BY ALAN TEMPLE – @CCP_Sport
DUNFERMLINE ATHLETIC skipper Andy Geggan insists leading out the Pars on flag day will be the proudest moment of his football career – and he reckons it is fitting that Dumbarton are the opponents on an unforgettable afternoon.
Geggan won his only other league title with The Sons, lifting the Old Third Division championship in the the 2008/09 campaign – the highlight of a five-year stint with Dumbarton which he still remembers fondly.
However, he acknowledges that wearing the armband for a club of Dunfermline’s stature during their dominant march to the League One title makes this latest milestone even sweeter.
Geggan said: “I’ve been looking forward to this moment since the end of last season. I can’t wait and I imagine I’ll be going in to the game after not sleeping a wink on Friday night!
“I definitely see it as the proudest moment of my career. I have won a league before, with Dumbarton, but to achieve that with a club the size of Dunfermline is incredible.
“It’s really strange that we’ve got Dumbarton on the first day, and just makes it that wee bit more special for me.
“I probably appreciate this title a bit more. I was a young boy at Dumbarton when we won the league, albeit I played a lot of games, but to be captain for the majority of the season here makes it very memorable.
“I would never disrespect Dumbarton, but to win a title at a club the size of Dunfermline makes it a bit more special.”
While Geggan will lap up the celebrations, he is adamant this afternoon’s clash is a fitting reward for the club’s fans more than anyone else.
Dunfermline fans rallied behind supporters’ group Pars United to rescue the club from administration in 2013, with thousands of punters pledge a monthly sum to the Centenary Club Lifeline, providing pivotal working capital each month.
So, he has urged them to lap up the Fifers’ return to the second tier.
The combative midfielder continued: “Today isn’t about me or the boys, it’s about the fans. They have been waiting for this moment for a couple of years now.
“The majority of the fans will have been following this club all their lives so getting the flag is about them, especially when you consider what they have been through over the past few years.
“The support is unbelievable, you have people paying money every single month to help keep this going. They buy their season tickets as well, which is unbelievable – a lot of these people will really struggle to pay that in the current climate, but they do it.
“So, hopefully they enjoy the celebration before the league starts.”
Geggan, however, knows that the festivities will come to an abrupt halt if the Pars don’t get off to a winning start at home to Stevie Aitken’s part-timers.
Instead, he is determined to lay down a marker for the coming campaign, insisting that the division’s newcomers should not be underestimated in the race to the Premiership after a summer of shrewd spending.
Geggan added: “I think the playoffs needs to be the aim, but I think we are good enough to be looking at second, third, whatever.
“We’ve got [Lee] Ashcroft, [Nat] Wedderburn, wee Gavin Reilly and Higgy [Kallum Higginbotham], so we have an unbelievable team with lots of top-flight experience. We just need to stick by each other and push on.”
