity and being average.  He felt that with a proper pre season with his players, his team would be a lot stronger over the season. 

Questions were asked about the likelihood of any players coming up through the Youth team ranks.  Declan Devine first paid tribute to the work of Hamish French that had brought on so many of the U19 team.  He singled out Iain Williamson as being the best prospect. Although only 19 Iain had done well in the Reserves and of course had made four appearances off the bench for the first team. Nick Phinn, Derek Howie and John McCulloch were also given mentions.

Stephen Kenny was adamant that the youth set up at the club was not good enough adding that the Board were well aware of that and were making plans. His job as Manager was primarily to ensure that Dunfermline remained in the SPL but praised Greg Ross for coming through the system. The two young goalkeepers, Sean Murdoch (currently on loan to Hamilton) and 17 year old Greg Paterson were termed "exceptional young goalkeepers" by the Manager.  He joked "we don't mind if Dorus goes".

What were the prospects of Adam Hammill's loan spell being extended?

"Adam has done really well in his time here since coming in along with Jim O'Brien in the game against Rangers."  Stephen Kenny felt that Adam had given the team a massive lift and has been very influential. 

"He excites a lot of supporters. Liverpool sent him here to get experience.  I don't know what the possibilty is.  I know Liverpool have just signed players including another winger, Gonzales and younger players from Spain and South America that they have put in their reserve team.  Adam himself doesn't really know where he is in the pecking order but I know that he is enjoying his football and learning from the experienced players we have at the club."

Tam McManus was given the opportunity to be first in on the question, why are we not scoring goals?

"Obviously I have just come in the last couple of weeks and we scored three goals in my first game!  When you look at the strikers we have got  here Jim Hamilton, Stevie (Crawford), Jim McIntyre and Burchy - you look at the results and wonder why they don't score goals. Now since Jim (O'Brien) and Adam (Hammill) have come in we are creating a lot more chances.  We need to start taking them and hopefully we will start doing it this week."

Tam McManus

Colm O'Neill answered on the inevitable injuries question:-

"The last couple of seasons Dunfermline have had a bad run of injuries. There are probably a lot of factors playing on that. Because of the weather, having to train on astroturf doesn't help.  We have had a bit of bad luck and maybe in the past fitness is not what it could have been. In fairness, since we came the injuries have been well cut down and in the last couple of weeks we have only really had three players injured; Scott Thomson was long term, Greg Shields had a hamstring injury and Darren Young had a calf injury.  Obviously three of the biggest players in the club so it is unfortunate but if you go to other clubs around the SPL, if you had three players injured you would be pretty happy.

"Unfortunately we had a few contact injuries.  We had Scott Muirhead with ligament injury, Jamie Harris and Jim Hamilton needing knee operations - its not like a strain or something you can avoid. 

"Declan does cool downs and we have recovery sessions after matches. Scott Thomson claims he has only had two days off.  They don't really get games off any more, its not worth it when you are recovering you want to get back as soon as possible. 

"Greg Shields has been back training this week and will hopefully might come into contention in the near future. Darren is on his way back and Scott Thomson played inthe Reserves this week. 

"I think at one time we had 16 first team players injured, when we arrived there was eleven and at this moment there's only three.  It is my job to try and have as many players available to the manager as possible."

Stephen Kenny was asked whether in retrospect he might have used different tactics against St Mirren two matches back?

"We have looked to try and improve as a team.  Since we brought Jim O'Brien and Adam Hammill in we have tried to play a back four, central midfield players and two out and out wingers. Apart from the game at Parkhead where we played with only one central striker, in all the other games we have tried to win the games.  The position we are in we need to win games.

"Against St Mirren Jim O'Brien played on the right, Adam Hammill played on the left, Stephen Simmons and Gary Mason were in midfield and in striker positions were Jim Hamilton and Stephen Crawford. We made a couple of changes bringing on Jim McIntyre and Mark Burchill and went for it with Owen Morrison on as well on the same flank as Jim O'Brien to try and break St Mirren down.  Three at the back with Jim as an auxilliary on the right.

"St Mirren played one up, five defenders and four central midfield players.  They are entitled to do that, it is there perrogative, we are behind them in the league and we had to win the game. It was up to us to try and break then down.  We didn't create as many chances as I would have liked, I was disappointed with that game. Did we tactically get it right?  Did we tactically get it wrong?  No, I wouldn't have changed the tactics.  We would have liked to have had that wee bit more of a cutting edge on the day.  We had a triple chance from which we should have scored but the keeper turned it around the post at the last minute.  They did their job well, we had to break them down and we didn't do that."

Final question was also for the Manager.  Would he stay if Dunfermline got relegated?

"I have signed a contract here for two and a half seasons.  I am very committed to manage Dunfermline regardless of the outcome.  I want to make Dunfermline one of the best clubs in the country, that is why I am here.  That is why all you are here, because you want the best for Dunfermline.  Hopefully we will not be going down, hopefully we can stay up, we have a great chance of staying up. 

"The reason people come out tonight, the reason they go to Inverness, Aberdeen is because they are passionate about their club. The players represent this club in the best way that they can and all the supporters feel that Dunfermline can be a big club in the SPL. We can definitely improve.

"I know it has been pretty grim following Dunfermline down at the bottom of the league for the last three seasons.  Scott Wilson was here when we had a good run before, for him and certain players they were here when you were doing well.  Then all of a sudden you have three seasons near the bottom, it can break your spirit. It takes its toll on you and it takes its toll on supporters as well.

"People need to stay with it and say 'listen, I have followed the club through the good times so I am going to follow them now' because when you follow a team through the really shitty times when things are going bad, you can't score a goal in a few weeks - you really do appreciate days at Hampden.  We are going to Hampden in a few weeks and we hope to do ourselves justice there and try to get to the Final.

"We have been here three months or maybe slightly longer, everyone has been particularly kind to us.  There has been a real decency about people.  We have gone through a run where we were not scoring goals - we could have got a lot more flack than we did.  By and large people have been great supporters of what we are trying to do.  It is hard to keep spirits up when you are getting beat and you are at the bottom.  Everyone else writes off your chance of staying up.

"All of a sudden it is nine points, if St Mirren had beaten Motherwell a couple of weeks ago it would have been eleven points behind.  Now we have brought it down to six and we go to Motherwell this weekend and it we could bring it down again.  We have to play St Mirren and all those teams again come into the picture.

"If we do pull it off, which we are well capable of doing, the fact that you have gone through all of that and been there for the whole season - if we do pull it off, you will appreciate it even more."

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