Jim Jefferies Waiting Game

27/06/12: Jim Jefferies preparations on hold

Jim Jefferies described the situation he currently faces as "ludicrous". With Rangers newco unlikely to be accepted into the SPL, Dunfermline would hope to have the best case to fill the vacant spot for Club 12 and so avoid relegation, but no one can predict what will happen next in this saga. The Pars gaffer spoke exclusively to the website and explained his predicament:-

"We don't know what division we are going to be in yet. There is talk now of us possibly being in the Premier League. I was at a Board meeting the other night and we decided that there was not much we could discuss regarding the team because it is a whole new ball game if we go back into the Premier League. Everything has been put on hold until we find out in which division we will be playing our football.

"There is a meeting at Hampden tomorrow (Thursday) where we are hoping to get some sort of guidance that would allow us to talk further over the weekend. We start back next Wednesday and quite frankly it is ludicrous, we still don't know what division we are going to be in."

The dilemma is compounded by decisions already taken revealed Jim Jefferies:-

"Plans have already been made for us being in the First Division but are we going to stay in the Premier League? We need to find out where we are going to be, before we can proceed which path to go down.

"I have no idea when we might find out and that is a problem that we all have got, whatever club gets in. Clubs in the First Division have been preparing, like myself, for that. We have chosen a pathway to develop younger players; the signings that we have made reflect that. It would be a big ask for these boys to go straight into the Premier League. I am not saying that they can't and we are hoping one day that they could with some development in the First Division.

"If it is totally different then the experienced players that we would be looking to bring in would have to good enough to go up there and challenge. We would not want to go up there to come right back down. That's where I would come in, but budgets will determine that. You cannot do anything until you find out which division you are going to be in."

The gaffer rehearsed what he might be saying on the first day of training:-

"We could be talking to the players about the season ahead but then a day or two later we might have to look at it differently. Whatever club it is, whether it is Dundee or Dunfermline, we feel that we have a strong case because we finished twelfth. In the past on some occasions they have not got relegated. Dundee's case is based on them having finished runners up in the First Division, albeit 25 points behind Ross County and also a couple of times in recent years they have been in administration themselves.

"Dundee will put their case forward and Dunfermline will put there's. What we hear is that the 'newco' from Rangers is not going to be accepted in the Premier League so there will be a place because I cannot see them going with eleven clubs. They are already losing money with Rangers not being there but to lose another gate because of a free team each week is not going to go down well either.

"Somebody has to go in and Dunfermline will have a strong case to try and remain in the SPL.  If that happens then the budgets will be different. Obviously we are committed to these boys that we have brought in; they were brought in with a view that they could eventually play in the Premier League. You could be in a situation where you cannot put too many of these players in but they will still be part of the Club, they will still be part of the squad and they will have to step up their game knowing that they are going in against harder opposition than they were probably expecting, if Dunfermline is successful.

"I might have to go and look for better players, but where are they? We don't know budgets either, it is very difficult. Nobody ever expected a thing like this with Rangers - it has caught everybody out and nobody has really taken the bull by the horns and gone and sorted it out quickly enough. It has all escalated into more and more problems and this is one of them.

"A lot of Chairmen were all for Rangers 'newco' being in the SPL but pressure from the fans and sporting integrity has caused them to change their minds. At the end of the day, it is not a good position and it should have been sorted out months ago. There's nothing we can do and that goes for the experienced players that I promised to get back to. I have said to them that they will just have to wait because it will all depend upon which league we are in."