Jim Jefferies holding on to hope as both Dunfermline and Hearts stand on the brink

David McCarthy

30 Jul 2013 07:54

THE Pars boss knows just how serious the situation is at East End Park and at his former club as both face being liquidated.
Jim Jefferies: "There are a lot of good people there and I think their love for the club would see Dunfermline continuing to exist."

DUNFERMLINE face their date with destiny today when creditors decide if a CVA proposal put forward by fans’ group Pars United will be enough to drag the club out of administration.

If it isn’t, liquidation will follow and the lights will go out until a new company emerges from the ashes – if a new company emerges from the ashes.

Across the Forth Road Bridge, away down in Gorgie, Hearts fans are feeling Dunfermline’s pain because their club is heading in the same direction.

The noises emerging from Lithuania yesterday suggested Ukio Bankas are prepared to liquidate Hearts unless either of the two remaining bidders for the club – the Foundation of Hearts supporters’ organisation and former Livingston owner Angelo Massone – up their offers.

Administrators BDO are working for both stricken clubs and believe solutions can still be found, even at this late hour. But these are dark, dark days in the capital and in Fife.

Dunfermline manager Jim Jefferies is steeped in Hearts, having played for, captained and managed the club.

Their travails pain him deeply but right now his priority is the well-being of the club he refused to abandon in the summer when Dunfermline were relegated into the Second Division – League One as it is now known – after being deducted 15 points for falling into administration.

Now all he can do is wait on the outcome of today’s 1pm meeting of Dunfermline’s creditors and hope.

He said: “I don’t get involved in that side of things but if the CVA does not go ahead I don’t know what other options we have apart from liquidation.

“I don’t know if there is a plan B. Could another bidder come in at the last minute and pay a bigger penny in the pound percentage that might be accepted by the creditors? I don’t know.

“Maybe the administrators would open it up for another bidder to come in, hoping they would satisfy the creditors. But if that doesn’t happen liquidation will follow.

“That’s what happens when a CVA proposal isn’t accepted so we have to prepare ourselves for that possibility.

“It would be a disaster for us. We have lost all our experienced boys and our youth team, which got to the Scottish Under-19 Cup Final last season.

“But the lads I have managed to keep have been magnificent and their attitude has been different class. So too has the support we’ve had from the people of the town.

“We beat Cowdenbeath in the Ramsdens Cup at the weekend with a team full of teenagers. There is still hope here.

“They don’t deserve to lose their football club but we will see happens.”

The 62-year-old is convinced the people of Dunfermline will not let their football club die.

He has seen enough of their fundraising efforts in keeping the Pars on a life-support machine in the run-up to administration to be convinced that Dunfermline will still be here in some shape or form even if they, like Rangers last year, have to reapply for a licence to play as a newco.

He said: “I’m sure the people running Pars United will try to do something if the CVA doesn’t go through and liquidation follows.

“Nobody wants liquidation but there are a lot of good people there and I think their love for the club would see Dunfermline continuing to exist.”

Jefferies’ oldest friend in football, Billy Brown, is now giving his coaching services free of charge to Hearts’ young manager Gary Locke. He did the same for Jefferies last year as the pair briefly re-kindled a professional relationship that spans almost 30 years.

Brown believes the best chance Dunfermline have of rising from liquidation, if it comes to pass, lies with Jefferies.

He is convinced his mate does not do walking away, to steal a phrase used by Rangers boss Ally McCoist while he fought a similar battle a year ago.

Brown said: “Jim has held Dunfermline together during the worst time of its history and I dread to think what the situation would be like if he wasn’t there.

“You know, nobody could have blamed him if he’d walked out in the summer because he felt Dunfermline had been harshly treated with the points deduction and in footballing terms did not deserve to be relegated.

“But he is a winner and he’s stubborn and he was determined to try to rebuild, even although he had lost all his best players.

“And look what happened at the weekend – they beat Cowdenbeath, who are now in the division above them, 3-1 in the Ramsdens Cup.

“He was well respected in the game for what he had achieved but I think there is an even greater level of admiration for him now because he is keeping up the fight when at this stage in his career he could have taken the easier option and left Dunfermline to their fate.

“But his professional pride wouldn’t let him do that and having worked there with him during last pre-season, before I got a job with East Fife, I know there are a lot of good people there who will do all they can to make sure Dunfermline still has a football club.”

Brown has first-hand knowledge of the situation at Hearts, of course, having spent the summer helping out rookie manager Locke and he is adamant that whatever happens the Jambos will survive.

He said: “Gary is such a good lad, such an enthusiast, and we hardly ever talk about the club’s situation because he wants to focus the young squad on getting results and becoming better players.

“What he’s doing is remarkable with a squad of around 17 players, most of them kids.

“I’ve heard the stories about the Lithuanians wanting more money from the bidders but ultimately I believe they will take something rather than be left with nothing.

“Tynecastle is no good to them without planning permission so it is in everyone’s interests for a solution to be found.

“What has happened to Hearts and Dunfermline is a tragedy. They are two of the biggest clubs in Scotland in terms of tradition but I believe they will come out the other side and they have the best men possible in charge of their clubs to do it.”

Taken from the Daily Record