Club History | 2010-2011 First Division Champions

This season`s achievement is the third time that Dunfermline Athletic has won the Scottish First Division championship - the others were in season 1988-1989 and 1995-1996.

Despite the Pars many promotions to higher divisions (in 1926, 1934, 1955, 1958, 1973, 1979, 1986, 1987, 1989, 2000 1nd 2011), this is only the fifth Scottish League title in the club`s history, coming in its 125th year.

July 2010
Jim McIntyre made sure that he had no goalkeeping problems by signing Chris Smith, who performed so well while on loan from St Mirren and Kyle Allison as back up in the absence of injured Greg Paterson. He also signed Ross County hero from the Scottish Cup final, centre half Alex Keddie, and striker Pat Clarke from Dundee.

Pre season friendlies saw defeats from Hibernian, East Fife and a 5-1 hammering by Manchester United`s reserve squad.

August 2010
Despite terms being agreed, Willie Gibson turned down a £150,000 transfer to Crawley Town. Pat Clarke became a legend overnight by scoring the only goal in the opening league match at the Falkirk Stadium - the Pars first opening day league win since 2001.

The Pars exited the Alba Challenge Cup to Queen of the South for the third year running. Dunfermline lost the first Fife derby at Stark`s Park, the only match in their first seven league matches that they failed to win.

September 2010
Jack Ross signed for the club and league form was good with wins over Dundee, Cowdenbeath and Partick Thistle. However, after giving Rangers a fright to get to 3-2 down at Ibrox in the CIS Insurance Cup the Fifers capitulated to lose 7-2.

October 2010
Dunfermline went down 2-0 at Palmerston, threw away a two goal lead against Dundee at Dens Park but managed wins over Ross County and Stirling Albion to stay within touching distance of Raith Rovers. Willie Gibson won the Irn Bru Player of the Month

November 2010
Steven Bell sustained a nasty injury at Cappielow but this allowed Ryan Thomson to make his first team debut. Dunfermline threw away a comfortable two goal lead against Raith at East End Park to give the Rovers an unlikely draw. The worst November weather for year halted the league programme for four weeks.

December 2010
The weather caused postponements, the most annoying being the late postponement of the Boxing Day derby match against Falkirk. The three league matches that were played were all at home and they yielded wins over Queen of the South and Cowdenbeath and a draw against Partick Thistle.

January 2011
Not a good start to the new year with a 2-1 defeat to Raith on their own patch. This seemed to bring new resolve to East End Park digging deep to bring in Liam Buchanan, Martin Hardie and, on loan from St Johnstone, Kevin Ruitkiewicz.

Bizarre happenings in the Scottish Cup where Dunfermline contrived to lose five goals to lowly Montrose over a tie and replay but still managed to get through to the next round. The Pars failed to win a league game in January and were in danger of losing touch at the top.

February 2011
A courageous effort in the Scottish Cup is thwarted by an injury time winner for the Dons. However the league campaign improved as Dunfermline remained undefeated during the month. Young players Paul Willis and Jordan White went on loan to Ayr United and Dumbarton respectively.

March 2011
The month started badly with a poor performance in an error strewn 3-1 home defeat to Morton. The Falkirk Stadium provided the perfect pick-me up with a 2-1 win courtesy of goals from Calum Woods and Martin Hardie.

Graham Bayne made a surprise return as a trialist and the Pars kept their record against Dundee for the season defeat-free. Hardie scored a hattrick in a strange game of sending offs and penalties against Stirling. Jim McIntyre won the Manager of the Month Award.

April 2011
Jim McIntyre signed Jake Hyde as an amateur and the team went into overdrive with a narrow win on the Central Park mudheap, followed by their biggest win under Jim McIntyre - a 6-1 thrashing of Queen of the South.

The Pars celebrated the 50th anniversary of one of Dunfermline`s greatest triumphs - the 1961 Scottish Cup final win over Celtic.

The Fife derby was labelled as the league decider and a crowd of 11052 witnessed a Pars comeback thanks to a Martin Hardie double to seal a famous 2-1 win. The crowning glory came at a sun kissed Cappielow the following Saturday. An army of Pars fans travelled to Greenock to watch as Dunfermline secured the league title with a 2-0 win.

May 2011
The Championship trophy was presented to a jubilant Dunfermline team after a 3-0 home win over Falkirk. The 31 league goals conceded over the course of the season was the lowest number conceded by a Pars team in any First Division league campaign.

Jim McIntyre became only the fourth manager in the club`s history to win a national league title, joining Sandy Paterson, Jim Leishman (twice) and Bert Paton in that elite group. In using 25 players Jim McIntyre used the same number that Jim Leishman used to with the title in 1988-1989. Bert Paton on the other hand used 29 players in his successful 1995-1996 campaign.

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