Raith Against The Machine

Proper fucked?

I'm not at the game, but following precedent, I'm going to give you my thoughts anyway. If the wind is as bad as is being reported by all parties, a 1-0 half time deficit isn't the worst thing in the world. We'll need to do something we haven't done all season and come back from behind, but we should at least be able to count on the weather's backing.

You know, I really thought including the £ sign made that too obvious.

I wouldn't read too much into it at this stage, it sounds like it's just a bit of corporate admin. As detailed above, there are literally thousands of shareholders across the three or four group companies, and I imagine the club have no idea how to contact two thirds of them. I'm sure there was talk in the past of simplifying the structure again (although possibly it came from the Trust rather than the club) which I presume would involve having to convert shares in the likes of NRR into an equivalent (in terms of overall control, rather than direct shareholding) stake in Raith Rovers FC Ltd, but I've no idea how realistic or achievable that is. With the various interested parties floating around and inspecting the books, there's a renewed focus on the various shareholdings, and it makes sense whatever the outcome to try and update the register.

A£broath have to find some way to clawback revenue after gambling the future of the club to fund their extravagant January business, I suppose.

Who have you been pressuring?

Heartbroken. But aye, the right decision. Murray obviously doesn't fancy him, and on all available evidence you'd be stunned if he went and had a substantial impact at a similar level to this one.

Nolan needs to play another 50 games of football before he can really be properly assessed. With the injuries he's had, he just hasn't had the development that you'd expect. It's a real shame that we didn't get a chance to see Lang and O'Riordan as a settled partnership. Given a season to play together, I honestly think you could be looking at a standout Championship centre half pairing there. I'm unashamedly a huge Lang fanboy. He made a couple of mistakes yesterday, but by and large he's a dominant force, and he knows when to step out of the defence and push on (something which Nolan, for example, just has 0% ability or compunction to do). It's also worth remembering that, like Vaughan, Lang hasn't had a pre-season and has been thrown into a scenario where he's having to (literally?) play every minute. I'd have him right at the top end of the list for contract extensions.

There's a bit of a gap between being well enough to play professional football and being well enough to eat your dinner, no? There's probably a bit to factor in around being wise enough not to stick it on Instagram, but he's hardly been spotted tanning jaegerbombs at 4pm half a mile from Firhill.

You know we're playing other Championship clubs, right?

If you're an optimist, it's a day where Thistle and Morton have been beaten and we've not, but it's such a missed opportunity. Feels like a missed opportunity of a season, to be honest.

Make no mistake, we should've won that by a clear margin. Caley offered very little more than what we gave them. It's another game drawn because we've thrown away a silly goal. The positive is that there's clearly something to build on, but this is the middlest of all mid-table Championship sides.

Such is the nature of curses.

Speaking of curses, I see Akio has taken Ethon Varian's "lucky" number 18.

Oh ya c**t, I think Dylan Easton just retired someone.

Can we switch ends again, please?

We've deserved that, on the balance of play. Caley really haven't gotten going. They look quite ragged, in a way that we have for large parts of this season. Obviously got a couple of players with real quality, but silly mistakes and bad choices stopping them from getting any momentum.

We'd started really well, but let Caley in twice in quick succession with defensive errors. Millen has basically been playing as a right winger. As soon as we've got the ball, Brown drops into the right back position and Millen is pushing right on. Unsurprisingly, Caley are struggling a little when Vaughan, Connolly and Millen are all attacking their left back.

For fuc...

Will he stay near the goal? That's all I care about. I can't watch another striker foraging around the midfield for a touch of the ball.

Maybe I'll regret this once I listen to what he has to say, but fair play to Steven MacDonald for sitting down and doing the interview. A willingness to communicate directly is a significant improvement.

Hibs fans will be looking forward to jumping on the Raith Rovercraft for their next trip to Stark's.

That sounds more like the interview in the Athletic that the ex-Rangers kid gave. He'd been at Ayr. I can't remember his name for the life of me. Also said he wouldn't go on trial to a League One club because it was beneath him.