Dunfermline Athletic's newly-appointed manager Jim Jefferies is well aware he faces a difficult task in keeping the club in the Scottish Premier League.

The former Kilmarnock and Heart of Midlothian boss was today unveiled as the Pars' new leader and understands the enormity of the challenge ahead as the East End Park outfit sits at the bottom of Scotland's top flight, four points behind Hibernian.

"It's a challenge, there's no doubt about that," he told Sky Sports News.

"Normally when people make a change it's during the January transfer window and there's time for a new manager to settle down and maybe even bring in a couple of players. I've not got that opportunity.

"I'm coming in with just eight games to go to try stay up. We're everybody's favourites to go down and you can see the reasons why.

"There's a great challenge to me and the players to make sure we prove them wrong and that we can stay in this league.

"Of course they are playing for better quality contracts by staying in this league and what the consequences are if we go down."

 The game is about opinions. Make yours heard! Join the tribalfootball.com nation on Facebook today: Facebook.com/tribalfootball