Archives | Jocky Scott 1991-1993
Coming in the aftermatch of the tempestuous Iain Munro era, the board of directors must have hoped that the appointment of Jocky Scott would pour oil on troubled waters at East End Park.
With his wide experience of the game, Scott was undoubtedly seen as a safe pair of hands but his rather gruff demeanour quickly began to rub both players and supporters up the wrong way.
The 43-year old Scott was born in Aberdeen and was on the groundstaff at Chelsea before returning north to join Dundee in 1964. A skilful player in the mould of an old-fashioned inside forward, his terrific goalscoring ability helped him gain two Scotland caps in 1971. He also picked up two winners` medals in the League Cup, firstly with Dundee in 1973/74 and then three years later with Aberdeen, whom he had joined in 1975. Scott played a huge part in the Dons success with a hat trick in the 5-1 semi-final win over Rangers.
He moved back to Dens Park in 1977 and on retiring from the playing side worked his way up from reserve team coach to manager, succeeding Archie Knox in 1986. Tempted by the opportunity to work alongside Alex Smith as co-manager, Scott returned to Pittodrie in 1988 and enjoyed a fairly successful spell as the club lifted both the Scottish and Skol Cups in 1989/90.
With Scott having tired of the co-manager situation, Dunfermline`s approach came at exactly the right time and he took over at East End on 20th September 1991. The Pars had been handed a tough start to the season but with only one point from the opening seven matches, the fans were in an unforgiving mood and Munro paid with his job. Scott`s task was to keep the club in the Premier Division but his first match, a 3-0 defeat at Motherwell less than 24 hours after his appointment, gave him an indication of the troubles ahead.
Despite their poor league performances, the Pars had battled through to the semi-final of the Skol Cup and Scott`s second match in charge was the penalty shoot-out victory over Airdrie that saw Dunfermline reach their first major final in over 23 years. Unfortunately, it was all down hill from there. Hampden Park proved a bitter anti-climax while league wins remained as elusive under Scott as they had under his predecessor. Working with his assistant, former Dundee team-mate Gordon Wallace, Scott introduced afternoon training sessions and, in an attempt to bolster team spirit, arranged for the players to have lunch together at East End Park. He also made some good signings, including Hamish French, Rab Shannon and Neale Cooper, but it all made little difference to results.
1992/93 should have seen the Pars bounce straight back up (something that says more about the quality of the opposition rather than the quality of Dunfermline`s football) but a thoroughly mediocre season saw promotion blown out of the water by the stunning loss of the last four home matches.
Scott had not reacted well to the growing agitation of the supporters and his relationship with them disintegrated following an incident at Meadowbank where he made a gesture to fans angry at the loss of a two-goal lead. There were many that believed he should have been sacked there and then but they had to wait until the end of the season for the board to take action, by which time the club was facing another year in the First Division.
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