R.R.FC

Vaughan for goal of the season and MacDonald player of the season for me. It was between Hendry and MacDonald but Hendry missed 6/7 games through injury whilst I think MacDonald is the only player to start every league game for us. He’s been consistent all season, solid defensively and chipped in with double figures on the assists as well as a few goals. The Dumbarton home game really highlighted just how important MacDonald is to the way we play. Obviously we had a patch work team out anyway but the biggest problem we had was no outlet down the wings and we looked totally devoid of ideas without it. It’s the only home game we carried zero real threat. Pretty sure MacDonald still managed to be man of the match in that game too even at centre back. Don’t think they are quite in contention for Player of the year but special mentions to Ross Matthews and Brad Spencer who I thought had excellent seasons. Says it all about the style of play this season that all our central midfielders had good seasons. Welcome change after many years at Starks where the central midfielders main job was winning second balls after watching the ball fly over their heads. Credit to the much maligned Bene and Davo too who were solid after a very shaky start.

I have always been confident McGlynn was the right man for the job. The only slight concerns I had were after the first East Fife game this season but he quickly corrected things with Steven Anderson. I was a huge fan of McGlynn first time around and always thought he would get us promotion but I’ll admit I didn’t see him achieving that by being the best footballing team in the league. Full credit to him and Paul Smith for that. There are a lot of similarities to his last spell in terms of a youthful squad sprinkled with some good experience, great togetherness and a squad that looks fit and fully committed. However, the style of football is far superior and I don’t think he gets enough credit for that. Especially considering the eye bleeding hoofball rubbish he inherited from Barry Smith.

Just two weeks after Stevenson played in goal at Ayr as well.

Wow. At least they’re taking it well. I would assume he is just talking about deciding which of the current players contracts to renew but I don’t claim to know the full rules for football staff and management on furlough, @Skyline Drifter may be able to confirm? However, if Managers can’t even discuss or authorise renewing current player contracts when on furlough (which may be the case given the rules for other workplaces which I assume also apply to football) then every single out of contract player in Scotland will surely become a free agent at the end of May? If this is a breach it wouldn’t be hard for McGlynn to deny and argue he had agreed renewals upon promotion with players before going on furlough.

Bill Clark will vigorously resist any attempt to deny us our well deserved and hard earned league and cup double.

Bill Clark is part of the SPFL reconstruction group. https://spfl.co.uk/news/reconstruction-group-announced

Promising regarding Administration, I also agree we are not far away from a solid Championship side: New Keeper New RB-S. Anderson-Bene-MacDonald Matthews-Hendry-Spencer Armstrong Vaughan New Striker That’s 4 new signings in the starting line up. Although I wouldn’t be overly concerned if we started the season with Miller at right back and Thomson in goals but I think those are areas we can upgrade. A striker is definitely a must.

I’ve noticed Wilfrid Nanou is on the Q and A list. I was only 9-10 years old when he was with us but I thought he was brilliant. However, I’m not sure if my opinion was based on actual performances or the fact he was good on LMA Manager. Can anyone a bit older at that time confirm what type of player he was?

Obviously everyone will be busy with a lot of things just now but would be great if it was possible get another Raith TV interview with Bill Clark next week at some point. The league prize money should be paid out today which seems to be anywhere between 50-70k depending on who you believe. Between various fund raisers and donations we must have brought in close to an additional 60k since this began, that is without including the monthly supporters fund. A fantastic effort from all involved. In addition to this we have the rumoured 150k for Bowie, hopefully still coming in July. After Clark’s comments about administration on July/August it would be great to get some clarity regarding what monthly costs the club still have while the players are furloughed and what date he thinks we are now covered until. I hope some of his comments were more to put pressure on the vote but I don’t doubt every club is going to find it difficult to survive when I fear we may not play another game this year. Will be interesting to see what happens regarding player and management contracts also. The furlough scheme only covers current players so there won’t be any new signings till we know for certain when the season will begin. However, any contract extensions must be agreed before the current contract expiry and if a player signs an improved contract he would still only get 80% of his previous wage I believe. Obviously we normally look this time of year at releasing some players too. I am not sure how it works with released players but I am not particularly comfortable with any of the current squad, whether they are good enough for the championship or not, being left with potentially 5-6 months without income if we release them and nobody is signing new players till we have clarity over the new season. I hope something can be put in place for released players to protect them in some way.

gotta keep busy somehow!

As discussed constantly we have obviously benefited greatly from the current situation and whilst we may not ‘deserve’ the title, the situation is unique and we are certainly the most ‘deserving’ team in the league. I also stand by the fact I believe it is fairer to write off the next 8 games than the previous 28. Hard to say but I genuinely believe this would still be my position if we swapped places with Falkirk especially given the positions of the other Leagues. I think Dundee United and Cove are more deserving of promotion than Stranraer are of being saved from relegation. Although I still hope an agreement can be reached for 2 up and no relegation. Although you run the risk of upsetting others in a play off place who miss out, after all 1st place guarantees you promotion but 2nd only gets you the same as 3rd and 4th. To cure the boredom I did a bit of research of how leagues have looked after 28 games compared to the end of the season at each level over the last few years. The results were as follows: Scottish Championship - The team who is top after 28 games has won the league in 14 of the previous 15 seasons. The one team to miss out? You guessed it, us, in 2010/2011. Scottish League One - The team who is top after 28 games has won the league in 9 of the 10 previous seasons. Stranraer being the exception in 14/15 Scottish League Two - The team who is top after 28 games has won the league in 8 of the 10 seasons. The exceptions being 15/16 and 16/17. The is from Transfermarkt they only have 10 years into for Leagues One and Two but 15 for the Championship. All goes to prove that whilst there is no guarantee, 28 games is a very good barometer for how the season will finish.

Yeah, things seem to have gone full circle, helped on our way down by a Drysdale administrative error and helped back up by one too.

Yeah I agree with this, we also were comfortable winners away to Partick Thistle in the cup and I think whoever didn’t win the league would have went up through the play offs. Falkirk were only a point from safety the previous season despite having a truly dreadful squad for the first half of the year. How does this seasons squad compare to the one which finished last season? There doesn’t look much between them on paper. A striker will definitely be our top priority with Bowie and McLean away and Baird only suitable as an impact sub at that level, assuming he won’t be going to Australia any time soon.

Might be a daft question but since we are technically promoted and the season is over, are we now counted as a Championship side in the voting?

I don’t agree tbh. Our problem this season has been injuries, we’ve regularly not been able to fill the bench and missed our best players. Our 3 best players (S. Anderson, Hendry, Vaughan) played one game together which happened to be our best performance of the season. Anderson was rumoured to be signing full time next season and Vaughan will be fit when we resume. Dan Armstrong is another of our better players who was only fully fit from February. If we get some luck with injuries our team will already look different to this season, add in 4/5 signings and we’ll definitely be competitive, that’s not to say we would definitely stay up. Agree it will be interesting to see what happens regarding contracts, teams may hold off till we know when the season will actually start but the furlough scheme should help with this assuming it is extended.

When has a promoted team ever went up and not signed a single player?

That’s a very reasonable statement from Falkirk, all things considered, fair play.

Hadn't realised that but that's some stat Yeah, Vaughan’s two league appearances were the 4-0 vs Peterhead and then his injury after an hour at Forfar. Anderson and Hendry only played 5 league games together, including the 2 with Vaughan. Steven Anderson hasn’t lost a game in a Rovers shirt.

Exactly this. Especially considering the number of injuries we have had all season which only just started to clear before things were called to a halt. To be top of the league most of the season with arguably our 3 best players (S. Anderson, Hendry and Vaughan) only playing one full game together is an excellent achievement.

hopefully that comforts you as you spend at least another year in this shithole. All joking aside, the Falkirk fans overall are taking this pretty well. Hopefully they can come up with some sort of reconstruction that will see us both in the Championship next season, whenever that is. The biggest disappointment from this, in a footballing sense, is being robbed of the possibility of a last day title decider, what a day that could have been.

All those tears. Probably shouldn’t have played for a draw at Starks in the title decider. Only have yourselves to blame tbh.

I was worried the Falkirk fans were taking this too well. Thanks for providing the meltdown we are all looking for.

The resolution that has been passed included promotion and relegation hence why Stranraer and Partick voted against it. The resolution also gives the SPFL board the power to follow suit in the Premier League when it can’t finish which is why Hearts voted against. This means, if Budge can’t get reconstruction through, the SPFL will use this vote to call the league as is and Heats will be relegated. If she can get reconstruction through (hopefully 14-10-10-10) there will be no relegation but it will only mean more teams promoted. The only way we aren’t promoted is if there is legal action and the resolution is overturned which I can’t see any team wasting money on until we see how the reconstruction talks workout.

John Baird following up his cup winning goal in his last spell with a title winning goal this time around, some man.