The New Raith Rovers Thread

[Poet of the Macabre]

2 hours ago, Enigma said:

we won enough points to win the league in pretty much any other season.

 

You're right, except in 08/09, 10/11, 12/13, 13/14, 15/16, 16/17... and of course, 17/18.

2 hours ago, SuperHans said:

He's here now and there's f**k all anyone can realistically do about it. Just get behind the club

Rovers should just have released this as a statement on the website tbh.

[Poet of the Macabre]

I hate seeing Rovers like this. It's no fun when you can't even mock your rivals because you feel sorry about how their club is being run.

Trying to score small victories by lording it over East Fife ffs. Have some self-respect.

[Frank conner]

33 minutes ago, Poet of the Macabre said:

I hate seeing Rovers like this. It's no fun when you can't even mock your rivals because you feel sorry about how their club is being run.

Trying to score small victories by lording it over East Fife ffs. Have some self-respect.

You must be bored It's bad enough us failing to get promotion but you guys not getting to the premiership for a club your size . How do you cope?

[Cosmic Joe]

6 hours ago, RRFC2711 said:

Can we be total C*nts like Ayr .........and continually mention the Blue pound....which obviously the Fife will be eternaly grateful for.....

The biggest visiting support at Stark's Park was East Fife last season. It works both ways...

[Ding Dang Doo]

All we seem to point out is the negatives. Yes there were plenty of them last season but there's a positive spin on it when you look at things in a different light.

 

Our home record, our ability to win ugly (with the occasional good performance), over 50 goals from the front 3 players ( top scorer was moved to centre mid for large parts of the season), defensive record was excellent and the fact that over the course of a season we more than comfortably beat the teams below us on points and goal difference.

 

If some of the knuckle draggers who post on here can see that things weren't very good and point them out then I'm more than confident that Smith and co saw that too. He's been given a second chance and I'm certain that he'll know that there's a lot more at stake for him than there is for us in terms of his career. With a new board he might be given some more freedom to bring in players he can trust and get rid of the ones he doesn't.

 

He's here now and there's f**k all anyone can realistically do about it. Just get behind the club and whoever he puts out on this amazing new plastic pitch we're going to be treated to next season.

 

 

Genuine question...what would you say were our good oerformces? Bar East Fife away in August and Queens away in September I don't recall many others.

 

My whole worry about this is that the gap between the club and the fans is growing with every passing month and year. The club seem to have an attitude of "sit down, shut up, pay your money and be grateful we're allowing you in to watch". We have 4 directors who have no experience in building up businesses. 3 of them are accountants, of which I have nothing against, but basically only see black and white and have no concept of how to grow a successful business.

 

Our commercial side is the most amateurish I've seen at any club. Did any season ticket holder get contacted about renewing? That should be an absolute basic. I look along the road at the Pars and it's night and day between what they do and we fail to do to generate income for the club.

[CALDERON]

Just now, Angusfifer said:

The biggest visiting support at Stark's Park was East Fife last season. It works both ways...

Over the two games Ayr brought more fans. 

[fatdoug1938]

The fact you've stayed FT means you'll win the league by 15-20 points so don't stress! Only FT team in the league, it'll be a walk on the park

[Wee Jockie]

Cried into my pastis when Rovers got humped[emoji38][emoji38][emoji38][emoji38]
Growing band of anti lino lickers here

[Paco]

Liam Buchanan staying is awful news. Just awful.

We don’t play to his strengths, yadda yadda. If he could hit a cows arse with a banjo we’d have been promoted. 10 league goals from 33 appearances (30 starts!) is dreadful. 3 goals in his last 15 league appearances since the turn of the year.

Spence got 11 in the league from 33 appearances too, but only 22 of those were from the start. And I think we’d all agree Spence has been somewhat disappointing.

Christ, Jason Thomson only got three less than Buchanan from right back. Like Declan McManus last season, I’ve no doubt at all there’s a player in there but it’s not happening for him under Barry Smith, and it isn’t happening at Raith Rovers. If we can get rid, get rid.

[King Kebab]

Can't imagine anyone in methil being employed for 5 years tbh.

I'll guess that that sounded a lot funnier in your head!!!

I hate seeing Rovers like this. It's no fun when you can't even mock your rivals because you feel sorry about how their club is being run.
Trying to score small victories by lording it over East Fife ffs. Have some self-respect.

At least they've beaten us tbf, a job your club finds very hard to do!!!

[Scary Bear]

All we seem to point out is the negatives. Yes there were plenty of them last season but there's a positive spin on it when you look at things in a different light.

Our home record, our ability to win ugly (with the occasional good performance), over 50 goals from the front 3 players ( top scorer was moved to centre mid for large parts of the season), defensive record was excellent and the fact that over the course of a season we more than comfortably beat the teams below us on points and goal difference.

If some of the knuckle draggers who post on here can see that things weren't very good and point them out then I'm more than confident that Smith and co saw that too. He's been given a second chance and I'm certain that he'll know that there's a lot more at stake for him than there is for us in terms of his career. With a new board he might be given some more freedom to bring in players he can trust and get rid of the ones he doesn't.

He's here now and there's f**k all anyone can realistically do about it. Just get behind the club and whoever he puts out on this amazing new plastic pitch we're going to be treated to next season.

Are you still 14 or are you the outraged dad today. Maybe give the wife a shot of the account next.

[Wullie McNaught]

10 minutes ago, Scary Bear said:

 

Are you still 14 or are you the outraged dad today. Maybe give the wife a shot of the account next.

 

He won't answer you, he's already blanked a question asking him to explain all the Martin nonsense. 

[mrpaddyx]

Is this plastic pitch really going to happen? 

[Scary Bear]

Liam Buchanan staying is awful news. Just awful.

 

We don’t play to his strengths, yadda yadda. If he could hit a cows arse with a banjo we’d have been promoted. 10 league goals from 33 appearances (30 starts!) is dreadful. 3 goals in his last 15 league appearances since the turn of the year.

 

Spence got 11 in the league from 33 appearances too, but only 22 of those were from the start. And I think we’d all agree Spence has been somewhat disappointing.

 

Christ, Jason Thomson only got three less than Buchanan from right back. Like Declan McManus last season, I’ve no doubt at all there’s a player in there but it’s not happening for him under Barry Smith, and it isn’t happening at Raith Rovers. If we can get rid, get rid.

 

Signing two proven 20+ goal a season strikers should have seen us win the league. Rendering them ineffective with long ball tactics is down to Barry Smith.

 

I’m not sure whether Barry just didn’t trust his midfield after Callachan left (understandable) or if he is just a long ball merchant. I suppose I’ll have to wait until next season to see. However, if the loss of one player - albeit a key player - makes you change your philosophy then it’s a worry.

[RRFC2711]

Is this plastic pitch really going to happen? 

Fuckin hope so I'm sick of the phrase striker(any) ploughing a lone furrow up front being so literal.

[GhostZapper]

I read a few comments on here last night, and whilst I shared some of the disappointment, I think a few are going a bit OTT, but everyone is entitled to their own opinion. Having had a chance to sleep on it, I still have mixed feelings on this.

Our away form has been rotten, and in particular the Alloa games of the past 10 days a disgrace.... players confidence has been shot to bits and as manager Barry Smith has to get players up for a match - however, that's easier said than done! Tactically, the first third of the season he got it spot on, some very pleasing performances, after that it seemed a combination of juggling players around, covering gaps in midfield, that it seemed to go and never quite recover, even though we kept winning matches. However, as those have pointed out earlier, 75 points normally wins you the league - 2 full time teams, and Ayr threw as much money, if not more, at it than we did. And were a much better team. Like I say above, that doesn't excuse the Alloa matches...

Business wise, and in the position we are in, I don't dispute their decision. It is an absolute must we stay full time. only 2 or 3 part time teams have won this league in the last 12 years. The implications that decision has are far reaching and would see us be preparing for a few years in this division. Non playing staff at the club would also need to be laid off.

Sacking Barry Smith would have incurred a cost. A process of finding a new manager would have taken at the very least a few weeks, at which point the better part time players are already signed up. So would some of our better out of contract players. New manager will come in, and want money to go find new players. rebuild a whole new squad, and who's to say he gets close to the points tally we got this season - with a part time squad, I'd say very little chance.

Looking Ahead, there are certainly areas I'd expect him to improve us over the summer, getting rid of the deadwood that have underperformed this season, and brining in players that keep fighting. I think he will also be forced by the board to rely on a couple of the younger guys - we saw bits of Watson and McKay last season and I think we'll see more of them this year.

I really do hope he gets us off to a flier next season. There will be a lot of people wanting us to get off to a poor start.

 

 

[GhostZapper]

8 hours ago, Frank conner said:

Only the rovers would let a manager get away with failure of this stature. I hope but very much doubt the board has told him most of the out of contract players will not be resigned under any circumstances. 

failure of this stature....? Its not like we've been relegated and keeping his job!

[Wee Sandy]

3 minutes ago, GhostZapper said:

I read a few comments on here last night, and whilst I shared some of the disappointment, I think a few are going a bit OTT, but everyone is entitled to their own opinion. Having had a chance to sleep on it, I still have mixed feelings on this.

Our away form has been rotten, and in particular the Alloa games of the past 10 days a disgrace.... players confidence has been shot to bits and as manager Barry Smith has to get players up for a match - however, that's easier said than done! Tactically, the first third of the season he got it spot on, some very pleasing performances, after that it seemed a combination of juggling players around, covering gaps in midfield, that it seemed to go and never quite recover, even though we kept winning matches. However, as those have pointed out earlier, 75 points normally wins you the league - 2 full time teams, and Ayr threw as much money, if not more, at it than we did. And were a much better team. Like I say above, that doesn't excuse the Alloa matches...

Business wise, and in the position we are in, I don't dispute their decision. It is an absolute must we stay full time. only 2 or 3 part time teams have won this league in the last 12 years. The implications that decision has are far reaching and would see us be preparing for a few years in this division. Non playing staff at the club would also need to be laid off.

Sacking Barry Smith would have incurred a cost. A process of finding a new manager would have taken at the very least a few weeks, at which point the better part time players are already signed up. So would some of our better out of contract players. New manager will come in, and want money to go find new players. rebuild a whole new squad, and who's to say he gets close to the points tally we got this season - with a part time squad, I'd say very little chance.

Looking Ahead, there are certainly areas I'd expect him to improve us over the summer, getting rid of the deadwood that have underperformed this season, and brining in players that keep fighting. I think he will also be forced by the board to rely on a couple of the younger guys - we saw bits of Watson and McKay last season and I think we'll see more of them this year.

I really do hope he gets us off to a flier next season. There will be a lot of people wanting us to get off to a poor start.

 

 

I would have to agree with all of this.

It is what it is and we are not in a position to spend more money, paying comp and then appointing a new manager and staying full time.  I too have been baffled by the excellent  first third start to the season followed by the ongoing demise.

Add to that the fact that we brought into the team two of the most prolific goal scorers from the season before and then proceeded to watch their goal scoring talent disappear raises questions about the coaching methods, particularly when you compare our goals tally against Ayr United's.

[SuperHans]

Genuine question...what would you say were our good oerformces? Bar East Fife away in August and Queens away in September I don't recall many others.  
My whole worry about this is that the gap between the club and the fans is growing with every passing month and year. The club seem to have an attitude of "sit down, shut up, pay your money and be grateful we're allowing you in to watch". We have 4 directors who have no experience in building up businesses. 3 of them are accountants, of which I have nothing against, but basically only see black and white and have no concept of how to grow a successful business.
 
Our commercial side is the most amateurish I've seen at any club. Did any season ticket holder get contacted about renewing? That should be an absolute basic. I look along the road at the Pars and it's night and day between what they do and we fail to do to generate income for the club.

Admittedly it is hard to pick out good performances from this season because we've all got it stuck in our heads that we were shite. The Albion Rovers home game when we huffed and puffed was a good performance in my eyes because we gradually broke them down. Some could argue the Smith got it wrong with his style of play and how he set the team up but, for the majority of the time, he got what was needed.

The clubs commercial side is pathetic. There are part time clubs with a lot less resources than we have that are doing a much better job. Maybe there will be shake ups in the office staff now that the seasons over, hopefully something is changed or shaken up. With the lack of revenue from hospitality last season it will be interesting to see what their decisions are this season.

Bill Clark isn't an accountant and has plenty of diplomatic experience working with international governments and was supposedly a referee so you'd hope has some knowledge of the game.

I've no doubt that this season we should be winning this league and hopefully it's easier than stumbling over the line as many are expecting. What I'd really like to see is improvements on the business side of the club. Better social media, better incentives for fans, new sponsors etc. I'd also like to see work going in to improve the work in the community. It's easy to say that we've got a community trust but I want to see it. Players out and about in the towns and businesses. I'll never forget when Ray McKinnon invited fans to Oconnels for a drink after a Morton home game and we'd scored a late winner. That gesture made the news papers and gave Raith a bit of kudos and good publicity.

[Scary Bear]

Wonder how many of these “supporters” saying they won’t buy a season ticket will be there front and centre on the 4th August anyway.

I’d imagine quite a lot of us will be there for the opening game of the season. Will we be there when the clocks go back?

To the resident stattos, out of interest, did the clocks go back thing only start happening around Grant Murray’s time? I seem to recall that was the year it started happening. That was also the year season ticket sales went up to approx. 1000.