James McPake’s First Interview

25/05/22: JMc - “I will utilise anybody that I believe will help Dunfermline Athletic Football Club.

Giving his first press conference, the new Dunfermline manager James McPake recognised that his first mission was get the club back to winning ways:- “It is a great feeling to win games of football and that has been missing at this football club for too long.”

In no doubt of the task ahead of him he stressed that he was genuinely delighted and excited to be in position:-

“That is not just a word that I’m coming in and saying. I am honest to say that I have a buzz about me. I feel refreshed although people say ‘how can you, you have only been out 13 weeks.’

“Reflecting and having conversations with people who have been in my position. Derek McInnes and Tony Docherty have been outstanding with me but there have been loads more. How do I feel? I cannot wait to work, cannot wait to go on that training pitch and see the team out on the pitch in pre season friendlies, the Premier Sports Cup, the League and challenging for promotion.

“We are where we are for a reason and so first and foremost we need to get a squad built. That is all what I want, but to get it we need to get a squad built that is capable of turning round a team that for a season has been used to losing games of football more often than winning.

“I was in this position at Dundee when I took over a team that had been relegated. That is hard for a squad and you have to try and flip that. It’s tough but the first mission is to get the fans back onside, proud of this team for the effort and commitment. Not to say that they weren’t giving effort or commitment but showing them a different side of it with the players that come in.”

Acknowledging the issue is how to get back to winning games he continued:-

“We don’t want to be disappointed every Saturday, every Tuesday. We have got to be working hard every single day and giving everything for Dunfermline Athletic Football Club to be better. That is right throughout the club. We want to bring this club back together, it is not fractured or broken but we want this to be a real team effort. Any success, everybody needs to feel pride in that.

“I want every single member of staff, every player walking into this building, every day happy and proud that they are working or playing for Dunfermline Athletic Football Club.”

The East End Park club is frequently banded with others in the category of a sleeping giant but the manager dismissed ‘should be’ in the context of doing better and being in a higher league, as being irrelevant to him:-

“You could say that this club is too big to be in League One - no it’s not, we are in League One.”

While at Hibs James experienced relegation to the Championship and although out through injury, the Dundee team that he was part of looked too good to go down but did. He claimed that Dunfermline has no divine right to say that they are too big a club for League One:-

“We have got to show respect to every single club in this league but we have to have ambition and pride as well to get back to winning games of football.”

Sitting talking to the media in the Jock Stein Suite where the pictures on the walls display memories of past successes, James felt that reminded him of just how far off the mark Dunfermline is at the moment and revealed his own desire to create some history for the club.

“We need to be that force that everybody keeps saying - a sleeping giant - and the same was branded at Dundee. No you’re not, at Dunfermline we are in League One for a reason and that’s because we didn’t win enough games in the Championship last season.”

James wants to please the home support who he fully realises are demanding:-

“We need to be strong enough to take criticism from them. If we play and handle that, which we will be, then they will back us because I have played and managed against this club often enough to know that when they get behind you, they do push you on and that is my target.”

The recognition of the position that the club finds itself in was something that James welcomes.

“In my eyes I have come in to take over a fantastic football club in League One. Of course we have ambition but we need to be realistic as well to recognise how hard it is going to be. That is not being defeatist, it is the opposite looking at your aims and expectations. I’m sure that the expectations at the start of last season was to do what Dundee did to get back to the Premierleague.”

The new boss expects to work closely with Sporting Director Thomas Meggle but coupled that by saying that he would also work closely with Kitman Mo Hutton:-

“I will utilise anybody that I believe will help Dunfermline Athletic Football Club. The players are the most important people in the building but the fans are the most important when it comes to it because they are the ones who will back us, boo us off the pitch or cheer us on when we need it.

“Thomas and the investors have expectations and I will work closely with them, (Chairman) David Cook and my backroom staff whenever that is assembled but ultimately I will pick a team on a Saturday to win a game of football.”

James revealed that he had given thought to who his backroom staff might be but while people are in positions elsewhere it is impossible to make moves. Being out of management since earlier this year, James believes that he has learned a lot during his period of reflection:-

“I have had a lot of conversations with people that I trust. Trust is important. Of course I lost big games at Dundee and the majority of the fans stood by me longer than they would have. I have no bad words to say about that, it is in the past. Dunfermline Athletic now has my full focus, I wish Dundee all the best unless we are playing them.”

The 37 year old arrives at Dunfermline feeling better prepared for a managerial role. After injury he went straight into coaching and is grateful to Paul Hartley and Neil McCann for allowing him to transition. Taking Dundee U18s and learning on the job, James was able to develop talent to achieve nine debuts and 111 appearances from that team.

“Looking back now, did I have the right education? Probably not, you would normally have more time, be an assistant but it was just the way it happened. I am very proud of getting promotion because you saw in the play offs how hard that can be.”

Referencing a home match in the Championship against Dunfermline in March 2021 when Kevin O’Hara and Craig Wighton shot the Pars two up within six minutes, James said that is not the situation that Licence coaching prepares you for:-

“What’s your team talk got to be at half time to win the game 3-2? It is real and you are being booed. I learned that on the job as a young manager with a great backroom staff. The game plan went out the window. You don’t want that experience again because it is not nice but I never had that. I have had time to reflect on what I have done right, what I got wrong but there was a lot that we got right.”

Now facing the challenge of trying to take Dunfermline back to the Championship, James has noted the strength of opposition in League One and the juicy derby matches that there will be for the Pars. Airdrieonians too came really close to promotion last season and the manager is keen to see his new charges not only adjusting to life in League One but winning matches in it as well.

“I know a lot about the players here but I will find out more. I want players that will hurt and I will use my contacts to get players in. There are players under contract who are out of contract and it is fair to speak to speak to those players first but we certainly need to be competitive in a very tough league.”

Pointing out previous connections with Graham Dorrans and Craig Wighton and the ability of Kevin O’Hara to run away from defenders James continued:-

“There is so much already here that I like. I bumped into young 20 year old Matty Todd yesterday. He didn’t know that I was in, not many did, but he was in running around the park with the Sports Scientist. He came over and introduced himself and I asked what are you doing? He was trying to get fitter after being on holiday and be ready for next season.

“Brilliant. He could have been a 20 year old sitting in his house. I’m 37 and I just bought a PS5 because I thought that I was going to be sitting in the house! That is what he could be doing but he is showing the approach having had first team football. He didn’t know who the manager was going to be and certainly he didn’t know that the manager was going to be in the building that day.

“That is the attitude whether you are Matty Todd at 20 or Graham Dorrans at 35, you have to show that attitude if you want to play for Dunfermline Athletic Football Club. Whether you are a young kid or an experienced pro, I show loyalty to people but if people need left out then I have no qualms. They have to buy into that and I’m sure that they will.”

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