Diamond who became a Par

"The only reason that I left the club was because when Jimmy Calderwood came he said that he wanted to bring his own players

Andy Smith claims that in the full footballing career that he enjoyed "Dunfermline are easily the best club that I played for.

"That is the biggest compliment that I could make. I had success at other clubs as well but coming from the 'enemy' at that time - certainly that is what it felt like when I came up - to finish off the way I did here with the success we had as a club.

"It was a brilliant time and they were a brilliant bunch of guys as well. I felt lucky to be at the Club at that time.

Fans struggled a bit to accept Andy into the fold because he joined from Airdrie but Manager Bert Paton had only one thing in mind - "he scores goals". The Manager was later to get a good return for the £70,000 transfer fee.

Andy was booed on to the pitch are East End Park on his debut against Bolton Wanderers in a pre season friendly at the beginning of season 1995-96. Emotions were to change however through circumstances, Andy explained:-

"Breaking my leg  in my first game caused some sort of sympathy because when I came back in December, the fans response to me was very good. I scored just before I broke my leg but the reaction didn't bother me because I knew I was coming to a really good club.

"I knew I could win the fans over and obviously having played against Dunfermline so many times I knew how good the club was, how big it was. For me it was a no brainer. I had a great time at Airdrie but I thought it was the right career move.

"From the first game back, against Airdrie, the supporters until the day I left, were fantastic to me."

The average gate at East End in 1996-97 for league matches was 8753 and that was maintained during the following season in which Andy was top goal scorer with 26 strikes. That form got him into the Scotland B team but despite media pressure there was to be no full international cap.

Andy Smith who made 154 appearances for the Pars, scored 63 goals for the club, many laid on from the wide players on either side of him - Allan Moore and Stewart Petrie.

"Football was simple in those days. Teams were a lot more attack minded and most played with two wingers. We did have some good players at that time and the quality got more and more especially with strikers Geordie Shaw, Gerry Britton and then Owen Coyle.

"The only reason that I left the club was because when Jimmy Calderwood came he said that he wanted to bring his own players. I still had two and a half years left so I was a bit disappointed to leave but that's football."

His final game for Dunfermline was in the 3-0 win over Livingston in November 1999 and he was sold to Kilmarnock the following January for a fee of £150,000.

Jim Jefferies would possibly like an Andy Smith like striker in his current team. Andy watched Dunfermline and their youth team a number of times last season with great admiration. He warned that the fans need to wait as these young players mature:-

"When you have a lot of young players in the team it is very very important to have patience. With Rangers being in their league this year, it was always going to be difficult so Dunfermline are now in the position of best of the rest. I hope that they get in the play offs and then from there you are in the lap of the gods a bit since it is very difficult to win the play offs."

Andy's memories of life at East End Park under Dick and Bert are as a great time.

"Five of us came through from Glasgow by car so the banter started before we got here. It was really good all throughout and I think that came from the management. Bert and Dick were sometimes good cop, bad cop but very good in creating a good atmosphere.

"They had an eye for a player because they got in a lot of good players at that time and I believe that is why some came to the club. Not just for the size of the club but because they knew that they were going to work with good people."

Andy who will be 45 later this month, now works for the SFA as a Development Officer but that does not allow him to work with a club. He is optimistic that the rules might change after Christmas because he feels that he still has a lot to offer to professional clubs. In addition to that Andy takes the Scottish national cerebral palsy team that has qualified for the 2015 World Cup in Basel.

"There are a lot of disability centres in my own area. It is something that I enjoy doing but I also watch my own two boys playing football." Son Jack has recently joined East Fife.

Andy finished his career at Gretna where as subsequently one of the coaching staff at one stage found himself caretaker manager with Mick Wadsworth but his life as a boss stalled.

"When I look at boys like Allan Moore and Jackie McNamara, boys who have got themselves into the management game, I would love to be doing that as well. If I could, next to playing that would be the best thing that I could do. Unfortunately there's not many football jobs out there.

"I still think I have a couple of years in me so hopefully I will start working with a club again next year and I am pretty sure that will happen. What age group or what level I don't know but I have all my coaching badges and I want to put them to good use."