Pars make solid start as Bamba gets set for Watford

So the season officially got underway for Dunfermline on Saturday in the 1st round of the highly prestigious Scottish League Challenge Cup. The priority of this tournament was reflected in the attendance of just 1340 for the clash with Stirling Albion at East End Park but the Pars got their season off to a confidence boosting start, easing to a 3-0 success.

Of course, victory over part-time second division opposition in this particular competition does not immediately give an indication as to how the season will go but the manner of victory will give manager Jim McIntyre belief that the team, starting with Saturday’s First Division opener away to Partick Thistle, can mount a challenge for promotion.

There was growing discontent prior to the season starting about McIntyre’s failure to sign strikers other than Graham Bayne, having lost the likes of Mark Burchill and Stevie Crawford in the close season. And while Bayne in his early performances has gone some way to winning over any doubting supporters, concerns still remain about the lack of a suitable partner for the former Inverness target man.

This has been put down to being priced out of signing targets, but the club received an unlikely boost this week thanks to Dundee United and former player Noel Hunt. His sale to Reading for £600,000 provided the Fifers with a £120,000 windfall, generated by the 20% sell on clause negotiated in the deal which took Hunt to Tannadice in the summer of 2006.

But the chances of McIntyre seeing that money are pretty slim in order to appease the club’s finances. However, the manager’s budget looks set to be given a boost with the sale of popular defender Sol Bamba. The Ivory Coast under 23 skipper has been on trial with Championship side Watford and manager Aidy Boothroyd, impressed with what he saw, has tabled a bid of over £100,000 and a deal should be concluded in the next few days.

The erratic performances of Bamba has made the sale an easy one for the fans to take, added to the fact that we have the likes of Greg Shields, Scott Wilson and Scott Thomson all able to slot into the centre back positions. He has also made no secret that he would like to try his luck darn sarf so a move will benefit all parties.

So the freeing up of Bamba’s wages will ensure McIntyre can hopefully sign a new striker for Saturday, and rumours of interest in ex Hearts and Kilmarnock player Gary Wales again resurfaced on Saturday as he was supposedly spotted in the directors box.

If he was, he’d have been impressed at how Dunfermline confidently knocked the ball about and created a lot of chances using Bayne as the lone front man in a 4-5-1, with the likes of Kevin Harper and Alex Burke supporting. Burke opened the scoring on 4 minutes and Harper set up Nick Phinn, impressive in midfield, for the second while young striker Iain Williamson netted the third.

Some fans again had reservations about the system operated by McIntyre. Needs must while the striker search goes on but if the formation is successful, who will complain? 4-5-1 doesn’t immediately mean a negative way of playing- look at Holland at Euro 2008. Using quick and incisive midfield players to create can result in a fast moving game, and that was the case on Saturday.

So the championship charge starts at Firhill this weekend, probably without Bamba, and perhaps with a new striker in tow. A start has been made, while promotion favourites St Johnstone and Dundee slumped to defeat in the Challenge Cup; now it’s time for the team to hopefully send a big travelling support home to Fife with real optimism for the campaign ahead.

Moyes the key to Everton’s progress

Having been on holiday for the past week, I have been devoid of any major football news recently. Not surprisingly, the Cristiano Ronaldo and Gareth Barry transfer sagas continue to rumble on, while Alexsander Hleb has left Arsenal for Barcelona.

But whilst at the beach on the final day before setting off for home, I picked up a couple of British newspapers to try and get up to speed with the footie news and, as an Evertonian, a small piece on David Moyes being close to agreeing a new contract with the club caught my eye.

The article said that the Toffees manager was close to agreeing a new 5 year deal worth £60,000 a week after seeking assurances about the club’s future transfer dealings from chairman Bill Kenwright. Everton have, so far, been quiet on the transfer front while losing a vital cog and one of the Premier League’s most underrated players in Lee Carsley to Birmingham City.

But, as players come and go, the most important thing for Everton has to be securing Moyes on a long term deal, which I’m sure they will, but I’d rather see it done sooner rather than later. In my view Moyes has cemented his place as one the top managers in the British game with his work at Goodison Park.

When he arrived, the club were a sinking ship. The memories of the successful era of the 1980s, when League and European success was the norm, had long gone as relegation battles became common place, with two great escapes in 1994 and 1998. Joe Royle’s 1995 FA Cup win wasn’t built on in the way the Goodison faithful had hoped.

In stepped Moyes. He steered the club away from relegation and has secured European qualification, including the club’s first ever Champions League campaign, 3 times. Much of this achieved on a shoe string budget, though he has three times smashed the club’s transfer record- £6 million on the departed James Beattie, £8.6 on Andy Johnson and £11 million on Yakubu, who had a terrific first season last term.

Moyes initially made Everton a hard working team who were well organised and hard to beat. Indeed, the number of 1-0 scorelines in Everton’s favour in that historic 04/05 Champions League season indicated that. But a team of grafters has slowly been added to with gifted, technical players- Mikel Arteta, one of the finest midfielders in the league, the aforementioned Yakubu, Joseph Yobo and Joelon Lescott, a fine footballer for a centre back and scorer of 10 goals last season.

Everton’s fans are keen to see the club build on last season’s fifth place finish, run to the last 16 of the UEFA Cup and Carling Cup semi final appearance. Hopefully a trophy and a top 4 finish could be achieveable and of course the manager needs funds to bring more quality to what is already a talented squad.

But firstly, the board should give Moyes the assurances he needs and sign him now. It is clear that he loves the club and its fans and it is hard to see him manage elsewhere. If he keeps progressing, he may become a target for an even bigger club than the Blues, but if the board back the manager in the transfer market, why would he want to go anywhere else? Under his guidance, Everton are going places and tying him down could be one of the most important the signings could make in recent years.

The ongoing Kirkby stadium yes/ no debate still rages on and may or may not have an impact on the manager’s transfer budget. The new stadium is a debate for another day, but what is clear is that an Everton with David Moyes will continue to be a prosperous and strong Everton. An Everton without, well, I’m not so sure it would be so bright.

Pars fans prejudging? Who’d a thunk it?

Being a Dunfermline Athletic supporter guarantees quite a few things. For every high point, you know that just around the corner, a low point awaits you. It is ingrained in you to be rather pessimistic about things, as if you dare be optimistic, it all goes pear shaped (see last season’s First Division campaign as proof).

Back in the mid 1990s when I first started attending Pars matches home and away, we had a terrific core support. Now, currently we still have a good core support in terms of number, which can hover anywhere between the 4-6,000 mark. Back then though, the crowd were right behind the team from the off- and could act as the proverbial 12th man.

Manager of the 1995/96 First Division winning team, club legend Bert Paton, noted that, in reference to the 1-0 defeat of Dundee United in the penultimate day which almost assured the Pars of the championship, “anyone who doubts our support is a 12th man should have heard the volume that day.”

Those days are still there for the big games, but Pars fans in recent years have taken on a new side to their persona, and it is one of prejudging players, or finding a scapegoat for if things don’t work out too well on the pitch.

Why am I bumbling on with this? Well, manager Jim McIntyre finally secured the signing of his top summer target this week in the shape of Inverness Caledonian Thistle striker, Graham Bayne. The Athletic paid the Highlanders £30,000 to lure the Fifer back to the Kingdom to bolster our attacking options which had been left down to the manager and youngsters such as Iain Williamson, following the departures of Mark Burchill and Stevie Crawford, adding to Jim Hamilton leaving for St Mirren in January.

Having seen him play with Caley against us before, I know exactly the kind of player we’re getting. Bayne, as McIntyre points out, will bring a physical dimension to the team. He will act as a player to link the play, bring his team-mates into it and create chances for them.

“He is strong in the air and can hold the ball up. He is good with his back to goal and his strength is his team play. He works hard, runs the channels- he is just a good all round team player,” McIntyre commented.

However, despite this, some Pars fans have immediately dismissed him as “rubbish” and “a waste of money”. Why? The only thing they have looked at is his goalscoring record- 33 goals in 159 games. Admittedly, strikers will always be judged on their goalscoring record and Bayne’s isn’t exactly prolific, but I can’t get my head around punters immediately dismissing him as a no-hoper.

McIntyre is fully aware that he isn’t renowned for hitting 15-20 goals a season, but he will be able to lay on chances for a more prolific strike partner, with the boss working hard to sign at least 2 strikers as well as a right sided midfielder before we kick off our First Division assault at Partick Thistle in August.

Instead of prejudging, I wish some Dunfermline fans would wait until they’ve at least pulled on the black and white before assessing the contributions, or lack of, a player can make to the team. What should count in the hitman’s favour is that he’s determined to come in and work hard- Pars fans love a grafter- and is a Fifer, which is another plus point when playing for the West Fifers.

I welcome Graham to the club and am sure he will be a success. It would be ironic if he went on to score 20 odd goals and have his most prolific net bulging season- the opinions of those already judging him would soon change.