Raith Against The Machine

Given the choice, I absolutely would start next season with Grant Murray in charge.

By his 19th birthday, John Baird (used purely as an example) had featured in two games of professional football, totalling 22 minutes on the park. He was with Clyde at the time. To say that a footballer isn't going to amount to anything because he can't do it at 18 is, frankly, ludicrous.

You'd think it must've been a factor. There's no somke without frie.

Nah m8 we all think its shite

An example or two of this on Match of the Day this evening. Any excuse to bump this thread.

Here, am I getting a medal for being Lee Robinson's standard bearer for the last few months...!? Told you all he'd come good.

To an extent I agree with a lot of what you're saying, but shouldn't that unstinting support begin with the chairman, publicly at the very least?

His name was ASAC Schrader, and you can go f**k yourself.

I've been to 32, plus all of our friendlies and two reserve games. #superfan Glad to see that my opinions are at least twice as relevant as Yoss's, as I'm sure we all suspected.

Were those figures not reliant on a sponsor being found for the league. There'll definitely still be plenty money and a proportionate difference between the places, but I'm not sure it'll be quite that much.

Right, on the back of a win, let's have a positive discussion. Who's your player of the year? If we can avoid slagging off any underperformers, then all the better! I think at the present time I'd be leaning towards Callum Booth, but it's by no means clear cut.

Don't get me wrong, I'm not blaming Colin Wilson, and I'm fully aware that he was carrying the injury. I meant that in purely technical terms, he made the mistakes for the goals, but my larger point was that we lost that game not because Colin Wilson was (or is) a bad defender but because our defence, and in particular Dougie Hill (who I am a massive fan of, I'd hate for this to come across as Dougie-bashing) is not suited to incorporating a "green" defender, who might need guidance throughout a game. I used that game as an example purely because it illustrates that the problems aren't just with Reece Donaldson, who has been largely involved in the most recent evidence of our ropey defending I've always felt that there must've been more to the Colin Wilson situation than met the eye. He certainly wasn't released on the basis of one 45 minute performance. I think it probably became quite apparent that he wasn't going to be integrated into the first team, and he was offered the chance to leave and find a club in the middle of the season, rather than waiting until pre-season when the competition is a little more fierce. He's started twelve games for Montrose this season, which probably vindicates both sides. He's obviously not setting the heather alight in the Third Division so he's unlikely to have found success to tiers higher, but he is at least playing professional football and he's still young enough to go on and make a decent career for himself.

I think one of the problems we have is that Dougie Hill isn't a leader, and that's no criticism of him. I just feel that he has to be 100% focussed on his own game to be the excellent defender that he normally is. With Paul Watson along side him, he knows he can do that. To an extent he can with Ellis as well, but everyone is very much aware that we're exposed to pace in that situation. It goes back to that Fife derby we lost at East End, for me, when Colin Wilson started and was at fault for the two goals that left us 2-0 down at half time, when he was substituted. Yes, he made the errors that led to the goals, but the defence itself was a nightmare for those 45 minutes, with a much bigger impact than you'd expect with there just being one young defender slotted into the team. Watson and Hill have formed an understanding, rather than a proper partnership. They know their own jobs inside out, and have the confidence that each other will be doing what they have to. I'm not sure if he's trying to compensate with Donaldson, if he's trying to do more than he should, or if Hill is looking after his own area and when Donaldson does that too, it leaves us open to gaps (which is understandable, given that Donaldson has only played a handful of senior games at centre half) but it's an issue that hopefully solves itself with the prolonged return of Watson. If, for whatever reason, Watson isn't available for a run of games before the end of the season, then we need to either find a simpler way of setting up for set pieces, or a clearer and cleverer way of dealing out the defensive responsibilities. Certainly for next season I'm sure there'll be a more solid defensive Plan B in place. This season's back up, Laurie Ellis, has been sadly (and I mean that, it saddens me) performing at nowhere near the required level.

They tend to be water.

Lee Robinson is no shorter than Dave McGurn. Again, there are plenty things to point the finger at without nonsense like that. I heard two guys at a game going on for 90 minutes on similar lines, as if Shaquille O'Neill would be the greatest goalkeeper in the world.

It feels that way at the moment, because we're still on this bad run and remain threatened by relegation, but as long as we stay up, I think we'll look back on this season as fairly positive. We've reached a (diddy) cup final which we may yet win, got to the last 8 of the Scottish Cup whilst beating Hibs in the process, and we did go fifteen games unbeaten earlier in the season. It's entirely reliant on us staying clear of the play-offs, but I remain confident that we will.

Laidlaw played behind a more settled defence than Robinson has, although hopefully that'll change soon. I'd still maintain that Laidlaw has made more individual errors but the stats really are mounting up against Robinson. It's staggering. Switching goalkeepers isn't the answer though. We need to settle the defence, not disrupt it further.

Cowden's run-in is tougher than ours. If we beat Alloa on Saturday, we should be fine. Erm, that's about as positive as I can be at the moment.

It's no Balerion.

Oh it is not. 'Untenable' would be in ninth position, and papped out all the cups early doors. The position we're in is highly undesirable but that's overstating things. Has everyone forgotten that we went to Dens Park on Tuesday and took a point and a clean sheet? Just because hardly anyone was there doesn't mean it doesn't count.

I'm pretty sure his body language is much the same as it was when we went fifteen games unbeaten. There's plenty things to criticise Grant Murray for without bringing in hocum like that.

Stephen Kenny

Who takes a deid body to the pub?

Spotty pale bints, as far as the eye can see.

Drogo is poisoned by the Maegi, is he not?