R.R.FC

Think Murray will be a good signing for the Pars. He is pretty two footed but favours his right. Looks most comfortable at left back or centre back. I’d imagine you are signing him as a centre back. Fairly certain he’ll be an upgrade on Devine. He played a lot at right back for us last year but I don’t think he’d be capable of doing a job there in the Championship, it didn’t really work in that position last season. He’s a no nonsense aggressive defender and his versatility is very useful. I think he’ll do a solid job. Surprised you couldn’t find someone equally good for free, I would have definitely kept him for next season but if this ‘high 5 figure sum’ is even 20/30k I’d be pretty content with that. Serious question, how do the Pars fans feel about Crawford being trusted with quite a few development/transfer fees so far? I know not many are likely to be substantial but there were doubts about him last year so fair play to your board for backing him and giving him every chance for next season.

Two on the bench for one game that season too if I remember right. Good old Gary Locke.

I’d argue the Walker and Ferry were the only ones that came with much expectation though. Wales did but he arrived after the season started. You’re right though that most of the players we signed were dropping down a level but none came with great reports as far as I can remember. I wouldn’t have classed Cook, Dunbar, Williamson, Wardlaw or even Smith and McGurn as particularly exciting signings at the time. However, most of them made part of a successful team. I was only a 15/16 year old lad back then so I may be mistaken about how the signings were perceived at the time. My main point is that signing great players on paper doesn’t always mean success. I remember being sure we’d win the league after we signed Buchanan and Spence when we first came down. A well organised cohesive team of average players can be better than a bunch of higher quality individuals. Basically I’m trying to convince myself that even when we announce 4 duds tomorrow, everything will be fine...

I remember last time we won the league being mocked by many, Willie Gray in particular, about the quality of players we signed. On paper they were mostly journeyman but McGlynn was able to mould them into a team greater than the sum of its parts. The budget is being cut, therefore the quality on paper will be the poorest we have had in years but I’m hopeful we will be better than the last 2 seasons by actually resembling a coherent organised team. Still convinced Falkirk will walk the league mind you.

Wow. I had to google to find out who that was. Wiki has him as a defender/defensive midfielder...surely not!? Yeah, it is not exactly an inspiring list. It screams to me squad filler. McGeever is one I actually wanted us to sign when we first came down before he went to Brechin. However, his 2 seasons there look to have been a disaster. Will give all of them a chance though, I rarely remember being excited by McGlynn’s signings last time around aside from maybe Baird. However, he always seemed to get that bit more out of them than previously in their careers and was able to make a solid team out of it. That’s what my preseason optimism is telling me anyway. I’ve given up predicting how signings will work out after being disappointed we missed out on Loy and ended up with Nisbet last year.

So going by the rumours the 4 new signings are McGeever, Spencer, Anderson and Victoria?

She was also managing the most successful women’s team in the UK. I don’t know a great deal about the circumstances in which she took the job but looking at the stats she didn’t actually do a great job with Arsenal when you compare her record to what they won before and after hence why she resigned after a poor league start. Someone like Scott Booth won 4 consecutive women’s Premier League titles and a cup with over an 80% win rate as manager with Glasgow. Yet we all know how he got on at Stenhousemuir. If Kerr had done something spectacular with Stirling Uni I’d have hoped she would’ve been considered. However, she did not and there was nothing on her CV to suggest she’d be the standout candidate for a Championship team (at the time). She probably still would have been better than Gary Locke though, you are right. However, there are several managers overlooked for Locke who I would have preferred ahead of Kerr.

100% this. The selection process for any job should be based on their abilities to do the job. Race/gender or anything else shouldn’t even come into it. I would have no problem with Shelley Kerr or any women managing the Rovers at some point in the future if they have the track record elsewhere. However, they have to get the job on merit and shouldn’t be given some sort of preferential treatment because they’re female. Kerr had a decent but unspectacular record at Stirling Uni, certainly nobody would be calling for a man with the same record at the same club to be considered for the Rovers job so I don’t see why it should have been any different with a female.

I’ve thought that since the tail end of the season that McGlynn possibly sees McKay’s future as a right back. He actually did fine in that position and was better than Watson has shown so far but he looked to me like centre half doing a job rather than a natural fit. Hopefully the defender signed is a right back. Seems crazy to sign another centre back with Bene and Murray signed up and contracts offered to Davo and McKay.

Calum Gallagher a shout as one of the two attackers alongside Victoria? Apparently told Dumbarton he won’t be returning. Airdrie were linked with him but Ian Murray said the other day there was nothing to those rumours.

Based on the rumours so far that would suggest McGeever, Anderson, Kavanagh and one other? I’m not remotely in the know if there was anything to the rumours with those 3 but they’re the only names I’ve seen linked that haven’t signed. McKay, Lyness, Gillespie and Davo all offered new contracts but nothing agreed at the moment. Also the possibility of one of our players going to Airdrie basically balancing out the MacDonald fee. Only one I would assume would be Gillespie given I thought he’d signed a 2 year deal.

Not ripping the piss at all you melodramatic p***k. Reyes death is an utter tragedy and I felt sorry for Llorente and Moreno in tears before the game. I was genuinely surprised someone was able to process that sort of news, decide they want a T-shirt, pick a picture, some words and get it printed all within the space of about less than 6 hours between getting the news and arriving at the stadium. That would be the last thing on my mind if I had to deal with that sort of news regarding a friend.

How fucking quick was Moreno able to get a t-shirt printed with a Reyes tribute!?

I doubt he’d have signed a new contract with us when he did if he didn’t have a release clause. In which case he’d have waited to see what division we were in at the end of the season before deciding whether to sign a contract. When we stayed down he’d have been out of contract and left for free anyway. And if we’d gone up we’d be battling to renew his contract amongst lots of competition. I genuinely don’t see the problem with the release clauses.

Thought we’d signed Henderson, Thomas and Higginbotham?...

Would be happy with that. Not great that he was deemed not good enough for Airdrie so was moved on to Stranraer. However, as I said in the team of the season thread he’s been one of it not the best opposition player against us this season for both Airdrie and Stranraer.

There are players stepping down from full time to part time every season. Just because a lot of the better part time players from last season are under contract doesn’t mean there won’t be others looking to make the change from full time. We lost Jason Thomson and Scott Robertson for that reason last year, we also missed out on Rory Loy (thankfully!). There will be some decent players in the Championship looking to drop down to part time football that we’ll be in a good position to bring in.

Correct decision on all 3. Excellent and unexpected bonus with Flanagan, thought we’d be lumbered with him. He makes Chris Johnston look like Braveheart and is infuriatingly inconsistent. The good performances and moments became less and less as the season wore on. Wish Wedderburn and Buchanan all the best, can’t fault their effort. Wedderburn was good on the ball but painfully slow causing us to be overrun in there. Buchanan was much better since McGlynn came in. We got him a year too late but he definitely done himself justice this season unlike last year.

Agree with this. Murray was making noises a few weeks about not knowing where he’d be next season. Gillespie seems an obvious shout. Not sure how fit he was but pretty damning he was on the bench for both Forfar games with Barjonas and Wedderburn favoured. I think we all hope the third one is Flanagan but what other full time team will take him? It would make sense for it to be Nisbet. I genuinely think another season at this level playing every week and scoring hopefully a similar number of goals would do him the world of good. The play off final showed the step up to the Championship is large and I’d hate for him to go back up too soon and end up a bit part player somewhere if he doesn’t make a fast start. However, it’s a short career and I wouldn’t blame him for moving on, he’s the only one from this season who deserves to step up a level. Hopefully, we’ll know a bit more on where we stand after tonight. Out of those under contract only I’d only be desperate to keep Nisbet and Vaughan. The likes of Thomson/Bene/Murray/Dingwall/Gillespie are all capable players and I’d be happy for them to stay but they’re not irreplaceable.

He’s contracted to Hibs till 2022 so we can’t offer him a contract. I liked him, he looked promising and did well in spells. I think he can go on to have a good career. It’s definitely stretching it to say he was a great player for us though.

Congrats to Queens, thoroughly deserved to go through. Thought they were very professional yesterday and looked comfortable throughout. Kept us at arms length all day, we were never able to build any pressure and Queens were always more likely to score, particularly second half. For us, I don’t think you can blame tactics or effort, we were just found wanting in quality. Hardly surprising given the season we have had. We couldn’t finish above Forfar and Arbroath over 36 games and in the 14 games we played against the top 4 in League One we only managed 4 wins. A two legged tie against a Championship side was always likely to be a step too far for this squad. I am confident the board and management will have prepared for either outcome from the play offs so hopefully we will have an announcement shortly on how we move forward regarding full time/part time. We are a couple of weeks behind some teams in starting our preparations for next season so hope we move fast to confirm plans and JM can start talking to players. Finally, I thought the support were excellent yesterday. Never stopped singing all day even though there wasn’t much happening on the park to give them encouragement.

Absolutely this. I think it’s time Davo moved on, he’s been carrying injuries all season and it’s showed at times. He’s been nowhere near as bad as made out though. He’s been far from our worst player this season. Can’t be easy playing as a centre back with terrible/non existent full backs. I definitely don’t buy into this ‘Davo can f**k off’ type chat you hear from some. He has been a fantastic servant to us over the years. He has made well over 400 appearances for the club and always gives his all. Yeah, he comes across as an arse for berating players (particularly when it’s to cover up a mistake from him) but he wouldn’t do that if he didn’t care. I do think he should move on at the end of the season, he certainly shouldn’t be signed with the expectation to play every week. However, when/if he moves on there should be acknowledgement and appreciation of the service he has given the club rather than people celebrating the fact he’s ‘fucked off.’

FTFY.

It would be infuriating if the likes of Nisbet and Vaughan were able to walk away for nothing. However, would they have even signed the contracts in the first place if there weren’t these clauses? Nobody would be blaming the board if Nisbet/Vaughan had turned down their contract offer and decided to try their luck elsewhere at the end of the season. I assume this clause was the only way they could get them to agree the new deals.

This. We probably won’t come back but imagine if we do? You don’t get too many high points supporting the Rovers, that’s one you’d always regret not being there for.