James McPake has joked his Dunfermline Athletic players deserve a day away from him after granting them a Christmas Day holiday.
The Pars squad will be off on Monday and on Boxing Day after this weekend’s trip to face Arbroath.
That will leave them with three consecutive days to prepare for the SPFL Championship encounter with Ayr United at Somerset Park on December 30.
The fixture list has been kind to clubs in the Championship this season, with Saturday matches seven days apart and Christmas Day falling on a Monday in between.
But kind-hearted McPake is adamant he would always strive to give his players the chance to spend the big day with their family – and not on the training pitch.
He said: “It was good last year as well because we played Christmas Eve.
“But it wouldn’t really matter when it fell.
“For me, Christmas Day is a day for the family. That applies to players, staff everybody.
“It was slightly different in England. I can remember one time travelling to Cardiff [with Coventry] on Christmas night.
McPake: ‘Players deserve day with families’
“But it does fall nicely this year, in terms of being able to prep around about it.
“If there was a day for it to fall on, with the game being on the Saturday, then it’s a Monday.
“The boys will get their Christmas and their Christmas dinner, and they’ll not hear from me on Christmas Day!
“They deserve to enjoy the day with their families. Some of them have young kids – and the other half are kids anyway!”
McPake knows that to fully enjoy Christmas, Dunfermline could do with a victory over Arbroath first.
If they manage that, they will continue an impressive away record that stretches back to the start of his reign with assistant Dave Mackay 18 months ago.
The Fifers were defeated just once on the road last season in romping to the League One title.
And, this term, they have lost only twice in seven away league games – compared with four times in eight matches at home – since stepping up to the Championship.
He added: “Last year, our away form was just as good as it was at home, which sounds daft when we didn’t lose here (at East End Park).
“To us, being at home or away doesn’t come into it.
Consistency of performance
“But when we go away from home we seem to pick up these results. Is it down to the consistency of the performance?
“It just seems to be that certain games we have won have been away from home.
“Arbroath is a tough place to go, we know that, it always is.
“We’ve seen their Raith game and their Morton game up there since the new staff (led by new boss Jim McIntyre) have been in.
“I’ve never played there but I’ve managed there a lot, with Dundee, and we got them in the cup (a 5-1 win in the SPFL Trust Trophy) last season.
“I’m looking forward to it.”
