Meet the Manager Night

At an exclusive event for season ticket holders, the management team gave their views on a variety of subjects.

The Dunfermline management team Jim McIntyre, Gerry McCabe and Stephen Wright were joined by Captain Scott Wilson and Vice Captain Stephen Glass for a Meet the Manager night arranged especially for Season Tickets holders in Legends on Wednesday night.

Jim McIntyre started off by making an assessment of the season so far. He admitted to be "quietly satisfied" although he said that it had been a strange year for him personally as he made the transition from player to manager.

"I am pleased with the players commitment and we are second in the table with a game in hand."

Responding to a suggestion from the floor that the team has the quality but lacks confidence, the Manager conceded that the team was on a downer after losing so many home matches. He said that the team knows that they could do better especially since the away form has been fantastic.

"The team morale has been great" added Macca who tried to explain the bad luck at home. Stressing the importance of scoring the first goal and potentially having the better players, he pointed out that the players had to earn the right to win. Failing to take chances has also frustrated the management team.

Gerry McCabe felt that refereeing decisions had not gone all the Pars way, citing Stephen Glass's disallowed goal against Morton and the out of play ball prior to St Johnstone's goal at East End Park. He said that "it frustrates us more than anything that the assistant referee does not help". At the end of the season decisions might even themselves out and he felt that Craig Thomson was correct to allow the winning goal at Dumfries last Saturday, on another day with another referee the goal might not have been given.

The season ticket holders were interested to know if there were any good prospects coming through the youth initiative. Jim McIntyre believed that there was talent in the Under 15 squad but he would need to see how the lads developed. He singled out Paul Willis as a young player with "a decent chance" and went on to praise the contribution now being made by former youth player, Nick Phinn. "He has been first class this year and has added a real goal threat to his game."

Asked about the possibility of new players being added to the first team squad, he replied that he was constantly looking at players since he felt that he did need a couple of players. Since Sol Bamba left to join Hibs the Manager felt that he lacked cover for his centre halves but when pressed for further information guarded against others going in for players that he was interested in saying "I do my businesses behind the scenes."

Fans had heard good reports of Rory Loy's debut at Dumfries and wondered whether or not his stay might be extended. The gaffer explained that the SPL Reserve League had closed down until the end of January and he would have to see how Rory would deal with the "culture shock" involved with moving from a big club and Murray Park to the First Division. He did say that he was very impressed with the on loan man's first 30 minutes.

When pressed on changes he would like to see in Scottish football Jim McIntyre first mooted a 16 team league but doubted it would ever happen as self interest would prevail to retain fixtures and gates from meeting the Old Firm. He also said that he would welcome better training facilities to develop players and improve the tempo of training on better surfaces.

The Manager was pleased with a home draw against an SFL team in the Homecoming Cup since the important thing was to progress to the next round. On the re-arranged fixture with Ross County, Macca said that the club had been pressing for Tuesday 30th December but the opposition were not keen on that date and it might slip to beyond the last Saturday in February.