The last time we hosted Dunfermline in the league, this column started with the following sentence -
“Today we welcome Jim Jeffries and his Dunfermline side to the Braidwood Motor Company Stadium at the end of a week where the Fife club have once again been making the news headlines for all the wrong reasons.”
That was back on Saturday 8th December after the Dunfermline players had just picked up the last of their October salary. There were noises coming out of East End Park at that time that the club may be struggling to find the cash to pay a bill of £81,000 to Her Majesty's Revenue and Customs.
It’s safe to say a copy and paste job could have been done on that sentence to start today’s column too after another week where Dunfermline Athletic have dominated the news headlines.
With the tax authorities having served a petition for liquidation over a tax bill of now £134,000, the directors of Dunfermline decided on Tuesday that the only option they had was to place the club into administration.
At time of print, the administration appointment hadn’t yet taken effect although Bryan Jackson of PKF, the same man who dealt with similar tasks at Motherwell and Dundee, had been approached to consider being appointed administrator.
Back in December, the off field problems hadn’t seem to have had any effect on the pitch as Dunfermline came here second in the table with only goal difference splitting them and the leaders at the time Partick Thistle.
In the three months since then however, the Pars have slipped out of the title race and are now down in fourth, 20 points behind table topping Morton. They are also currently enduring a six match winless run - dating back to a 2-1 win over Hamilton in early February.
Even just last Saturday, despite scoring three goals at home, the players heads just clearly weren’t in the game as second bottom Dumbarton were allowed to fight back and claim a 4-3 victory to pile on the misery for the Fife side.
It may very well be the case that by the time the Pars arrive here today, a clear out operation might be under way and we could be seeing a match changed squad climbing off the team bus than the one who visited us back in December.
On the other hand, if the releasing of players hasn’t yet started, there will be guys taking to the pitch today knowing fine well that they’ll be free agents in the near future and will be looking to put in a performance to catch the eye of any potential new employers with the end of the season fast approaching.
Only two points separate Dunfermline in fourth and us in third so there’s a big incentive for both sides to win all the three points today. A Dunfermline win will see them move above us in the table and would go a long way to boosting morale for the players in an on field sense at least.
A home win however, would help cement our push for third place; especially given the two games in hand we have to our advantage too.
Whatever the outcome on the field today, it’s sure to be a testing few weeks for everyone at Dunfermline Athletic from the players, to the staff, right down to the lifelong fans that have been turning out week in, week out for year upon year.
Here’s hoping this isn’t the last time these two sides meet and that somewhere, somehow, there’s light at the end of the tunnel for the Pars faithful.
Dave Black.
“Today we welcome Jim Jeffries and his Dunfermline side to the Braidwood Motor Company Stadium at the end of a week where the Fife club have once again been making the news headlines for all the wrong reasons.”
That was back on Saturday 8th December after the Dunfermline players had just picked up the last of their October salary. There were noises coming out of East End Park at that time that the club may be struggling to find the cash to pay a bill of £81,000 to Her Majesty's Revenue and Customs.
It’s safe to say a copy and paste job could have been done on that sentence to start today’s column too after another week where Dunfermline Athletic have dominated the news headlines.
With the tax authorities having served a petition for liquidation over a tax bill of now £134,000, the directors of Dunfermline decided on Tuesday that the only option they had was to place the club into administration.
At time of print, the administration appointment hadn’t yet taken effect although Bryan Jackson of PKF, the same man who dealt with similar tasks at Motherwell and Dundee, had been approached to consider being appointed administrator.
Back in December, the off field problems hadn’t seem to have had any effect on the pitch as Dunfermline came here second in the table with only goal difference splitting them and the leaders at the time Partick Thistle.
In the three months since then however, the Pars have slipped out of the title race and are now down in fourth, 20 points behind table topping Morton. They are also currently enduring a six match winless run - dating back to a 2-1 win over Hamilton in early February.
Even just last Saturday, despite scoring three goals at home, the players heads just clearly weren’t in the game as second bottom Dumbarton were allowed to fight back and claim a 4-3 victory to pile on the misery for the Fife side.
It may very well be the case that by the time the Pars arrive here today, a clear out operation might be under way and we could be seeing a match changed squad climbing off the team bus than the one who visited us back in December.
On the other hand, if the releasing of players hasn’t yet started, there will be guys taking to the pitch today knowing fine well that they’ll be free agents in the near future and will be looking to put in a performance to catch the eye of any potential new employers with the end of the season fast approaching.
Only two points separate Dunfermline in fourth and us in third so there’s a big incentive for both sides to win all the three points today. A Dunfermline win will see them move above us in the table and would go a long way to boosting morale for the players in an on field sense at least.
A home win however, would help cement our push for third place; especially given the two games in hand we have to our advantage too.
Whatever the outcome on the field today, it’s sure to be a testing few weeks for everyone at Dunfermline Athletic from the players, to the staff, right down to the lifelong fans that have been turning out week in, week out for year upon year.
Here’s hoping this isn’t the last time these two sides meet and that somewhere, somehow, there’s light at the end of the tunnel for the Pars faithful.
Dave Black.
As published in 'ROAR' - the Livingston FC matchday magazine.
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