Manager on Thursday

26/09/13: JJ - "We're expecting it to be one of the tougher matches on Saturday.

Jim Jefferies told the media on Thursday that those behind Pars United have been keeping him up to date with their progress towards the successful change of ownership that he expects to go ahead officially next week. He is full of hope that this will pass another milestone in getting back to running a sustainable football club where the focus can return to matters on the park.

"It's on course to proceed and so by this time next week they should be in charge and, after Saturday, BDO will step aside, I think on certain conditions being met. With the new owners taking over it will just give us more of an ability to plan ahead and there will still be the football debt to sort out.

"The players have been great about that, because they know it's going to happen, but that will have to be sorted out. It will mean we can sit down now and plan. We've discovered a few issues with the football side that they will do their best to help with. We've just got to be sensible and form a plan."

Very much part of the plan is Jim Jefferies and he talked about his own contract situation:-

"When the Pars United were given preferred bidder status they approached me and we spoke about staying on. We looked at it and agreed in principle, provided everything was put in place.

"They couldn't do anything officially, but once everything goes through next week they will. I was happy to stay on and we'll just sort it out when they get control. There's nothing to discuss, it's just a case of sorting out the formalities.

"It was a different situation with the players because they had to get sorted out before the transfer deadline. They couldn't do month to month because if they had come out of contract outside the window we wouldn't have been able to sign them or play them again until January. What BDO did to keep the players until the end of the season, the new owners will now need to take over."

Looking ahead to the visit of Mark Roberts Ayr United team, Dunfermline should be at full strength with one player expected to prove his fitness on Friday:-

"Alex Whittle took a wee knock in training. He didn't train today as a precaution but we expect him to train on Friday. We've been very fortunate in the last three weeks to have a fully-fit squad to choose from and hopefully that will be the same on Saturday."

Jefferies is full of respect for Ayr United, always believing that the Somerset Park club would be one of the teams at the top challenging:-

" I've not seen anything to change my mind. They've got some decent players and I know you always have to keep an eye on their two strikers.

"Billy Brown obviously played against them last season when he was the East Fife manager and he has identified one or two players for us to look out for. And we've got our own reports and will get as much information as we can about them. We're expecting it to be one of the tougher matches on Saturday.

"We've got to deal with it and hopefully get another good performance. I don't think it will be easy. I would take the result we had on Saturday right now, or a 1-0, and anything else is a bonus.

"If we go and play the way we've been playing and just convert some of these chances, the players have said they feel - and I'm not saying it will be Ayr - that when it all fits together somebody is going to cop it with a good comfortable victory for us.

"Hopefully that will be the case on Saturday but as long as there's three points in the bag going into the last two games of the quarter - against Forfar away and Rangers away - it would set us up nicely.

"I said after we played Brechin that the next two home games would be important. We got the first one over, because Airdrie were always a bit of a bogey for us, and if we could follow it up with a win it would be a good six points to get going into these next two games."

Rangers were restricted to a solitary one when they took three points away from Station Park, Forfar in the televised match:-

"We saw on Sunday just how hard it is for Rangers, because Forfar are never easy up there and anyone who watched the game will have seen that Forfar caused their own downfall and probably on the balance of play deserved better.

"It would have been nice if they had managed to take a couple of points off Rangers, but there's a long, long way to go and we've just got to keep our side of the bargain.

"Rangers are the favourites and you can understand why. They've got a lot more experience than us and have players who have played at a far higher level than some of our players.

"But, as Morton showed the other night against Celtic, things can be done and the key to everything will be how we handle the rest. If we're always doing well and in and about Rangers, when the games come against them they become important if you want to close the gap.

"But there's no point in beating Rangers and then throwing it away against the lesser teams. So, we'll endeavour to look after all the other games that are just as important. Obviously everybody will look at the Rangers one as a glamour game in a couple of weeks' time.

"But we've got to be on their coat-tails going into that match and the only way we'll do that is by winning the two games before then, because you would expect Rangers to win their two games. If they don't it will just make it a wee bit more interesting when we play them."

Tickets for the league game at Ibrox on Saturday 12th October have gone on sale and Dunfermline have been allocated only 419 spaces. The gaffer commented:-

"It's not my side of things but we're taking a fair bit of travelling support away to the games, which is good for all the other clubs as well. It's not as if we could say to Rangers 'we'll only give you 400', because we need a big gate as well.

"That's something the club will have to take up, but I'm sure there will be a big demand for them from our fans. But, of course, from the playing side of things it would be great to have as many fans there as possible. They've been terrific and they've got right behind the team all the time.

"You can hear them when we go away to all these grounds, to Stenhousemuir and Brechin, and it makes a big difference.

"They'll be outnumbered at Ibrox by a long shot but sometimes when they know that they get louder and get right behind the team. The more we can get in the better for us, because they'll go there and try to defy the odds, in terms of the numbers.

"I've seen it done, small bands of supporters going to big grounds and chanting, and even when I've not been involved and been at other games and you see a wee band in the corner signing their hearts out, while there might be 10 times as many there for the other team and they're quiet.

"I'm sure when our supporters get there they'll make themselves heard and that's always a big lift for the team, although it will be a tall ask when you're 419 against 50,000!"