Hamish French

Hamish French commented on his photograph that now hangs in the tunnel at East End Park:-

"I never took a good photo and that just proved it" he joked. "It is good to be up there with class Bert Paton, Willie Callaghan and Roy Barry. It is a privilege to be mentioned in the same breath as some of the players up on those walls.

"I scored a few and missed a few. I suppose when you look back you only remember the goals but you can remember a lot of bad games as well. It is important to remember that everything is never perfect.

"Even for the present squad everything is never ideal. There is a lot of bad times in there as well and it is all about how you deal with the bad times as well."

Fans of a certain age hold special memories for the sixties but the era of the nineties when Hamish French was a player was another fine time to be a Pars fan. Hamish responded:-

"When you are playing professional football it is always a good time because it is something that you love doing anyway. I suppose the club had been at a low and as always the only way is up. That happened through the nineties when we had a team, maybe not blessed with exceptional players, but we all worked as a team. We enjoyed our football, enjoyed the training and we played an attacking brand of football. It was a great time to be here."

Jocky Scott signed signed Hamish from Dundee United and he recalled that season:-

"Jocky was really unlucky that season. We missed out on promotion by a point or something in the last game of the season. I don`t know if I am right but it could easily have gone the other way and that is the thin line that there is in football.

When Bert and Dick came in it galvanised the local boys back in charge. Things took off from there. Again it took us a wee while to get out of that division, it didn`t just happen, you have to work for it.

"There are ups and downs along the way as well but the support we got from the crowd at that time was a big factor in us being a successful and attractive team."

The night time games at East End Park were Hamish`s favourites.

"There was a lot of excitement under the floodlights and big crowds. I think the standing at games then led to a better atmosphere."

Asked if he ever wanted to be a manager Hamish said that was a difficult one:-

"I always enjoyed coaching and I still enjoy coaching. Managing is maybe a slightly different thing. It didn`t happen so there you go."

Hamish is happy coaching the under 14s at the new Fife Elite Academy:-

"There is no point in looking back with any kind of regrets. I just enjoy still being involved in coaching and hope to do so for a while yet."