Meet the Managers Night

As part of Dunfermline Athletic's 125th anniversary celebrations, the club held a Meet the Managers Night in the Kingdom Suite at East End Park on Thursday evening.

As part of Dunfermline Athletic's 125th anniversary celebrations, the club held a Meet the Managers Night in the Kingdom Suite at East End Park on Thursday evening.
We've seen a few such events in recent years but this was one with a little difference because not only was the present manager Jim McIntyre present, but three former managers in the shape of Harry Melrose, Bert Paton and Jim Leishman also joined him for this fans' question time.

Around sixty fans turned up to fire in their questions, and most would have left happy after the managers responded to queries with a mixture of serious debate and good-humoured banter. The evening was unusual in that it gave fans the opportunity to wallow in a bit of nostalgia as well as looking for answers about the current team and their aspirations.

Here's a flavour of the questions and answers provided on the night:

Crosses and balls into the box?

The first question of the evening was to Jim McIntyre about the need to improve the final ball into the box. JM responded to say that providing quality and variation was one of the things that he strives to do in training and is something that the coaching staff work at constantly. A later questioner said that he felt with Dunfermline's small forward line there was no point in sending over high cross balls. JM said it depended on the type of ball, but that he was working with players to come across and get in front of defenders. He explained that with a 4-3-3 system, he would be looking for every situation to have four options for the person crossing the ball, so the height of the forward wasn't significant if the ball was properly
delivered.

Management then and now?

Harry and Bert were asked to give their impressions of managing now and managing in their day. HM said that he wouldn't want to be a manager now because of the pressures created by the media. He felt that in his day, journalists like Jimmy Wardhaugh were former footballers who knew the game well and were trusted. Nowadays there is a lot of pressure from the media in lots of different ways. HM gave the illustration of a 'fan' who hears a result without being at the game, then uses his mobile phone to ring a radio phone in to say that it's time the manager was away!

BP said that it was a very different game today and that there was no money in the game. He pointed out that managing was a very different task to playing - when you are playing you are only looking after yourself whereas the manager has to think of everyone. Both agreed that it was important to be positive, and to be patient and give the manager time.

Sixteen team SPL?

The managers were asked their views on a sixteen team Premier League. All agreed that a 16 team SPL would be a big improvement but that ultimately they were competing against self-interest. Teams that were making a lot of money from playing each other four times would not allow a sixteen team league to be formed.

Jim Leishman referred to previous structures where the League Cup in sections had provided teams with the opportunity to give young players their chance in the first team. He felt that the league needed a shake up and should try different things to bring the fans back.

Jim McIntyre pointed out that both Owen Coyle and Paul Lambert had both knocked back the chance to come back to Scotland and this, in his view, was due to the poor competition that was on offer. He felt that a 16-team league with play offs was the answer. Jim Leishman pointed out that Dunfermline had some of the best facilities outwith the SPL so would fit the criteria were this to come about.

How do I rate myself?

Jim McIntyre was asked to rate how he felt his own performance had been as manager to date. Jim said he felt that, given the constraints and the problems of changing the squad from what had been SPL earners, he was above average. He said he didn't think that the team were winning enough games for his liking, but that his aim was very definitely to win promotion and if he got three or four players in the summer his team would be in with a good shout next season. JM said that he thought his biggest weakness was that he didn't relax enough and that a poor result destroyed his weekend. He said that Jim Leishman had advised him to switch off so that he could start afresh on Monday mornings and he felt that this was good advice.

Part-timers?

The panel were asked whether, in the present financial climate, going part-time was an option. HM said that football mirrored life - there were the very rich clubs, but most struggled. He thought that there would be more part-time clubs in the future. BP cited an example of how it now took £65,000 to run a junior club and that this was a situation that was unsustainable. He said although it could never be ruled out he hoped that it would never come to Dunfermline. JL talked about how there were so-called part-timers in Norway but they trained four times a week. He said that SFL clubs could all go part-time, but he assured the audience that nobody was talking about it at Dunfermline.

Consistency?

A number of fans commented on the quality of football that this present Dunfermline team were playing. One questioner said he thought that the first 45 minutes against Ross County at Dingwall was possibly the best football he'd seen all season. However, we were not finishing teams off and were getting bullied by others when it started to get physical.

JM agreed with the analysis but pointed out that it wasn't always like that - the team had stood up well to Morton last Saturday for example. He conceded that the biggest problem was that the team were conceding too many goals, and that the onlyway to progress was to make sure that this problem was eliminated.

Young players?

Jim McIntyre was asked about which young players he felt might make it through to the first team. JM pointed out that the set up wasn't ideal to get young players first team experience. He gave the example of Greg Paterson whom he would have liked to put out on loan, but the money wasn't there to bring in another experienced goalkeeper to allow this to happen.

JM said that he thought that Paul Willis was coming on in leaps and bounds but that there were still three or four players ahead of him for the position he played. He commented that Jordan White was a player he thought might make it and that Ryan Thomson had something although whether it was at
this level only time would tell. He also pointed out that Stephen Wright had given the youth set up a shake and that it would take time for this to work through. JL advised that the club was working to develop a committee to run the youth policy in conjunction with Craig McWhirter, with a view to getting a professional Under 17 andUnder 19 system going.

Match preparation in bad weather?

Jim McIntyre was asked about how he goes about preparing his teams for matches when the weather is so bad. JM responded by saying that Pitreavie is quite often flooded or frozen so it has become a necessity to find alternative venues. The squad had been all over the country in search of suitable training facilities, and they had even used former Pars goalkeeper Roddy McKenzie to provide spinning classes. Jim did however, say that the squad's fitness was very good.

Advice to Jim McIntyre?

The three former managers were asked what advice they would want to give to Jim McIntyre to assist him. HM said that he thought that Jim was doing a great job and he could not presume to tell him what to do. He felt that if Jim could add a goalscorer to his squad he could do really well. To much laughter, Bert Paton said that he would give Jim three pieces of advice - don't read the papers, don't listen to the radio, and don't watch the TV! Jim Leishman said that he was impressed with Jim. His biggest strength is that he knows he is on a learning curve and wants to listen to others, but ultimately will be his own man when it comes to decision-making.

Best moment in football?

The panel was asked what they considered to be their best moment in their own careers. JM said that winning the Scottish Cup with Kilmarnock was his. It was the only thing he had won and the feeling of winning at Hampden Park was fantastic, as was the open top bus tour later when it seemed like 40,000 had transported themselves to Kilmarnock. JL said that he was very lucky because he'd had so many great moments. For him though winning the two games against Dundee and Dundee United in 2005 to keep Dunfermline in the SPL was an amazing feeling. Jim also said that leading the team to the League Cup Final in 2006 was fantastic. He knew that because of the injuries his team had that he had very little chance going into the Final but leading the team out had been a great honour.

Bert said that as a player the European nights and winning the 1968 Cup Final was special - even thought they had not been allowed to do a lap of honour at the end. As a manager, it had to be winning promotion to the Premier League in 1996 - especially after so many people wrote off their chances of winning the penultimate game against Dundee United at Tannadice.

For Harry Melrose it was winning the 1961 Cup Final. HM recalled how nobody gave Dunfermline a chance after they had drawn the first match at Hampden.

Best opponent?

The panel were asked who their best opponent had been during their careers. For
Harry Melrose it was Dundee and Scotland full back Alex Hamilton, a leading member of Dundee's championship-winning side of 1962. Harry admitted that Hamilton had him in his pocket most of the time. Jim Leishman told the story of how he had been asked as a youngster to go out and play at left back against the legendary Jimmy Johnstone at Parkhead - needless to say Jim said that he never got near him! Bert Paton also told a story of how he ended up getting punched in the jaw from Johnstone at Parkhead. Jim McIntyre said that his hardest opponent had been Richard Gough - he was good in the air, always competitive and a good leader.

There were many other questions on the night, too many to include here, but the managers were given a warm ovation at the end for their honesty and good humour in answering the questions.

Duncan Simpson
Dunfermline Athletic FC Programme Editor/ Club Historian