R.R.FC
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Posts posted by R.R.FC
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I actually thought we were pretty decent between the first and second goals tbh. Had the better of the play.
Hibs are several levels above us in the final third though. Very slick and clinical when they get in the positions.
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13 minutes ago, baillieinleeds said:
Tam O Brien,
Very good player, no doubt but he is under contract until 2024, part time or not he would never have been a viable option for us this summer.
On the move to full time, obviously McGlynn having more time with the players and access to a larger pool of talent are the main benefits.
However, I was told last year something that annoyed Scott Boyd was how much time the first team took up of ‘peak’ rental time for the pitch by training at night on Tuesday and Thursday. With the team training during the day now it frees up extra rental space and revenue from the pitch at night through the week. Might not sound like much but I’m sure over the year it will add up.
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42 minutes ago, renton said:
Tbf, two years ago he was placing a bet on Anderson and Vitoria being enough "through the middle" but was ultimately saved by the emergence of Keiron Bowie, the signings of Baird and Gullan and then McLean.
Last year, we limped through with various guys getting several goals.
He gave two year contracts to Scott McBride and Fernandy Mendy.
I am all for giving McGlynn the benefit of the doubt. He's a brilliant coach and a good manager. He's not infallible though.
I dunno, maybe these guys will propel the club forwards... yet, I am ambivalent.
You are usually one of the more readable posters on this forum and I hate to disagree with you again but I feel your pre season pessimism is reaching ridiculous levels.
I don’t take disagree with your general point that McGlynn isn’t perfect in the transfer market (although I’d say he is definitely above average at this level) and we shouldn’t just blindly think everything will be okay but he’s working to a plan he clearly has and I think after the last couple of seasons he deserves the benefit of the doubt.
I completely disagree with the examples you have given. I don’t see how you can say he was ‘placing a bet on Anderson and Victoria being enough through the middle’ but was ‘saved’ by the emergence of Bowie and the later signings. That’s nonsense. He said all pre season from what he saw in training of Bowie it was going to be a breakthrough year and it made his search for a striker less urgent, it wasn’t a fall back option, that was his clear plan.
Because of Bowie he felt he didn’t need to dive in and sign any striker that was available. As he says often he could fill the squad tomorrow with signings but it’s about getting the right players. Because he had faith in Bowie and had been speaking to Baird about the possibility of coming back he was patient and bided his time to get the right quality in with Baird and Gullan. He kept his budget back for them, it wasn’t like he got to January and suddenly had to ship out Anderson/Victoria for these replacements after a failed experiment as your post suggests.
Also, last year we didn’t ‘limp’ through with various guys getting several goals. The style of play was fluid with attackers interchanging and different players getting into the box finishing third top scorers in the league. Likewise the season before we spread the goals around the team and were second top scorers in the league. All this from a clear plan McGlynn repeated several times in pre season after Nisbet left, that he wouldn’t be replaced and we’d need to change our style to spread the goals around the team, we did that and have continued to do so, it wasn’t some sort of flukey coincidence that all of a sudden 2 seasons in a row we got lucky that goals were spread around the team whilst remaining amongst the highest scorers in the league.
The signings haven’t been great so far and I can understand disappointment after some of the noises coming from the club. But being honest the last 2 pre seasons I haven’t been salivating at our signings (Hendry and Jamie MacDonald aside!) and that’s worked out okay. The next 3 signings look to be crucial though, one big signing can change the whole perception. I’m still pinning my hopes on this ‘exciting’ signing (let’s hope it’s not another Rory McKeown in his debut season!).
I think the pandemic has played a bigger part than people were expecting. Yes, there was the government money but any club spending that thinking we are out of the woods is naive in the extreme. There doesn’t seem to be (m)any teams throwing money at this level . Nobody’s signings look anything special and I do think we are in better shape than many at this stage.
I dunno I just think the constant negativity before a real ball has been even kicked with the squad still to be completed after 2 excellent seasons is a bit much. Yes, we can all be underwhelmed by some of the signings but talk of 10th place as things stand when you see some other squads is absolutely wild, I’m glad for your health you’re not a Morton fan!
Tl;dr Cheer up mate, it could be worse!
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1 hour ago, renton said:
I'm not trying to be deliberately negative or provocative. I do think we are badly short of players.
There’s not a side in the league who isn’t short of players at this stage though. We’re in a better place than most. I certainly wouldn’t be swapping squads with Ayr, Arbroath, Morton or Queen of the South at this stage and the others are also at least a few signings away like ourselves. We’re still 31 days from our first league game, McGlynn will definitely be making additions, there is no need to panic.
I’d say it’s a safe bet that after getting pumped 6-2 by Falkirk last pre season and McGlynn pinning our defensive and striking hopes on unknowns from England, nobody was predicting we’d go into the last game of the season in 2nd place.
Tougher league this season and the additions we make do need to be good quality but it would be unheard of for a Scottish lower league side to have their entire squad complete almost 5 weeks before their first league game, it just doesn’t happen. We’re not a million miles away, 3 good quality signings and a few injuries back and the squad looks totally different.
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An important thing to remember about most of the new signings is that they have not played a lot of football recently (obviously that raises some red flags of its own but still…). Whilst we played our last game on the 15th May, they have the following (if soccerbase is correct):
Christophe Berra - 2 appearances since January, last appearance in March.
James Keatings - Last start March
Zanatta - Last start February
Connolly - Last start December 2020
So it’s unrealistic to expect any of these players to be at their best after 2 pre season games, it’ll take a while to get up to speed. Don’t get me wrong, I still have my reservations about Berra and Zanatta in particular but it’s fair to give them time to get up to speed first before making any definitive judgements. We have never progressed from the League Cup groups so I don’t see it being a priority. As long as we’re up to speed and firing for the first league game, that is all that matters.
We absolutely need another 3/4 signings though. Centre mid, winger and striker as a minimum. If Matthews is going to be out for months we need a replacement in a similar style to him because his role is key for us. I am pretty confident we’ll see another couple of permanent signings and then a couple of loans to take us to where we need to be.
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Yeah McGlynn mentioned that Kennedy was a very expensive loan signing. He was excellent the first few games and whilst he wasn’t hopeless after that, there was a significant dip and there could be a feeling that he didn’t produce enough to justify the outlay.
If he fits comfortably in the budget still allowing us to get a good quality striker and central midfielder, I’d be happy to see him back, he definitely has potential. However, if signing him meant we had to compromise on the quality of the striker and/or midfielder I’d rather we looked elsewhere for a winger.
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Yeah I’m not sure there needs to be any panic. We have almost 5 weeks until our first league game, I’m pretty confident McGlynn will have a suitable striker in that time (along with a midfielder and winger).
Keatings and Vaughan are more proven options than we had at this stage last season. Injury records are obviously a concern but we don’t need to rush, we have two relatively proven strikers at this level which is better than many others, we can take the time to get the right player in.
When we won League One we finished the first game of the season with a 16 year old Kieron Bowie and Jack Smith as our two strikers. Hell we even had Boris Melingui playing as a trialist 4 games in! McGlynn has done what he always does, signs up the bulk of the squad early doors and then looks to add 2/3 quality players later in the window, generally players that weren’t available or wouldn’t commit early in the window.
See Dan Armstrong, Steven Anderson, Jamie Gullan, John Baird in 2019/2020 season.
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10 minutes ago, renton said:
On the subject of trialists, when is the last time we signed one or more and they turned out to be decent?
Locke signed three: Coustrain, Osei and Thornsen. Two of those barely played any senior minutes and the third wasn't really up to much either, in so far as he fit in well to a shite Rovers side without ever being a starter.
Murray signed Stuart Anderson from being a trialist in 2012. He played a lot of minutes that season and was a regular starter - though that could well have been down to us running a small squad and Murray not having many options in that department. Was released at the end of the season.
Before that? Stephen Manson signed for us under Dalziel (presumably out of desperation) and didn't last too long under McGlynn back in 06/07.
Am I missing any? I mean, I think we have had trialists in most close seasons, but very few ever seem to get close to signing and then usually aren't any good anyway. It seems like a very low percentage gig tbh.
Pretty sure Kevin Nisbet played a game as a trialist before he signed so he would be the obvious one. Agreed though, it is rare for a trialist to actually turn out anything special, there is a reason they are having to go on a trial at a side like ours looking for a contract rather than being signed automatically.
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If we’re taking a loan or two from Rangers, I wouldn’t mind Ben Williamson as our central midfield signing. Seemed to do very well at Arbroath.
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13 minutes ago, Beastie Russell said:
He signed a new deal with Killie last week.
Ah there goes that then. I thought he was already under contract but if he’s just signed a new deal he’ll have no intention of going, nor Killie letting him.
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I’m still holding out some slim hope for Innes Cameron. I know he’s under contract for next season and I have no idea what role Killie see him playing. However, if he’s only a back up option for them, a swap deal with Kieran MacDonald might work for both sides.
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14 minutes ago, Wardy said:
Never would have thought after he hammered home that penalty up at Forfar for his last Rovers goal, that Kevin Nisbet would play and now score for Scotland. Some story.
If you told me in May 2019 during Queen of the South 0-0 Raith Rovers that I was watching 2 of Scotland’s 3 centre forwards heading to Euro 2020 I would have seriously questioned your sanity.
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McGlynn’s gift has always been in improving players and creating a strong work ethic where the team is greater than the sum of its parts.
We had a piss poor side finish 3rd in League One. From that side we lost a 30 goal a season striker in Nisbet and our best defender at the time in Euan Murray. We signed a chunk of our squad from the likes Airdrie, Forfar, Brechin, Stranraer etc and ended up title winners.
TBH, given our financial issues of the past, I’m glad we’re not being held to ransom by the likes of MacDonald/Armstrong. If they want more money than McGlynn thinks they are worth, thank them for their efforts and let them go. It’s a shame to lose the continuity of the squad but I trust McGlynn wholeheartedly to ensure we will start the season with a team capable of challenging for the play offs again.
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3 minutes ago, SirJimmyofNic said:
Courier stating our retained list to be released this week
I would take a guess we’ll get it tomorrow. McGlynn looks to have spoken to everyone now as goodbye messages are starting to appear on social media.
Also, I would imagine the club will, quite rightly, want to do a positive send off and tribute to Iain Davidson after over 500 games for the club and 14 years service, similar to what they did with McGurn which he deserves. Not really the type of thing you can do if he has just received a ban for racism. I have no idea how likely that is but given he is facing a hearing on Thursday it is obviously a possibility.
Alternatively, McGlynn could be waiting on the outcome of the hearing before announcing one more year of Davo...
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Yeah MacDonald seems very much like he would enjoy playing for Barry Ferguson.
Shame to lose him, he has been excellent for us. Best part time left back in the country quite comfortably. Hard to believe the Airdrie fans were quite happy to see him leave. Slow start this season with injuries/Covid but finished strongly and been a key part of our success the last couple of years.
Would be quite happy if Taylor Sinclair is his replacement as rumoured but he has big shoes to fill.
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8 minutes ago, CALDERON said:
There is a reasonable possibility that only Benedictus will remain from the centre backs of last season tbh. Mendy is gone, Davidson will leave (I assume) and Musonda is out of contract.
If Musonda signs a new contract, I think we will see a back 3 in a decent number of games next season. Berra in the centre with Bene and Musonda either side as the other centre backs. MacDonald (assuming he goes full time with us) and Tumilty seem pretty well suited to playing wing back.
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I remember watching Dundee’s 3-0 win at Alloa and seeing McPake very nervous on the touchline and hearing him speak afterwards it seemed like if he lost that game he could have been sacked. Some turnaround from that game onwards.
Said it before, he doesn’t get the credit he deserves for turning McGhee into a central midfielder. He’s been excellent every time I’ve seen him play there.
Congrats and all the best for next season. Definitely envious from a Rovers point of view looking on at what might have been but you really peaked at the right time and have been excellent in the play off games, deserved winners. The Dundee derby matches are always far superior to the Edinburgh equivalent so, from a neutral point of view, you are already a good addition to the top flight just based on that.
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I know McPake comes across as a bit of a simpleton. However, he doesn’t get the credit he deserves for moving McGhee into midfield. Always been impressed when I’ve watched him there this season.
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Kieron Bowie finished the season 6th top scorer in the Under 18’s Premier League last season (North and South) with 15 goals. Seemed to be scoring for fun after an understandably slow start to the season. The players above and around him in the scoring charts are all strikers that have a lot of hype around them so he’s in good company (Only 2 goals behind Dane Scarlett who has had a few appearance for the Spurs first team this season).
The next step would be to establish himself in the under 23’s or go out on loan somewhere you’d imagine.
Great to see him doing so well, fantastic attitude and no shortage of talent. Hopefully he can continue to develop down there and make us a bit more money one day.
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On the topic of central midfielders that may be available, would Harry Paton at Ross County be an option? Out of contract at the end of the season and appears to have fallen out of favour under Hughes.
Was really impressed with him when when was at Stenny, good footballer and still only 22. Think he would be an excellent signing if he was available.
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Don’t know if his ultimate ambition is full time football but Stewart Petrie has seemed destined for the Dunfermline job for years. From his time as a player with the Pars he is held in high regard and he has done an outstanding job with Montrose. He’s managed to get every ounce out of a limited squad of players and his sides have generally been entertaining to watch when I’ve seen them.
He seems the obvious choice and I think he’d be an excellent appointment for the Pars. For that reason, I really hope it’s not him.
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11 minutes ago, grumswall said:14 minutes ago, Raith Against The Machine said:I've been wondering about this one too. Turner clearly doesn't have a future with the Pars, but he's certainly good enough for the Championship. I suspect his availability might well hinge on whether or not Airdrie get past Morton, though.
If Spencer signs on again then I'd like to think he'd be able persuade him. Would depend on if they were on good terms though. I think we should be an easy sell for young players looking to progress right now.
Where did Spencer and Turner play together out of interest? Not being a dick btw, honestly interested to know because I couldn’t see a link between the two?
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Fair play to Lewis Vaughan as well who looks to have, once again, overcome a horrible injury without losing his quality.
Excellent finish tonight. Finished the season with 5 goals in his last 8 starts. Only going to get better with a full pre season behind him too. He could be a huge player for us next season.
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The New Raith Rovers Thread
in Scottish Championship General Chatter
Posted
Might be reading too much into it but seeing trialist B doing extra fitness runs with the conditioning team at the end of the game would suggest to me he is also being signed along with Ethon Varian.