Jim Jefferies called time on Peter Houston’s playing days when he was in charge at Falkirk but is thrilled to have played a part in ensuring the Bairns legend would return to the club.
Jefferies took over at Falkirk in 1990 and before long was telling Houston he would not be part of his squad plans at Brockville, where the Houstie Hardcore supporters’ club was evidence of the esteem in which the striker was held.
However, Jefferies did his best to make sure Houston would have a future at Falkirk off the pitch by securing him a job as reserve team coach and later took the future Dundee United manager and Scotland assistant with him to Hearts as part of his backroom staff.
He also wanted Houston to form part of his coaching team at Bradford City when he moved south in 2000 but instead the now 56-year-old opted to remain at Tynecastle and form a partnership with Craig Levein that took him all the way to international football.
Working as a scout with Celtic after leaving Dundee United last year, the pull of a return to Falkirk proved too strong for Houston when Gary Holt left the Bairns in the summer and Jefferies is relishing pitting his Dunfermline team against his old coach in their Petrofac Training Cup tie.
He said: “Peter and I go way back. He was a player coming to the end of his career at Falkirk and I had to go in there and tell him he wasn’t in our future plans.
“But he was such a legend there at Falkirk that we managed to get him sorted out with something, taking the reserve team. I later took him to Hearts with me and the rest is history.
“I would have taken him to Bradford but he wanted to stay put and work with Craig, and from then on he’s made a good career of it so far. He was always destined one day to go back to Falkirk. Since he left Dundee United he was probably in for a couple of jobs and he got a really good job at Celtic.
“He enjoyed the work there and I think he probably had the chance of jobs and turned them down because he enjoyed working at Celtic so much.
“But the pull of Falkirk, where he’s a legend, meant it was the right fit.”
Dunfermline prevailed in their Fife derby with Raith Rovers in the last round earlier this month but have since suffered a disappointing draw with Brechin City and Saturday’s 2-0 defeat away to Forfar Athletic.
Jefferies is aware the Pars will have to up their game again to have a chance of knocking out Championship rivals for a second time.
He added: “We need to reach the same performance as we showed to beat Raith, and if we do it will take a really good performance to beat us.
“It’s like a derby occasion because of the history. There’s been a little bit of needle there over the years and I’ve been involved in both camps. But I’ve always found the games to be good games. They’re keenly contested but it never seems to spill over.”
Skipper Andy Geggan is keenly anticipating tonight’s meeting of the fiercest of foes, but wants to ensure the Fifers get out of League One this season to set up derbies on a regular basis next term.
He said: “These games are always the best. The league will take care of itself; we’ve had two results where it never went our way but I thought the boys played well.
“But we took care of Raith Rovers and this one was one we were looking forward to.
“This is one of the club’s biggest rivalries, because of the history of the two clubs, and these are the games you want to be playing in, especially being the captain myself.
“Our aim this season is to go up automatically. Finishing second in the league is not good enough. If we can get up there we’ll have the Falkirks and the Raith Rovers four times a season, which makes it even better.”