Raith Against The Machine

Benedictus sent off

Anyone seen anything decent on the telly or that?

Safe to say this one hasn't really captured the imagination. Fairly higglety-pigglety Rovers side again. Scott McGill alongside Scott Brown this week? He'll be appearing in goal before the end of the season at this rate.

Incidentally, I've no issue with Scott Brown barely picking up any man of the match awards. In fact, even when he did get man of the match last Saturday, I'd have given it to Scott McGill! He's clearly the player of the year, but he hasn't really had many games where he's been a standout. He hasn't really peaked or troughed at all, he's just been perfectly consistent across the course of the season. Even when he's had to play at centre half, he's not been particularly notable one way or another (and I'd certainly stop short of calling him one of the twelve best in the lower leagues, unlike Danny Denholm...), but you absolutely notice him the second he's not there. The Thistle fans got a lot of fun out of it, but that game at Firhill when he was missing was just the perfect example. You take Scott Brown out and the entire team just doesn't work anymore. There's not another player in the squad like him, and he'll be a more than worthy winner.

Agree that if we'd known Berra was going we'd have looked to keep Bene. Certainly we'd have tried to keep at least one of him and Musonda. He's obviously done exceptionally well at Dunfermline, and almost certainly will deservedly be the League One player of the year, but that doesn't necessarily mean it was a bad decision to let him go. Sometimes players need a change of scenery, and playing centre half in a very good full-time team at the top of League One is a totally different challenge to doing it in a (lower) mid-table Championship scrap. It'll be interesting (and potentially very distressing) to see how well Dunfermline do next season. Cove aside, momentum coming up from League One tends to carry a fair bit of weight, but a good chunk of that Pars squad is the same one that took them down. Now, that was primarily due to the outsized effect of two absolute walloper managers, but I'm not sold on James McPake either. Next year is a big acid test for him. Strolling League One is one thing, but a competitive Championship is another. The amount of summer business they do will be telling. The temptation will, naturally, be to stick with the players who've done so well this season, but a good number of them (Bene included) haven't exactly set the heather alight at this level previously. Right now, based on everything we know, I'd put a small amount of money on the Pars finishing above us next season. There are far too many unknowns, and I'm naturally pessimistic, but I think they'll ride a wave into at least the first quarter of next year.

I'd let Nick Jonas have Connor McBride's squad place.

I'm willing to accept that Barjonas has improved significantly since we last saw him. Let's be honest, he'd be far from the only loan player who came out of Rangers at that time with an absolutely rotten attitude/approach but turned it round later on. That said, we've struggled at times to get all of your number 10-ish players onto the park at once this season. It's pretty much the only position on the park where we've been over-subscribed. If Barjonas is coming in, I'm interested to see who's going out, and how avoidable or otherwise that might be.

That's interesting, Grant, but I'm afraid that due to your association with Dunfermline Athletic, we'll be disregarding it altogether.

His brother isn't the unionist troll that owns care homes.

Having now listened to this, I'd agree with the recommendation that others do too. It's a lengthy discussion on both the AGM and then the proposed investment, with a fair bit of insight on both (particularly the investment) that I haven't seen or heard elsewhere. Graeme Kilgour reveals his obvious conflict of interest because his brother is part of the "consortium", but it is reassuring to a fair degree, albeit a good bit of trepidation remains. For anyone interested, you can hear it here.

For anyone a little put off by the two hour runtime on the podcast, discussion of the AGM starts at the 49 minute mark.

#WelcomeBarjonas

Scott McGill the Rovers man of the match, for me, even without giving him extra credit for playing out of position. Demerits for Liam Dick, who really must be improved upon in the summer, and Connor McBride, who's as much a Championship footballer as I am.

Arbroath have had two freekicks around the box in the last five minutes. Before both, you could feel the terror and fragility inside Stark's, in the stand and on the pitch. McKenna has rashly fired one miles over the bar, and sent the other into the wall at knee height. Criminal.

Gaston has more than made up for his mistake. He's been exceptional since half time.

All afternoon, a Rovers player hasn't released the ball without being immediately clattered. Hammer throwing that's admirable in its purity.

Well, at least we've progressed (regressed?) from not dealing with second balls just to just not dealing with the first one.

A very nothing-y game, barring a very good strike from Scott Brown that Gaston certainly should've done better with. Vaughan has looked really lively, but that's tempered somewhat by Dylan Easton having almost certainly his worst 45 minutes since he joined. He'll shake it off, I'm sure, but absolutely nothing he's tried has come off, including a couple of five yard passes. Hilson just looks totally isolated up front for Arbroath. Towards the end of the half Dylan Tait was getting a wee bit more involved and brought some possession into the Rovers half, but I expected much more from Arbroath today. Still plenty time, of course, but this looks an awful lot like two teams with nothing to play for, rather than just one of them.

Shit! Did you see that!

McGill at left back is... intriguing. He's been a useful pick up for the last couple of months based on utility alone. He's been solid at right back and a couple of roles in the midfield, so fingers crossed for more of the same.

Andrew Barrowman used to play for Dunfermline and therefore can't be a good Commercial Director. Do you realise how ridiculous you sound?

The Daily Mail (I know) putting slightly more meat on the bones. I don't know that clicking on that paywall-removal link will benefit the Daily Mail anyway, but just in case it does, here's the relevant part: "Midfielder Michael Tidser will replace Potter as manager at New Central Park next season, with McKenzie expected to complete the purchase of Championship Raith Rovers from Thailand-based businessman John Sim after weeks of negotiations. Barrowman and Potter are expected to head up Raith’s commercial and football operation, with current manager Ian Murray expected to stay on." So as speculated, looks like Barrowman and Potter are going into supporting 'upstairs' roles. Perhaps more interesting is that it's being described as a "takeover" and a "purchase", rather a supplement of what's already there. Quite different from what Sim was suggesting as recently as the middle of last week.

As I touched on above, I wouldn't be at all surprised if this coincides with a relaunch of some sort of development side. It's madness that we don't have one at the moment. The whole FEFA thing from the beginning seemed like a busted flush to me, I'm very surprised the Rovers agreed to go in on it. It was a time when we were skint, but there was a very clear hierarchy in that the Pars were lightyears ahead of us. Now, granted, that meant they put in the majority of the funding, but it also meant anyone half decent would choose to join them out of FEFA. In pure player terms, I think we actually did not bad, but I'm not convinced that would have continued, even if the Pars hadn't decided to jack it. Fundamentally, a shared academy system just doesn't seem like a good idea under any circumstance. I don't imagine we'll be taking the leap into a multi-tiered, hugely funded academy programme, but if I was an investor coming in and I was looking to both (a) add value to the operation of the club and (b) convince other people that I had the best of intentions, relaunching a reserve or development side would be at the top of my list.

We've got a very small collection of modern apprentices, but they're basically an extension of the first team. There's no Reserve or Development side for them to play games in. They rely on bounce games or going out on loan.

For what it's worth, I do have some fairly significant reservations about this latest development. I'm skeptical of anyone who wants to get involved in football at this level. It's a fucking stupid idea, and no half-sane person would ever consider it. Say what you like about John Sim (I certainly have), but at least his motives are pretty clear. He's been willing to lose money to safeguard what he sees as a community asset. Now, depending on what this latest investment looks like, maybe he will make some money after all, but I doubt it. Going by his interview last week, these guys are getting involved alongside Sim, and it's more about what money they can put towards running the club, as opposed to buying him out. What's not clear is why they're doing so. Hopefully, if there is an announcement of their involvement, there's a full and frank explanation of why. In terms of McKenzie, it seems like an odd thing to do, bankroll a club up to a certain level and then switch to another one. What's the story? Ambition? To... take a club to the Premiership regardless of what club it is? To look after a Fife town's football club, but not really be too bothered about which town? Does he think he's done enough to leave Kelty as sustainable in League One, and now he's going to 'save' the Rovers and take us to a point of sustainability too? It's hard to fathom. Bannerman and Potter are presumably coming onboard with their wages paid (indirectly if not otherwise) by McKenzie, to offer their expertise. Bannerman in particular certainly has a case to make on that basis, given his involvement at Kelty and (I believe) Joma beforehand. He's got a level of commercial football background that I'm not sure anyone currently at the club has. Could John Potter be the head of a new academy? It's not impossible. Currently, in the vacuum of no information, you can really read what you like into it. I'm not expecting a doomsday scenario, mostly because I just can't see the how or the why. Dellios is obviously a fantasist, but his whole bag was pretty clearly dragging players out of his academy and from elsewhere, to showcase and sell on. It wouldn't have worked, even remotely, but you can see the motive. Daft as it is, it at least has some flawed logic to it. I can't see another way for someone to make a quick buck. The amount of money it would take to buy out Sim, to then try and sell Stark's, just isn't worth it. And what is there to asset strip beyond that? You could maybe sell The Titan to Wullie Gray, but you're not making back your gate money, let alone turning a profit. It's a real wait and see. I'll have much stronger thoughts once we see the initial communication around this new investment, if and when it materialises, but right now, if I had to guess... I'd say in three years time, things will feel more or less the same as they do now. Maybe slightly better, maybe slightly worse, but ultimately not a dramatic shift.