[The New Raith Rovers Thread]

Interesting that Mark Stewart signed a new contract with a relegation clause 3 days after Vaughan went on loan to Dumbarton. 

Is it standard practice to have that in our contracts or were the board more aware of the relegation danger than the loan suggests?

[The New Raith Rovers Thread]

Not as disappointed with that as I would have in the previous 2 years. Not really surprising given the circumstances when he came back into the team but I didn't think he hit the heights of previous seasons. Number of injuries he has had are bound to take their toll at some point also.

Replacement is obviously key to how much of a loss he'll be. If we were able to replace him with someone like Ben Gordon I would be happy enough.

[The New Raith Rovers Thread]

17 minutes ago, Rovers1992/1993 said:

Interesting to hear that he already has a few players in mind that he's going to speak to, to try get them to the club.

Don't really want him to be raiding East Fife(They did finish fifth after all). So I hope that won't be the case.

Looking, lazily, at players he has worked with previously, based on what we need and who is available I'll take a guess at one or two of the following:

Ben Gordon
Jason Marr
Willie Dyer/Daryl Meggatt
Mark Docherty
Greig Spence/Chris Duggan

Thats based on him having a totally unimaginative signing policy which I'm sure/hope won't be the case. 

 

[The New Raith Rovers Thread]

6 minutes ago, bobbykdy said:

Happy with this, hopefully if he is a decent sort as he seems he can persuade a few of our under contract players not to hand in transfer requests. Onwards and upwards.

Would agree, if we can keep the 7 signed up players, we'll have a very good base for League 1. I'd imagine Benedictus should definitely stay now, Smith worked with him at Alloa and Dundee.

Looks like he always worked with Stewart at Dundee and he would of had Davo there too, though I don't think Davidson is under contract.

 

[The New Raith Rovers Thread]

The biggest rumours about our new manager have been around Dick Campbell and Gary Bollan yet we've got some people saying they wouldn't take Alex Neil or Ray McKinnon .

[The New Raith Rovers Thread]

Fans being pissed off at the prospect of Dick Campbell then the board appointing the manager who actually finished behind him last year would just be so this season...

[The New Raith Rovers Thread]

I've not read the article but if he's not said he's leaving then I'll struggle to take any optimism from it.

[The New Raith Rovers Thread]

The article says we have 7 players signed up for next season. I thought the consensus wasn't we had 10?

[The New Raith Rovers Thread]

3 minutes ago, Sweaty Morph said:

 

I remember having a chuckle to myself when Gary Locke was favourite for the job. "That'll never happen" I thought to myself.

12 months on and I'm thinking Dick Campbell is probably the 'outstanding candidate from a list of quality applicants'.

 

I'm exactly the same, after last year I don't feel safe calling any rumour bullshit.

Only plus side is given his track record Dick Campbell doesn't really fit the working closely with the youth team requirement. But then again I didn't think Gary Locke met the 'outstanding candidate' description last year...

[The New Raith Rovers Thread]

It says it all about our board in the last 12 months that I actually think there's a chance we'll appoint Dick Fucking Campbell.

[The New Raith Rovers Thread]

I get the point that we need to unite behind the club at some point and create a positive atmosphere.

However, we were only relegated 5 days ago and since then we haven't heard anything from Drysdale and our chairman is still trying to maintain they didn't make a mistake in appointing Locke. 

I think after the season we've endured we're allowed to be pissed off for more than 5 days.

[The New Raith Rovers Thread]

How many players have moved directly between ourselves and the Pars permanently in recent times? 

I can't think of too many. Craig Wilson, Andy Tod, Joe Cardle. I can think of a few loans and loads that have played for both but doesn't seem too common for players to move directly between the two.

[The New Raith Rovers Thread]

He was decent over the piece for us. A really good spell in the middle but shaky start and terrible end.

If we're keeping Benedictus and Barr I'm glad he's gone. I'd rather have those 2 and think trying to shoehorn the 3 of them into the team made us weaker.

[Walking Down The Halbeath Road]

 Helps relegate us with 2 howlers and a missed sitter then signs for the Pars, all in the same week. Some boy...

He was pretty decent for us but can't see him getting ahead of Ashcroft or Morris. 

[The New Raith Rovers Thread]

6 minutes ago, renton said:

It's pretty much the same list as last year

We're going to pick Gary Locke again aren't we? Can only imagine how impressed our board will be if he keeps Cowdenbeath up...

[The New Raith Rovers Thread]

What are people thoughts on Gus MacPherson? He's one of those names that is always banded around and sounds very uninspiring and I would probably feel a bit of dread if he was appointed tomorrow. 

However, when you look at his record it is actually pretty good. Barring one shocker of a season at QOS he has around 10 seasons of reasonable success. Seems to be doing a good job at Queen's Park.

[The New Raith Rovers Thread]

I'm as unconvinced about Young as I am with Easton but I suppose at our level, whoever we chose will either lack experience or have a failure on his record. Would have loved Hartley but we would have only had a chance with that if we'd stayed up. Some other possibilities: 

Stevie Aitken
Darren Young
Ian Murray
Laurie Ellis
Craig Easton
John McGlynn
Stewart Petrie
Danny Lennon
Russell Latapy

Probably in that order of preference for me but we'll need a bit of luck, there's no appointment there that looks a nailed on success.

[The New Raith Rovers Thread]

20 minutes ago, Paco said:

Not mad on the Easton idea myself, I like him but he's only managed an u20 side for one season in, let's be brutally honest, a weak league we'd expect to at least challenge for. I don't mean that to detract from the very good job he's doing but let's leave him where he is for now.

Also never convinced internal appointments are the way to go. Bear in mind Easton has had a lot to do with the first-team under Hughes and has likely been the 'good guy' trying to keep the players heads up after Hughes' latest rant. Hard to transition from that into their manager - Grant Murray has openly admitted since leaving Rovers he had great difficulty with it.

Having said that I'm not sure who I'd appoint. It genuinely is a lottery appointing managers, there's no reason based on track records that Ray McKinnon would be successful for us while Ian Murray wouldn't at St Mirren, for example. Would be happy with anyone relatively young but ideally with a few years experience in either management or coaching, in a similar vein to McKinnon or McGlynn.

Agree with this. John Potter's performance at the Pars gives me the fear about appointing a promising youth coach with no management experience.

Easton is doing well and I can see him being our manager one day but now is not the time for such a gamble.

[The New Raith Rovers Thread]

The board should not be involved in signing players. The manager should have free reign to sign who he wants within his budget.

If the board appointed a competent manager they would trust him to manage the recruitment process. If they can't recruit a competent manager I don't fancy their chances of being any use on player recruitment either. 

[The New Raith Rovers Thread]

Just now, rrfsee said:

How would you all feel about a Laurie Ellis/Craig Easton management team?

I've been thinking since Saturday, I'd like to see Laurie at least get interviewed for the job. 

However, next season is huge for us and can really shape our future, we need to bounce straight back. Any appointment is a risk but I'm not sure it's the right time to appoint somebody with no management experience. 

[The New Raith Rovers Thread]

If we were winning every week and Vaughan was sulking and his replacements were banging in the goals, I could maybe see the point.

Fact is we were getting beat every week, not scoring goals and Locke still wouldn't give him a chance. Not only that, we was persisting with his mate Rudi fucking Skacel in his position. If he wasn't going to get a chance then, when was he under Locke? I can 100% understand why he was desperate to go out on loan and play games. 2 years not getting game time at his age would be disastrous. He showed loyalty to us by signing a new contract. 

I'd agree we've not seen the best of him yet but hopefully he stays and that comes next year. A season in League 1 scoring 15-20 goals would do his confidence and stock within the game the world of good and he could move on having hopefully got us back up, with things left on good terms.

Im happy with him being ambitious and talking about playing at a higher level. Like not wanting a manager for 4/5 years because it means we won't have progressed, it's the same for players. Unfortunately at our level, if a promising young player like Vaughan is with us 3/4 years from now it's because he's not progressed as he should have. Same goes for Matthews and Callachan.

[The New Raith Rovers Thread]

15 minutes ago, R.R.FC said:

I had a look previously and you can basically tie Vaughan dropping out the team with our drop in form and lack of goals.

I think a large part of that is coincidence and he is in danger of being overhyped slightly. However, our record with and without him starting this season makes for worrying reading. There's no doubt in my mind he would be a massive player for us in League 1.

Have looked into this further. Our record in games Vaughan has started this season is:

Played 9 - Won: 5 Lost: 2 Drawn: 2
Goals for: 14 (Average 1.55 per game)

Games Vaughan didn't start

Played 36 - Won: 7 Lost: 18 Drawn: 11

Goals for: 35 (Average 0.97 per game)

Now a lot of this is coincidence as we were already showing signs of a dip with Vaughan in the team and he didn't help himself with his performances off the bench which were largely awful. However, I definitely think he would have added some much needed creativity to our team. Danny Handling was the only player willing to put his foot on the ball and show composure to pick a pass in the latter stages of the season.

Regardless of any of this, it wouldn't be discussed nearly as much if the board hadn't loaned him to a team in the same fucking league!

[The New Raith Rovers Thread]

I had a look previously and you can basically tie Vaughan dropping out the team with our drop in form and lack of goals.

I think a large part of that is coincidence and he is in danger of being overhyped slightly. However, our record with and without him starting this season makes for worrying reading. There's no doubt in my mind he would be a massive player for us in League 1.

[The New Raith Rovers Thread]

Didn't Toshney hand in a transfer request and demand to move and we still got money for him? 

What was the difference with Bates? 

[The New Raith Rovers Thread]

As covered, a pretty uninspiring interview. Quite right he says he will consider his position, seems strange the chairman has been given such an easy ride compared to the CEO. They should both go after this season.

I agree there is a lot of stuff to be sorted regarding players and manager and now is not the time for turmoil in the boardroom. However, can these people really be trusted to oversee these decisions over the next few weeks that will define our future? If they appoint another dud manager and let half our contracted players walk away for free before they consider their future later in the summer then the damage is already done. 

On a positive note, fair play to the interviewer, thought he handled it well. Asked most of the questions we all wanted answered which must be easier said than done when you work so closely with these people.