Raith Against The Machine

Good idea, then we can replace him with one of those quality managers who only wants to work at Raith Rovers for the rest of their career.

"Possible imminent departure".

Yup, I agree. Nothing in there that was really beyond what you'd expect from a manager who's asked about speculation but doesn't really want to get into it, whilst also not wanting to lie and rule himself out. Ultimately it's academic, he absolutely will leave if he's offered it, but I think you'd have gotten broadly the same answer from Murray if you'd asked him six weeks ago if theoretically he'd be interested in a Premiership vacancy. I'm not seeing anything there that makes me think one outcome is more likely than another.

I don't think so. I don't think it's really the done thing, and it's just adding fuel to a fire that doesn't benefit the Rovers either way. Kelty did it with Thomson, but it was quite clearly a prelude to them getting shot of him. That was a signal to their fans that the club weren't happy that he was flashing his knickers to every club that needed a manager.

Some evening for shite takes, eh?

In relative terms, it does come out of the blue. Dundee are clearly scrapping around, they offered the job to Davidson a few days ago and then he turned them down. It's not inconceivable that neither Murray or the Rovers had any indication that he was a realistic target 48 hours ago. I'd be more annoyed if we were putting business on hold, and potentially missing out on targets, because of speculation around the manager's future. In terms of Murray and Dundee, I'd be surprised if they chose him but it really depends on who the other candidates are. The names in the public domain aren't exactly inspiring, so maybe they will decide that they'd rather just get a Steady Eddie in to end the speculation and move focus to their planning for next season. I don't think it'd be a particularly good move for Murray. Dundee (as seems to be the case 70% of the time) are mid-lurch from one mad situation to another, and don't appear to have much in the way of infrastructure or squad in place at the moment. It's a huge ask for whoever goes in there. For possibly the first time ever, the Rovers actually look quite healthy from an organisational point of view and seem (from the outside) like the kind of place you'd want to be a manager. But jobs in the Premiership don't come around all the time, and it's a job where you're only ever six months from the dole queue. If he's offered it, it'd be very tough to turn down. My gut feel is that they won't offer it to Murray. Either way, hopefully it's all settled by the weekend. We've made a good start to preparations for next season, but we could do without distractions, and could certainly do without having to recruit again. But if we do, it's a very different job opening to the one we had this time last year.

Retaining Connolly is an excellent statement of intent, in addition to being a good standalone piece of business. I don't imagine he'd have had (m)any offers from the Premiership, but any Championship team would be glad to have him. It's not just about keeping him as a player, it's about being able to keep hold of a player like that, rather than see him go to a direct rival.

A 3/1 favourite, who was 8/1 about half an hour ago. They've not get a clue, and neither does anybody else. With £50 you could make Darren O'Dea the favourite before the end of your lunch hour. I was wondering if Murray would enter the frame for that, just purely because they're running out of sensible options. I'd suggest that right now Dundee are back at the drawing board, looking at that list and those odds, and that they've not gotten round to offering interviews yet.

Zanatta plays well in a winning team. He was excellent for us last season until it became abundantly clear that he was our only attacking threat and teams doubled up on him. It was always a ludicrous decision to take him on for a relegation battle. If he'd been in this season's Airdrie team, with multiple other attacking options to pick up the slack when he inevitably has an off day, he'd have 15 goals and assists, easily. The problem for him will always be finding a club that has room for that kind of luxury. He should definitely be looking for a top half side, even if it's in the division (or two) below. He's not suited for a scrap in the slightest, and he should know that better than anyone by now.

Apart from finishing with twelve fewer points than Murray's Airdrie, obviously.

I quite like Dario Zanatta. He's been in the away end at at least two of our games this season. Seems like a nice guy.

Dylan McGowan is absolutely honking, please catch yourselves on.

It worked for Pele and Michael Caine.

Absolutely honking defending from the boy hanging around in the right back area. I wouldn't expect everyone to agree, but I think Thistle have the highest ceiling of any side in this year's Championship. They've obviously had the capacity to be pretty rotten at times (under McCall), but on their best day I think they're a better side than Dundee on theirs.

Those are both absolutely honking, and not particularly distinct. Which would you wear to avoid clashing away at Airdrie or Hamilton, for example? Relegation kits. Book it.

I can't recall ever seeing the lion presented in gold before. It's certainly different, in as much as it actually looks like a lion, unlike the new badge (dragon) or the old one (west highland terrier).

Right now, I'd suggest Corr is coming in as the third choice centre half, with Masson as the fourth (and Liam Dick somewhere in the mix as the auxiliary option). I imagine Murray is hoping for Lang and another (Stanger?) to be the first choice, but I suspect it'll be two new faces.

Rory Brian could walk into my house right now wearing his kit and his gloves and I wouldn't have any idea who he is.

And Mahady, the only one who actually did get punted into the Lowland League. I'm quite conflicted on this. On the one hand, I think Jamie MacDonald is an outstanding goalkeeper, comfortably one of the best in the division in the season just gone. However, he's at an age where fitness and injuries are inevitably going to catch up with him, and like most goalkeepers who play into their late 30s, he'll look great until suddenly he doesn't. There's going to be a cliff edge there somewhere. It might not be in the next twelve months, but it easily could be. If he does end up agreeing a new deal, I'll be pleased, but it does just kick the can further down the road. He's not going to still be our goalkeeper the season after next. I imagine that's what's being reflected in the significant cut to the wages being offered. Even if he signs, we're still going to need another goalkeeper this time next year, and might end up looking in January regardless.

Presumably he means 24 proper senior players, not including the children who get punted to the Lowland League.

Robbie Thomson is about as good a number two goalkeeper as you'll get at Championship level, particularly given how content he seems to be as the back-up. You're absolutely right, though. If these signings are the "lowest" we make in terms of importance to the squad then it's a very good foundation, but if this is the top end, we could be in trouble.

I've definitely been called a woke lefty (and much worse) on these very pages multiple times in the past, but I think there's a wee bit of over-sensitivity at play here. It's not a joke at anyone's expense (other than, I suppose, Liam Dick). It's not playing on a sexist or a racist trope or anything of that sort. It's a very mild piece of innuendo, with a mild swear word (which does also happen to be Liam's surname). I'm honestly not even sure you could go as far as to label it risqué. It's not big or clever, it's very much Carry On level humour, but it's been picked up by an audience, which is essentially the point of social media. If every tweet from the Rovers is now some form of toilet humour than yeah, that would be weird and off-putting, but I think the appropriate, proportionate reaction to one milquetoast off-colour tweet you don't like is to go "Oh? Ugh." and move past it. In the recent past we've had a very, very serious episode that absolutely alienated people and left people behind. This ain't that.

Two million views on a tweet announcing a new deal for a left back who everyone likes but acknowledges could probably be improved upon, you'll never sing that.

Starting to think Dicko got this new contract solely so the club could do #numbers. (I think the importance of online engagement outwith your own fanbase can be vastly overstated at times, but I think you've absolutely got to say fair play to Ruaridh Kilgour on this. Turns up with his "boost social media presence" CV and the club knocks out a viral tweet within a couple of days. Some boy.)