SanStarko

#Roaringback2ThisTimeWeMeanIt

It's almost impressive that he managed to sign two of the leagues best strikers last season and then proceeded to find a formation that didn't suit either of them. Worse than that is that at one point this season everything clicked for Spence and he scored 7 goals in 8 games, and then for whatever reason Smith only started him in 4 of the next 15 games. Some of the decisions Smith has made are absolutely baffling. He's had Jonny Court sitting on the bench for the whole season despite the fact that he's the one striker we've got who would actually suit the style of football Smith insisted on us playing. I'm starting to regret buying my season ticket for next year when that £240 deal was on.

I’ve been pretty calm about today. But currently walking along to Stark’s and I’m now shitting myself. I’d love for us to score a couple of early goals to calm things down but that’s not our way.

Decided to go back and have a listen to the Alan Young interviews from the end of last season (just before and after we appointed Smith) where he was talking about what they wanted from a new manager. Picked out the main things they wanted from the new manager and how Smith has done based on them. Stabilize the progress of the club over the medium term, be here for the next 3-4 years - Well I guess Smith could be here for the next 3-4 years, but I worry about position we'll be in if that's the case. Mind you, if we blow it in the play offs and stay in League 1, does that count as stabilizing? Manager who'll work within the infrastructure - Yeah, fair enough, he's done that with the promotion of Cuthbert and Robertson to his coaching staff, etc. Manager who could blend players with new players coming in - He brought in Spence and Buchanan but without any clue of how to play them to their strengths. Brought in Hendry from Celtic but took ages before he bothered playing him, instead sticking with playing Vaughan out of position. The players might well get on well together but I wouldn't say he's blended them well on the pitch. Also pretty concerning that he keeps claiming he doesn't tell the players to hit it long, but they do it constantly. So either he's lying or, more worrying, the players don't listen to him. Manager who would bring through our young players into the First Team - He seemed determined not to play McKay after Bene got injured. When he finally did give up with the Robertson at CB idea and put McKay in, he did absolutely fine. But as soon as Bene was free to play again (even though he clearly wasn't fit) then McKay was immediately dumped back on the bench. When we've suffered injuries it seems he'd much rather play more experienced players out of position rather than give a youngster a chance in the First Team. Now yes, it could be that our young players aren't good enough. But then Smith clearly didn't think McKay was good enough either, and it turns out he was more than decent enough for the First Team. Manager who could help lift the spirits and build confidence - At the start of the season yeah. Less so as the season has went on though. Manager who can have us challenging for promotion - Well he has managed that, but to go from being 8 points ahead to 5 points behind is still ridiculous. Mind you, Young did say his target for Smith was not for him to win the league but to get promotion, so we'll see what happens in the play offs. He's not exactly done well against what the board wanted based on that. To the point that even if we did make it through the Play Offs you could still make the argument that he should go.

Similar to last season where it doesn't include games from the 5th round onwards. "The vast majority of season ticket holders in 2016/17 preferred our Premium offering, with a low uptake of our Standard option which only allowed access to league matches. All 2017/18 tickets will therefore give access to ALL Raith Rovers 1st team / Under 20 matches at Stark’s Park, with the exception of any playoffs or Scottish Cup ties beyond the 4th Round."

Does it even say in the programme how much or how to go about sponsoring a players shirt? I don't think it does. It is mentioned on the website the cost, £200, but it also claims that the sponsorship packages are going fast. The amount of non sponsored shirts would suggest otherwise. £200 isn't too bad so you'd think with a bit of effort they could have got more sponsored. They've got the programme, Twitter, Facebook, etc. All these ways they could have been pushing the player shirt sponsorship but no. Even towards the end of the season offering it for a reduced price, would have been a bit of extra money in but nope.

I wasn't convinced when Locke was first mentioned but was prepared to give him time. I even thought I might be wrong about him after the first few games of the season as he seemed to have a tactic in place that worked. We were hitting teams on the counter with McManus, Vaughan, Barr, Callaghan and McHattie or Thomson all bombing forward. It worked, we looked dangerous going forward and we were scoring goals and winning games. Unfortunately the more time he's had to spend with the players, and the more of his own guys he's been able to bring in the worse we've got. I'm starting to think that the way we started the season was either a complete fluke or it had more to do with the players than it did Locke. It's even more annoying that he seems to have been given a fairly healthy budget and has completely wasted it on his mates, "forward minded" players and midfielders who never make an appearance. Who cares that we absolutely no cover in defence so any injuries or suspensions sees Davo having to cover as a makeshift defender when he'd better used sitting in the middle of the pitch given that Callaghan and Thompson can't win a ball in midfield currently. I'd like to think the board were smart and put money aside to be able to get rid of Locke if needed. But given they seemed to buy into him completely because he talked a good game at the interview then probably not.