page_title: History of Dunfermline Athletic F.C.
section_title: Scottish League One (2013–2016)
hierarchical_section_title: History of Dunfermline Athletic F.C. / Twenty-first century / Scottish League One (2013–2016)
caption_attribution_description: Jim Jefferies from St Mirren vs Hearts
context_page_description: Dunfermline Athletic F.C. is a Scottish football club based in Dunfermline. Formed on 2 June 1885, the club first joined the Scottish Football League in 1912, participating in the Scottish Football League Second Division. The club were promoted to the top division of Scottish football for the first time in 1926, though they spent the majority of their first forty years in the second tier.
  The club's greatest period came during the 1960s under the guidance of two managers, Jock Stein and George Farm. Stein, best known as the long-serving manager of Celtic, guided the Pars to their first Scottish Cup victory in 1961 and brought European football to East End Park, with Dunfermline playing their first European match against St Patrick's Athletic in the UEFA Cup Winners' Cup in 1961. Farm continued this legacy, overseeing further adventures in European football, as well as the Pars most recent Scottish Cup win in 1968.
  While that level of success has not been maintained since the 1960s, the club has continued to challenge for honours in Scottish football, appearing in the 2006 Scottish League Cup Final, as well as the 2004 and 2007 Scottish Cup Final's.
context_section_description: Following their relegation from the Scottish First Division, the club were in Scottish League One (formerly known as the Scottish Second Division). The 2013–14 season started well, with the Pars winning three out of their first five games. Over the course of the season the club won a further sixteen games, drew six and finished the season in second place, forty-nine points behind league champions Rangers. The club participated in the Scottish Championship Play-offs where they successfully dispatched Stranraer 4–2 on aggregate in the semi-final. The play-off final was then set up against local rivals Cowdenbeath. The first leg at Central Park was an even encounter, which ended in a 1–1 draw, meaning that the second leg at East End Park was an absolute decider.
  Unfortunately for the club, they were defeated 4–0 by Cowdenbeath, with the visitors scoring their first of the match in just twenty-seven seconds. This result ensured that the club would face another season in the Scottish League One.
  The 2014–15 season started well, with the Pars topping the table after the first nine matches. However, by mid-December the club had dropped to fifth place, outside the play-off positions. On 16 December 2014 Jim Jefferies resigned as manager, with under 20's manager John Potter stepping into the role as first team manager. After a poor second half of the season, in which the club finished in seventh position, Dunfermline confirmed on 30 April 2015 that Potter would return to the position of head coach. On 8 May 2015, former Queen of the South and Kilmarnock manager Allan Johnston was appointed as First Team manager of the Pars and tasked with improving on the side's league position for the coming 2015–16 season.
  Within a week of taking the position of manager, Johnston had released eighteen players – including twelve first-team players – in order to reduce the club's squad size and allow him to bring in "the right faces" to push for promotion back to the Scottish Championship. After making several high-profile signings including Jason Talbot and Callum Fordyce from Livingston, Ben Richards-Everton from Partick Thistle and Joe Cardle from Ross County, Dunfermline's start to the season consisted of some excellent scoring, with the club winning by 1–4, 5–1, 1–6 and 7–1 against Arbroath, Cowdenbeath, Brechin City and Cowdenbeath again respectively. After defeating Brechin City and promotion rivals Ayr United in December, the side remained at the top of the league for the remainder of the season, finishing 18 points ahead of Peterhead, their closest rivals. On 26 March 2016, it was confirmed that Dunfermline were champions of the league, after a 3–1 victory over Brechin City, with star-player Faissal El Bakhtaoui netting the first hat-trick of his career. This ended their 3-year exodus from the second tier of Scottish football after the club's administration and subsequent relegation in 2013.
caption: Jim Jefferies, Dunfermline manager from 2012–2014
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