How the Premier 12 shape up for 2000

Since arriving from PSV Eindhoven, Advocaat has always been keen to select his strongest side, even in the much maligned CIS Insurance Cup, but as the SPL fixture list becomes even more crowded as a consequence of the restructuring to a top 12, and with the club hoping to enjoy a long and fruitful European campaign, it seems likely that the summer spending spree has been made with a view to the rotation system popular among the Continent's elite.

Paul Ritchie, Allan Johnston, Peter Lovenkrands, Kenny Miller, Paul Reid, Bert Konterman, and Fernando Ricksen have all been recruited, but only the two Dutchmen can be certain of places in the first XI. The others have been signed as quality back-up - with Reid, Miller, and Lovenkrands part of Advocaat's vision of the future, but that does not necessarily mean they will spend the majority of the season on the bench or, worse still, in the stand.

Instead, Advocaat will make full use of his squad, with those involved in midweek European duty replaced by some fresher legs for the weekend chores, while personnel alterations can also be expected in both cup competitions.

The club are obviously gearing up for their biggest Champions League assault yet and although the major dissappointment for Advocaat has been the failure to procure a top-class goalscorer, he must be pleased with the competition he has created in all areas of the team.

Ricksen will fill the right back slot that has not had a consistent incumbent since former England internationalist Gary Stevens, while Konterman looks certain to replace captain Lorenzo Amoruso alongside Craig Moore at the heart of the defence.

Lovenkrands and Johnston will also keep wingers Neil McCann and Andrei Kanchelskis on their toes, and the return of Michael Mols will provide an extra dimension in attack.

The Dutchman made his long-awaited return from cruciate-ligament damage during Rangers' pre-season tour of his homeland and, although he is again on the sidelines as a result of a minor operation to reduce the swelling in the knee, Advocaat will have been heartened to see the 29-year-old display the pace and twisting and turning that made him a firm favourite with the fans after he joined from Utrecht.

He will not be available for selection during the Champions League preliminary round ties but there are enough strikers of quality to see them safely through to the first group phase, by which time Mols should be fit and ready to return.

CELTIC martin o'neill

A NEW season, a new manager, a new wave of hope among the Celtic faithful.

Martin O'Neill, the latest to park himself in the hottest seat in British football, has his work cut out in attempting to bridge the chasm between them and their Old Firm rivals but, even at this early stage, the Northern Irishman seems to relishing the greatest challenge in his managerial career.

A busy summer - much of which was spent articulating to the masses from the Low Countries on the summer soccer jamboree - has produced a new Scottish transfer record, with Chelsea outcast Chris Sutton seeking salvation, and plenty of the folding stuff, north of the Border in a #6m switch. However, O'Neill has also discovered just how fickle it can be at the sharp end of the market.

Haggling to no avail with JC Roda and his former club, Leicester City, for the services of Joos Valgaeren and Neil Lennon - although the Belgian defender is likely to wind up at Parkhead - means that Celtic will begin the new campaign one up, one down, after the substantial loss of last season's top scorer, Mark Viduka, to Leeds United.

O'Neill's immediate concern is deciphering which of those players accumulated over the past few years by various coaches have futures, and who can be shipped out.

Those supporters who heaved a sigh of relief at the dissolution of the managerial ''dream team'' had expressed a desire to see some of their nightmarish buys follow suit, but attempting to bulk-sell players on comfortable contracts and procure immediate replacements is not easy.

Instead, O'Neill will use the man-management skills he gleaned from his old mentor, Brian Clough, to perk up a side sadly lacking in confidence.

Rafael, Olivier Tebily, Bobby Petta, Eyal Berkovic, and Jonathan Gould are all in desperate need of re-assurance after an annus horribilis, but each will be given a fresh start by the new man, although he realises the need for significant squad improvement.

The CIS Cup victory over Aberdeen was scant consolation for the capitulation in the league that was prefaced by defeat in the Scottish Cup to Inverness Caledonian Thistle.

In all of the travails there was one absentee - Henrik Larsson. The Swede has become Celtic's vital artery since joining from Feyenoord for a ridiculously cheap #600,000 and their season died with one sickening contortion of his right leg against Lyon.

Now back to full fitness after a Euro 2000 ''pre-season,'' Larsson, along with new Eng-lish partner Sutton, will be expected to retain the trophy and, along with it, the pride that drained from Parkhead as the dream turned sour.

HEARTS JIM JEFFERIES

A sustained run in the UEFA Cup would help ease Hearts' financial burden but Jim Jefferies will not allow European commitments to cloud the club's bid to establish themselves as the third force in Scottish football.

It has been a frustrating

summer for Jefferies, unable to make any squad improvements as chief executive Chris Robinson attempts to balance the books, and the manager is again faced with the prospect of losing his best players.

Robinson stressed that the only way to stem the tide of money pouring out of the club would be to cash in on their biggest assets, a revelation that was met by widespread disapproval from those fans who have already watched the likes of Alan McLaren, Paul Ritchie, David Weir, and Allan Johnston head for greener pastures not long after their emergence in the first team.

While putting the side through their paces in France, Jefferies must have felt a sense of deja vu as FC Twente Enschede revealed their interest in Gary Naysmith, whose performances last season merited a call-up to the full international squad.

Having just recently pieced together a squad thanks to an #8m cash injection from SMG, he faces the prospect of money matters dictating that his months of painstaking work may again be dismantled, but until such times as a buyer steps forward with a concrete offer for one of his players, he will carry on regardless in the hope of emulating last season's achievements.

Arguably his most inspired move of last season was to bring Antti Niemi from the the Ibrox wilderness. The Finnish international goalkeeper grew inceasingly frustrated by his lack of action with the cham-pions, as Stefan Klos firmly established himself as first choice and Lionel Charbonnier became his unwilling but more than able deputy.

However, in his short spell in the capital, Niemi has rediscovered his confidence, sharpened his reflexes, and broken the hearts of several SPL strikers. His former Rangers team-mate Gordan Petric has also slipped comfortably back into Scottish football after a spell in Greece and has forged a dependable partnership with Steven Pressley.

However, the secret of their success has been the emergence of the latest batch of young talent.

Gary Wales spent a large part of last season on the sidelines with a broken leg, sustained against Rangers, but the striker has worked his way back to full fitness and is ready once again to challenge senior colleagues Stephane Adam and Colin Cameron.

So, too, is Northern Ireland Under-21 striker Andy Kirk, who was introduced to great effect towards the end of last season, and Jefferies clearly sees the Kirk/Wales partnership as the way forward for the cash-strapped club.

MOTHERWELL billy davies

THERE are a few more grey hairs visible on the head of Billy Davies after his rollercoaster introduction to management. Manicures are simply out of the question as a result of a catalogue of nail-biting performances and if he persists in pacing up and down the technical area, he will dig himself a trench before too much longer.

Ah, the joys of managing the most exasperating team in the SPL. Brilliant at their best, woeful at their worst, the Claret and Amber crew have performed good and bad and equal measure.

Struggling at the lower end of the table for the first half of last season, Well returned after the winter break with a head of steam that almost took them off the beaten track and into Europe.

Davies has spent wisely the cash quota provided by chairman John Boyle, laying a solid, experienced backbone in Andy Goram, still defying gravity and more than a few strikers in his mid-30s, Ged Brannan, from Manchester City, and brother-in-law John Spencer.

Spencer, as well as making a considerable contribution in the scoring stakes, has also encouraged the development of Lee McCulloch and helped veteran Englishman Don Goodman enjoy an Indian summer after an inauspicious start to his career in Lanarkshire.

McCulloch will be expected to continue from where he left off last season. His goalscoring exploits looked certain to win him a move to Tynecastle with Hearts manager tabling a #1m offer for the 22-year-old not long after SMG's #8m investment, but he was persuaded to remain at Fir Park by Davies and is pivotal to the club's hopes of a place in Europe.

Goram, relishing a new lease of life away from the white-hot spotlight and off-field temptations that come with being a member of the Old Firm, has played a captain's role, orchestrating from his goalmouth and providing the moments of inspiration that set the adrenalin flowing.

Their main problem, however, was the lack of defensive organisation after the acrimonious departure of Shaun Teale. Until the arrival of his replacement, Greg Strong, Well's fragility at the back seeped into the other areas of the field but to that end, Davies has added French centre-back Oueifo Ange to provide competition for Strong and the assured Dutchman, Benito Kemble.

The retiral of Pat Nevin to the director of football's office has also been cushioned by the arrival of highly-rated Irish winger Stuart Elliot who, along with Derek Townsley, Kevin Twaddle, and Stephen Nicholas, will compete for the opportunity to supply the three-pronged attack with enough opportunities to keep them in the right half of the table come the big split.

However, another season like last could see him resort to tearing his hair out.

ST JOHNSTONE sandy clark

Not content with the mid-table safe haven that they found last

season, St Johnstone are

hoping to move on up with

the help of the two wingers brought in to add some flair to a team criticised in recent years for their rigid, unspectacular but nevertheless effective style of play.

Paul Hartley, formerly of Hibernian, and Tommy Lovenkrands, the Dane who has been joined in Scotland by his little brother, Peter, were signed by Sandy Clark this summer in the hope that they can increase the volume of chances available to a front line who have been forced to scavenge for scraps as a

consequence of the Perth club's safety first policy.

However, with the Scottish Premier League having introduced a trap door halfway up the top flight landing, Clark is ready to discard the cautious approach and replace it with the kind of free-flowing football that SPL chief executive Roger Mitchell hopes will

vindicate the experimental

top-12.

The loss of Danny Griffin and John O'Neil to Dundee United and Hibs respectively has been a blow to Clark.

However, that has been

cushioned by the arrival of Hartley and Lovenkrands, who both possess quick feet, a swift turn of pace, but, more importantly, the ability to

provide plentiful ammunition from the byeline.

Meanwhile, Clark is pinning his hopes on 17-year-old

Kiegan Parker to provide the real cutting edge.

Parker appeared briefly towards the end of last season but made a huge impression with his work-rate, eye for goal, and ability to stride past even the most nimble of defenders at will.

Although the manager has a plethora of poachers at his

disposal, including George O'Boyle, who is fit to resume his career at 33 after a persistent knee injury, Nathan Lowndes, Paddy Connolly, and Graeme Jones, he is keen to keep faith with the youngster who has progressed through the youth ranks and promises to become a serious rival to contemporaries Mark Burchill, Kenny Miller, and Gary

Wales.

Clark is also glad to see the end to the injury list that wreaked havoc on their bid to win a UEFA Cup spot for the second year in succession.

He had to make do without the spine of his team for most of the campaign, with goalkeeper Alan Main, central defender Alan Kernaghan, influential midfielder Nick Dasovic, and O'Boyle all ruled out with a variety of long-term ailments.

All four key men now fully rehabilitated, Saints will be looking for some long overdue good fortune as well as fitting reward for their new attacking outlook.

HIBERNIAN ALEX McLEISH

ALEX McLeish has made sweeping changes after the club ensured their Premier League safety last season but it remains to be seen what effect the reluctant sale of Kenny Miller will have on the new-look Hibs side.

The Easter Road aficionados are still struggling to come to terms with the 20-year-old's #2m transfer to Rangers and, while the club were powerless to halt the move, even though the youngster had only recently signed a four-year contract, the time for mourning is over as another battle for survival begins.

Out have gone club captain John Hughes, midfield man Pat McGinlay, Paul Lovering, and Michael Renwick but McLeish has more than compensated - in numbers, at any rate - with the acquisitions of Ulrik Laursen, Hakin Sar-Temsoury, Paul Fenwick, Lyndon Andrews, Gary Smith, John O'Neil, and veteran goalkeeper Ian Westwater.

Thankfully, the manager's powers of persuasion were sufficient to put Franck Sauzee off the idea of retirement and the French playmaker has since been honoured with the captaincy in his last hurrah.

Even at 34, the former Marseille and France captain still has a huge influence on those around him. Without his services, Hibs would have been left without a leader for their crucial second season back at the top.

Sauzee has proved to be the consummate professional since arriving from Montpellier in February and his composure and vast experience have been vital to the Easter Road club during the inevitable rocky patches.

He still possesses the love of the game and has taken to life in the capital - just as the club's fans have taken to him as a result of his cultured play and thunderous long-range shooting.

Sauzee will require help from those around him, though, if his wish to leave the club with a place in Europe guaranteed is to come true.

The most pressing concern is who will replace Miller.

Veteran Mixu Paatelainen has worked manfully since joining from Bolton but at 33, the legs are not as willing as they once were, and McLeish may be inclined to go with one of his younger men.

Tam McManus has followed the same development plan as Miller, enjoying a successful loan stint in the lower divisions - in his case, at East Fife - before returning fit and ready to challenge for a first-team place. He made his debut towards the end of last season, to the excitement of the Easter Road aficionados, who envisaged that he and Miller could work in tandem for years to come.

That will not now be the case but with the worldly wise Sauzee and the lively Russel Latapy behind him, the 20-year-old's time may have come to emerge from the shadow of his one-time reserve partner.

DUNDEE ivano bonetti

On Tuesday, Attilio

Lombardo took his place in a Lazio side that included Euro 2000 stand-out Pavel Nedved,

Fabrizio Ravanelli, Ivan de la Pena, and one half of the

Inzaghi brothers, Simone,

for a pre-season friendly

in Germany against Bayer Leverkusen.

He could so easily have been at Dens Park gearing up for his first season in Scottish football, according to the Bald Eagle's friend and new Dundee manager, Ivano Bonetti. Not to worry, the Dark Blues have it all to look forward to next year.

Bonetti's claim might have been perceived as a

bit of kidology, arriving at the same time as the season ticket applications were falling through thousands of

Tayside letterboxes, but in spite of the widespread raising of eyebrows that heralded

his appointment, Bonetti has big plans for the club, and Lombardo, even in his

mid-30s, may be a significant part of them in the

not-too-distant future.

Already Bonetti has shown he will run the club his way, putting fans' favourite Steven Boyack on the transfer list along with Willie Miller,

Barry Elliot, and Hugh Robertson after being less than enamoured by their

commitment during a

gruelling pre-season in his homeland.

He was, however, suitably impressed by the pair of Argentinian strikers that he invited for trials, and has since offered Fabian Caballero and Juan Sara contracts to cushion

the blow of losing out on Francisco Luna, the Spaniard who enjoyed a

successful loan spell before family commitments forced him to stay at home.

The Italian pair of Marcello Marrocco and Marco de Marchi, plus midfielder Georgi Nemsadze, have also been recruited during a busy summer for Bonetti, who, even at 35, is not yet ready to hang up his boots.

Traditionally late chargers - they broke clear of the relegation zone and leapfrogged city rivals United after a run of

positive results in the last quarter of the last campaign - Dundee's biggest challenge will be to ensure that they have amassed enough points in the early part of the season to qualify for the top half of the table come the split after three rounds of matches.

With Scotland goalkeeper Rab Douglas improving with every passing season, Bonetti has a solid foundation on which to build success and is hopeful that the skill of Javier Artero and Italian Patrizio Billio in midfield will provide enough opportunities for his South Amercian strikers, not forgetting the dependable Willie Falconer, to shoot them up the table.

DUNDEE UNITED Paul sturrock

PAUL Sturrock, unlike most of his counterparts, has money to spend but the Dundee United manager is reluctant to throw it into the hands of a grateful foreign club when he can nurture his own talents to a level that far exceeds those of the journeyman from abroad.

Having burst on to the scene as a fresh-faced wannabe in the early 80s and progressed into arguably the club's greatest ever striker during the halcyon days at Tannadice, Sturrock is understandably keen to nurture the abundant talent emerging from the United underbelly, but he realises the demands from the terraces, and time is not a luxury afforded to modern-day managers.

The likes of Roger Boli, Joaquim Ferraz, and Jan Telesnikov have been and gone in recent years and while the pressure is on to procure a striker capable of providing in the region of 20 goals a season, Sturrock is holding out for one of his young guns to come good and justify his faith in the old-fashioned virtues.

Steven Thompson has been around the first-team periphery for the last couple of years and, after succumbing to injury last season, the striker has stated his intent by scoring regularly during the club's series of summer friendlies. Sturrock hopes he has come of age in time to lead the line in a new era for the club.

The last remnant of the glory days, Maurice Malpas, hung up his boots last week after a testimonial against Everton to commemorate 20 years' loyal service to United but he will remain an integral part of the club, with a new remit to mould the players of tomorrow as a member of the coaching staff.

Sturrock would prefer them ready-made today but as well as Thompson, he has high hopes for Glasgow-born striker Stephen McConalogue, the 18-year-old who has broken all Scottish schoolboy scoring records and made his breakthrough last season. He has yet to score in the first team but has impressed with his direct style of play and willingness to link up with the midfield, and the manager believes that, once he scores his maiden goal, he will be off and running.

Jim Paterson is another of whom big things are expected. The winger emerged on the scene two seasons ago but his progress was hampered by a broken leg sustained against Rangers last season. However, he has fully recovered and is determined to fight his way back into the first team and provide the kind of service that made him a regular both for his club and Scotland's Under-21 squad before his injury.

Sturrock's only summer signings have been St Johnstone full back Danny Griffin, as a replacement for the seemingly irreplaceable Malpas, and French midfielder Joaquim Fernandez, but he will not tolerate a repeat of last season's disappointment, when United finished in seventh place - behind their city rivals - depite getting off to a flying start.

KILMARNOCK bobby williamson

LAST season could not end quickly enough for

Kilmarnock as their exertions during three years of unprecedented success finally caught up with them.

The club stumbled across the finishing line in May, with only Aberdeen behind them, and throughout the campaign looked a mere shadow of the side that not long before had lifted the Scottish Cup, scaled the heady heights of the SPL, and enjoyed several continental adventures.

Bobby Williamson cut an exasperated figure in the dug-out as his men lurched from one bad result to another, his frustration compounded by the fact that Killie retained their ability to entertain yet lost their way to goal.

To remedy the problem, the manager has added Andy McLaren and Craig Dargo to a pool of front men that also includes Ally McCoist, Paul Wright, Jerome Vareille, Andy Smith, and Mike Jeffrey.

McLaren has been given

an opportunity to relaunch

his career after undergoing counselling for alcoholism, not long after his contract with Reading was terminated, and his pace and directness from wide will bring an added dimension

to their play. Dargo, a former Scotland Under-21 internationalist, has also been given a

fresh challenge after becoming stagnant at Stark's Park, and Williamson hopes his summer signings can cure the club's striking ills.

However, he warned: ''There is competition throughout the team now and, while the strikers took the brunt of the criticism for not scoring frequently enough, we weren't getting goals from any other areas. That is why I strengthened the squad in the summer. If people are not doing their jobs, they will be replaced with someone else. That is not a threat, just a fact.''

Clearly, Williamson will not tolerate a repeat of last season but rather than urging his players to forget their annus horribilis, he instructed them to learn from their mistakes. He has been encouraged by their work rate and determination to make amends during pre-season and, he believes, the fact they do not have European football to look forward to may prove a blessing in

disguise.

''It is a clean slate for us. We cannot forget what happened to us last year,'' he said. ''That should be the inspiration for us to go on to better things. It was always going to be hard to build on the successes we had in the previous seasons, but even though results didn't go our way, I felt we played good football most of the time.

''The goal has obviously got to be to improve significantly on last year. We do not have the distraction of European football this time and even though it was enjoyable for the players, fans, and myself, it brings its own kind of pressure, so maybe it will help us concentrate solely on the league.''

ABERDEEN ebbe skovdahl

JUST when they thought their situation could not get any worse, out went the toaster. Symbolic, considering Aberdeen have no bread with which to buy new players.

None the less, manager Ebbe Skovdahl is convinced of better times ahead for the club who avoided relegation last season on a technicality yet managed to secure a place in the UEFA Cup courtesy of their inexplicable surge to two cup finals, both of which were lost in comprehensive fashion.

The avuncular Dane, who managed to retain his composure during the club's early freefall while everyone around him seemed to lose theirs, is at a loss to explain Aberdeen's dramatic fall from grace but, quite understandably, he is reluctant to criticise the players too heavily for fear of destroying their already fragile confidence.

He has no option but to put his faith in those who failed him last time as chairman Stewart Milne tightens the purse-strings to halt the club plunging further into the red, and doubtless this summer's pre-season would have been the biggest test of his managerial career.

Reassurance to the point of mollycoddling will have been required to rid the players of their inferiority complex but Skovdahl's preparation has not been helped by injuries to key players and the retirement of former Scotland goalkeeper Jim Leighton. Ryan Esson and David Preece will battle it out for the No.1 jersey.

However, whoever emerges victorious - and early indications suggest Esson, as the Scotland Under-21 internationalist holds the ascendancy - will have a hard task in succeeding the Pittodrie legend.

The new goalkeeper must hope that the defensive duo of Derek Whyte and Thomas Solberg will have found a greater understanding after struggling to adapt to each other's idiosyncracies in their first season together, but unity throughout the team is the only way Aberdeen can restore some semblance of respectability.

While in their halcyon days a tie against Bohemians would have been little more than target practice, Aberdeen enter the UEFA Cup qualifying round with their opponents - and in particular manager Roddy Collins - making all the confident noises. Considering recent nightmares against other so-called minnows, not least Latvians Skonto Riga, it is not inconceivable that the luck of the Irish could heap more misery on the Dons.

Much is expected of little Moroccan playmaker Hicham Zerouali but he will have to show a better attitude than he did in the Scottish Cup final, arguing with assistant Gardner Spiers on the bench before coming on and showing little more than a petulant sulk.

ST MIRREN tom hendrie

THE new boys' preparation has been hampered with the untimely departure of Junior Mendes to Dunfermline but not even the loss of the popular Englishman will dampen the enthusiasm of the Buddies as they prepare for their long-awaited return to the big time.

Eight years have passed since their relegation to the first division - ironically along with the Pars, who have joined them for the ascent this time - and Paisley turned out en masse to salute their heroes at a civic reception held in their honour upon securing the championship.

Years in the doldrums were instantly forgotten as Tom Hendrie led his troops to the balcony of the town hall armed with the first division trophy.

The memories of that sun-kissed afternoon will give the Saints the inspiration to continue the progress made since the arrival of the former school teacher, an appointment that was met with a lukewarm reaction from the long-suffering fans.

Hendrie has since proved himself a tactically astute coach who is unafraid to come down heavily on those players not producing optimum commitment, or - as Mendes found out recently - players who leave him in the lurch during a critical period in the club's progress.

He moved swiftly to sign a replacement, Jose Quitongo, and the diminutive Angolan, having already experienced the Premier League during his spell at Hearts, will be a pivotal figure in an essentially inexperienced side.

None the less, the youngsters who have been plucked from one of the most profitable youth development systems in the Scottish game have become fixtures in the first-team squad and, with money not readily available to Hendrie, he will have little option but to continue with the Love Street Kids.

Hugh Murray, Steven McGarry, Paul Rudden, Sergei Baltacha, and Chris Kerr all earned plaudits for their performances throughout the campaign as Saints swept through the league like a breath of fresh air.

While Hendrie appreciates that the attacking excesses of last season may have to be tempered, he will not short-change the supporters by reverting to survival tactics.

Instead, he will look to those experienced campaigners who have seen it all before.

Tommy Turner belied his 37 years with some vintage displays in a libero role last season and, indeed, picked up more than his share of supporters clubs' player of the year awards.

In addition, former Kilmarnock midfielder Tom Brown will bring composure to a midfield which was guilty at times of being over-eager.

Hendrie loves a challenge and simply will not entertain the notion of a season-long struggle in the lower reaches of the SPL.

DUNFERMLINE jimmy calderwood

ROUTE-one football and little in the way

of entertainment was par for the course during Dunfermline's previous flirtation with the Premier League, but those predicting a similar fate for the Fifers this time around may be in for a surprise.

Jimmy Calderwood has already firmly stamped his hallmark on the team in the six months since he took over the reins after a successful spell with Dutch first division side NEC Nijmegen.

A battler during his playing days, mostly spent in the Netherlands, Calderwood demands maximum effort from his players during every training session and on match day. A stickler for discipline in much the same way as Dick Advocaat, with whom he will renew rivalries after many a year in opposition both on the field and in the dug-out, the fear of evoking his ire has spurred the players on and already the squad are reaping the benefits of his no-nonsense stance.

Calderwood returned to Holland to orchestrate a gruelling pre-season programme for the return to the top flight but upon their return, the players have reported a significant improvement in their fitness and are now better prepared than ever for the rigours of a long, arduous Premier League campaign.

He has also built a squad

that is capable of sustaining the inevitable injuries and

suspensions that affect the smaller teams more than those with enough cash to buy their way out of trouble.

Unhappy with his defence, Calderwood has signed experienced goalkeeper Marco Ruitenbeek, PSV Eindhoven's Lithuanian centre back Andrius Skerla, and Moroccan Youssef Rossi, while the Dutch influence is continued with

former Motherwell pair Michel Doesburg and Rob Matthaei, who left Fir Park for Fife last season.

He believes the quest for survival is a man's job and much responsibility will rest on the broad shoulders of former Rangers midfielder Ian Ferguson, who, like Ian Durrant, Andy Goram, and Ally McCoist, has found there is life after Ibrox. Now 33, Ferguson will relish his return to the Premier League, and will do all in his power to keep the Pars there.

Owen Coyle has seen it all before during spells with Airdrie, Clydebank, Dundee United, Bolton, and Motherwell, but the 33-year-old is reaping the benefits of a disciplined career - his strongest tipple is the occasional fizzy soft drink - and still has the ability to find the net.

While there are young pretenders such as Colin Nish and Stephen Hampshire, Coyle's experience and profitable partnership with Stevie Crawford will be vital to the Pars' cause.