Diamonds are Forever

Said it at the time but it was an absurd decision, seemingly made by giddy owners on the back of a quite freakish run of results which clearly wasn't going to last forever. It's pretty clear from that decision and from sacking him 1 game into a season that they are quite impulsive with their decision making, which would worry me slightly if I was Raith fan.

Not sure why, the whole point of this structure is that the manager takes the blame and you remove him and plug a new one in to avoid overhauling the whole management every 18 months.

Seems the club agree!

That's just not true and isn't as simple as that. I'd say even his biggest critics accept that overall he did a good job for us and laid the foundations for McCabe to take us on a level. I think he's shown he's got an ability to go into an underperforming/stagnating club and turn things round by improving standards and by good recruitment - initially at least. However even at lower levels football has increasingly become about teams developing a style of play - I don't mean some snobby 'playing the right way' rubbish, just literally that the team looks like they are well drilled and have a coherent plan for what they are doing, whether that's intricate passing or hoof ball. I don't think he has the coaching ability to do that and therefore hits a bit of a glass ceiling once he's no longer able to just recruit better players than everyone and hope they do the job for him. It's entirely possible for a manager to have a skill set in certain areas but lack in others. If I was in charge of a club who looked to be in serious decline or a bit of a rut and needed to turn things around he'd probably be the first person I'd go to, but if I needed a manager to overperform on a tight budget or get us promoted, I wouldn't go near him. I can't speak for all Airdrie fans clearly but that's my thoughts on him and is always the general feeling I get from other fans about him.

If my arithmetic is correct, 72% of Raith's league games will be on plastic pitches. Not to mention training every day. I refuse to believe the club/player would go ahead with that signing if Hanlon already knew it would be an issue - surely neither is that stupid, and if he didn't know it was an issue I'd be skeptical that anyone can come to that diagnosis after a couple of weeks.

We had 4 players playing today who played last season, Raith had 9 - plus Fordyce who played for Murray for 3 years. The fact that we already look like a much more coherent team with a clear plan of how to play whereas Raith still look like they are flying by the seat of their pants shows the difference in coaching ability between the 2 managers. Raith have basically the same team as a year ago but if anything look to be getting worse. Like last season I'm confident that our home record will have us at least mid-table, how well we do away from home will determine whether we can go higher than that though. Next week at Somerset will be a great indicator of that. I think at home having Rhys at centre-back is fine as we have lots of the ball and his distribution is good, but going to Somerset against two big lumps like Dowds and Oakley with him there doesn't really fill me with confidence. Would still like another more physical centre-back just to give us options in there.

Given the fact it's seeded, even if you scrape into the last 8 you are then just likely to meet another big side because the seeded teams will mostly have beaten the unseeded teams in the last 16, so the chances of actually getting a cup run to a semi-final or final are so slim that I am firmly in the camp of wanting the biggest pay day possible to fund our league campaign. In the Scottish Cup I always want the worst team in the competition because with a kind draw you can get very far like Inverness/Falkirk a couple of years back. But with this League Cup format I just see it as a way of making as much money as possible. So mainly hoping to avoid Ross County again this year!

Not sure if the stats back this up but in my opinion in terms of contributing going forward Hancock is in a different league. Megwa could drive forward with the ball which really helped us, but he didn't really do anything with it when he arrived in the final third. Hancock's delivery is far better and is a goal threat. Would happily have had Megwa back but Hancock is a better all round player and will be a bigger loss if he goes.

I'd imagine it would as when McCabe leaves and presumably moves up a level I can't see Consillium providing the quality of players to keep that relationship going, certainly not to the extent it is now, at his new club. When you look down the list of players it's mainly lower league quality players for the most part - albeit younger ones with an eye on playing at a higher level. Wherever he ends up McCabe will have a much wider pool of players to choose from plus a youth system providing suitable players which we don't provide, so I don't see how he could use the same structure. Even the link with Northern Ireland only really works with a Championship club due to the standard of their league, Consillium need a Championship club to take a chance on players like McStravick or Wilson to then sell-on, it's hard to see players like that going straight from NI to the Premiership. I think it's been a perfect match so far as Consillium have the level of player that suits us, and we have the platform and manager to help them perform and get a move. I'd hope when McCabe goes we just replace the manager and the system stays roughly the same as it seems to be mutually beneficial at the moment.

Yeah the issue is his contract (presumably) being up at the end of the season. Any club desperate to get him would be better waiting a year and putting the transfer fee into higher wages to attract him instead of spending a large fee. With a season to go I'd say upwards of £100k and, crucially, a good sell-on clause, would be a good deal. When we signed Bruce I assumed Hancock would be away so fully expect him to leave. Him putting in a good showing against Aberdeen was a nice bonus that probably adds a bit to his fee.

As he charges out you can almost see the cogs going in his head telling him not to dive in and get sent-off, which in fairness he manages! Not that conceding a goal is much better... Our style of play didn't help him as he was required to be a kind of sweeper keeper so was in these situations a lot, if he's still doing that longer term under a manager who plays like Levein then that would be a concern. Good to see him getting some game time early though as these are the things you only learn from by playing.

Lots to be positive about. Wilson's finish might not look spectacular but it was clinical and is one that Todorov would have just lashed at and hoped for the best whereas Wilson calculated exactly what he was doing. 2 stupid goals to lose - not sure what Rhys is doing for the first one, it required a punt into the stand which he maybe doesn't like doing, but it's what was needed, really poor decision making. The 2nd goal is what you'll get from McMaster from time to time. Really encouraged overall but that 2nd centre half position is what worries me. Going into the season with Janny and Rhys as the options there risks undoing a lot of good work. I get the impression we had planned to bring Wilson alongside Fordyce (which would have been ideal) but obviously what happened happened and we've been left short. Really hoping the Todorov salary can be put towards someone in that position. A win against Queens should put us in with a good chance of qualifying which would be another impressive start to the season.

I don't really get the unhappiness thing if I'm honest, he was contracted so would have had to get over himself and do his best when given a chance, as I'm sure he would have as he seems a good guy. Wilson could get injured in the next game and then he is back in, or we go 2 up front and he plays. If we can use his wages to bring in a defender then it will be the right decision. But if he's been released just because he asked to go and we have nothing lined up it's a strange decision to weaken your squad, and strengthen another, at a point in the season where there aren't many players still available.

At this stage in pre-season it only really makes sense to release him if we have someone else lined up to use his wages on. He'd have been a good option off the bench and although he wouldn't have been happy with that he was under contract so would just have had to get on with it. No doubt he scored some big goals for us last year, but he is also very limited and our inability to turn possession into goals in lots of games was partly due to his (and all our strikers) poor link up play not allowing us to hold possession higher up the pitch. The big man is chaos and great in the air, which combined means he is a handful, but I can also see why McCabe wants to move on from him and why he's struggled to hold down a regular spot at most of his clubs. An incredibly Mortony type of signing so wouldn't be surprised to see him end up there.

What was interesting was that 4 of our goals came from quick, direct passes through the middle of the park. The others coming from a high press and a set-piece. None from the monotonous slow, possession based build up at the back. McCabe initially played made much more like EK did now but that was quickly kicked out of him by the Edinburgh City game and a few other sobering results, as you say he still wants to keep the ball on the ground but we are much more direct going forward and more pragmatic at the back. EK look like a side who have never had that reality check because their manager has had far superior players at Darvel and EK and therefore will win whatever style he plays. In games like last night there is a tipping point around 4 or 5 goals where the focus shifts from how good the winning team are to how bad the losing team are. If you win 8-0 the focus will always be on how bad the losing team played, which they were, but also lots to be positive about. Wilson will have much harder days but his goals were very typical striker goals - playing on the shoulder and within the width of the 18 yard box - which is what I was hoping for. Other new signings all look decent. Defence will still be the question given they had nothing to do, we'll see them tested much more on Saturday.

Interesting decision to play so few pre-season games, especially with such a new squad, even MacDonald refers to it in his interview. I wonder with the first 2 fixtures being against the bottom 2 seeds whether McCabe thinks we'll have enough regardless and can avoid a couple of needless friendlies. With us also sitting out the first round of fixtures it could be that we are slightly off the pace in the first couple of games. That said, I think pre-season friendlies have limited value as they are slow paced and lack intensity and aggresion. As long as our training has been at a high intensity we should at least be at a level where we can get a result. From the limited times I saw EK last season if we press them high we should get some joy from them giving us a few chances passing it out from the back. Although as we know we are liable to doing that too...

Pretty much my thoughts. Don't think I'd ever really start him, but a player like him is necessary in a squad to come on at certain times. Off the top of my head he scored against Abroath and Raith last season on a breakaway when we were already winning, which is exactly when I'd use him. He gives us an option to stretch tiring defences late on that someone like Todorov can't offer. I thought he changed the game when he came on in the Hamilton play-off final, not because he did anything particular with the ball, but just the fact he was able to run at players and commit them made such a difference. Of course he shows more than that I'd be delighted to be proved wrong, but I still think at the very least he's worth a place in the squad.

Totally agree, to a lesser extent Germany too. Two countries who were seduced by the style of Spain and Barcelona sides of 15 years ago, not realising that they were the exception rather than the rule. They are now even better to watch and more effective at winning games.

I think the issue with handball isn't specifically the law, when you read the laws all they really say is that you can't deliberately touch the ball, or make yourself bigger to increase the likelihood of the ball hitting you, both perfectly reasonable. It's the directives around how these are applied that are the issue. The 'problem' is both of these are subjective - you can't read someone's mind to judge intent, and you need to be a 'biomechanics' expert (copyright M. Stewart) to judge natural positions. Obviously there are some situations where it is blatant, but most have a large element of uncertainty. In a desperate search for consistency the associations and FIFA have tried to make subjective decisions objective with their 'directives', to the point where basically if your arm isn't by your side you are going to get penalised - despite this being perfectly natural in lots of cases. VAR has obviously made this worse, but I think in general TV coverage was making it go in this direction anyway. They are probably getting more consistency, but it goes completely against the spirit, and indeed purpose, of the actual law - to avoid players gaining an advantage by deliberately using their hands. Virtually every other decision in a game is subjective to some extent, why is there such an issue with handball being the same? The only question should be 'has this player deliberately put his arms/hands in a position to increase the chances of hitting the ball'? That is the point of the law and is what should form the basis of any decision by a referee. Unless you are absolutely certain that the player has tried to make contact with the ball then there is no foul. In tonight's game, there's nowhere near enough evidence to show that the defender's arm isn't there naturally. He's rotating away which will mean his arm comes out, it's still below shoulder height and he's a yard away from the guy. If we're at the point where that has become, in the eyes of FIFA, an objective offside decision (which Unkel seemed to claim) then there needs to be a complete overhaul of how they are applying the law. I'd suggest letting referees go back to actually deciding for themselves in real time.

Especially with the 'snickometer', they no longer need to focus on whether it hit the arm/hand which is presumably why they always slowed it, therefore it should always be played at full speed.

In terms of realistic starters who are good enough to start every week I'm not convinced the squad is that big at all. Obviously without seeing the younger guys play it's hard to say but from how McCabe describes them and their profiles they look to be young guys who'll maybe get a few minutes off the bench. McStravick is still out for what sounds like a while, and there's chat of Hancock and McMaster going. We'd have enough players to fill jerseys obviously but that's not the same as having players who can play at the level we need regularly.

Yip, looking through the list I'd say we have 15 players who would expect to be starting when fit. Of that, McStravick is longer term injured, one is the manager (which would be a separate budget in every other club) and 2 are McMaster and Hancock who may not even be here much longer. Plus as mentioned most of them will not be high earners by Championship standards. The rest are untried youngsters who'll be on peanuts.

It's not 25 established first team players though. Melrose, Rowley, Cooper, Dunlop and Reid will be bench filler unless they make huge improvements. 3 of the squad are also management therefore their salaries partly come out of management budget rather than players, so we make big savings there. And 3 loanees where we may only be paying a portion of their salary. And in general, it's a very young squad with guys like Armstrong, Bruce, McGregor, Gallagher, McDonald - I can't see these guys being on massive wages. I'd say we have about 7-8 players who will be getting a decent Championship wage and probably only Frizzell who is earning above the league average. I'd imagine there is still a bit of money for a couple more established first team players quite easily.

I agree regarding youth setups, the youth system is so saturated now that it's near impossible for a club like us to get youngsters who will be good enough because anyone who is any good is at the bigger clubs. Picking up players who have gone through the system with someone else but not quite made the grade like Devenney and McMaster is definitely the best way to go. But to answer your question, it's still pretty high risk because you are signing players with no proven pedigree at that level. We need to take this strategy because we can't compete if it comes down to purely finances. If you are Raith, Partick etc you are better going for the proven players.

We were well established, League 1, part-time mid-table/relegation fodder for at least 5 years. The club have done remarkably well to turn the tide to get to where we are now where the grumbles and moans are more about not 'kicking-on' from a 4th placed Championship finish rather than avoiding relegation to League 2. Last year and this morning when the fixtures have come out I have had a quick glance at the League 1 fixtures and I'm extra grateful for not still being there!