ROSYTH have secured a managerial coup after announcing former Pars hero Stevie Crawford as their new boss.

The 49-year-old, who also managed Dunfermline, takes the reigns following the resignation of Greig Denham last week.

Press Sport understands that he will watch tomorrow's Alex Jack Cup second round tie at Livingston United, and Tuesday's East of Scotland League, First Division match at home to Newtongrange Star, as he gets to know his new team of players.

Following Denham's departure, which came after a 6-0 league defeat at Heriot-Watt University last Tuesday, following on from a 4-0 home loss to St Andrews United in the South Challenge Cup, first round, first team coach, Graeme Nutt, and club captain, Garry Leighton, were placed in interim charge.

On Saturday, they led the team to a 6-0 league victory over Vale of Leithen, and look set to be in charge for tomorrow's match.

Crawford's most recent coaching job was with Dundee United, where he was assistant manager to Liam Fox, but left in March after Fox was replaced in the Tannadice hotseat by Jim Goodwin.

Earlier this week, Rosyth chairman, Russell Craig, said that a "number of strong candidates" had expressed an interest in succeeding Denham, but once he and vice chairman, Dean Ogg, met with Crawford, he became their preferred option.

'We should've been doing better': Denham explains decision to quit Rosyth

"We met him on Tuesday. Two-and-a-half hours we were sitting with him. We pitched, and he's so respectful and humble as well. He then pitched to us, which was a bit of a surreal moment," Craig told Press Sport.

"Both Dean and I thought 'we've got an amazing product here'. Who else can say they're going to have a new state-of-the-art park (at Pitreavie) in 12 weeks? We've got a squad of 20 boys, who are good, and the future's bright for the club.

"He thought about it, we went back and met him again last night, had another discussion, and he texted me today and said 'let's go for it'.

"We were disappointed at losing Greig, but to have Stevie, ex Hearts, Dundee United, Dunfermline, East Fife - his knowledge, his experience and his expertise will 100 per cent drive the club.

"We're so delighted about it."

Crawford, who began his senior career with Raith Rovers, initially joined Dunfermline on loan during the 1999/2000 season from Hibernian, a move which was then made permanent after the team secured promotion to the Scottish Premier League (SPL).

A successful spell at East End ended in 2004, after Athletic's defeat to Celtic in the Scottish Cup final, when he headed south to join Plymouth Argyle.

After short stints with Argyle, then Dundee United and Aberdeen, Crawford returned to Dunfermline in 2006, and was again on the losing side in the Scottish Cup final to Celtic, in 2007.

Spells with East Fife, Cowdenbeath and Forfar Athletic brought his playing career to a close, and, during his time with East Fife, he had a spell as player / manager.

Coaching stints with Falkirk, Heart of Midlothian and MK Dons followed before he was brought back to Dunfermline as first team coach under Allan Johnston in 2018, after John Potter departed for Sunderland.

After Johnston was dismissed, Crawford was named head coach in January 2019 and, in 2020/21, guided the Pars into the Premiership play-offs.

However, after a quarter-final loss to Raith, he resigned from his post.

After a brief spell working with Edinburgh City as Gary Naysmith's number two Crawford, who scored four goals in 25 caps for Scotland, returned to East Fife as manager in November 2021, before leaving last September to accept the post of Fox's assistant at United.

We will have more on this story in next week's Press Sport.