Club History | Season 2010-2011
Jim McIntyre`s team win the First Division Title
World Cup and holidays out of the way and a new season to look forward to. The Pars were celebrating their 125th anniversary and hoping to mark it with a return to the SPL. Graeme Bayne was beaten by his injury and joined those leaving the club - Greg Fleming, Stephen Glass, Greg Ross, Scott Muirhead, Graham Holmes and Ross Campbell. On the way in were Kyle Allison from Inverness Caley Thistle and one of the stars of Ross County`s run to the Cup Final - Alex Keddie. Striker Pat Clark made a welcome return along with Chris Smith. Amongst the pre-season friendlies was a game against the Manchester United Youth Team managed by Ole Gunnar Solskjaer. Their ranks included James Chester, Ravel Morrison and William Keane. Their 5-1 thrashing of The Pars showed what superior coaching could achieve.
The competitive season got underway with a double header against Arbroath, both at East End Park. First in the Challenge Cup and a narrow 1-0 win watched by only 976 fans and a week later a 5-2 victory in the League Cup (attendance 1283). Stewart Petrie was the Red Lichties assistant manager and Josh Falkingham in their line up. August saw the start of the League season and a solitary Pat Clark goal at the Falkirk Stadium got the campaign off to a flyer. Involvement in the Challenge Cup ended at East End Park where, after a 1-1 draw, Queen of the South won 6-5 on penalties. Morton were comfortably beaten 2-0 in Dunfermline, thanks to Andy Kirk. Raith Rovers won the Fife derby 2-0 at Starks Park. The following midweek a home win 3-2 against Clyde saw The Pars progress in the League Cup.
Tributes were paid to Dr John Yellowley, who had sadly died. He had given great service both as Club Doctor and on the Board, including an eleven year stint as Chairman. The month ended with a 5-1 triumph away to Stirling Albion, which included an Andy Kirk hat trick. September began with more tragic news. Jackie Sinclair, one of The Pars greatest players, had lost his brave fight with cancer.
The football started with a 3-1 home win against Dundee and the following week Jimmy Nicholl brought his very well organised Cowdenbeath side to East End, losing narrowly 2-1. The League Cup run came to a sorry end with a 7-2 reverse at Ibrox but, the following Saturday, a 2-0 win at Firhill brought a happier return from Glasgow. Jackie McNamara, Paddy Boyle, Simon Donnelly, Liam Buchanan and Bryn Halliwell all played for Thistle.
The month of October got off to a poor start with a 2-0 defeat away to Queen of the South. A narrow 3-2 win at home to Ross County was fought out with Scott Morrison playing for The Staggies and Andy Barrowman on the bench. Dundee at Dens Park was next and a creditable 2-2 draw brought a point back to Fife. The month ended with a 3-0 home win against Stirling Albion.
The opener for November was a visit to Cappielow which ended in a 2-1 win for Morton. The following week, in front of a crowd of 7158, Raith took a point back to Kirkcaldy after a 2-2 draw. Bad weather wiped out the rest of the month`s matches. A crowd of only 2062 turned up to see December`s first match. Joe Cardle scored the only goal to beat Queen of the South at East End. A dull 0-0 draw at home to Partick Thistle was followed by a hastily rescheduled home match against Cowdenbeath. An easy 5-0 victory was, at least in part, due to the fact that Cowden had not played for over a month, due to the weather. I was in the habit of starting the new year in a state of great discomfort, seldom brightened by a good Pars performance. This year was no different, as I risked hypothermia by going to Kirkcaldy and witnessing a 2-1 defeat. Matters did not improve much when the Cup campaign began with only a 2-2 draw away to Montrose.
The first home game of the year was a dour 0-0 draw with Dundee. Three days later The Pars scraped past Montrose 5-3 in the replay. The month ended as miserably as it had begun with a 2-0 defeat away to Partick Thistle. To remedy things Jim McIntyre did a splendid bit of business by bringing in Martin Hardie, Kevin Rutkiewicz and Liam Buchanan.
February began with a narrow defeat in the Cup at Pittodrie. Aberdeen were vey fortunate to get their 1-0 victory. Central Park was next and an excellent 4-0 win against Cowdenbeath. The Pars finished the month with two more away games, 1-1 in Dingwall and 3-1 in Dumfries - two good results. The good work at Palmerston was undone when Morton won 3-1 at East End to kick off March`s fixtures. Only 1699 hardy fans turned up in midweek to see a 1-1 draw, at home to Ross County, but the following Saturday a trip to Falkirk produced a fine 2-1 win. Inconsistency returned when The Pars could only manage a 1-1 draw away to Stirling Albion.
With nine games left, Dunfermline were four points behind leaders Raith Rovers and ten in front of Falkirk, who had three games in hand. Stirling Albion were comprehensively beaten 4-1 at East End Park. Martin Hardie scored a hat trick and Liam Buchanan the other, whilst Kevin Rutkiewicz (when fit) had steadied up the defence. Graeme Bayne, now restored to fitness, returned to the fold from Dundee.
There were to be three more games in March, making eight in total. Dens Park was the scene of a 1-1 midweek draw with Dundee whilst a 0-0 home draw with Partick Thistle followed on the Saturday. The final game in March found Martin Hardie once more to the fore as his goal won the away match with Ross County 1-0. Jake Hyde was signed as an amateur from Dundee until the end of the season.
As April kicked off, Liam Buchanan`s goal secured a win away to Cowdenbeath. With four games to go, The Pars were now top by a point over Raith, with the same number of games played and nine ahead of Falkirk, who now only had one game in hand. A superb 6-1 win at home to Queen of the South set them up for the next week`s vital clash with Raith Rovers at East End Park. Before the game Sammy the Tammy was up to his antics again. This time, clad in a cardboard tank and to the sound of gunfire, he took aim at the Raith fans.
Most of the Rovers fans took it as it was intended and returned fire with imaginary rifles and machine guns. It was hilarious. As usual the miserable "pc" brigade idiots got involved and after the match the Club was given a warning. On with the match and former Pars Craig Wilson and Stephen Simmons lined up for the Rovers and Iain Williamson was on the bench. Just before half time John Baird put Raith in front. If it finished that way Rovers would have had a two point lead, with only two games left.
Step forward the man of the moment. Martin Hardie entered Pars immortality with firstly an equalising header and then with a glorious free kick from nearly 30 yards, the winner. It was to be his last action of the season, as the injury he had played on through, kept him out of the final two games. A crowd of over 11,000 watched the drama unfold. The month finished gloriously with a 2-0 win away to Morton to win the Championship with a game to spare.
The Pars often do not get the credit they deserve and a lot of nonsense was spouted by some of the press and TV pundits about Dundee deserving the Championship because they had battled against a 25 point reduction for serious misdemeanours, including going into receivership again. Jim McIntyre was denied the Divisional Manager of the Year, with the award going to Dundee`s Barry Smith. Sure enough he did a great job with his team but even with their 25 points restored, they would still have finished behind Dunfermline. Jim`s achievements alongside Gerry McCabe deserved better!
May was to be a merry merry month indeed. The Pars were champions and could celebrate at home against, of all teams, our friends from Falkirk. The thought of seeing the Pars fans celebrating was too much to bear for Bairns fans, so it was almost all homesters in the 7876 crowd. An excellent 3-0 win had everyone looking forward to next season and another crack at the SPL.
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