Manager on Thursday
Thursday, 3rd Sep 2015Allan Johnston was delighted to have finally signed 19 year old full back Shaun Rooney.
The Pars gaffer described his new signing as "a young lad with a lot of potential" and continued:-
"He is desperate to do well and he fits in with what we want to do. He has attributes going forward, it is the best part of his game. There are a lot of bits that we need to work At as well, he is still really young and he is still learning but it is our job to improve him."
The new signing demonstrated his desire to get forward in the Development League match against Hearts on Tuesday night and the manager commented:-
"It is important for us when we are trying to break teams down with the full backs up to get crosses into the box, he will certainly do that with the energy and the pace he has got."
A couple of Premier League clubs had shown interest in Shaun but AJ felt that the player had a better chance of playing at Dunfermline:-
"Nobody is guaranteed a place here, he will have to earn his place because the boys who are playing just now are doing really well. It gives them a bit of competition. We were desperate for defenders; we are still hoping to bring in another defender as well. Hopefully he goes on to have a successful season."
Delighted to have added a player, the manager still expressed how hard it is getting new faces at the club:-
"I've been trying to bring in players for the last six or seven weeks, to be honest. We've had a few trialists. But, with the division we're in, it's difficult to attract some people and also the money is an issue sometimes as well. We are still working away, because we can still bring in players who are out of contract or loan players, etc. So, hopefully we can do that."
Management and supporters alike were delighted nobody came in for top goalscorer, Faissal El Bakhtaoui:-
"Definitely. If you look at all our strikers they're all scoring goals - Michael Moffat, Ryan Wallace, Faiss - so it's really encouraging. We want to keep all our best players anyway. We want to be successful this season and Faiss is a massive part of what we're trying to do, so we definitely don't want to lose him..
"It's difficult, because it's still early in the season, isn't it? He's started the season really well and he's got massive potential. But we're not interested in other teams being interested in him."
Looking at the rest of his squad, the manager confirmed his injury list:-
"We've got Ryan Williamson out long-term with his broken leg after the last Forfar game and Lewis Spence, who has a shoulder injury. Other than that everybody else is fit.
"The positive thing is we went there and got a result the last time. So, we can't blame the pitch, it's a good pitch to go and play on and we know that if we win we go top of the league. I don't think we need any more incentive than that.
"It's going to be a tough game. They're always well organised, they'll definitely be up there at the end of the season challenging. It's obviously an important game to win, but there are a lot of games left in the season no matter what happens.
"They've got good players and they did really well last season; they were really unfortunate not to go up. They've got a lot of quality in their team. But that was last year and we've just got to concentrate on the here and now and not worry about other teams, and make sure we're successful this season."
The manager is looking forward to getting the boots to taking part in the Jock Stein Memorial match on Sunday against Celtic Legends. It will be his first match at East End Park since being a member of the Queen of the South side that got thumped 6-1 in April 2011.
"It will be great to play on Sunday. I think there's going to be a big crowd there as well. I don't know how long they'll get out of me right enough, but as long as I'm on for longer than Pottsy I'll be happy!"
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