THERE are supposed to be five stages of grief but Paul Gallacher was only interested in one yesterday.
The temptation is to tread carefully around those who have suffered the effects of administration at East End Park over the past couple of days, to be mindful that some will be sore and probably won't take too kindly to uncomfortable questions about where they go from here. Even the seemingly harmless inquiries about how they're feeling have the capacity to provoke a bitter retort.
There was no need to say anything to Gallacher yesterday, though. The goalkeeper was one of those to be made redundant at a meeting with administrator Bryan Jackson on Thursday; a situation which caused him to bridle at how he and his team-mates were treated. "You wouldn't treat animals like that," he said.
Administration has been a painful process for Dunfermline and it has left Gallacher feeling particularly raw, the former Scotland goalkeeper also criticising club owner Gavin Masterton for perpetrating a four-month information blackout as the situation worsened.
The seven-times capped goalkeeper departed East End Park for the final time on Thursday afternoon, the most high-profile of those who had their contracts torn up in the first phase of cost-cutting by Jackson. A "horrible" afternoon was also exacerbated by leaks from within the meeting which ensured Gallacher's wife learned of his dismissal from another source before he could tell her personally.
"I am not having a go at the administrator, he had to deal with things, but the way we were treated yesterday . . . animals have been treated better. It is disgusting," said the 33-year-old, who is understood to be close to agreeing a move to Ross County. "Jim Jefferies [the Dunfermline manager] was handed a piece of paper and had to read the names out. Your heart sinks. You feel sick. And then sitting in a room doing paperwork, you have no idea what is going on.
"It is gut-wrenching. You gave your all, through thick and thin and part payment of wages. We struggled by, all the staff are the same, they had to fight the same way.
"A lot of people use the term 'loyalty' but going by [Thursday's] events, there is nothing loyal about football. We couldn't talk to the administrator after that; we couldn't get a hold of him. We just wanted to speak to someone to put our mind at ease. We knew what was coming but it doesn't make it any easier to deal with."
Following the news of his release, Gallacher's mind had turned to informing his family, only to find out news of his departure was already spreading. "You are thinking about how to tell your loved ones, yet I was getting texts and phones calls to say 'unlucky, I feel for you'," he said. "I hadn't even told my wife yet and it was on Facebook and all sorts. She phoned me in tears after finding out from a third party. That is devastating, and I wasn't happy with things getting leaked so quickly that I couldn't even tell my own loved ones. It was very emotional."
Despite the unpleasant details of this week's three-hour summit, Gallacher bears no ill-will towards Jackson, or the rest of accountancy firm PKF. As far as he is concerned the blame rests at the door of Masterton, who owns a 94% shareholding in the club and is responsible for accruing debts of around £8.5m.
Masterton's "mismanagement" has caused staff at Dunfermline to endure six months of salary delays, despite assurances last year – the last time he spoke to the players – that the club were merely in the midst of a "cashflow problem". The owner's relationship with the dressing room hit a new low in February, as he told the BBC that the situation his unpaid players were facing was "better than having no job at all".
Gallacher could at least find some gallows humour in that last sentiment. "All we hear from him now are statements he puts on websites – comments about how we are lucky to have a job," said the goalkeeper. "Well, for once I would actually agree with him. If I still had a job I would feel lucky."
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