Jim Jefferies on Thursday

14/02/13: JJ - "We just get on with it and do

Ahead of the trip to Falkirk on Saturday, Jim Jefferies explained that the off field publicity has not been easy to deal with:-

"People are worried about what is going to happen and we have tried to distance ourselves from it because it is not our side of things. The players have had a lot to put up with but now it is affecting the Club. As far as I am aware, the last time the owner, Gavin (Masterton) spoke to us he was hoping to raise £300,000 to £500,000 but that is outwith our control and we need to wait and see what happens. If supporters do buy the shares, the Club raises the money to keep going. That's the most important thing.

"We cannot keep going the way we are. I was once told that it would be a couple of months, that was away back in October but here we are in the middle of February and it is still the same. Obviously the Club like a lot of football clubs is struggling for money but we will wait and see what materialises. We have just got to shut ourselves away from it and concentrate on football matters.

"I had to run a tight ship at Falkirk and again when I first went to Hearts. They had no money, we had to make that available through the success of the team. Kilmarnock was another tight ship but we always got paid apart from a few days late at Hearts. Not anything like this when it has dragged on waiting for every penny to come into the Club so that the players could get paid.

"It is not ideal but we are not using it as an excuse. We will never do that but facts are facts and they do not help. We are trying to not let it affect us; sometimes not intentionally but subconsciously it does. They have bills to pay and probably use coming here for football to escape. They can concentrate on football matters but they still have their worries when they get home when they have things to deal with.

"We got another payment a couple of days ago which helped towards the balance. There is still some outstanding from January but February is a short month and another pay day is just around the corner. We are hopeful that whatever steps the Club have taken that they get a response to try and help out. They will be wanting clarity about a lot of matters that seem to have arisen. We never get involved in that; we are not in a position to judge or say what happens. We just have to get on with life.

"Our loss of form has coincided with this and if you look at the Hearts situation, they have had the same problems this year and they are third bottom. I am not saying that we are as badly off, they have bigger overheads, bigger wage bills but they have bigger crowds to deal with that."

The financial plight also meant that Jim Jefferies has been unable to strengthen his squad despite Paddy Boyle and Paul Wilis remaining out on loan and Italian Ivan D'Angelo leaving the Club to return to Italy.

"We have not been able to move on anything because we cannot put the Club into any more difficult financial situation. We have had options lately to try and improve things and try and help the players by giving it a lift. We just cannot do it and if it means that the Club cannot do it, you just have to accept that and hopefully one day they will get it sorted out."

The agreement at the beginning of the season was to bring on a young less experienced side to build for the long term:-

"We were happy to go along with that and people should take into account what has happened here, plus the strategy we used at the start of the season, they should just be a little bit more patient. We could say that things internally have not helped but these players have still a lot to find out. Maybe they are not just ready for the Premier League as well. If that's the case and they just miss out then they are capable, without having too much work next year, to make them improve and be better.

"We cannot make any plans because I have had no meetings about future plans because the Club is not in a position to say what they can and cannot do. That is due to the tough financial situation so we just get on with it and do the best we can."