Manager on Thursday

01/08/13: JJ - "The enthusiasm of watching these kids working and playing for the jersey gives you a massive lift and I find the enjoyment is there again."

Jim Jefferies hopes that there will be plenty of help and support forthcoming for the Club's new owners :-

"We need to do the best we can and that won't be because of any lack of effort from these players; the commitment is there."

Nowhere has that commitment been greater than from JJ himself who has said all along that he was willing to wait until the new owners were in place before considering his own options. He revealed that he had already had discussions with the new owners regarding his own future at the Club:-

"It was always my intention to sit down with whoever took over the Club and talk about that. Pars United were favourites to take over the Club and we had tentative discussions. Now if everything is what they said it would be, then I will be delighted to stay on. They have asked me to sign for two years and an option for longer or to step out of it. I think they are keen for me to get involved, not just on the management side but maybe on a lot of the football matters at the Club because they need a bit of help and guidance. Sometimes Jim Leishman has taken that on but he has a lot on with his wife's foundation and other civic duties."

Assuming he can agree things with Pars United, retirement will be put on hold for the 62 year old Pars gaffer, although he did say that he has no desire to still be in football management at the age of 70.

"This will be my 27th consecutive year in management but the main factor behind staying is the club. I know we have had some tough times but we have brought a lot of these young boys in and integrated the youth system here differently from how it was done in the past. The enthusiasm of watching these kids working and playing for the jersey gives you a massive lift and I find the enjoyment is there again."

He is optimistic that the team can take its second half performance against Cowdenbeath into Saturday's Scottish Communities League Cup tie away to East Stirlingshire:-

"They are in a division below us so we would be a big scalp for them sand we have to make sure that we continue from what we did last week. We do know that it is a new ball game at times on the Astro pitch but we have to adapt to it.

"We have been scuppered a wee bit in our plans for that, we were planning to train at the school today and tomorrow but there seems to have been some sort of vandalism with broken glass last night. It was too dangerous and has been shut down to get it sorted but I'm sure that we will take it in our stride."

Jordan Moore and Luke Johnston

The Manager is confident that his players will thrive on the good atmosphere that has been around the East End Park since the CVA agreement on Tuesday. With the return of Andy Geggan and the on loan players - Jordan Moore and Luke Johnston - with a full week's training under their belts, he is faced with a selection dilemma of the sort he likes to have.

The somewhat enforced youth policy saw his starting eleven at Central Park with four players aged 22 and all the others at least two years younger.

"That is terrific, their enthusiasm and their ability makes up for a lot. So far they have been supported because they are young boys and the fans have forgiven their mistakes because they know that this team will work their socks off for the cause."

The Manager reported that Tuesday night's trialist, Robert Thomson, formerly of Dundee United, did enough to have him in for a week to train with the squad.

Robert Thomson v Oakley United