Late Call none too jolly

07/03/13: When Jim Jefferies' phone went at midnight on Monday and heard Jim Leishman at the other end, he immediately knew that it had to be bad news

When Jim Jefferies' phone went at midnight on Monday and heard Jim Leishman at the other end, he immediately knew that it had to be bad news. The Dunfermline Manager agreed to meet up in the morning to hear of the developments. Leish told the gaffer to keep to himself what had happened at the Monday night meeting but by the following morning it was all over the BBC news. JJ had been made well aware of the severity of the situation by Gavin Masterton on Friday.

"Gavin kept saying he was hopeful of things happening that would see us through. It maybe wasn't his fault but things weren't forthcoming and it got to the stage where it got too much. Gavin is still the owner of the Club and Jim has taken charge of what Gavin was trying to do and that's get money into the Club fast - but time is running out. You can see the severity of the situation.

"I'm sure there's a lot more than even just the immediate money that's got to be found so good luck to him. He'll be in meetings every day for a long time. He was in and out of meetings yesterday and hardly had time to catch breath.

"He'll put a lot of work into it and he'll get a reaction but it's whether it will be enough, that's the question. Jim will be meeting the same people and rallying round the fans. I'm sure there will be initial input but it depends what the share issue raises. He more or less said at the press conference if the share issue doesn't yield what they expect then the future doesn't look bright."

The Manager knows that it is tough trying to please everybody with some understandably still calling for Gavin Masterton to leave altogether.

" That's not easy when the man has put a lot of money into the Club. My interest is that the Club have enough money to pay the players and staff their wages.
They have not done that for a number of months now. You can look at all the scenarios with the games and money, we were at a stage where we were flying, top of the league and decent crowds. I think it's only in the last couple of weeks that it has hit home and the problems have definitely been on their minds.

" We knew if it was not sorted out that it could not go on, we're at the stage now where it can't go on any longer. We've got to take steps to get that money in and Gavin resigned and Jim has come to take it on. He doesn't know if he can do it, it will depend upon how much money people can put in.

" I've had people say to me, they want to take money out the bank and it's fantastic. It's a couple of hundred quid. A boy stopped me just coming back from training, he was prepared to do that, he said 'I'll go to the bank'. You can't expect the boy to turn around and give you £250,000. People like that, if you got thousands of them to do that, I'm sure it will come to a bit of money. Jim is wanting to get it through to the end of the season but then you have the summer months where there is no gates. There has to be enough money coming in because you have to pay bills all the time.

"I am hoping that he gets a great response. People talk to me about the team over the weeks but that is secondary at the moment, it is about this Club surviving."

For players, staff and fans the possibility of there being no Dunfermline Athletic Football Club just does not bear thinking about. Jefferies has a vast experience of clubs fighting for their lives

" I've been at clubs and seen how they operate, considering sometimes you get a little bit of interference with things or not get what you want. It's a great club to work for because the one thing about Gavin Masterton and John Yorkston is they never interfere. They've never asked what we're doing or questioned what we're doing, they let you get on with it. To get on with it the Club needs to be run right and that's the bit they struggled with."

The Pars boss had reservations about agreeing to Falkirk's request to bring forward the home fixture scheduled for Tuesday 9th April.

" They're doing it because they want a free week for the cup semi final, they're not doing it to help us. I know that for a fact. I'm not having a go. We said to them at the time when we realised this game was on April 9 on a Tuesday, away back in November when Scotland played there was a free Saturday. We wanted to bring it forward, it's a Saturday and we were just getting into the season. Could we bring it forward? It would be better on a Saturday for both clubs. I tried to bring the game forward but Falkirk didn't agree.

" I don't know the reasons for that but it's funny now they want it brought forward. They want it forward because they want a clear week and I understand that. I would do the same but sometimes it can be strange that they didn't help you out when you needed it. The bottom line is that it probably suits us to bring it forward because we've only got one game this month and that would give us back-to-back home games with the Dumbarton one."

The non payment of players' wages has severely affected the Manager's objectives and results. He has been concentrating on building a team and even had three players lined up to join at the end of the season but knows that nobody is going to enter an environment where there is doubt over receiving wages. All Jefferies plans for next season are currently on hold.

"There is a sense of concern that Dunfermline Football Club is on its knees at the moment. Last week was a killer for the players when they only received 20% of their wages.

"Now I think there was an anger and a rage inside the players because of the situation but it's gone slowly the other way because they've seen there's been some developments and they realise it's got to the stage they need to do their bit to help. They're a bit more stunned at the severity of the situation because it's easy not to think about that until someone hits it home and they saw how Jim delivered the message on Wednesday.

"Jim said himself he doesn't know if he can do it. He's only got two or three weeks to do it so it's a massive response that's needed but he'll work hard at it to get them their wages. They're still 40 per cent short of their wages this month and we're a third of the way through so the next one isn't far away. That's the concern but we've got to put it out of our minds because we've got a game to play and we can't go about it as we did last week."

The Manager was angry that having said they'd play last week and then in their minds they didn't turn up.

" I told them that at half-time and the response was better in the second half. As professional football players they've got to give the best they can or tell me they're not in the right frame of mind to give their best and I can play young boys. I have been assured this week that is not the case so we will keep our fingers crossed that they are true to their word and go out and do it at Airdrie."

Questioned on whether devoting full time attention to his golf game was becoming more and more attractive, Jim Jefferies replied:-

"I enjoy the job. The Club's been great to me and I brought a lot of players here so I won't just walk away. I've given the youths a bit of a lift by incorporating them in our training and going to their games because that's the decision we made. I think the young boys have had a big lift in seeing they've got a wee chance due to the Club's plight and that the Manager is encouraging them. We've already had a few more younger boys through than previous years.

"You don't want to walk away from those jobs. Gavin and Jim asked me to stay on for next year. I said months ago I'd do that at the end of the season and analyse where we were and it was going to depend on what they said. Is the Club going to go forward and give you a chance to finish or do something that you made a decision to do at the start of the season.

"We decided at the start of the season to go down the younger route and reduce the wage bill and see if we could build on that. But listen, the Club might not get to the end of the season because of the state it's in.

"We'll cross that bridge when we come to it because Jim has enough on his plate trying to save the Club. I'm not bothered about the money side of things in terms of a new contract, it's about where the Club are going and surviving this. If we get through this then what happens next? I wouldn't like to go into the same situation doing the same things, struggling to pay the players, because it's not easy.

"I've just had to accept it and take it in dribs and drabs but the players can't afford to do that. They don't get that much money so it's hard for them to pay bills. They're not on great wages. It might be different if you're on big money."

Reminded that he has a team to select to face Airdrie United on Saturday, the Manager listed Stephen Jordan, Andy Barrowman, Shaun Byrne and Josh Falkingham not fit. Andy Geggan and Jordan McMillan are suspended for this Saturday taking the tally to six of the first team squad unavailable. Andy Kirk however has trained all week

"With half the team missing it is a lot to ask these young boys, given what is happening at the Club, to get themselves in a position where we can be expected to be winning the championship. The goal was to be up there challenging but we are in danger of falling away because of the situation at the Club. It has been tough but we know that two or three results can change the whole thing."