James McPake opens up on 'trust' after Dundee exit and using his contacts book at Dunfermline

For so long such a familiar part of his attire, James McPake has been careful to replace the Dundee pin badge on his blazer collar with a Dunfermline one.

But one suspects it might take him some time to wash Dundee out of his noticeably longer hair following his unveiling at East End Park. The grooming oversight is evidence of just how quickly things have changed for the 37-year-old. He’s not even had time for a haircut. As recently as two weeks ago, he didn’t feel ready to return to the dugout. Now he does.

“I’m refreshed,” he said. “I don’t look it. It happened that quick that I’ve not had a chance to get to the barbers. I’m looking a bit rough maybe. It was whirlwind, bang, ‘when do you want to start?’”

He clocked on on Tuesday – a year to the day since he was celebrating winning promotion to the top flight with Dundee. Now he’s in the third tier hoping to prod awake another so-called sleeping giant. Vivid illustrations of better days adorn the walls of the Jock Stein Lounge.

“You can say ‘this club is too big to be in League One’ all you like,” he said. “No, it’s not. We’re in League One.

“You look at the pictures on the wall, of course, but how can we arc back to that? That’s miles away from where we are. So we want to create our own wee bit of history and try to be that force that everyone keeps saying Dunfermline should be.”

He’s relishing the challenge. “I had an offer very early on, maybe a week after (Dundee),” he revealed. “Then I had a phonemail asking why my CV was not in at another club. I won’t name the clubs. I said I don’t think I’m ready to go back in.

“That phonemail was 15, 16 days ago. Then this job jumped up. I’ve done a lot of research. A lot on the club, a lot on the squad.”

The bruising end to