R.R.FC

Hopefully this can finally be an end to the Inverness hoodoo. Pretty sure since our last win over Inverness in October 2000, the only other clubs we have played and not beaten are Motherwell (who we’ve only played once) and Celtic. Although Inverness have been a better side than us for most of that period, it is quite a ridiculous run when you think we have beaten Aberdeen (twice), Rangers (twice), Hearts (once) and Hibs (4 times) despite playing all those sides significantly less than Inverness. On this match, it’ll be another tough game. However, our record in recent weeks against the sides around us (Killie, Partick Thistle and Arbroath) has been good so hopefully that can continue here. There doesn’t tend to be a lot of goals in Inverness league games so expect a tight match and if there’s a winner it’ll be by a single goal. Only selection decision for McGlynn is whether to play Ross from the start but I think he’ll introduce him from the bench for another week. Poplatnik for Varian has been discussed in recent weeks but McGlynn has stuck with Ethon and after probably his best performance at the weekend I’d expect he will keep his position. I’ll go for a 1-1 draw, Varian for us and McKay or possibly Duku for Inverness.

Happy clapper post incoming. All credit to John McGlynn and Paul Smith for a fantastic first quarter. There were a lot of people (myself included) a bit concerned about their transfer business this summer but most of the players have exceeded my expectations, a common theme under McGlynn. I still don’t think the squad is deep enough to sustain a title challenge but I’m pretty confident now of being right in the mix for a promotion play off place. To lose MacDonald, Hendry, Kennedy, Gullan as well as Musonda and Vaughan with injury and actually improve on any quarter results we managed last season is outstanding. As well as that we reached the League Cup quarter final for the first time in over 20 years. That is despite starting the season with a confidence sapping collapse as well as the crushing blow of another Vaughan injury and a packed fixture schedule at points it really shouldn’t be underestimated how good a job McGlynn has done. You can see with the movement and fluidity of our attacking and different patterns of play that we are a very well coached side offensively as well as defensively (last 10-15 minutes of comfortable leads aside!). The big thing for me after the Locke/Hughes/Smith period is that I actually enjoy and look forward to going to Starks again. Even if we don’t win, it is still usually a decent watch. We obviously have our usual defeat from Inverness to come next week and a couple of injuries could change everything but good to see a more positive atmosphere around the club again after a bit of pre season pessimism. We still play the best football in the league but I think we are a bit more pragmatic with it this season, in a good way. The experience of Berra has made a huge difference in knowing when to play and when to go long (see Varian’s first half chance yesterday) and I think on the whole we have a more experienced, street wise side and than last season. There’s still plenty opportunity for it to turn to shit so you never get carried away as a Rovers fan but I think credit where it’s due for a very good first quarter and a great start to the season.

Pretty sure the chant was started by Newcastle fans about Cristiano Ronaldo given his history and seems to have been adopted by various fans since but the names inserted are prominent figures in the opposition rather than anyone actually accused of anything. The Dunfermline fans were singing it about McGlynn as well. As above, its brutal patter and childish stuff. In fairness to the young lads, when people complained about the Nando Mendy song I’m pretty sure they stopped it quickly afterwards so hopefully they do the same here and they continue their excellent backing of the team without that song.

On the Ethan Ross discussion, Queens Park are trying to agree compensation with Aberdeen to complete a deal according to the normally reliable Scott Burns. I’d hope we’ve asked the question of Aberdeen but Queens Park with the backing they have will have much deeper pockets than us when it comes to any fee.

Are they still eligible for a fee if the player is signed on amateur terms? I seem to remember Jonathan Tiffoney at Alloa and Dylan Bikey at Stirling being registered as amateurs to avoid paying fees their previous clubs were due. I may be remembering incorrectly of course.

I don’t rate Mark Connolly as any more than a decent centre back at this level and you had already kept two clean sheets in the games immediately before he joined so that wasn’t your biggest issue at the time he signed. I know he was effectively replacing Paul Watson but I don’t think there is much difference in quality between the two, I certainly didn’t see Connolly transforming your fortunes. From reading Pars fans opinions, one of the biggest problems (aside from Peter Grant obviously) is the lack of balance and quality in midfield. Iain Wilson would certainly help that and I could see him and Dorrans being a decent partnership in there. I am possibly overrating Wilson on my limited viewing of him though, if you don’t expect him to make a big difference. Either way the single change likely to make the biggest difference to your fortunes is a new, competent manager.

Any word on when Iain Wilson is due back? He is an excellent player at this level and you would imagine will significantly improve the side when he returns and add balance to your central midfield options.

Think a View from the Terrace may have covered this previously but indirect free kicks in the box are brilliant. They are very rarely scored. However, when they are given against you, you always expect it will be a goal. The reaction after it is inevitably blocked/saved is excellent and is treated like a penalty save and really lifts the crowd. Great stuff.

This, combined with a message from a not so reliable source, has given me hope we may actually be bringing in a striker after all.

I would have been delighted with Innes Cameron. However, it was always unlikely Killie would loan him to a team with the potential (however unlikely) to be 2 points behind them after Saturday. A club would have to be really incompetent to loan a player to another team so close to them in the same division… Didn’t realise the loan deadline was 5pm, with the lack of rumours and little time left it doesn’t seem like we are going to get someone of the required quality in which is a real shame.

Really hope we can add a bit more quality to the final third today. Like most, I was a bit underwhelmed by the summer recruitment but the likes of Connolly, Zanatta and Berra have all performed much better than expected so far. Liam Dick is improving every week too IMO. You can see the efforts he has made to improve his attacking side of things in getting forward to support Zanatta and they are forming a good partnership. I think people bought into the club talking about the title pre season and hence a bit of frustration over our summer signings but as above, they are working out better than anticipated. Ultimately, top 4 will always represent a good season for Raith Rovers at this level. I am pretty happy to be in 4th after 7 games along with a League Cup quarter final after losing the likes of MacDonald, Hendry, Kennedy, Gullan, Armstrong and then Vaughan and Musonda to injury. Obvious caveat that our last 2 games of the the quarter are against the sides 2nd and 3rd. However, we are clearly lacking a bit more quality in the number 9/10 position. It is frustrating because we really aren’t far away from being a very decent side for this level. 10 points from our last 5 is a good reaction after a disappointing first couple of results and a packed fixture schedule in recent weeks. Both Varian and Poplatnik put in excellent shifts and can hold the ball up and certainly have their uses. But I’m not sure either will get you much more than 5/6 league goals a season which isn’t enough. I understand that part of their job is to occupy the centre backs and create space for midfield runners. However, the centre forward still needs to carry a goal threat themselves. We’ve been pretty good going forward the last two games and created a decent amount of openings but I can’t remember Varian having any real efforts at goal which worries me. For various reasons it wouldn’t have happened but I’d imagine if we’d got Nouble instead of Poplatnik from Livi we would be 5/6 points better off. I’d rather we didn’t bring in another 17/18 year old squad filler just for the sake of it but a good quality 9 capable of 10-15 goals a season at this level would make a massive difference to us. However, as said before those players are very difficult to get and I feel it won’t happen today unfortunately.

Raith TV alluded to it in their interview with Bene but he has an excellent record against Dunfermline. He is yet to lose in his 8 appearances against them for us. 4 wins and 4 draws. Mentioning it now in case the record goes in a few weeks time.

I have no doubt that Dunfermline have been as bad as their fans say, the league table confirms that. However, they still have some very good players. It’s a derby, live on TV, I’m sure they will be well up for it. Obviously it hasn’t happened yet this season but if they play anywhere near their full potential they are more than capable of beating us. The laws of averages say that squad has to win a league game very soon, there is no way it will be an easy Rovers victory. I also fear with this being our 3rd game in 6 days we might be a bit leggy with limited (quality) options to change things. Would love to have another attacking option brought in before tomorrow but that’s looking unlikely. No idea what to expect from us. We have been very solid defensively in most games but seem susceptible to short spells of being all over the place. Offensively, we have had a bit of everything already this season. Games where we’ve looked toothless and lacking ideas, games where we’ve created plenty but struggled to convert and games where we’ve looked like scoring every time we’ve went forward. Hopefully we can sneak it in another entertaining game like Sunday but think it’ll be a 1-1 draw.

I think the Bene one is probably a penalty. He seems to have a habit of charging out to the ball like that to block it, side on and the arms are out, think we were lucky to get away with that and if he keeps doing it we’ll get punished eventually. The Zanatta one would’ve been soft but definitely seen them given. There’s a slight tug but I actually think he gets his heels clipped too. Don’t think there can be much complaints with the penalty we did get. Also, whilst Tait was not at his best and you can see one of the instances he was caught on the ball leading to Graham’s back post header, he actually contributed quite a lot going forward. Excellent ball for the chance Zanatta puts passed the post. He also plays the ball over the top for the Zanatta penalty claim and puts in a very good cross for Berra’s chance (how did he miss!?). Didn't appreciate at the time how bad the defending was by Dick for the second Thistle goal, really horrible stuff. A shame as I thought he had a good game up until that point and seems to be improving every week after a shaky start.

Tait certainly hasn’t been at his best in recent weeks but he has still shown flashes of his quality. Caught on the ball too often today but he still played a couple of excellent passes, particularly one through ball to Zanatta (I think) in the first half. I think he is suffering a bit from increased expectations too. At the start of the season, he was a promising young player looking to make himself a fixture in the team after being in and out last season. Now he has been signed by one of the best teams in the country for 6 figures and expected to be a key player for us. Fingers crossed he can get back to his best soon.

We never do things the easy way but regardless of how it arrived, that was an excellent win. Wasn’t confident when Bene stepped up but a great penalty from him. Zanatta was excellent once again although I think with McCall knowing him, he was targeted a bit more defensively today and found wanting in that aspect at times. His attacking work was very good though. Huge Hamilton flashbacks for all involved those last 5/10 minutes. Don’t think McGlynn’s subs helped. However, you should be comfortable bringing on youngsters with 10 minutes to go when you’re 3 up. That brief couple of minutes possession when we calmed down and showed a bit of composure on the ball around the 89th ultimately got us over the line. If that second goal had come any earlier… Hopefully that exorcises the Hamilton demons that we did ultimately get the job done this time. If I’m being kind it was slightly different circumstances this time given Thistle were always in the game and 3-0 flattered us greatly, also a touch of us running out of legs after a tough shift on Thursday. Last 5 minutes takes the shine off slightly but in terms of result, it’s a great start to an important week. I think we will ultimately end up in a bit of no man’s land this season. Too much about us to be involved at the bottom end but not good enough for promotion play offs. In saying that, I’ve not seen anything in this league yet that has impressed me but we have 2 of the top 3 still to play.

I understand the point you are making and you are absolutely right we could bring ‘someone’ in but that doesn’t really help us. There’s no point bringing another body in just for the sake of if it doesn’t improve us. I know you might not be suggesting we should have went for Robertson but as far as I know he is a deep lying central midfielder so adding someone like him, as decent a player as he may be, wouldn’t actually do anything to help us. We would still have the same issues and we have 5 reasonable central midfield options at the moment which is more than enough. The new signing has to be better than what we have and has to be a forward either a number 10 to add creativity or a number 9 who can be relied upon to chip in close to double figures at this level, neither of which we have. Unfortunately, those types of players don’t grow on trees and those who have them don’t normally send them out on loan so we will just have to be patient and wait to see if the right player comes up. As someone mentioned before a Shields, Hamilton, Mullen type player that is out the picture at Premier League level would be our best hope but not sure if they are realistic targets, given some may just be out the picture due to injury. Another 17/18 year old loanee added just so we have an extra body wouldn’t do much to alleviate the concerns most supporters have about our attacking options.

I’m just glad we’re not loaning him to a team in the same league… It does seem a bit strange given we’re struggling for goals, McGlynn seemed very keen to sign him and he’s never really had a chance. He’s not had a single competitive start yet. However, JM sees him every day in training and he’s clearly not doing enough to get in the team. A loan seems a logical decision for all parties. Keatings gets some much needed games under his belt and if he does well he can add something to the team from January. As everyone else has said, the above only applies if we have another attacking option lined up to replace him, otherwise it leaves us ridiculously light.

Hadn’t realised until I listened to that interview with Vaughan posted above that Liam Gordon, now at St Johnstone, was in our youth team alongside Vaughan. Encouraging that despite being in a few different guises our youth side of things has consistently produced decent players the last 5/6 years. Hopefully it continues with whatever set up we go with from next year. The main thing, despite the reservations about the amount received for Tait, we do at least seem to be getting reasonable money for our best products now. You could make a decent 11 for this level from players that have come through in the last 5/6 years but we haven’t maximised the transfer revenue. Laidlaw (Ross County) McKay (Raith) Bates (Aberdeen) Gordon (St Johnstone) Mackie (Hibs) Matthews (Raith) Callachan (Ross County) Arnott (Raith) Tait (Hibs) Bowie (Fulham) Vaughan (Raith) Not to labour the point but looking at where a lot of those players have ended up must really frustrate Vaughan.

Congrats to Queens on an excellent win for them. They look a better side than last season and I thought the first half in particular was a good competitive game against two decent sides. I am not sure if our biggest issue is creativity or lack of a goal scorer. We had more possession, more shots and more corners yesterday than we did in the 5-2 game at Palmerston last year. Unfortunately, that clinical trait we had at the start of last season has left us. Another problem without Vaughan is that Zanatta is our only real creative spark which makes it easy for teams to just double up on him as we saw second half. However, despite not being at our best, I still felt we had enough opportunities to get a goal. Easy to write it off as ‘not our day, these things happen’ but it is already a recurring theme in our season. We have had 78 shots in our games against Cowdenbeath, Alloa, Inverness, Forfar and QOS and managed 2 goals. When it happens so often, it’s not bad luck, it’s poor finishing. Even when we scored 4 against Hamilton we missed at least 3 glaring opportunities which proved crucial. Big John McGlynn fan but he didn’t have a good day yesterday. Each substitution made us worse. We finished the first half strongly and if we’d continued playing that way, I think a goal was coming but I felt we panicked. I don’t think Poplatnik and Varian work as a partnership. McKay on for Fotheringham was strange. I think Fotheringham had to come off but we know McKay isn’t an attacking full back and pushing Tumilty forward meant he always had to beat a man to get a delivery in rather than using his strengths of the overlap run. Keatings for Varian was fair enough but by that point we were just launching long balls, if you’re doing that you’re just as well keeping on the guy that is 6 foot plus, it really doesn’t suit Keatings. Also felt we panicked and went direct too soon and lost all shape and composure. Eerily similar to the last 20 minutes of the 2-0 vs QOS last year although we at least managed to trouble the keeper this time. Overall it wasn’t the worst performance in the world. This league is very tight and everyone is capable of beating each other. I’m confident we have enough about us to keep our heads above water but if we want to do anything better than 6th/7th we need someone to regularly take chances for us and another creative player. I’ve heard we are trying to get someone on loan from Celtic so hopefully it’s a player who can make a difference in the final third, if it comes off.

Plenty time for Zanatta to turn to shit, given his past I think most Rovers fans will continue to add that caveat for quite a while but he has been fantastic so far. McGlynn and Dario have both acknowledged he lost his way a bit the last 2 seasons and I think McGlynn is arguably the best at this level in terms developing players and getting something out of them others couldn’t (probably alongside McCall). I missed the Inverness and Livingston games but you could make a case for him being man of the match in pretty much every game I’ve watched this season. As others have said, given the style of play Zanatta would never fit in with ‘Hoppyball’ and the fact that Bruce Anderson, Innes Cameron and Zanatta were all duds for Ayr last season says more about Mark Kerr’s managerial ability than it does about the quality of the players. Completely understand Ayr’s views on Zanatta though and don’t expect them to change no matter what. Jordan Thompson has went on to play over 50 times for Stoke City and is a regular for Northern Ireland but I still wouldn’t ever want to see him in a Rovers shirt again after his performances during our relegation season.

League table looks a bit better after that. Add in the League Cup quarter final and we can be pretty satisfied. Aside from a 20 minutes clusterfuck against Hamilton, Bene and Berra have been very, very good together. 6 clean sheets in 9 games. Even the goals lost against Inverness and Aberdeen were quality strikes that were difficult to defend. Still very early days but credit McGlynn for the performances of Berra and Zanatta at the moment. Most of us were critical or at best, unsure of the signings. However, the two of them have been excellent so far.

We’ve not played in 20 days, we were always going to play as close to our strongest side as possible today. In saying that, I would have liked Keatings in ahead of BRS today. A lot of people seem to have written Keatings off already but his opportunities have been extremely limited.

Yeah I’ve no problem with the club selling him, he’s a good young prospect and we knew when he signed a contract he would be gone before the end of it. No idea why we are panicking to sell him to the first bidder for £100k though, seems like dreadful business. I would tell Hibs £150k, loan back and Gullan permanent as a minimum. If not, there will be more teams than Hibs watching him and it’s open to a bidding war in January. The club has not had a great summer off the pitch, this would compound it. All the talk of ‘ambition’ over the summer looks to have been just that, talk. Nothing we have done this summer looks to be moves of a club aiming for the Premier League. Also, didn’t Sim say in an interview with hindsight he made a mistake selling Callachan when he did and he wouldn’t do it again? Let’s see…

A real shame that was the one and only game that 11 ever played together due to injuries.