OF all the virtues Danny Lennon is attempting to instil in his St Mirren side, patience is perhaps the most pertinent.
As the rest of the Clydesdale Bank Premier League begin another season this weekend, the Paisley manager and his squad will have to wait until Monday to play their inaugural fixture: away to newly-promoted Dunfermline Athletic.
Lennon has queried the decision to delay the tie – preferring instead that all matches kick-off at the same time – but at least the fixture will be afforded a sense of ceremony, with a host of television cameras on hand to capture the unfurling of Dunfermline’s first division championship flag. Having enjoyed notable success as a player with the Fife club’s local rivals Raith Rovers it is not a moment which is likely to cause the St Mirren manager to become too misty-eyed, but he knows what Dunfermline’s return to the Premier League will mean to the region as a whole.
In Jim McIntyre, Lennon may also have identified a kindred spirit, with the Dunfermline manager a proponent of slick, attacking football. “They deserve a great deal of credit for the job they’ve done and, in my opinion, that club deserves to be an SPL club,” said Lennon, who intimated he could appoint a new assistant manager ahead of the match at East End Park.
“I think the SPL deserves a team from Fife in it. They are very passionate about their football and Jim is a young manager who has done a fantastic job in achieving what he has up there with the financial constraints.”
With the pleasantries out of the way Lennon was able to turn his attention to his own side; with the acquisition of players such as Graham Carey, Steven Thompson and Gary Teale having raised fans’ hopes that their club could challenge for a place in the top six. That optimism is also acutely felt in the dug-out.
“Simply staying in the SPL is no ambition for this club if we want to go forward,” said Lennon. “I’m more confident in the tools I have to go and play our style of football with our philosophy.”
Dunfermline have also made a number of signings, while retaining the majority of the squad that sealed their return to the top flight last term. For one of those players, Steven McDougall, it has been a long wait but the striker is ready to take his chance to impress in the top flight.
“I started with Airdrie when I was 17 and I’m 25 now, so I’ve been waiting eight years for the chance to play in the SPL,” he said. “Everybody always wants to get there. You just have to work hard and hope a bit of luck comes your way, and thankfully it did with winning the first division last season.
“We’ve got good players and quite a lot of SPL experience, so hopefully we can have a good season. I hope to play but we have a lot of competition. It would be gutting if I finally made it to the SPL only to play a bit-part.”
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