We need to get the fans falling in love with the club again.”
- Paul Hartley
Our new manager’s working day starts around 7.30am and finishes around 6.00pm (although only when there isn’t a game to go to in the evening!). But despite his busy schedule he still had time to fit in a meeting with Mike Jeffries, one of our Communications Directors, and to relay a message to our fans.
This is what Paul had to say:-
“Supporters are pivotal to what we’re trying to do here. The backing they’ve given the team, and the numbers that have come out and watched the team home and away show the potential that we have. So we need to get the fans falling in love with the club again. The way you do that is by having a team out on the park fighting for each other, having good quality and playing in the right manner and the right way.
“Fans will always be here, that’s for sure. They’ve backed the team for the last ten years or so no matter what has happened on and off the park in terms of having two administrations, which is difficult, and by doing so they’ve shown that the fans are right behind the club.
“We are getting bigger gates than four or five of the Premiership clubs, which indicates that if we’re doing well and are at the top of the league what can we do next season if we have the team on the park and the product? And we want to get back to playing our neighbours across the road. That’s what the fans live and breath for. Financially it’s good, but I think that as a supporter, as players or as the manager that’s what we all want. You líve for derby days. They’re great. I know it’s all about three points, but it’s a different game from any other game. And that’s what we want. We want to be back playing at the highest level, and we will do our best to get there. But that needs the backing of everybody; not just the fans and the players, but everybody at the club. We want this place to be a happy place. We want people to be saying nothing but good things about the club on and off the park.”