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A Hearty welcome to Jim Jeffries

(The Dunfermline club members with Jim Jeffries far left)

Our Sporting Memories Scotland Clubs welcome a range of wonderful guests from the world of ‘fitba’ and this was true earlier this month, when Jim Jeffries joined our Dunfermline Club for one of the sessions. 

Jim was accompanied by Bonar Mercer (former DAFC player) and Ivan Brenkel (retired Hearts FC Club doctor) as they dropped into Dunfermline Sporting Memories at the beginning of November to speak to our members and recall their many stories from the game – here we dive into what Jim had to share during his time at our Club. 

Just a lad from Wallyford 

Jim opened with the story of his first steps in professional football with Jock Wallace – also with family ties in Wallyford. Jock was appointed as coach to Hearts in 1968. He had had his eye on the young player and tried several times to get him onside without success. So when Jim eventually signed for Hearts, Jock was waiting at the entrance for the teenage Jeffries with the words “Well, Jeffries, you’re ***** well playing for me now” and proceeded to send him to a training session more akin to an endurance test. 

In the event, Jim must have been happy and playing well because he stayed with Hearts FC, eventually captaining the club, until he was 32. He then spent the last two years of his playing days at Berwick Rangers – the Wee Gers! 

Footballing playing days behind him, Jim had planned to take over a local pub but that was delayed so he had a spell in insurance and spot of management with Gala Fairydean. 

Back to Berwick 

But Berwick Rangers were calling in again by 1988. At the time the club was on its knees financially. True story (much abbreviated) from Jim. The team were assembled in the changing rooms to meet the new manager, the kitman said to Jim “That’s them all there” Jim replied “I’ll be there in half and hour”. 30 minutes elapsed and the physio came through to say “They’re waiting” and Jim responded he’d be half an hour. 30 minutes later the physio came back to report that the players were getting a bit restless to which Jim replied “I’ll be there shortly” After another 30 minutes the physio came back and Jim told him to put the players on the bus back home and they never met that night. A wee bit psychology to start with in order to shake up the team complacency. But come the next training night, Jim was there to greet the team and read them the “riot act” about attitudes and commitments. It wasn’t enough though as they lost the next 5 games in a row. 

It was time for desperate measures and a team reshuffling with John “Yogi” Hughes moving up front. John was a big and powerful player and this move of position proved to be a touch of Jeffries magic as Yogi started scoring goals and the team made progress out the doldrums and in the 88/89 set a club record of 21 games unbeaten. 

Managerial Moves 

Jim went on to have various spells as manager at several topflight clubs both north and south of the border with two spells at his beloved Hearts FC. He was manager of the Hearts team that won the?Scottish Cup?in?1998, perhaps his greatest success in the game. Jim was appointed manager of Hearts for a second time on January 2010 and Hearts finished third in the SPL in the 2010–11 season, having threatened the dominance of the?Old Firm?until falling away after February. His last managerial post was with Dunfermline Athletic who, sadly, at that time were under severe financial constraints which did not help his role. He left in 2014. 

The intricacies of football management 

Jim let us into some of the background of the wheeling and dealing that went with football management, of quiet approaches, intermediaries, odd phone calls, innocuous lunches and dinners – all in the what if’s if we (insert club name – they were many) were to offer you a position? Jim’s reply was always “Is there a job on the table? If not, then come back when there is.” 

Jim is a quiet spoken man with a phenomenal memory for facts and figures. In fact, his quiet approach was a surprise to a few of our members who remember him as being an expressive and “loud” figure on the sidelines, a common trait among old-school football managers. He confirmed this is to be so! 

As you can imagine we have only tickled the wealth of stories and memories that Jim shared. So, if you get the chance, please do go hear him speak. He doesn’t ‘do’ the after dinner or celebrity speaker circuit though, so we consider ourselves very, very lucky that he chose Sporting Memories in Dunfermline to come along and share his football memories with.