Waiting game for Mase

"Probably a lot of clubs are in the same boat and now it is a waiting game. The Board need to decide what they want to do.

Gary Mason experienced relegation with Dunfermline in 2007 and is sorry that the same fate has happened to him again five seasons later. He explained that he and his team mates have been coming to terms with their destiny after the defeat at Easter Road on Monday:-

"We just need to get our heads around what has happened. Obviously we have not won enough games to stay in the league, that has been the most disappointing thing. The reality is that we are going down and it is never a nice position to be involved in. We want to bounce back as quickly as we can."

Gary expressed a view that he had never before been in a position where so many of his team mates were out of contract.

"Probably a lot of clubs are in the same boat and now it is a waiting game. The Board need to decide what they want to do. Football is not getting any easier; I enjoy it here and have had a lot of good years here. It is a club that has been very close to me and I'd like the opportunity to try and get us back up to where we want to be."

The harsh reality of relegation after just one year in the top flight is great uncertainty now hangs over players' futures. Gary knows how it feels to be without a club having been in that situation between leaving Hamilton Accies in December 2009 and joining Dunfermline in February 2010.

"I was training on my own just to keep myself fit. That was probably the worst period of my career; you don't know what your next move will be. When you have a young family to support it can be quite straining. Hamilton was a short term thing but then Jim McIntyre brought me in until the end of the season and then I signed for another season."

The mass of footballers out of contract at the end of the season seems to be greater than ever as far as Gary can see:-

"You cannot wait about; if there is something there you have got to jump at it. A lot of the lads will probably say the same."

Gary is keen to pick things up and give Saturday's game a big shot. He scored the last time Dunfermline defeated Kilmarnock at East End Park - in September 2006 - and hopes to repeat that this time.

Gary Mason, Player of the Year 2010-11