THE pressure of leading Athletic into a promotion challenge next season is something James McPake believes he is capable of handling.

And the 37-year-old also feels that lessons he can learn from his first managerial role will benefit both himself and the Athletic squad that he has inherited as they seek to make a swift return to the Championship.

Last week, McPake was unveiled as the new man in charge at East End, replacing John Hughes, who left the club after a defeat to Queen's Park in the play-off semi-finals sent them down to League One for the first time in six years.

That was a far cry from even just 12 months ago, when Dunfermline, under the management of Stevie Crawford, reached the Premiership play-offs, alongside Raith Rovers, who they would lose to in the quarter-finals, and McPake's Dundee.

The Pars boss led the Dark Blues to promotion, which also earned him the Championship Manager of the Year award, by defeating Raith and then top-flight Kilmarnock.

A tough season followed for McPake at Dens Park, however, and with the club second-bottom of the table, he was dismissed from his position after just under three years in charge.

His replacement, Mark McGhee, won just one game after being appointed as McPake's replacement, which saw the Taysiders finish bottom and return immediately to the second tier, a period in which McPake was able to enjoy some valuable time with his three young children.

"Had I missed the game? I'll be brutally honest here, since being relieved of my duties at Dundee, I had quite enjoyed spending time with my three young kids," he told Press Sport.

"There's a lot goes into football management but, when you're going into it blind as your first time in a job, you want to do it 24 hours a day. You want to do everything, you want to oversee everything, but in that time I believe, and I know, I've learned so much, and that will help me with that experience.

"All the assessments have been done; where did you go wrong? What did you do right? A lot went wrong because you see what's happened at Dundee, and I'm part of that. I must admit that, I'll be honest, but we were second-bottom of the league at the time, and I've just seen what St Johnstone (who finished one place above Dundee) did to Inverness (win in the Premiership play-off final).

"I was at the opposite end of that the year before and we proved – myself, my coaching staff and the players at the time – that we can work our way through play-offs, that we can get that promotion, and we can manage high-pressure situations, high-pressure clubs, which this is.

"There's pressure on you out there to win every game so we've proved we can manage that. I'm back involved at a club that expects us to win, and those fans expect us to win, but we need to be realistic."

McPake continued: "I was the manager of Dundee fighting Dunfermline for play-off places.

"Let's not kid ourselves on, Dundee United and Hearts ran away with the league (the Championship, in 2019/20 and 2020/21 respectively), let's be honest, but we were fighting to the death for play-off places. One got curtailed due to COVID, and the other one, Dunfermline lost out in the quarters to Raith.

"But we're here for a reason. It's my job to come in, assess that, find out why we're here – my job with a lot of other people – and get the supporters back onside, first and foremost, and build this club back up again.

"We're in this league for a reason so we need to work as hard as we've ever worked, and even that wee bit harder, whether you've played 500 games or you're a kid that's making your first start.

"You need to be ready to give everything for Dunfermline Athletic Football Club if we want to progress as a football club."