Dunfermline Athletic

An interview with Jimmy Calderwood

Tuesday, 10th Nov 2015

"Year by year we got better and better and at the end of it we were the third best team in Scotland and deservedly so."

Jimmy Calderwood returned to East End Park as the club's guest in hospitality at the recent home game against Albion Rovers. Having been the Pars manager for the best part of five years during which time he took control of the team for more than 300 games he recalled his best memories. He started off by praising the backing he received from the board:-

"They gave me really good backing, managing to sign a lot of good players. At that moment in time we had probably the third best team in Scotland which was magnificent. We had a really strong bond and a really good team,

"It was a really warm club. Gavin (Masterton)'s link with Rangers brought me here in the hope that I could maybe go on to Rangers. When I arrived Jimmy Nicholl was in temporary charge, they beat Falkirk 4-1 in a derby and I said to Brian Gallacher , Gavin's son in law on the way to Edinburgh Airport that night 'I don't know why you need a new manager, Jimmy Nicholl is there and could do it all'.

"I didn't know Jimmy in those days although I had played against him when he was at Man United and I was at Birmingham. Dick (Campbell) had just been sacked and Jimmy had taken over.

"Big John (Yorkston) was a larger than life character and he and Paul D'Mello kind of sold me on it. In the background there was the chance of going to Rangers which was always my first love obviously. It was a great decision in hindsight, it really was. Okay, the Rangers thing did not come off for one reason or another but we had a wonderful four or five years here."

Jimmy was given a triumphant departure when he left NEC Nijmegen to come to Dunfermline. Dick Campbell had won all nine of the first quarter league fixtures but after losing at St Mirren to title challengers he resigned and when JC arrived Jimmy Nicholl had done a great job in keeping the Pars hard on the heels of the Buddies.

The first discussions between them were postponed as they had to travel to Inverness to take in a match there on their first day together. Legend has it that the two got together on the way up the A9, Jimmy's story is slightly different:-

"I was getting phone calls from everywhere so Jimmy had to drive the whole way up and whole way back. I was on the phone all the way up and I had to go into the television studios in Inverness where Jimmy told them that he had just had 'a crash course in Dutch'! He was so, so funny.

"The board had asked me if I wanted to keep Jimmy and I said I would see after three weeks but after that journey and the rest is history. You could see with the way he was with boys on the first day of training that he was very good at his job and the players thought the world of him. He was strong in his belief on how the game should be played."

It was a partnership that was to continue at Aberdeen and Kilmarnock after they left Dunfermline.

The pair clinched promotion with a 2-1 win at Inverness on 22nd April 2000 taking Dunfermline into the top league where things went from good to better.

"I had fantastic times here. There were a lot of good players, a great Board and it is sad how it went later on."

JC 's first signing were to secure contracts of two players already at East End Park - Steven Hampshire and Chris McGroarty. The first two he brought in were Belgian goalkeeper Kris Mampaey from Willem II and Ian Ferguson from Rangers. He described Fergie's arrival as massive.

"Obviously that came about through David Murray and he changed everybody's mindset. He hated getting beat in training and he got very annoyed if players did not put in what he put into the games. He was a wonderful professional, a wonderful leader of men and he was a fantastic player to have in your team."

The nucleus of Calderwood team were players like Stevie Crawford, Barry Nicholson, Andrius Skerla, Lee Bullen, Scott Thomson, Jason Dair and Gary Mason.

"They were a fantastic group of players, they complimented each other. Nicholson had a great touch, wonderful vision. These boys were very fit and very quick. Pace was a big thing in our game. Scott Thomson went into centre of the defence to form a great partnership with Skerla. Skerla was a wonderful professional. The boy Rossi should probably have been the best but he was a complete idiot.

"Year by year we got better and better and at the end of it we were the third best team in Scotland and deservedly so."

Progress under the two Jimmies started by sustaining the Pars status in the SPL in year one. Dunfermline finished tenth just above St Johnstone and Dundee United. Jimmy had drawn the Pars first SPL game of the season 0-0 against Aberdeen and the first win had come at Motherwell on a Wednesday night. Probably the more memorable that season was the now famous 2-4-4 tactic to retrieve cup ties against St Johnstone and Celtic. From behind and looking out in both ties JC's team overturned St Johnstone at East End Park and then came from behind to take Celtic back to Glasgow for a replay. He recalled:-

"I was always attack minded and always looked for an attacking solution. We had the players; Stevie Crawford was fantastic. We had good players and that was the way we wanted the game to be played. A lot of players underestimated Scott Thomson, he was a very very good player, Scott should have got a lot more out of his career and he knows that. I have told him and we had a few arguments about it.

"There was only ever going to be one winner. He sat out a few games. That upset him and then we had an argument when he didn't want to play in a certain position against Rangers. He thought that he would be playing, thought I would be angry for one day and then I would be okay and he would be playing. I just dropped him and I think that was a massive learning curve for him. After that he was no problem after that."

Next season 2001-2002 started with Jack de Gier coming in to score two goals on his debut against Motherwell. Unfortunately his family drew him back to Holland but Dunfermline were to receive a lot more money than they paid for him within three months. "Dunfermline didn't really see the best of Jack but we brought in big Brewster and were to finish sixth."

The 2002-2003 season started at Celtic Park where the hosts celebrated the unfurling of the league flag and ended at Ibrox where Dunfermline were to witness Rangers winning the league. Level on goal difference Celtic's 4-0 win at Rugby Park was to bettered by a 6-1 Rangers victory over the Pars.

Rangers took an early lead but after Jason Dair had scored an eleventh minute equaliser and news of a Celtic goal at Killie the mood in the Ibrox stadium was particularly gloomy. Rangers did retrieve the situation but Celtic's Chris Sutton's post match accusations that Dunfermline 'lay down' to Rangers still hurts JC:-

"We had a lot of injuries and we put a lot of young lads in who played really well. Stevan Klos made a magnificent save just before half time or we could have gone 2-1 up. Second half, Rangers just pounded us. Celtic missed a penalty that day. Some people are like that but I know the truth - you never in your life go out to lose a game.

"It is no secret that I would rather be at Ibrox than at Celtic Park, most people in Scotland know that but as a manager you just want to win every game. It was annoying for me that I never beat Rangers at their place because I was born on Govan. I have taken teams to every other stadium and won but the same happened at Aberdeen, I never won there with them either. People start getting paranoid but I can look myself in the mirror. If Celtic could not win the league in that game from the position that they were in then it was their own fault, I have no sympathy for them whatsoever."

Jimmy's final season at Dunfermline saw him take them to fourth, their highest ever place in the SPL with a record number of points, for the first time in the SPL they scored more goals than they conceded. The pinnacle of JC's success however was taking the Pars to the Scottish Cup Final for the first time in 36 years. Selecting a cup final team is always a tough thing to do because there is always someone left on the sidelines who maybe felt that they should have started. In 2004 Scott Thomson missed the final through injury but Lee Bullen was the player who did not start much to the surprise not only of the player but to most of the Pars fans at Hampden that day.

"These are just the decisions that you have to make. I do not recall the circumstances but Lee was a great lad, he never holds it against me when I have met him a few times down at Sheffield. That is football. As a manager you are up there to be shot at, you make that decision although I always made decision with Sandy (Clark) and Jimmy (Nicholl). We talked about it all the time."

The cup final opposition included an all star Celtic team including Jackie McNamara, Bobo Balde, Neil Lennon, Stillian Petrov, Didier Agathe, Henrik Larsson and Chris Sutton. Andrius Skerla famously scored to send the Pars in 1-0 at half time. Jimmy still feels that Dunfermline should have gone on to win:-

"Stuart (Dougall) made a mistake, we should have had a penalty when Bobo hand balled. If we had gone 2-0 up I don't think Celtic would have beaten us. It was within two minutes that they came back as you would from Martin O'Neill's team. They were a good team at that time but they were frightened."

In Scott Thomson's absence Aaron Labonte played in the centre of the defence and his inexperience was in stark contrast to those he was marking:-

"Young Aaron had a loss of concentration although I would have thought gone on to have a wonderful career, but that's football."

Henrik Larsson's two goals set up Celtic for yet another Scottish Cup win but with Dunfermline back in Europe after a 35 year absence, the good times were back. But Jimmy Calderwood left to join eleventh placed Aberdeen citing financial limitations as his decision to leave.

"It caused a lot of heartache because even with big John there, Dunfermline had financial problems at that time. Aberdeen were looking to sign me but I did not want to leave until after the cup final. I spoke to the Chairman and the rest of the Board and told them my decision.

"There were problems, although I do not think it was because of the football side of it. What was happening with Gavin, John and the financial side of it. I think they rather took their eye off the ball to be honest. Little things were suggesting to me that it would be better to have another challenge.

"Aberdeen should have been relegated but they never because of Falkirk's stadium being not up to standard. Everyone knew that it was not going to be difficult to get them further up the league. They took me there and I didn't expect to go as far as we did - third that year.

"It was sad to see the demise of Dunfermline and how it went. We had meetings back then and there were cuts to players wages. They promised that they would get them back but that never happened. That was just before the cup final. That is when you start losing boys and it was a sad way to end it because we were getting good crowds and taking a good following away from home."

So Jimmy Calderwood left after Dunfermline's most successful season in close on four decades. He brought Dunfermline fans pre season tours to Holland, SPL status, a Scottish Cip Final and quality players and current internationalists. Great days indeed and his fame is perpetuated by BBC's Only An Excuse in regular Hogmanay broadcasts.

"Wee Jonathan keeps plugging me which is nice for him. It is quite funny because when you are out in town they come in and scratch away, but at least they know that you are still alive!"



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