Pars go for manager with great desire
Friday, 8th May 2015Chairman, Bob Garmony said that he was pleased that a number of people put themselves forward to be the new Dunfermline Athletic manager.
Talking exclusively to this website, Bob said:-
"The Board sat down and worked out the criteria to select a new manager. A series of questions that we could pose to anybody that we interviewed. The applications reached 75 and a number of those were very capable candidates. The top ten could all have done a job for us."
Allan Johnston becomes the new Dunfermline manager just three months after leaving Kilmarnock. His first managerial position was at Queen of the South initially as a player coach in June 2011 and then was appointed manager on 3rd May 2012.
He led the Queens to a historic double in his first full season in management winning the Scottish Second Division and the Scottish Challenge Cup. It was the success at Palmerston that appears to have been especially important, Bob continued:-
"It became evident, very early doors, that we really needed to focus on somebody who had a track record of success in this division and who had taken a team out of this division. Interestingly Allan Johnston had done that with Queen of the South. Then he managed in the Premier League and we just felt that Allan was the right calibre of man to come to Dunfermline.
"The manager knows that we need to get out of this division. We want to be in the Championship next year but we know how hard that is. We have been up against some sides this year when we have been outplayed, outmuscled, out thought and as a result we have ended up seventh in the third tier of Scottish football. That is not acceptable so the manager has to target getting us out of this division."
The new manager has a contract for a year with an option after that .
"It depends on results. As with our previous managers, if results weren't good enough then changes would have to be made. I don't think that we will have the same difficulty with Allan but who knows and so that is why we have not tied ourselves to anything longer."
Asked what were the special qualities that led to Allan Johnston's appointment, Bob replied:-
"If you look at his track record, look at the clubs he played for, the club's he managed, the success he has gathered in his cv. He played in championship winning side in England. He was part of the Sunderland team that went up to the Premier League in England, he has managed a team that got promoted out of the third tier of Scottish football and he has managed in the Premier League.
"His career both playing and managing has been successful. In discussion he comes across as an incredibly honest and straight forward young man who has a desire to be successful in football and he has decided that he wants to make a success here at East End Park."
The Chairman acknowledged that there were a number of last season's squad out of contract and one of the reasons for the relevant overly fast appointment was because the Board wanted to give the new manager the opportunity to review the players who are still under contract until 31st May.
"It gives the new manager time to look at them, talk to them and work with the back room staff - John Potter and physio Kenny Murray are both still here. He can reach the process where he can augment the ten with some of the players who are maybe still be on the books and new players. He has to do that quite quickly because the season starts towards the end of July."
Allan Johnston has crossed paths with Head Coach, John Potter before when he was at St Mirren and on loan at Queen of the South. Asked if there was any likelihood of someone else joining the coaching staff, Bob responded saying that that was up to the manager.
"The manager has been told the budget, he has been told the funds, he has been told what he can and cannot do in terms of spending money. He can spend what we have give him."
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