Play at a higher level with the Pars

30/01/14: JJ - You try and get the message to them that they are at a big club.

Jim Jefferies is concentrating on strengthening his squad for the run in but is just as keen that the players being offered extensions to their current contracts accept on the basis that, since they all want to play at a higher level that they commit to the club and go to that higher level with Dunfermline Athletic:-

"That is the easy solution and they are capable of doing it. We are in second place, we have not won every game but we have a good gap that a few more wins will mean that we are in the play offs anyway. We want to finish second so that there will be a team in our league that we need to play and then the team coming down from the Championship, as we found last year, are always on a bit of a downer. They will be difficult opponents and if we lose out then we know that there might be a chance that the club would have to take stock.

"Players want to play at a higher level, so as long as there are provisions in there to satisfy everybody. Contract extensions give the security in case no bigger clubs come in for them. The club is putting up a two year contract for them.

"If it doesn't work then we can have a go again or if we do then we will strengthen it in the summer to give ourselves a great chance of consolidating in the Championship. You try and get the message to them that they are at a big club. I have been at Kilmarnock and this is as big a club as Kilmarnock, they are just in a bigger place than us at the moment.

"We had a bigger crowd than St Johnstone v Ross County on the same day we played Stranraer. We have the potential to go into the new Championship next season and I think we can attract twice as many people here. We have already seen them come when against Raith Rovers when we were going for the title."

The attendance at the Rovers game in April 2011 was 11052 and the manager feels that this could easily be replicated with a successful side in the Championship.

"Traditionally this is a big club and they are only in a bad spot just now because of mismanagement and a fifteen point deduction. It is not because they do not have the ability to play at a higher level.

"Young boys can sometimes get illusions of grandeur. Sometimes they think that the grass is greener on the other side, I could name you hundreds and hundreds of players who have gone on to do that and think 'I wish I had stayed where I was'.

"You try to give them as much information and positives because this is a big club that will get there. And they have a chance of making themselves legends by taking them there. You can only do what you can to make it and then its my decision how I manage that situation knowing one way or the other whether they are going to be here or not."

Jim Jefferies can draw on his experiences dealing with players but first and foremost his attentions are focussed on bringing in two new faces but he did admit that the inability to conclude a contract with Josh Falkingham puts his position as captain in jeopardy:-

"It is a decision for me but I have told Josh that he has to remember that he is captain of this football club and we have had players committing. That is his prerogative, he is not doing anything wrong but he is running a risk that I cannot have players out there committed in going forward and the captain's future elsewhere. He knows that but I am just bringing that to his attention. That shouldn't decide whether he stays or not.

"I am only telling him that is the position that he puts us in. You need somebody who is going to go out on that pitch knowing that I am going to be at Dunfermline next year and trying to get them up. I have said to them that it is the one thing that they can always rest assured, if at the end of the season it doesn't work and they want to move on or a decent club comes in and they think that they would like to go, I will do a deal.

"If they don't then I cannot do a deal. I think Dunfermline deserves something back for the loyalty and to repay the fans who have kept this club afloat and paid them the back pay and the bonus structures that have come through, because we couldn't have done it without them.

"With what we pay our players a transfer fee might be enough to get a couple of players in. We could accept that they want to be ambitious and play at a higher level. If Dunfermline was not be able to give them that chance then we would have to start again to try and do it the following season with or without them."