Broken Algorithms

Good news is we've a manager on a new contract who has one win in the last month. Safe to say we can sit this one out for once.

Right you, that's plenty.

Definitely not a fanny. We were using zoom before which had a poorer audio quality and a lot of drawbacks in terms of editing. We decided recently to switch over to Riverside, which is what the Terrace podcast uses. Unfortunately, we've found Riverside is almost too effective at picking up noises as you can tell by last night's episode. That's compounded by a few of the group getting desktop microphones which has meant we're still getting used to settings. Additionally, it decided to only record 11 minutes of Christina's upload compared to 1hr and 15 minutes for the rest of us. It's definitely something we'll be keeping an eye on and trying to improve going forward. For all this is something we do as a laugh, it's something we all pride ourselves on and nobody wants to have a commute to work listening to a squeaky desk chair or strange background noise.

A bit later than usual, and more technical difficulties tonight, but here we are. A review of the Caley game, a chat about the South Stand, and a few glimmers of light from the game.

I don't really think it's been found out as such. We've never been spectacular, but by the same token I think if we had been really found out then you'd see teams walk all over us and beat us by two or three goals. I think if we get back to using a flat back 4 and stop fucking about when opponents are coming into our final third then you'd see a huge difference. It's no doubt an over simplified opinion, but it doesn't really seem like it's an issue where we need to reinvent the wheel. Going forwards, Vaughan and Hamilton are finding the net relatively regularly. Rudden seems an astute signing as I've said before. Then you add in the rest of our attacking options and it shouldn't be too much to expect more from our other attacking options.

Rudden looks like a good addition based off last Saturday. He can drive the play forward in a way which Gullan didn't really offer, and can let either Hamilton or Vaughan focus on finishing. Turner is the type of signing who you make regardless of whether he's an immediate need or not. He's not had a great start and he'll know that himself, but he's the type of player who can offer so much to a team on his day. Much like the rest of the squad, it's just about getting them back to their best and away from this mentality which seems to has hit us over the last month where we're leaking goals and looking soft.

You hear people talk about confidence players, but at the moment it feels like we're a team who are low on confidence. Ideally we'll get Watson back in at centre back and get a bit of leadership on the pitch because it does feel really lacking at the moment. Realistically, we need to go back to basics. We've been shoehorning in players to a formation based on game time rather than position and it feels quite easy to look at them on the pitch and see they're lost. There's a degree of apathy at the moment in that we've taken early leads and then gifted our opponents goals. These aren't ones like Logan Chalmers into the South Stand... It feels very much like our own doing. The heads go down and the atmosphere is dead. The only real positives on Saturday were Hamilton and Vaughan getting among the goals, and Rudden looking like a player who can drag us up the pitch, much like Dowds does for Ayr. It's up to Murray to get us back to playing where we're comfortable. It's incredible we're still in with a chance given how poorly we've played but that can't keep happening. We need to stop being so soft with opposition players entering our final third for a start.

But aye, definitely not a slur against Autistic people...

See if you're using terms like "REEEEEE", something used as a slur against autistic people, you come across as an oddball c**t. This isn't the first time you've done it, you've been at it before. Nobody likes watching a defeat, but there's no need for the 4chan shite. Get a grip.

Probably worth caveating this: we signed Gullan on a similar deal to how we got Ethan Ross IIRC. They waived a high development fee for him to join us, but on the understanding they'd get a sell on fee. This is just speculation on my part but I'd think Dundalk will have paid enough to cover the rest of Gullan's contract. The main benefit of him going is that we've lost another McGlynn contract. The club were very candid after McGlynn left that there had been a lack of oversight in deals to players when he was manager leading to incremental rises on a year on year basis for players we signed. That's now Lang, Spencer, MacDonald, Ross and Gullan away from that team with Tumilty and Benedictus leaving at the same time as McGlynn himself. It wouldn't surprise me if there's no movement but they're still tested for fitness. Watson in particular hasn't played competitively for a few months so might be rusty. I don't doubt that Iain Murray will have no hesitation in waiting a week or so if it means getting the right player in for the squad, whether it's Ashcroft or someone else.

They put out a survey recently asking how people felt about it. I suspect the numbers who read it wasn't worth the effort.

A thread in dire need of some Simpsons memes.

Pro: Not Colin Steven Con: Recently sent off Ross Millen for verbals.

He's likely not included Potter as part of the consortium, but even adding him into the equation four of the current board of directors (Kilgour, MacDonald, Sinton, and Smart) are all Rovers fans. Smart is the one who sold the care home business as mentioned here. I think the rest of the post does have a lot of truth to it. Commercially, we've been outstanding this season. Crowd sizes have increased dramatically, and we've done brilliantly in terms of sales for the club shop. The board are continually exploring new commercial deals down less traditional avenues. Hospitality has gone from being minimal to full every week as mentioned. Nobody factors in the dramatic changes because it's easier to make a lazy comparison that a semi-successful business man Nobody is denying that there's been investment by the board into the club, but on the playing side we've seen a fair few players who were signed under McGlynn on contracts which were increasing incrementally year on year. Spencer, Lang, MacDonald and Ethan Ross all potentially fall into that category - even Jamie Gullan, who might be away to Dundalk based on press talk, will likely be one of our highest earners. Alan Halliday in particular had been brought in to review the way we offer contracts and it's not been a particular surprise to see many of these players move on. We've still been outbid by other clubs at this level on some signings - Daniel O'Reilly left us recently for Partick despite saying he'd have been happy to say. That alone shows we're not into 'blowing other teams out the water territory'. You can add in George Stanger who decided to go to Ayr after being linked with us. Having had a solid start to the season, it naturally makes us a more attractive proposition for potential players too though. It's likely why Byrne decided to come to us in the first place over yourselves. I'd agree with that. We're by no means breaking the budget. Going from 7th to having a best case scenario league winning side, and worst case being 4th place - any Rovers fan would've bitten your hand off for that this time last season. Lads like Hamilton and Dabrowski are the types of characters who are still young enough where you don't feel they're near their peak, but still have enough about them to not feel completely raw. Chuck in Stanton and Vaughan re-signing deals, and you feel like we're well set for a crack at the title again next season should we miss out this season, particularly if Livingston come down. Ourselves and Dunfermline clearly have different strategies. Both can be successful in the long term. The clear setback came for the Pars when the Grant/Yogi clusterfuck set them back at least two or three seasons. There's a lot to be positive on the side of Dunfermline. I think it's natural for both sets of fans to be cynical of their clubs, but at the same time I don't think either is doing anything particular untoward.

Courier saying Rudden looking likely to sign with Gullan potentially away

We could be looking at both?

A reminder that it's little over a year since this guy was knocking on the door. I wonder how that company are getting on now...

Prior to last summer I'd have written off the railway stand, but given the progress the current board have made then I've absolutely no doubt they'll be looking at every avenue they can to try to get some changes made. No idea what it will entail, but I'm confident they'll have a plan.

It's incredible how you can go from having CEOs like Drysdale and McCartney where you question why a club like ours would have one, to Barrowman who engages with supporters and paints a clear picture of where we're at.

What an incredible situation. A reminder that the person who made the details of the deal public were our manager at the time in the red tops. It really was the gift that kept on giving. When Bates moved to Hamburg, he tried to claim on twitter we'd see the benefits of the sell on clauses. The only issue was that he'd signed on a Bosman.

The two of the three best players to come out of FEFA ended up with ourselves. Bowie is Rovers through and through, and still contributes into our club through shirt sponsopship. He was always going to end up with us initially and we've benefited from that. It was our biggest fee for a good while for a lad who was only just 17 when we sold him. He's racking up goals in league 1 and for the Scottish under 21s but I don't think anyone expects him to break into the Fulham squad, let alone line up Dylan Tait got sold to Hibs for a 6 figure sum and he specifically wanted to join Rovers due to McGlynn's track record at bringing through youths. With these projects, it all takes a bit of time - there's definitely talented players who have ended up with Dunfermline who could potentially go for fees. For most clubs in Scotland now, if you're looking at youths you've got to be looking at players moving down South and have sell on clauses attached on to deals. Lads like McCann have all the physical attributes to be a success if they do move on. But you're looking at payoffs a good few years down the line.

Laidlaw got released by us, then Lennon signed him at Hibs after a few friendly games. Generally speaking, nobody thought his release was a bad thing. We had better goalkeepers on the books at the time as you say and most people felt he was prone to a clanger. Credit where credit is due, he's gone on to have a really good career and taken his opportunity well.

If the pitch is frozen, it might not necessarily be a bad thing for us. Our away support won't be nearly as good mid-week, but we'd get a chance to get our two most experienced centre halves back with potential to bring in another.