Raith Against The Machine

Any reason you're excepting ShitRaith's return to the fold?

Euan Murray has been our best defender for the last two years, and he hasn't been particularly well utilised. He's had to fill in for others rather than playing to his own strengths, but he's still outperformed our more established defenders. Flipping the tables though, I don't think I'd pay (say) £30,000 for him. He's untested at Championship level, and our defensive unit as a whole was really very poor last year. I don't see that he's been so much of a standout to justify that kind of money, when you could get him for a bag of bibs in January.

Nope, Livingston have released him.

Callum Crane has signed for Edinburgh City.

Silva never played, but McGuff definitely did.

A goalie? We used six or seven that season. If I can be bothered later on, I'll count up how many goalkeepers we used in what I'm going to call "The Inter-McGurn Period". He was away for three years, and we'll be well into double figures.

If we could just announce Dave McGurn four more times, I'd be spent.

That's a damning indictment! I'd have him in the same category as someone like Joe Hamill. A player who clearly had quality, and didn't lack application, but just never quite clicked with the team he was in.

I actually really liked Wedderburn. I think in a team with better options across the rest of the midfield he'd work really well, but he just wasn't suited to out "system" at all last season. It's refreshing to see someone who will always show for a pass and isn't afraid to put his foot on the ball, but when he looks up and the only passes he has are the two centre backs who just gave him the ball, he's no use. Wedderburn relies on other players making their own space so he can find them. Vaughan's excellent at it, but in his absence, Wedderburn was looking at static teammates who were easily marked. Instead of Nat's skillset, we needed someone who could drive forward and create spaces for themselves and others.

Bill Clark could maybe be criticised for using the term "his legs have gone", because it's a little flippant and personal, but from memory, all he said about Nat Wedderburn was that he was being moved on because he slowed play in the midfield. That's not a criticism, it's a fact. Some managers might want that. A slightly better choice of language when talking about Buchanan, and I'd have no issues whatsoever. As I said before, the transparency is to be commended, including Bill Clark's personal opinion, where it's warranted.

No! No! We must have proper full backs! Please, I beg of you!

I agree with what's been said by others. In the middle of the park, injury free, Gillespie looked excellent. But with injuries, and the Raith Rovers patented stints filling in at right back, he didn't really get a proper run at it. That said, if John McGlynn feels strongly enough about it that he'll cut short a two year deal, I trust his judgement. I'd take it from this situation that Gillespie is at the top end of the wage table, and we've brought in Hendry to essentially do his job.

Every damn time.

#GurningBack

Well, I thought that was excellent. That must be about as transparent as a football club can be, at this stage of the season.

Four players have signed, in addition to MacDonald and McGurn. Won't be revealed until the registrations are through.

Three Championship clubs want Nisbet. He's activated a clause in his contract that lets him talk to them, but we're still entitled to a (development) fee. Negotiations ongoing, could possibly end up with a tribunal, but he'll be gone.

There's no release clause in Murray's contract.

Hey, the Brexit Party needs all the help it can get.

What's Marvin Andrews up to these days?

"We're putting the band back together."

First time we've had the chequebook out since Craig Winter? I'm sure John McGlynn was on the record fairly recently saying that Winter was the only player the Rovers had bought outright in his first spell. Bit of a statement of intent from the board, too.

Airdrie have just confirmed it on their official website, smart arse.

We're buying (!?) Kieran MacDonald from Airdrie.

I can still remember someone on this very website dismissing Robert Sloan's ~20 assists in a season because "most of them were from set pieces", as if that was some sort of devalued currency. You can do a lot worse in this division than having an immobile lump who can ping a dead ball into a wheelie bin in a gale force wind.