NEW Pars first-team coach Callum Davidson believes that he has benefited from working at Stoke City – despite losing his job.

And the former St Johnstone number two is relishing the opportunity of a quick-fire return to the game to pass on his experiences to Stevie Crawford and his squad.

Ahead of their recent home game with Inverness Caledonian Thistle, Dunfermline announced that the 42-year-old, who played for St Johnstone, Blackburn Rovers, Leicester City and Preston North End, as well as for Scotland, had agreed a deal to join Crawford’s backroom team until the end of the season.

After working with Saints for five years as Tommy Wright’s assistant – during which time his services were called upon by then national team boss Gordon Strachan in the run-up to a World Cup qualifier with England – Davidson was lured south to join former Leicester team-mate Gary Rowett at a Potters side adapting to life after Premier League relegation.

But, after less than eight months in Staffordshire, Rowett was axed last month with his team 14th in the Championship. Speaking to Press Sport, Davidson said: “I think that, in all three places I’ve worked, there are varying aspects of experience, what you can learn and what you can take from them.

“It was great being down there. You’re on the sidelines with 30,000 fans every week, so there’s different pressures and the pressure was that we had to win every game of football, which ultimately cost us our jobs.

“I think we lost three in 18 games, and we lost our jobs because of it, which I think was a wee bit harsh. We had a lot of draws and we thought we could’ve turned those draws to victories, and that we weren’t far away.

“So, probably on that side of it, we were a little bit disappointed to get the sack so early. We thought we were one or two players away from being a very good team.

“It’s a very tough league. You’ll maybe come up against a team who are maybe not the best football team, but physically they’re really strong, and then you’ll come across a team who are really good at football but are not quite as physically strong.

“It was always a test and was a different football environment.

“I had a month off there, which is the first time I’ve had a bit of time off, so I did enjoy that but I was itching to get back to work.

“I think my wife had had enough of me so it was time to get out the house!

“I spoke to Stevie on the Sunday, then I came in on the Thursday to speak to the chairman, and then started on Friday.

“I know Stevie anyway – we’d been on the pro licence for two years together – and I’ve played in Scotland squads with him as well.

“It was an easy decision. I’ll come in and try and take a bit of the burden off him and let him concentrate on things he needs to work on.”

Davidson’s first game in the dugout was marked with a win and, since then, the Pars have registered two more - with clean sheets kept in both.

When asked if he’d made an immediate impact, he laughed: “I wouldn’t say that!

“It’s good to come in and get a win. Hopefully it can give them (the players) that bit of confidence, which is really important, so hopefully they can kick-on and produce more performances.

“It’s a real positive environment that Stevie’s got going, and they’re a positive bunch. Stevie’s trying to encourage the work ethic in the players, trust them to work hard, and they have to fight for each other.

“There’s a lot of quality in here but we need to improve small aspects of their game to let the quality come through.

“They’re a receptive bunch of players and hopefully they’ll listen, try and learn and if they can learn a little bit every day or every week, then they’ll improve as players.

“That’s our job.”

He added: “We need to work together so I’m still getting to know Stevie and how he wants to work, and how he wants to play. Hopefully, I’ll adapt and prove myself to be a positive member of the coaching staff.”