Dunfermline 24h On

It can be argued that the price cut is a belated public recognition by the board that all is not well in the football department. One win in the last eleven games tells only part of the story. The malaise which seems to have spread throughout the club in the last year or two will not be reversed by a bumper crowd on Saturday willing to pay £5 at the gate.

The fear of relegation and the need for fans to get behind the team will produce a big turnout for the St Mirren game. Those who were at East End Park could not have failed to be impressed with the spirit and enthusiasm shown by the home support. Around six and a half thousand of them were there to spur the Pars on to possible SPL survival. They raised the roof when Stephen Kenny appeared on the park for the pre-match warm up and roared their team on every time they started an attack.

What a contrast to the atmosphere at Fir Park. The team is struggling, yet they get little vocal backing from the stands. The usual suspects get pelters while the occasional pretty passing move raises little more than polite applause. Why the difference?

The new manager at Dunfermline had, on the face of it, little to lose. He arrived when his side was, in most commentators' eyes, already a lost cause. If he was unable to spark a revival then it would be because the cause was hopeless. Yet, if he saved them from the drop he would become an instant hero. He stiffened their defence (they had five consecutive clean sheets before McDonald's penalty) and helped to produce a marvellous cup run which sees them in this season's final.

On the other hand we lack sparkle. It seems that we have become nothing more than a staging post for players on their way to 'better things' while inexperienced youngsters fill the gaps. The business side of the club seems content to bump along from year to year in the hope that income and expenditure balance. While a return to the bad old days of financial fantasy is in no one's interest, there may be a time when the notion of speculation to foster accumulation has to be faced. With an entrepreneur at the helm why is it that we are so poor at self promotion?

And what of inspiration? Terry Butcher had it in spades. He could command media attention when he felt it necessary and his extrovert behaviour attracted fans and produced a loyalty from which the club benefited. At the moment we have a manager in a different mould. Without passing judgement on the tactics, strategies or personnel employed (there are plenty of views to be read on the messageboards), it is difficult for fans to rise to the clarion call of "They were hungrier than us" or "We are up to our necks in quicksand" or "My neck's on the line and I've got to be big enough to stand up to the criticism (from the fans)".

What is needed now is a cry from the heart that the team need all the help they can get this weekend and that every Motherwell supporter who can get to Fir Park on Saturday has to be there. The Saints will attend in numbers and we have to use home advantage to the maximum. By filling the home stands we can make it clear to the players that they have our support and by cheering them on we can play the part of the fabled 'twelfth man'.

Regardless of whether we escape the drop or not the board have to take steps to shake the club from the lethargy. A change in direction is needed.