By Clive Lindsay

When it comes to his beloved Dunfermline Athletic, Jim Leishman does nothing lightly.

You can be guaranteed that it was no fit of pique, no moment of self-pity, no get out of the wrong side of bed kind of decision to end his second spell as manager.

When you are living the dream of leading the team you walked 10 miles from Lochgelly to watch as a boy, it would take more than Monday's 4-0 hammering at home by Hibernian to persuade you to give it all up.

Leishman has called time on his managerial career

Leishman will have his regrets, would have liked to have tasted a bit more glory before what he admits is effectively the end his managerial career at the age of 53.

But he has put the future of the club ahead of his own pride or ego.

Leishman has twice before thought that his days in the dugout were over.

He moved to Livingston as general manager after undistinguished spells at Inverness Thistle and Montrose but then returned to management to lead the West Lothian club to the Scottish Premier League and Uefa Cup qualification.

After moving back to Dunfermline as director of football, he couldn't resist another stint in the hotseat when Davie Hay departed with the club on the brink of relegation in May 2005.

He inspired them to victories over Dundee and Dundee United that kept the Pars in the SPL and resurrected memories of the 1980s, when he led them from Scottish football's bottom rung and back to the top flight.

But last season they again just managed to avoid relegation and this term they once more remain stuck in 11th spot.

And Leishman probably just felt too much for the club to bear being in charge while they turn in any more abject performances like Monday's.

In 1990, he felt bitter after being was forced out the door after refusing to accept a commercial role while handing over control of the team to assistant Iain Munro.

His passing will not be so lamented second time around, so don't expect 4000 fans to march through the town to demonstrate for his reinstatement this time.

But Big Leish remains a local West Fife footballing hero and has his share of championships, promotions and last season's CIS Insurance Cup final appearance to look back on with much justified pride.

Whether or not he really needed to ditch the public showmanship and pre-match poetics to do so, he will feel he has proven wrong the critics who suggested he was just a dressing-room motivator.

Now he can concentrate on being an ambassador who, in his first stint at the club, was able to make the Pars one of the best supported Scottish clubs outwith the Old Firm.

There are parallels with the man he appears to prefer as his successor.

He and Craig Levein were born within a few miles of East End Park. Both were defenders who had their playing careers hampered by serious injury.

And both gained their first taste of management life at Cowdenbeath.

If Leishman can prevent Dundee United stealing their man should they dispose of beleaguered Craig Brewster, he will again have come to the rescue of his beloved Pars.