Bottom of the Championship, three points from guaranteed safety and the only team in the SPFL without a league win.
One could be forgiven for perceiving Dunfermline as a mighty rebuilding job; destined for a relegation dogfight.
Yet, watch those CVs flood in.
From the Netherlands to North America, the Fife outfit have already been inundated with applications.
Quite right, too.
This has been a lamentable period for Dunfermline but that does nothing to diminish the platform provided by the club.
And we are not talking about indistinct notions of potential or hazy musings on the size of their fanbase and undeniably proud history.
Under the ownership of DAFC Fussball GmbH — individuals of business pedigree and means, as previously profiled by Courier Sport — definable plans are in place that stretch well beyond a couple of rocky months.
Football is ephemeral; the bad times can be as fleeting as the good.
And while the league table may make grim reading, the top job on the Halbeath Road is a wonderful opportunity for the right person to grasp.
An underachieving squad
In terms of Championship-level starters, there is no doubt that the next manager will inherit a group capable challenging for a playoff place.
Owain Fon Williams, Aaron Comrie, Mark Connolly, Josh Edwards, Graham Dorrans, Dom Thomas, Kai Kennedy, Craig Wighton, Kevin O’Hara, Nikolay Todorov.
It is preposterous that such a group of players — albeit they have not always been available simultaneously — are yet to win a league game.
A Fife Derby screamer from Pars man, @DomThomas23 last night 😱#cinchChamp | @officialdafc pic.twitter.com/xmhYkse3Z2
— SPFL (@spfl) October 27, 2021
Any manager worth their salt will be confident of moulding a coherent, effective unit from the sum of those parts.
Sounding board
While not yet universal in British football, the role of a sporting director is becoming far more common.
For mid-sized to large clubs with disparate departments — from youth development to recruitment — it allows the manager to control the team while someone else holds domain over big picture aims.
At Dunfermline, that man is Thomas Meggle.
With vast experience as a player, coach, caretaker manager and director at St Pauli, Meggle boasts a pedigree that few in SPFL boardrooms can match.
It will be a prerequisite that the next boss is comfortable working closely with Meggle; a potentially invaluable sounding board and source of expertise.
New graining ground
Dunfermline are in the process of securing land to build a new training ground.
It is proving a protracted process but, in the fullness of time, shovels will break ground.
The Pars have not had facilities to call their own since their rental of Pitreavie Playing Grounds ended in 2013.
Since then, Dunfermline have held their sessions at Kelty Hearts’ New Central Park home and, currently, at Alloa Athletic’s Indodrill Stadium.
East End Park does have gym facilities but the 15-mile distance between it and the home of the Wasps is hardly ideal.
The prospect of a new training will be an enticing proposition for any incoming boss.
Youth academy
Intrinsically linked to that new training ground will be the reinstitution of Dunfermline’s youth academy.
Fife Elite Football Academy — which produced the likes of Kieron Bowie, Dylan Tait and Paul Allan — will officially close its doors at the end of this year after the Pars decided to pull their funding in favour of going it alone.
The six-figure project is intended to create a realistic route for youngsters to emerge, star for Dunfermline and move on for handsome profit.
It is also hoped that the facilities and defined pathway will tempt the best talent in the area to join the Pars, given fierce competition from Tayside in the north and Edinburgh across the Forth.
While the Dunfermline academy will take years to bear fruit, there can be no doubt that such long-term planning and lofty ideals will be music to the ears of potential managerial candidates.
The only way is up
When Grant took the helm, he raised hopes of a title challenge. Fans jumped aboard the hype train only for it to veer violently off the tracks within 156 days.
There are no such expectations this time.
Survival will be the initial goal. Mid-table? Super. Challenge for a playoff place? An unqualified success.
For a club with Dunfermline’s history, fan-base and burning desire to return to the top-flight, this role will arguably never come with more modest targets.
