Raith Against The Machine

They could really do with getting someone to get the CGI sorted. Lol'd when Lysa went fleeing out the loft hatch.

I've never seen the contributors to this thread reach this level of agreement! Sorry Martin Nelson, but there's nothing wrong with Cardle's attitude.

TV money is pooled for the league, is it not? I'm under the impression that the oddly specific £82,500 bonus payment is only applicable to cup games.

Perhaps they'll tour. Coldplay can do the half-time show. I've a feeling that they did come up to play Falkirk the year before, though. No great loss if it doesn't materialise, I can't imagine they'd draw a bumper crowd.

And on a school night, too!

What was it Gary Neville said? "It's like having a choice of two blokes to nick your wife."

Good one.

I'd take Davidson back. I can understand a lot of the arguments put against, but I think it speaks volumes that when he left the club, he took a step up. He went at the same time and to the same place as John Baird, and was infinitely more successful. We talked a lot this season about a lack of strength in depth, and a lack of senior players in the dressing room. Davidson addresses both of those points. He can cover more than one position, and he's about as solid a First Division player as you'll find. He's also captained the Rovers for a number of years, and won consecutive Players' Player of the Year awards, which says a lot for his influence in a dressing room. I would say that if I was in charge of recruitment, and I had a shot of getting Davidson, I probably wouldn't retain Fox as well, but Fox, Moon, Callachan and Davidson would give us a very solid centre to build a team around.

Why do you even fucking bother?

Is he not now the gaffer at Riverrun?

They're from Braavos, but not from the Iron Bank (as far as we're aware). Braavos is a place, where the Iron Bank is based.

I don't think the issue is that Murray is 'pals' with too many of the players. He can't be accused of picking his favourites - just about everyone in the squad had spent some time on the bench this season. I think one of his biggest problems was that he didn't replace himself and Laurie Ellis in the dressing room. We essentially don't have any senior players. Remember the discussion at the start of the season about who would be named captain? It shouldn't be like that. You should be able to tell by watching a game or two who the 'captain' is. That's one thing he needs to bear in mind when he's bringing in players for next season - we need a leader on the park. Young managers have to learn from their mistakes. John McGlynn did. I can remember a game up at Brechin in his first season when Rovers fans (c***s, as I recall) were actively cheering the opposition because they wanted us to lose badly so that McGlynn would be sacked. Grant Murray has shown he can build an excellent first eleven (lest we forget our early season form and our performances against Hibs and Rangers) but his squad wasn't deep enough or resilient enough. He'll address those issues, he has to. He's not perfect. But he's taken his first job in a highly competitive division and stayed competitive. Look at Morton for an example of how easy it is to completely bomb in this league, and how a change of manager can do nothing to help. Grant Murray isn't sitting in his office fourteen hours a day staring at the walls and trying to do his Rubik's cube. He knows the problems that have dogged the team over the last few months. I think he's shown enough this season to be trusted to build on his strengths and address his weaknesses, rather than handing the reins to an unknown. It's easy to look at a losing team and say 'they don't want it enough' or 'the manager is clueless' but can anyone who's actually been watching the matches say that this team lacks effort? At certain times we've lacked just about everything else, but the heart has always been there. And as for the manager being clueless - was he clueless, did he fluke the first half of the season and the Cup runs?

I wouldn't be opposed to us bringing in a few more part time players to bolster the squad. If Alloa go down I'd hope Grant Murray was standing in Ben Gordon's front garden by the time he got in from the game. Outstanding defender who won't/can't go full time.

I was skimming through Always Next Season so there's every chance I missed a couple, but I've got Brash, Bowman, Javary and Archibald all down for one each. I specifically had a look for Sinky and couldn't see one.

Wouldn't surprise me. Stenny and Falkirk (and possibly others) combined to form a Forth Valley academy last year. Interesting to see how it works, if that is the case.

I had missed the one against Alloa (Season 2008/09 has been a little overlooked in general...) but I'm pretty sure it's just the three. One against Dunfermline and one against Caley Thistle.

I've been meaning to have a look at some historical information for a while, and I finally got round to it tonight. I can officially reveal that Dougie Hill is by far and away the most sent off player in the history of Raith Rovers Football Club. I've managed to get back as far as 1960, and in that time we've been shown 130 red cards (well, red cards themselves were introduced some time in the mid-70s, but you know what I mean...) - eight of which have gone to Dougie Hill. Other players to record multiple ordering offs: Shaun Dennis, Iain Davidson: 5 Donald Urquhart, Stephen Simmons: 4 Sacha Opinel: 3 Chris Silvestro, Martin Prest, Stevie Tosh, Craig McEwan, Craig Dargo, Danny Lennon, George McGeachie, Jock McStay, Paul Smith, Brian McDonough, Robert Reid, Allan Walker, Mark Campbell, Reece Donaldson: 2

Ginger laddie who's sat on the bench for most of this season. Plays centre half for the reserves (alongside a big lad called Munro, who's a part-timer rather than being part of the youth system) and looks to be the next in line after Donaldson.

He was also sent off against Deveronvale in the Cup. Despite the six red cards in two seasons, I'd keep him too. The big thing for me is how Murray addresses the third centre half. This season it was clearly supposed to be Ellis, whilst Donaldson was supposed to be off to Peterhead to learn his trade. I think we were all surprised at just how poor Ellis was, and I suppose it's to the credit of the management team that they recognised that and brought Donaldson back to replace Ellis as first choice back-up. Do we bring in a (costly) first-team-ready centre half to go in as direct competition for Hill and Watson, or do we keep Donaldson as the primary replacement and bring in a cheap man to fill a squad place (or promote Bates from within)? I'd be inclined to go with the former but it all depends on how Murray wants to prioritise his budget.

He was also sent off against Hearts... I was putting a positive spin on things...

I'm aware of that, but he hasn't really performed well since the autumn, despite being afforded plenty opportunities. Only twice this season has Spence scored a goal and then not started the next game. One of those I'm sure he was injured. If he'd played better, and scored more goals, he'd have had more game time. He's got nine goals in the league this season, three of which were penalties. He also scored twice in the Ramsden's and once in the League Cup. He scored eight of those twelve goals between the third of August and the thirteenth of October. (As an aside, I've just seen that Dougie Hill has only received six yellow cards this season. He's also scored five goals. I think that red card against Dumbarton has overshadowed the work that he's put into improving his disciplinary record.)

We've got three players contracted beyond this summer; Ross Laidlaw is on board until 2015, with Laurie Ellis and Lewis Vaughan tied up for another two years. Everyone else is up for grabs.

In fairness, I can't imagine Spence would have been at the head of anyone's queue. If he really wants to be playing football every week, he'll need to drop into the Second Division. I can't imagine he will. I'd be happy enough if he was still at the club, but it'd be as third choice striker, at best. The best way to get a run in the team, is to justify it on the park. If there's one thing you can say for Grant Murray, it's that he picks the strikers who have most recently scored goals. If Spence was banging them in, he'd have started every game.

Not a big fan of that statement. I think Turnbull is letting the vocal minority get to him, and it's sad to see. There's no doubt that the majority of Rovers fans appreciate and recognise the hard work that the board put in. Statements like that are unnecessary and negative.

Here be book spoilers: