Renowned for disrupting Serie A’s established order in recent years, Atalanta are known throughout Italy by the evocative nickname ‘The Queen of the Provincial Clubs.’
No sniggering at the back, Raith Rovers fans, but there have been times over the years when Dunfermline Athletic would have been worthy of a similar title in Scotland.
There might not be many East End Park regulars who remember Olympiakos, Stuttgart and others being vanquished in the ’60s, but plenty certainly recall the early 2000s under Jimmy Calderwood, when Scottish Cup finals and top-four finishes in the SPL were par for the course.
That helps to explain why Dunfermline’s attendances remain the largest in the lower leagues, and comparable to some outfits in the Premiership — where they haven’t actually played since 2012.
Yet, waylaid by misguided managerial appointments, unpopular ownership groups and avoidable relegations to the third tier (two in the last 12 years), making a connection between those formidable sides of yore and the Pars’ modern-day incarnations has at times felt like trying to make a transatlantic call with two paper cups and a piece of string. Until this season, perhaps.
Lennon’s side is not playing like the Championship dark horses many believed they would be
Peruvian winger Jefferson Caceres sees red in a 2-0 home defeat to Partick Thistle
Lennon’s frustration has been clear to see and his young side have a lot of learning to do
Having taken over in January, and narrowly avoided yet another demotion to League One thanks to the timely hiring of Neil Lennon, US-based owners James Bord and Evan Sofer embarked on a major transformation of the club over the summer. They did so by rejigging the board, convincing Celtic legend Lennon to pen a two-year deal as manager — quite a coup for a Championship side — and making no less than 12 signings, six of them for a fee.
In a league where the free transfer is king, that felt like a statement, and to begin with, results duly followed. Only goal difference denied Lennon’s men a place in the last 16 of the League Cup, while in the Championship, a 5-0 thumping of Arbroath at Gayfield had them sitting just two points behind then-second-placed Raith midway through last month.
Three defeats and one draw later, however, the Pars have slipped to seventh, two points above the relegation playoff berth currently occupied by Queen’s Park.
It’s only fair to acknowledge that red cards and injuries to key men have played their part in this slump, with Lennon publicly voicing his frustration at fixture congestion, his squad’s indiscipline and his goalkeeping unit’s inability to make saves. But it’s striking that many people’s idea of a decent outside bet to win the Championship title are now sitting at 40/1 with most bookmakers.
Unbeaten league leaders St Johnstone may soon be over the hills and far away, but Ross County’s struggles and the inconsistency to date of Raith and Ayr United means there is still a window of opportunity for someone like Dunfermline to make a playoff push. That window could begin to close, though, if Lennon doesn’t begin to turn things around across a crucial block of four games in 14 days, which begins this Friday at East End Park with the season’s second Fife derby.
‘It’s a hellish month of fixtures,’ says journalist Michael Wood, who runs the Dunfermline fan blog That’s Never 10 Yards. ‘Not only do they have a big fortnight ahead of them, but St Johnstone are coming to East End Park at the start of November and that’s followed by a visit to Firhill.
St Johnstone’s Josh McPake celebrates his winner in a 2-1 defeat of the Pars last month
‘Dunfermline are going to have to collect wins in games where draws might have been accepted heading into the campaign, and considering they only have three away victories in 2025, that’s not an easy task.
‘Queen of the South made the top four after taking nine points from the first nine matches in season 2013-14, so it has been done before, but that’s the only time a team with single-digit points this far into a campaign has gone on to finish in a Premiership playoff spot.
‘The televised derby in August (a 2-0 loss) was every bit as poor as the one five months previously that cost Michael Tidser his job 11 games in. Dunfermline simply cannot have a repeat of that.’
If results don’t improve, then, despite all that positive cosmetic change, this could begin to feel like another year of the lower mid-table toil that was the norm under Lennon’s predecessor James McPake.
But that, of course, depends on what your expectations were in the first place.
‘The glass is half-full as far as I’m concerned, there are plenty of games ahead and plenty to be excited about going forward,’ Mikey Mlotkiewicz, Dunfermline’s general manager between 2016 and 2018, tells MailSport. ‘Losing Zak Rudden to a hamstring injury after such a positive start was a big blow, and in the last few games we’ve hit the post and bar numerous times. With a bit more luck, those draws/defeats are wins.’
Las Vegas-based entrepreneur Evan Sofer and his London-born fellow investor James Bord
Mlotkiewicz now hosts Walking Down the Halbeath Road, a podcast where former players and managers discuss the part they played in Dunfermline’s glory days. Whilst the arrival of Lennon and all those new signings might have moved the needle on outside expectations, he insists the Pars fanbase were always prepared for more of a gradual progression.
‘The fans are patient, there’s an expectation that this will take time,’ says Mlotkiewicz. ‘We have four or five international players now, which hasn’t been the case for a long time, so that shows the signs of progression. We have built a whole new team over the summer who are pretty young — the average age against Queen’s Park last weekend was 22.’
There’s no doubt that Dunfermline have some talented youngsters at their disposal. In fact, they’ve probably stockpiled enough of them to fill Pittencrieff Park twice over.
Summer signings include 22-year-old Robbie Fraser, who featured for Rangers against Tottenham in the Europa League last season, and 19-year-old Rory Macleod, who became Dundee United’s youngest ever player aged 16 in 2022. And that’s without mentioning the young Ghanaian and Peruvian arrivals, or the club’s own academy products; foremost among them John and Andrew Tod, the sons of Pars legend Andy Tod Snr.
A tall and skilful forward, 19-year-old Andrew has been a particular standout with seven goals in all competitions already.
Striker Andrew Tod and his brother John are the sons of Dunfermline legend Andy Tod
We’ll refrain from Alan Hansen quotes for now, but it does raise questions. Firstly, whether the Pars have done a Chelsea, and created an imbalanced squad with not enough senior pros (only four over the age of 25) to keep all the youngsters on the straight and narrow. And secondly, whether Lennon — undoubtedly a winner but one whose previous jobs have tended to involve instant success with oven-ready squads — is the right fit for what appears to be a long-term project.
‘This is a totally different aspect of a job that I’ve got to do,’ the Northern Irishman admitted after that goalless draw with Queen’s Park. ‘We’re trying to build something, but it’s going to take a bit of pain along the way and a bit of time. If you look at the ages of the players that we’re playing, I have to accept sometimes that they’re going to be inconsistent and inexperienced. That’s difficult for me at times.’
‘From a fan’s point of view, the squad could do with more experience,’ offers Mlotkiewicz. ‘One or two older heads could certainly give the group a boost. But Neil has been a fantastic appointment. He is starting to get the club going again, the attendances averaging around 5,000 indicate that, and the supporters are excited to listen to what he has to say every week.
‘There’s a feeling that the club has massive potential just now, and that someone with his passion and enthusiasm can only build on that.’
For Wood’s part, there is a sense that the Lennon appointment might be the right one at the wrong time.
Jimmy Calderwood’s Dunfermline team were a swashbuckling side who enjoyed great success
‘It does feel as though he’s perhaps arrived a year too soon,’ he says. ‘If he had come in 12 months down the line, for example, and inherited a side comfortably sat in the top half of the Championship table and looking to kick on towards the title in the next one to two years, rather than at the beginning of a project, which this certainly is at present. But he is a proven winner, and it looks like a well-coached team which is more comfortable with three at the back than they ever were in that formation under McPake.’
The atmosphere under Sofer and London-born Bord, who both made their money in data analytics and AI, is certainly markedly improved compared to the latter days of the DAFC Fussball GmbH era. The former owners provided plenty of amusement for online wags who enjoyed likening them to the Germans who buy the power plant in The Simpsons, but for Dunfermline supporters it was much more of a slog, rather summed up by the infamously withering statement released in August last year which appeared to blame fans for the club’s lack of progress.
‘It’s positive so far under the new owners, they seem ambitious and passionate to get the club going again, but without mismanagement and overspending,’ notes Mlotkiewicz.
‘The big change from the fans’ perspective is communication, which is a big win compared to the previous regime. I’m hopeful the club will continue to improve on and off the park, and start challenging again for promotion to the Premiership.’
The new board have drawn over 400 fans to a fan forum at the Alhambra Theatre, brought club icon Jim Leishman back as chairman and launched a third kit — inspired by the cover of The Skids’ 1979 album Scared To Dance — which is the fastest-selling strip in the club’s history. Easy wins, perhaps, but all grist to the mill when it comes to putting bums on seats.
Kane Ritchie-Hosler models Dunfermline’s new third kit, which is based on a Skids album
Dunfermline band Skids’ debut album Scared To Dance launched them to superstardom in 1979
In the long run, however, it will have to be accompanied by results if Dunfermline are to rid themselves of the unwanted honour they have recently inherited from arch-rivals Falkirk, as Scottish football’s biggest underachievers. And a playoff place come next May wouldn’t be a bad way to start.
‘Ross County’s drastically poor start has definitely opened the door for someone to park themselves in that top four,’ concludes Wood. ‘But as long as Raith, Ayr and Thistle remain competitive — as they have done so far — it’s a big ask.
’From my point of view, top half would be an acceptable outcome this season. But if they don’t start challenging for promotion eventually there will be questions not just of the manager, but of the ownership as a whole given how tied in they are in with the recruitment.’
