Rally round is the only hope

The chilling words of Bryan Jackson who spoke to the BBC at Livingston on Saturday

Bryan Jackson at Livingston v Dunfermline

Interim Administrator at Dunfermline Athletic, Bryan Jackson has said that he urgently needs benefactors to come forward in the short term if administration can save the Pars. Speaking to BBC Sportsound he described the chances of pulling the Pars through administration as only 50/50.

"I have got the experience and I would like to think I know how to handle these situations but as I have said in the past I am reliant on all the people round about us, all the benefactors and a lot of luck to get us out of this at the other end."

Referencing the players and coach redundancies announced on Thursday and Friday he said that these were made for purely financial reasons:-

"It was nothing to do with the players and individual performances; it was nothing like that. It was just based on finance and nothing else.. We tried to do it as quickly as possible to take away the uncertainty and leave Jim Jefferies with a squad that we would not be intend to make any other cuts to. Certainly that should make it easier than it dragging out any longer than it should have.

"We are working on as accurate figures as we can and talking to potential benefactors who have promised to fund the administrator to get through to the end of the season. Our first priority is to cut the costs very quickly, getting player costs down and taking that uncertainty away. Now we can move on, look at what we require and see if the money comes forward.

"I can't stress enough how much I need external funds, external people to pull together in the one direction. We have absolutely no time now for bickering and people not all pulling together.

"At this point in time I am not looking at the history because it is not over relevant to me; certainly short term it is not. There is so much pressure on getting through the financial position, trying to find money to pay wages etc  I have no time to look at the past. Whatever may have happened there it is something that will be looked at later."

Asked about the status of East End Park:-

"There are various obstacles to get through to get a CVA and out the other end. I can use these terms now because people are unfortunately familiar with them. The status with the ground is that it is owned by another company and there is a security to the bank over the ground. It is just another problem to be sorted out, I do not believe that it is an obstacle that can't be overcome.

"It may well be that there has to be a restructuring of where the stadium is going to be (in terms of ownership). At the moment it lies in another company and there is security over it but I understand that the bank will be happy for the stadium still to be used as a football ground in the short and long term. They will be supportive of something that leaves the present status. I think the goodwill is there from the bank."

Currently the Interim Administrator does not have the figure that will be required to see the Club survive:-

"We are still working on that and there could still be tweaking of other costs that are non playing. I will need money from more than just what comes in from home games. I will need money on top of that.

"The benefactors need to be convinced that if they give money to this cause it does not go down a black hole and there is actually an exit route at the other end. Quite frankly I think that they will have do the same with me. They will have to give me the money, take a leap of faith that it won't be wasted and that it will be utilised properly and we will get through to the other end. It is a concerning situation and I do not want to be over pessimistic but I need everybody's support.

"What makes this worse is that in the other ones that I have done is that there has always been something there to support you financially; whether it has been the ability to sell a player or you have an asset you can sell or there is some money in the bank when you start but at this club there is nothing there to start with and you have a situation where people have arrears of wages to make it even worse. That is why overall it is the worst situation that I have seen.

"I do need everyone to rally round. As I have said before that I am not going to have time to get in the middle of people bickering with each other. All the different groups all have the same objective - they all want the club to survive."

Asked if there was any news of the proposed friendly versus Manchester United:-

"There is no movement on it but there is still no reason to believe that it will not happen. We are still working away on that one and it could be very important to us. That is the kind of thing I meant when I said before that you need that bit of luck, that to happen to see it through. At the appropriate time, sometime next week certainly I will make the call to plead the case and hoping that it will actually go ahead.

"By next week we will have properly weekly cash flows, we will have further meetings with potential benefactors and either they are going to support us or they are not going to support us. There will be clarity over the next week or so."