The Times November 18, 2006


Dair happy to be back as journey takes fresh turn
By Graham McColl



THE first round of the Tennent’s Scottish Cup today seems an appropriate setting for Jason Dair in his self-cast role as the country’s ultimate journeyman footballer.
Dair, who joined East Fife at the beginning of the season, describes himself as “Jack of all trades and master of none” for playing in every position on the pitch throughout his 15-year career.



This afternoon, he will happily pitch in among the amateurs and part-timers dreaming of making it through the first two rounds to win a plum tie when the major clubs enter the competition in January. His modest assessment of his talents is an endearing piece of self-deprecation but it is closer to the truth to suggest that it is little more than a fluke that East Fife, of the Scottish League third division, have the services of a player who was a regular performer in the Bank of Scotland Premierleague until spring this year.

A cruciate ligament injury struck Dair while at Livingston in March and he discovered during the summer that that was enough to scare off any Premierleague sides from taking a chance on him, at 32, after a career that has also seen him feature for Raith Rovers, Motherwell and Dunfermline Athletic.

This afternoon, he will experience this stage of the Scottish Cup for the first time. “For me, just getting back to playing again is the key,” Dair said, as he prepared for the Fifers’ home tie with Berwick Rangers. “It was the first time I’d had that sort of bad injury so I was not sure what sort of standard I’d come back to. It was tough that clubs weren’t willing to take a chance on me but that’s what happens. You get older and your legs get older.

“When nothing happened during the close season I knew I was going to have to drop divisions. The money wasn’t really that important — I hadn’t played for a long time so I was just looking to play.

“I played one trial game for Raith Rovers and they hadn’t decided whether to sign me so they wanted me to play as a trialist again, which I didn’t want to do. Then, just at that time, Willie Gray, the East Fife chairman and my former chairman at Raith, came in and made me an offer.”

The protracted nature of Dair’s return to football meant that the season was well under way when he joined East Fife and he found that he lacked the fitness reserves that team-mates had built up during pre-season. A calf injury has sidelined him in recent weeks, to go with a niggle to his back. His knee, the original catalyst for his sudden descent to this level, has given him no problems at all, suggesting that top-level clubs were wrong in believing he would now be too big a risk for them.

Dair is not bitter, though, in accepting that, having gone part-time, that is where he will stay. Weekdays now find him scrutinising plans in a Lanarkshire draughtsman’s office. “It was a bit of a culture shock to go part-time,” he said, “and another shock to have to be using the brain again: I’d been a full-time footballer since leaving school.

“I was not even close to being financially secure. I’ve got three kids and a decent house and I enjoyed the money when earning it and saved a bit but not nearly enough to be able to sit back and enjoy it now.”

East Fife’s acquisition of Dair may prove lucky for them in more than simply obtaining a very good footballer to perform at left-back. He has also won promotion every time he has previously sampled the lower divisions. His first season, with Raith, as a 17-year-old, saw the club promoted to the Premier Division and, on their subsequent relegation, Dair helped them to bounce back straightaway. He also helped Dunfermline to make an immediate return to the Premierleague, in 2000.

“Hopefully, that’s a good sign,” Dair said — and East Fife currently top the third division by four points. For the moment, it is the nation’s premier cup competition that is foremost in his thoughts and a tie against a Berwick side that defeated East Fife in the league last week.

“It would be good to beat them and get some revenge,” Dair said, although he missed last week’s match through that calf injury. He expects to be fit for today’s tie. “I suppose the boys will have something to prove especially as we seem to have been a bit unlucky down there, with a missed penalty.”

Dair is enthusiastic about the young players who have helped East Fife to their early season success, such as Ryan Blackadder, Stephan Fortune and Craig O’Reilly, a big, strong forward on loan from Dundee who was named the young player of the month for October. “They are just as good as any youngsters I’ve seen. With most of them, it’s just getting the break at the right time. Luck is definitely vital in football — it’s got everything to do with it.”

If one player should know, it is Dair, who has had that underlined for him this year.