Nairney

So he did... it's all become a horrible blur!

To be fair to Locke, two of our keepers (Lennox and Brennan) were signed by him, so he had adequate cover in place for the position. In fact, during some games, earlier in the season, we bizarrely had two keepers on the bench. Cuthbert, then Brennan, both became injured after Locke's departure. The board had the final say on how / when our money was spent - they allowed Locke to make signings, that's why they have no extra left at this stage which might've helped to bring someone else in. They used their statement last night to try and take the blame off them and onto the SPFL. Today they've had to admit that they didn't exhaust all the available possibilities and that somethings fell through. No one else to blame here but themselves.

Some of his signings were random - cover for positions we already had options for; signing players who have barely had a sniff of the bench, never mind first team; use of loan players; Skacel etc etc However, the point I was really trying to make, was that we were continually being told that we had a limited budget.... yet we were still able to sign these players. Fans were even blamed for our financial situation by our CEO. Budget constraints weren't Locke's fault. The board were apparently happy to rubber stamp the likes of Robbie Crawford, Scott Roberts, Skacel and the young defender (who's name I can't remember!) - why? If our budget was so limited, why continue to make these sorts of signings - Scott Roberts possibly in lieu of a fee for David Bates? Had the board not been so quick to agree to these random signings, we might have had a wee bit left over for a contingency deal, if required. Locke made some odd signing decisions, but the board allowed them.... which puts the blame on them for this.

He still tried to wriggle out of full on admitting it though - "had I been given the information", so he's trying to imply somebody didn't tell him / explain properly. If the club had had less of a scattergun signing policy, under Locke, they might have approached the keeper problem a couple of weeks back, with less panic and desperation. Mistakes happen when folk run around like headless chickens.

I think it may well have been applicable, if we'd put in a request (or whatever the procedure is). The Rovers statement alluded to "regulations" playing a part in hampering our chances of signing a keeper. The SPFL's statement lays out what all the available options were and they seemed pretty reasonable. Our board are trying to deflect the blame for this away from themselves / management and point the finger at the SPFL, whilst gathering sympathy. It's a tad embarrassing.

And I suppose we also have to accept that Locke's strange decision to sign Stevenson oddly paid off, in an unexpected manner, last night.

Think you're spot on here. I've seen quite a bit of online outrage (mainly on FB) from fans of other teams, saying it's a disgrace that the game wasn't called off... I think it would've been a disgrace if it was called off! Why should Ayr have had to take a financial hit (stewarding, catering, hospitality, sponsorship etc) over a last minute cancellation due to the opposition failing to have adequate cover for a playing position. Never mind the 100 or so Rovers fans who probably had to leave work early and fork out petrol money to get down there. Last minute call offs due to weather are just one of those things unfortunately, but this situation was entirely preventable. I cant believe the Rovers have driven me to agree with the SPFL.

The statement, put out by the club, was a clear attempt to whip up sympathy and paint the SPFL as the bad guys in this scenario - implying unnecessary red tape and lack of cooperation had got us into this situation and that the club only had 72 hours in which to find a replacement. Nonsense. The moment it became clear that Cuthbert required an op, we should've been looking to bring in another keeper (u21 loan or a free agent) or at the very least have an agreement with a club / player to draft a loanee / signing in, at the last minute, should they be required. Contrary to the way the board have tried to make things look, this situation didn't manifest over 72 hours, we've been playing without a keeper on the bench, for the past few weeks - this was a calculated risk. We all appreciate budget constraints and regulations surrounding loans, but the situation is so frustrating when you consider the huge squad we have and signings the board have sanctioned, which have added nothing and made little sense - Robbie Crawford, Rudi Skacel and Scott Roberts spring to mind, but I could go on... I'll give Stevenson a break though, after yesterday! Losing three keepers to injury is incredibly unlucky, but it didn't happen overnight. There were a couple of weeks to make arrangements before the situation became desperate. The club took the risk not to do that - that was their gamble. Superb job by Stevenson last night. Shame his efforts were so badly let down by his teammates failing to score. Hughes is doing his best, and I genuinely think he will manage to pull us to safety, but he's been handed a team of players who just seem to be devoid of confidence and even the most basic of skills at times. We know that most of them are better than this, but this season just seems to have sucked it all out of them. With the best will in the world, Hughes can't instill it all back into them overnight - but he's going to have to if we're going to avoid the drop.

A P&B poster used the analogy before of McKinnon being the Rovers ex boyfriend and the club acting like an angst ridden teenaged girl over him - which I found quite apt and funny! As fans, we know we've probably been like that, at times, but it's not the first example of Eric doing it too. Not long after Locke was appointed, I remember Eric doing an interview hinting how much easier he was to work with, far more willing to get involved with community activities etc - trying to subtly make out everything hadn't been rosy, with McKinnon, behind the scenes... Here we are again, Gary made the place so much more professional, brought in all these new ideas we didn't have before (even though it turns out they were neither a. new and b. we may well have had them before!). Of course Eric wanted to big up Gary Locke, as the best thing ever, while Ray McKinnon moved on to Dundee United.... It's just a bit embarrassing to then be interviewed singing Ray's praises in a BBC Alba homage, while we were floundering against them during Locke's demise.

The articles you get from the local journalists, who cover our games and stories on a regular basis, are usually a far fairer representation of how things are than the "succulent lamb" brigade from the wider media. They put in the hours and see what we do (on the pitch) plus a lot more that we don't (off the pitch).

Good read from Matthew Elder, at the Fife Free Press - http://www.fifetoday.co.uk/sport/football/raith-rovers/where-did-it-all-go-wrong-for-gary-locke-1-4361718

Affordability might not be a factor for a manager who has been watching Loose Women and Judge Rinder for an extended period of months... They might just be glad to take up a bit of a challenge and put themselves in the shop window. If it doesn't pan out too well, they can blame Gary Locke. Everyone's a winner!

As predicted, a couple of pages back, so it begins! Ok, so us fans on forums don't pass comment on the game professionally.... But we do watch our teams week in week out. We see their strengths, weaknesses and moments of tactical flair / ineptitude. We remember how former, and current, players and managers performed during their time with our team. Lots of posters can conjure up all kinds of their club's weird and wonderful stats and an encyclopaedic knowledge of club history. We come on to forums and share news and our opinions. We discuss these things among ourselves and with fans of opposing teams. But what do any of us know eh? Pundits and old boys (who have a quick glance at our results and maybe cover the odd glamour tie once in a blue moon) know best, we're just the mugs that finance their industry and then moan about everything.... While they do the rounds with their dreary, paint by numbers, newspaper columns and occasional telly pundit appearances, churning out their tired cliches on cue.

It annoys me when pundits / media types do those Chic Young style sound bites after a sacking. It was the same when Grant Murray left too. They only look at results on paper (pretty indefensible in this case) or reference the 1 or 2 games they've seen a side play that season. They're quick to decry fans (and even boards sometimes) as not knowing enough about the game or pressures that managers are under.... Whilst forgetting that the fans watch (collectively) every game of a season and have far more understanding of the problems, that their team has, than a pundit watching one game. Now we'll probably see a continuation of Gary Locke's "Poor me" status, by his pundit chums. There are folks like this in all walks of life, and they are usually nice people (often really eager / passionate), who just are out of their depth in the jobs they do - but they get away with it by being nice guys / gals and pulling a "poor me", whereby any failings aren't down to them personally but unfortunate circumstances, budgets, staff, management etc. People feel sorry for them, as they are a nice person and their excuses seem plausible... Allowing them to bumble along, with numerous fresh chances, until they reach their next crisis and reoeat.

Interesting that some of you are saying Davo doesn't like Locke... Found this interview he did, under John McGlynn, during the 2010 Scottish Cup run about how the club had been turned around after Anelka - http://www.dailyrecord.co.uk/sport/football/iain-davidson-transformation-of-raith-rovers-1055752 Wonder what his thoughts might be on the transformations since then! It's easy to forget just how long he's been about (with a detour to Dundee along the way!).

My thoughts exactly Renton.

I've just had a look on Twitter, Matthew Elder has responded to a tweet saying (something to the effect of) he doesn't expect the club to respond to rumours ahead of such a big game but, according to his sources, tonight is make or break.

If there's nothing by 2pm then I'm giving up hope. Bring Back Paddy Flannery - no, just our desperation

Anyone passing Michael Woods today - fancy having a wee spy about and see if he's there? Though, if he isn't, there's a fair chance he could just be giving the players an other easy training session to save their tired legs again.

The rumour starred on Fantalk last night. A poster called Raith Resident said that he'd heard Locke had walked and his departure would be announced today. Other posters were questioning the timing of this and then someone (sorry forgotten the poster's name) said that they knew that there had been some kind of meeting scheduled for last night, so there could be some truth in it. At someone point the Dealine News article then appeared. Apparently, there hasn't been a Raith TV pre match interview with Gary either. As Beachbum said, all just rumour at the moment... But we live in hope! re: John Hughes at ICT. My memory of events was that he left Caley AFTER Locke had already been appointed. However there we lots of rumours, prior to that, that he would be leaving - though most likely looking for a club down south or with a bigger budget etc.

I don't know if I'm feeling dread (of impending disappointment, after getting my hopes up) or excitement!

I don't know, I suppose that's maybe the traditional way of handling something (as opposed to news being more of a 24 hour thing nowadays) or maybe they need to consult with legal / finance folks before anything is finalised? Or maybe it's just a rumour and he had to nip out of the meeting to buy more milk or something!

That was my thought too! Surely if he had left, the board would be keen to announce it ASAP in order to pull in more punters tomorrow night? edited to add - Another Fantalk poster saying that they had heard there was to be a meeting today / tonight.

Raith Resident, on Fantalk, has just posted this: Locke has left the building is what I am hearing tonight.To be announced tomorrow apparently

Couldn't go to Tannadice yesterday and was only able to catch the first half of the game on the telly. Can't make it on Tuesday either. Normally this would leave me feeling a gutted, however my feelings are somewhere between "meh" to "relieved". I did feel something like this towards the end of the Grant Murray era, but also felt sorry for him due to his inexperience. Locke has a lot more experience and his Rovers career is panning out exactly as his track record would have suggested.