Injury pain goes but pain for Manager's loss

"Much as you are losing a gaffer, you are losing a friend as well. He is a good friend to me and always will be.

Steven Bell has had two operations this season, in September and October, but now keyhole surgery has made all the difference but too late for this season:-

"I had a pain in the front of my foot that meant I couldn't kick a ball. Running wise everything was going fine but it was just too painful to move my foot to kick the ball. My surgeon in London recommended a specialist up here who performed keyhole surgery. He made two minor scars and he said I had a problem with my ligaments rubbing together. He cleared that out and said that I'd be fine.

Steven Bell's last game for Dunfermline at Cappielow on 6th November 2010

"I have had this pain for a while but we always thought that it would go away. The surgeon told us that this might have happened a while ago and just not taken its toll. To leave it so long has caused more scar tissue.

"You look back and say 'if only you had got this done'. That is two major things that have happened to me since my last achilles operation in March last year. I will start running next week but this is the first time that I have been pain free in the last 18 months. I have been out all season and so I just need to look forward to next season, whether it is here or elsewhere. Obviously what has happened with the gaffer is not great for me."

The 26 year old has known Jim McIntyre for almost ten years now. Steven was a youth at Tannadice when Macca was a first team player and recognises that he has played a big part in his career:-

"I was sad to see him go the way he did, and I was gutted for him. I text him that night with my condolences and he text me right back with thanks and wished me to come back stronger. We met on Saturday and I told him that he would get the next job that came up. I worked with Allan Moore and he is a good manager but Jim McIntyre is totally up there for me. He is definitely the best manager that I have worked under, he brought my game on massively."

Belly was one of Jim McIntyre's first signings and he stuck by the injured midfielder when he was going through a bad time and when injuries to others caused him to be played out of position:-

"He knew what kind of player I was and stuck by me. This season he has been brilliant with me. He has not neglected me and has always made me feel part of it. I thank him for that as well.

It has been a long way back for Steven

"Much as you are losing a gaffer you are losing a friend as well. He is a good friend to me and always will be. Hopefully we will meet up again in the future. He had great ambition, every year here he progressed building a new team. Then he got dealt a blow with injuries and players getting sold last year.

"Since we won promotion he has had to deal with even worse injuries - me and Nicky have been out all season and Gall out for half a season. He has not complained about that but I am sure deep down he is cursing it. This happens at every club and you just have to deal with it.

"It was things out of his hands; it was individual errors that have killed them as well. At the end of the day he has put out teams that should have been able to win games but we just have not for some reason. For me that is not down to the gaffer or Gerry McCabe because the spirit is high in that dressing room, we have just been unlucky."