The New Raith Rovers Thread

[Ebanda's Handyman Services]

18 hours ago, smokie29 said:

 

I, mistakenly, thought this patter had dried up in the year of our lord 2024. But it would appear this geriatric c**t is the gift that keeps on giving. 
 

I doubt he will make it back for the relegation play offs in may 2025. 
 

What a horrible wee scrote you are, eh!

[Zen Archer (Raconteur)]

[Rover the Moon]

Pretty remarkable that in the 4 months since Dingwall (or earlier in all likelihood), the only forward we’ve added to the squad is Lewis Jamieson. Guys like Dowds, Oakley and even Oli Shaw have all joined teams in our league on permanent deals in that time, and all would have been a decent alternative/strike partner for big Jack.

Were we in for any of them? Probably not. Have we cast the net wider than Scotland? I’m not sure, but I struggle to believe there hasn’t been someone vaguely within our price range and available on a free in England that wouldn’t be an upgrade on Rudden/Smith/Jamieson. 

Hopefully Dabo’s arrival acts as some sort of attraction for players in a similar boat to take a chance to put themselves in the shop window. That’s clearly our last hope of improving the forward line.

[Broken Algorithms]

 

[Heid_The_Baw]

Still no sign of a free transfer striker yet....

What happens when injury prone Jack cops it?

We going to play Scott Brown up front?

Vaughan oot till February.  We only have one striker, Hamilton.  Even then he is not a lone striker type.  Jamieson would be as good away back to Paisley.  We cannot go from game to game with no shots on target, hoping for a penalty like we have had to beat Partick and Falkirk.

 

Gabby McGill is still a free agent.  Have we even approached him?

If we don't get someone in we are just lurching from one crisis to another.  Big jack has been outstanding his last few games, but we are one bad tackle away from it being a VERY difficult season.  If the board are serious about improving things on the park as well as making cosmetic changes to the ground they need to get their fingers oot.  Ayr and Falkirk are looking for a striker too!

Anybody got some fresh unpished knickers?

[Raith2711]

8 minutes ago, Heid_The_Baw said:

Still no sign of a free transfer striker yet....

What happens when injury prone Jack cops it?

We going to play Scott Brown up front?

Vaughan oot till February.  We only have one striker, Hamilton.  Even then he is not a lone striker type.  Jamieson would be as good away back to Paisley.  We cannot go from game to game with no shots on target, hoping for a penalty like we have had to beat Partick and Falkirk.

 

Gabby McGill is still a free agent.  Have we even approached him?

If we don't get someone in we are just lurching from one crisis to another.  Big jack has been outstanding his last few games, but we are one bad tackle away from it being a VERY difficult season.  If the board are serious about improving things on the park as well as making cosmetic changes to the ground they need to get their fingers oot.  Ayr and Falkirk are looking for a striker too!

Anybody got some fresh unpished knickers?

I agree another striker would be very welcome.

However up until the Hamilton game, we could have had prime Ally Mcoist up front and we still wouldn't have scored.

We had no idea how to move the ball forward. The defence would play it square and either back to big Kev, or a winger would drop back to our own 18 yard line, all at a snails pace.

The last 2 games we've been playing good passing football and if we keep playing like this, guys like Connolly and Easton will chip in with a few goals.

Hamilton has been really good in contributing to the overall play and keeping him fit is important. 

Jamieson to me is a less experienced Callum Smith. He will give 110% effort but I would always favour Smith over him when it came to a sub amd trying to close out a game.

[Arthur Reid McDermott]

26 minutes ago, Raith2711 said:

I agree another striker would be very welcome.

However up until the Hamilton game, we could have had prime Ally Mcoist up front and we still wouldn't have scored.

We had no idea how to move the ball forward. The defence would play it square and either back to big Kev, or a winger would drop back to our own 18 yard line, all at a snails pace.

The last 2 games we've been playing good passing football and if we keep playing like this, guys like Connolly and Easton will chip in with a few goals.

Hamilton has been really good in contributing to the overall play and keeping him fit is important. 

Jamieson to me is a less experienced Callum Smith. He will give 110% effort but I would always favour Smith over him when it came to a sub amd trying to close out a game.

I agree.  Smith is one of the hardest working players in the team and he definitely needs recognition for that.   But he lacks the finishing skills we need and is prone to getting into the box, then losing the ball!

[Broken Algorithms]

42 minutes ago, Heid_The_Baw said:

Still no sign of a free transfer striker yet....

What happens when injury prone Jack cops it?

We going to play Scott Brown up front?

Vaughan oot till February.  We only have one striker, Hamilton.  Even then he is not a lone striker type.  Jamieson would be as good away back to Paisley.  We cannot go from game to game with no shots on target, hoping for a penalty like we have had to beat Partick and Falkirk.

 

Gabby McGill is still a free agent.  Have we even approached him?

If we don't get someone in we are just lurching from one crisis to another.  Big jack has been outstanding his last few games, but we are one bad tackle away from it being a VERY difficult season.  If the board are serious about improving things on the park as well as making cosmetic changes to the ground they need to get their fingers oot.  Ayr and Falkirk are looking for a striker too!

Anybody got some fresh unpished knickers?

The best you'll get out the club is a potential comment that we'll have potential targets we're working on. They've had less than a week since Vaughan's scans have come back and a fortnight since his injury. 

Gabby McGill went back down south to trial for clubs down there and nobody has heard from him since and probably for good reason. Each day he spends down there he gets better in the eyes of folk as a known name.

Outside of McGill, what names are actually 

there who people would be happy with?

Collins pulled a surprise when he picked up Fanky Dabo. I'd be more hopeful if we go for an unexpected name from the EFL. 

[Been going too long]

1 hour ago, Broken Algorithms said:

The best you'll get out the club is a potential comment that we'll have potential targets we're working on. They've had less than a week since Vaughan's scans have come back and a fortnight since his injury. 

Gabby McGill went back down south to trial for clubs down there and nobody has heard from him since and probably for good reason. Each day he spends down there he gets better in the eyes of folk as a known name.

Outside of McGill, what names are actually 

there who people would be happy with?

Collins pulled a surprise when he picked up Fanky Dabo. I'd be more hopeful if we go for an unexpected name from the EFL. 

Totally agree I looked at free agents on transfer market in league 1 and  2 down south, and up here top 2 divisions, there isn’t anything obvious tbh, jakubiak is still available, would you want him? Cillian Sheridan? Slim pickings . Maybe Collins is keeping budget until January and hoping for some luck with injuries. 

Edited 1 hour ago by Been going too long

[CountryBumpkin]

I know i'll probably be in the minority here, but I don't think Gabby McGill would be the answer to our problems. 5 goals in 42 championship appearances suggests this is a level too far for him as a striker. 

Whats clear is that Hamilton has become a central figure in the way that Collins wants to play, he dictates when we should press when we don't have possession and he's a focal point to get us up the park. That sort of striker doesn't get you the bulk of your goals because he's going to be central to creating them and the build up. We should be looking to get more opportunities for Easton, Pollock and Connolly etc when they play in behind. We still ideally need a runner from deep as I don't believe thats arole suited to Matthews, Byrne or Brown that will help us create overloads and occupy defenders. 

As for a suitable replacement for Jack when he's tired or injured....I have no idea. 

[Heid_The_Baw]

8 minutes ago, Been going too long said:

Totally agree I looked at free agents on transfer market in a league 1 and  2 down south

Yea did that myself too.  There are not really any names I recognise, let alone any that have a better than 1 in 3 or 4 games to goals ratio.

For every potential Brian Graham or Bairdy, there are many Timmy Abrahams!

[Brashy's Boots]

Got to trust that staff at the club know more about suitability and availability of potential new players than ANYONE on here. I doubt NC/JP will look at this thread and think "Gabby McGill - why didn't we think of him?"

[Been going too long]

4 minutes ago, Heid_The_Baw said:

Yea did that myself too.  There are not really any names I recognise, let alone any that have a better than 1 in 3 or 4 games to goals ratio.

For every potential Brian Graham or Bairdy, there are many Timmy Abrahams!

Definitely and looking at stats alone isn’t enough, if we wanted a big striker as impact sub then maybe cillian Sheridan could do a job till Xmas as he is known . I think we will bring someone in just hoping no helicopters land again

Edited 2 hours ago by Been going too long

[Been going too long]

7 minutes ago, CountryBumpkin said:

Whats clear is that Hamilton has become a central figure in the way that Collins wants to play, he dictates when we should press when

He does and he already looks more confident than he did pre season at Montrose where he spent the night doubting himself and beating himself up a bit after missing a chance 

[Broken Algorithms]

Only just clocked that Collins was in the Courier this morning with an entirely predictable response. That isn't a criticism of Collins - it's more just where we're at. You're not going to be able to bring in a replacement for his impact at this point in the season. 

 

 

[CountryBumpkin]

1 minute ago, Broken Algorithms said:

Only just clocked that Collins was in the Courier this morning with an entirely predictable response. That isn't a criticism of Collins - it's more just where we're at. You're not going to be able to bring in a replacement for his impact at this point in the season. 

 

 

Just read that myself. He's not wrong. Saying that, Vaughan being out means Easton plays more centrally which I think is suiting him, especially with Pollock coming in. 

[Michael W]

Fully supportive of that stance - there is no point bringing someone in who will just be a body and won't improve the squad. Better to take a punt on a free agent if we are able to do so and the right player is available. Again, it had to be the right player and, if we're being honest, someone that can act as a direct replacement for Hamilton. 

With Vaughan out for a while I do think we need another striker, but we should not waste money on someone who is going to run around and otherwise offer nothing. 

[pub car king]

The issue with Vaughan being out until at least February, realistically a bit longer getting him up to speed. Is that he scored 20 odd goals last season and created however many more. It's a monumental problem. Now we have adapted how we play and Hamilton looks like a new player but where the f**k are we getting those goals from? 

If there was nothing worthwhile in the loan market then we're either waiting until January with everything crossed. Or there's a player somewhere without a club that can be brought in sharpish. 

[Been going too long]

33 minutes ago, Broken Algorithms said:

Only just clocked that Collins was in the Courier this morning with an entirely predictable response. That isn't a criticism of Collins - it's more just where we're at. You're not going to be able to bring in a replacement for his impact at this point in the season. 

 

 

There’s our answer and tbh I agree with him, we will look in January again but no point another big John signing 

[Been going too long]

33 minutes ago, CountryBumpkin said:

Just read that myself. He's not wrong. Saying that, Vaughan being out means Easton plays more centrally which I think is suiting him, especially with Pollock coming in. 

He has a new lease of life and will contribute goals and assists