The New Raith Rovers Thread

[Raith Against The Machine]

David Bates was sent off for East Stirling yesterday, for a studs up challenge.

[baillieinleeds]

Not really a subject for a Dumbarton game thread, so: how do we get the atmosphere back to Stark's Park?

The good kind, not the booing and occasional polite clapping.

What are your thoughts on the matter?

Should we all chip in and send Calum Elliot to a sports psychologist to see if we can establish if he's carrying out some sort of unofficial strike due to repressed feelings of anger towards the support? Once this is resolved he may score goals again and the atmosphere will come flooding back into Stark's Park.

Should we get cheerleaders?

Should we have kids waving flags as players come out the tunnel?

Should we play more aggressive music pre-match and at half-time? NWA? ACDC?

Should we all chip in and sign one decent player every season who can actually get fans excited?

Should we smuggle in hip flasks?

Should we just give up and sit in silence?

Definitely needs a poll on Fan(ny)talk.

The damage is already done I'm afraid. The board don't give a flying f**k about the fans, that's why we continually have to put with Murray, yea yea, we've won 3 in a row. But it's not due to his management skills, that's the Malpas effect.

[baillieinleeds]

The damage is already done I'm afraid. The board don't give a flying f**k about the fans, that's why we continually have to put with Murray, yea yea, we've won 3 in a row. But it's not due to his management skills, that's the Malpas effect.

But the 3 wins are lovely, first and foremost.

[Rovers1992/1993]

David Bates was sent off for East Stirling yesterday, for a studs up challenge.

Seems like a suitable replacement for Dougie hill in a few years..

[Beachbum]

.... yea yea, we've won 3 in a row. But it's not due to his management skills, that's the Malpas effect.

That's fine. We can blame Malpas for the second half collapse.

[turboshandy]

Not really a subject for a Dumbarton game thread, so: how do we get the atmosphere back to Stark's Park?

The good kind, not the booing and occasional polite clapping.

What are your thoughts on the matter?

Should we all chip in and send Calum Elliot to a sports psychologist to see if we can establish if he's carrying out some sort of unofficial strike due to repressed feelings of anger towards the support? Once this is resolved he may score goals again and the atmosphere will come flooding back into Stark's Park.

Should we get cheerleaders?

Should we have kids waving flags as players come out the tunnel?

Should we play more aggressive music pre-match and at half-time? NWA? ACDC?

Should we all chip in and sign one decent player every season who can actually get fans excited?

Should we smuggle in hip flasks?

Should we just give up and sit in silence?

Definitely needs a poll on Fan(ny)talk.

Bugler IMO

[Paco]

The damage is already done I'm afraid. The board don't give a flying f**k about the fans, that's why we continually have to put with Murray, yea yea, we've won 3 in a row. But it's not due to his management skills, that's the Malpas effect.

I think that's unfair. We all booted Murray when we were doing badly, so it's only fair he receives praise for our recent turnaround. One thing I will say is we've won two games we won in the last half of the season too - Cowden away, Dumbarton at home. I'd argue regardless of our form they're games we should really be looking to win. Nonetheless it's been an impressive turnaround from when we couldn't kick our own arse just a few weeks ago. Sometimes it just takes a bit of luck to turn around fortunes and we got that at Falkirk - on another day we would've easily succumbed to the usual 2-0 defeat. Hopefully moving forward we can at least retain a little bit of an interest in the play-offs at the right end.

On the subject of the fans yesterday, yes there was a lot of needless panicking, but given our home record it's sort of understandable - equally the players performance, which sparked the panic in the stands, was understandable to a degree as well. I thought Murray perhaps clung on a little too long to make a change but Moon for Scott was a good move. Elliot is the whipping boy at the moment sadly, he did have a poor second half until Nade came on, after which he was actually very good, but the reaction to Stewart being hooked was outrageous. He was dire. I'd say Elliot's general behaviour has improved a lot, he doesn't run around like a headless chicken but he played well overall yesterday. Maybe it'll stop if he starts scoring again.

There's definitely next to no relationship between the fans and players at the moment. The only players yesterday who made a real effort to acknowledge the fans were McGurn, Hill, Stewart and Anderson, three of whom have been here a while now. The rest roundly ignore. I'm not sure I necessarily blame them but it's a vicious cycle - fans don't like players, players don't like fans, nobody does anything to resolve. McGlynn's teams wore their hearts on their sleeve, had a few cult heroes thrown in, always acknowledged the support and the support acknowledged them back. McGurn, Wilson, Campbell, Ellis, Hill, Walker, Tade, Baird, Weir etc, all played in the same time frame, all had their own songs, all well-liked by the support. There was a real sense of togetherness that just doesn't seem to be there at the moment. The fans love McGurn and throw in an occasional "Nade, Nade". That apart there's just nothing there.

Edited January 18, 2015 by Paco

[Zen Archer (Raconteur)]

Not really a subject for a Dumbarton game thread, so: how do we get the atmosphere back to Stark's Park?

The good kind, not the booing and occasional polite clapping.

What are your thoughts on the matter?

Should we all chip in and send all the moaning faced c***s on a one way ticket to Dignitas.

FTFY

[kev23]

Why are we getting so worked up about the fans now? It wasn't even that bad yesterday. The only boos I can remember were for the Stewart sub and when Callachan cleared the ball without looking late in the second half. They still got a decent cheer at the full time whistle.

For what it's worth, a lot of our players this season seem like complete arseholes who seem to think they are something special because they make a living from playing football. No wonder people haven't taken to them. Who wants to sing a song about Martin Scott being hard or Elliot scoring when he wants? Big time Charlies.

Not very many 'honest laddys' in this team.

[turboshandy]

The damage is already done I'm afraid. The board don't give a flying f**k about the fans, that's why we continually have to put with Murray, yea yea, we've won 3 in a row. But it's not due to his management skills, that's the Malpas effect.

Would the only way for the board to show they 'give a flying fuck' be to sack Grant Murray? The board have taken steps to bring in an experienced coach to aid GM, rather than just sack him, which, in your opinion, is the sole reason for the three in a row', so to suggest they 'don't give a flying fuck' is wide of the mark, IMO.

[mojito]

The damage is already done I'm afraid. The board don't give a flying f**k about the fans, that's why we continually have to put with Murray, yea yea, we've won 3 in a row. But it's not due to his management skills, that's the Malpas effect.

This is the kind of guff that gets churned out on Facebook.

Whilst Malpas has been an astute move by the board (the same board that you also criticise for not giving a toss) Murray has to be given the credit for getting us back to picking up points.

I would go as far as saying that the return of Hill and McGurn from injury and the punting of Perry has had a bigger impact, bearing in mind that positive signs were starting to show away to Dumbarton well before the arrival of Malpas.

[Scary Bear]

Bugler IMO

It'll take more than one. What about an oompa band? We can pretend it's Munich all over again.

For me, the key ingredient that's missing is alcohol. I can suffer almost anything with alcohol.

[Scottydog]

Scary the hip flask does work but won't be for everyone now Valium on the other hand....

Im convinced some our fans have a better day out when they have something to bitch about and when we win it's ok but not like a really good day at the fitba.

[Ebanda's Handyman Services]

I don't think players will be intentionally ignoring the support at the end of games. I'd certainly like to hope it isn't the case anyway.

There hasn't been a great relationship between the support and the players this season but the players need to concentrate on the fans who do support them through thick and thin when walking off the pitch if their lack of acknowledgement at the end of games is indeed pre-meditated.

If I'm being honest though, I couldn't care less if the players lined up in front of the South stand to do a synchronised 'w****r' gesture to the fans as long as they were winning games.

[Scary Bear]

Scary the hip flask does work but won't be for everyone now Valium on the other hand....

Im convinced some our fans have a better day out when they have something to bitch about and when we win it's ok but not like a really good day at the fitba.

Personally, I think we should play the Can-can music whenever we score a goal, just like Munich did that night. It made me smile and everyone seemed happy enough joining in.

[Raithie]

Oh and for the love of feck please can we stop playing Chelsea Dagger after we score. It a dated tune no one cares about anymore, it does nothing in terms of getting fans singing, the song is also shite.

[Yoss]

Not really a subject for a Dumbarton game thread, so: how do we get the atmosphere back to Stark's Park?

The good kind, not the booing and occasional polite clapping.

What are your thoughts on the matter?

Should we all chip in and send Calum Elliot to a sports psychologist to see if we can establish if he's carrying out some sort of unofficial strike due to repressed feelings of anger towards the support? Once this is resolved he may score goals again and the atmosphere will come flooding back into Stark's Park.

Should we get cheerleaders?

Should we have kids waving flags as players come out the tunnel?

Should we play more aggressive music pre-match and at half-time? NWA? ACDC?

Should we all chip in and sign one decent player every season who can actually get fans excited?

Should we smuggle in hip flasks?

Should we just give up and sit in silence?

Definitely needs a poll on Fan(ny)talk.

Serious answer? Rebuild the stadium.

[Yoss]

Anyway, as far as the team goes - no, we shouldn't be overreacting to three wins any more than we should have been doing so to the winless run. But the record over the season against teams outwith the big three now reads: P14 W8 D2 L4. That's not too bad.

We're pretty much safe from relegation already - the league is more stretched this season and a lower total than usual will see you safe - so from that point of view, rather than the mere fact of the three wins, the pressure should be off the management for the rest of the season and we can take stock in the summer. I doubt we'll finish fourth, and we wouldn't be going up even if we do, but we probably do need to keep some of this momentum going between now and May. If we end up going off the boil again and stumbling back to an 8th place finish it'd be hard to look forward to another season under Murray with much enthusiasm.

[Scary Bear]

Serious answer? Rebuild the stadium.

That was the serious answer! Short of rebuilding the stadium, what can be done? Think cost neutral, value engineering, blue sky thinking, all that bollocks.

Edited January 18, 2015 by Scary Bear

[Scary Bear]

Anyway, as far as the team goes - no, we shouldn't be overreacting to three wins any more than we should have been doing so to the winless run. But the record over the season against teams outwith the big three now reads: P14 W8 D2 L4. That's not too bad.

We're pretty much safe from relegation already - the league is more stretched this season and a lower total than usual will see you safe - so from that point of view, rather than the mere fact of the three wins, the pressure should be off the management for the rest of the season and we can take stock in the summer. I doubt we'll finish fourth, and we wouldn't be going up even if we do, but we probably do need to keep some of this momentum going between now and May. If we end up going off the boil again and stumbling back to an 8th place finish it'd be hard to look forward to another season under Murray with much enthusiasm.

Three wins in a row is not something that happens on a regular basis for Rovers, so we are performing well. I can see our usual 6th or 7th placed finish. Livi are finished, and Cowdenbeath and Alloa are no great shakes. Falkirk and QoS are better than us, so that should leave us dueling it out with Dumbarton for 6th place.

The problem we have is that apart from that one season where we challenged for the title with Dunfermline, this has been our finishing position since 2009-10 season.

2009-10 7th

2010-11 2nd

2011-12 7th

2012-13 6th

2013-14 7th

2014-15 probably 6th or 7th

In some respects, it's probably easier to keep fans interested if you're a yo-yo team.