The New Raith Rovers Thread

[roverthemoon]

Just drove past Starks. There's a single rovers scarf on the railings. Quite poignant

[Ding Dang Doo]

Seems to be a lot of complaints about Murray's unwillingness to change things but when he uses a meaningless end of season game to try something different everybody goes ballistic when it doesn't work. He obviously can't win with a large section of the support. No wonder he can be risk averse

For me it's been a slightly above average season. Quarter finals of the Scottish Cup and comfortable mid table with absolutely no threat of relegation for a change. That's progress from last year especially with the key injuries we had earlier in season. Would have liked to have put in a better challenge for fourth and played slightly more entertaining football but hey ho.

Next season is the real test of Murray. He needs to refresh and strengthen the team and have us properly challenging for a play off. If he fails to do that then it's time to move on and look for a manager who can achieve that. But he has more than earned the chance with his last two years. I'd like to think we'd all support him and get behind the team and cut out the grumbling when things don't go exactly according to plan.

Sorry but I can't agree with this.

I don't really recall many fans asking for a 3-5-2 or 5-3-2 this season but I, like most others, were definitely willing to give it a chance on Wednesday. My complaint is it was so blindingly obvious by half time that it hadn't worked he should have subbed a centre-back, brought on Anderson, and played a 4-4-2.There's no point trying something different and keeping at it for 90 minutes when we were never going to get back in the game playing that way.

For me failing to put in a sustained challenge for 4th and not even attempting to compete against Inverness is the big failures for me. Yes we've moved away from the part time clubs at the bottom of the table but we should not be there anyway. There is absolutely no reason why a club like Rovers should not be on a level par with Falkirk and QOTS. Look at how Queens played last night against Rangers. They did everything we failed to do against Rangers, apart from the cup match, and that is what's frustrating me. How can we play a 2nd half against Hibs, a game at Ibrox, a game against QOTS and then turn in performances like we have done against Cowden, Alloa and Livi this season.

I have no doubt Murray will still be here at the start of season and I honestly hope he proves me completely wrong but I just can't see it. I'll continue to support the club and travel to games but until he leaves I just can't see us progressing up the table or moving on from the poor quality stuff on the pitch.

[roverthemoon]

Sorry but I can't agree with this.

I don't really recall many fans asking for a 3-5-2 or 5-3-2 this season but I, like most others, were definitely willing to give it a chance on Wednesday. My complaint is it was so blindingly obvious by half time that it hadn't worked he should have subbed a centre-back, brought on Anderson, and played a 4-4-2.There's no point trying something different and keeping at it for 90 minutes when we were never going to get back in the game playing that way.

For me failing to put in a sustained challenge for 4th and not even attempting to compete against Inverness is the big failures for me. Yes we've moved away from the part time clubs at the bottom of the table but we should not be there anyway. There is absolutely no reason why a club like Rovers should not be on a level par with Falkirk and QOTS. Look at how Queens played last night against Rangers. They did everything we failed to do against Rangers, apart from the cup match, and that is what's frustrating me. How can we play a 2nd half against Hibs, a game at Ibrox, a game against QOTS and then turn in performances like we have done against Cowden, Alloa and Livi this season.

I have no doubt Murray will still be here at the start of season and I honestly hope he proves me completely wrong but I just can't see it. I'll continue to support the club and travel to games but until he leaves I just can't see us progressing up the table or moving on from the poor quality stuff on the pitch.

Failing to challenge for 4th and the poor performance against ICT were undoubtedly failures. I'd argue that these were less about tactics and more to do with the quality of players we have at the club. The Inverness game in particular showed that some of our squad especially in the midfield and up front just isn't able to compete at that level. I'd exempt the defence as they put in a good shift that night.

The Board made the decision to stick with Murray and he has turned things around from that bad run. If they didn't sack him during that poor run then they aren't going to sack him now. Whether you like him or not he's here for the whole of next season. I'd rather let him make the changes he thinks necessary over the summer and then the support get behind the team for a play off push. If at the end of next season he's come up short again then by all means let's part company and try someone new. But this halfway house where fans constantly grumble about him and shout abuse and boo is helping no one.

[Paco]

Murray has one season left on his contract and it's up to him to earn another. I'm not his biggest fan, but I certainly don't think he's a bad manager at all... we are exactly where a club like Raith Rovers 'should' be. Mid-table Champonship, with the odd cup run, the very occasional sniff of promotion, and the more frequent threat of relegation.

He's doing an extraordinarily average job with a few horrendous runs, and one or two decent runs, thrown in for good measure. Is that enough to be sacked? No. Is it enough to be given a new contract? Time will tell. I would wager the board would say yes, and if a straw poll was taken in the fanbase the answer would be no.

Edited April 10, 2015 by Paco

[Toddy]

After the challenge cup game against the Pars, I slated Grant and the team ( not for the result as we're never going to win every game but the performance was brutal imo ) and thought we were going to be in the relegation dogfight this season. I hold my hands up and say that at that time if you'd offered me the position that we're in now at that time I'd have bitten your hand off.

[Michael W]

I wanted Murray sacked, but Malpas was brought in and Murray was told results had to improve. They did, so I can't really go back and say he deserves to be sacked now.

As far as next season goes, he has a big job to do in sorting out our midfield and our attack.

[mrpaddyx]

If Hibs and Rangers (or Both!) are in the Championship season I expect much of the same next season. If that is the case I doubt i'll be renewing my season ticket. On the plus side if Hibs are still with us i'll look forward to a couple of cracking days out in Edinburgh.

[Rovers_Lad]

another that wanted Murray gone,at the end of last season,nothing I,ve seen this season to make me change my mind

criticisr away but I,m consistent

[Wardy]

Considering where we were when McGlynn took over, we should be entirely grateful of where we are at the moment.

If we had went down to the third division that season, we would have been down there for a while I think.

Pretty satisfied with how this season has went. But some of the matches, like Cowdenbeath on Wednesday is just pretty much unacceptable. But that's football.

[Ding Dang Doo]

For me 2 things need to happen next season.

1. A sustained challenge for at least 4th place.

2. A better quality of football being played.

Now the 4th place or higher finish may be determined by who comes out in top of the Premiership play-offs but as I've said before finishing above Dumbarton, Alloa, Cowdenbeath, Livi, and ptotentially next season the likes of Forfar, Stranraer, Morton or Brechin should not be, in my opinion, be deemed a success. 6th place in the Championship should be our lowest expectations and I suppose for that Murray gets pass marks. However this "we are where we're meant to be" attitude really bugs me. Falkirk and QOTS haven't said that once this season. Both their aims have always been for 4th place and there's a big of ambition at those clubs, something which we don't seem to posses. Now I'm not talking about living beyond our means and risking the security and future of the club but sensible and sustainable decisions to allow us to progress should surely be getting made this summer. Are we all happy to just sit back and say we'll accept safe 6th or 7th place finishes year on year out, watching the same hoofball tactics but it's all ok cause we're financially fine. Surely there has to be a better balance?

I hear fans moan about clubs in League 1 and 2 who show no ambition and quite happy to just stay in the leagues to keep their SFA board seat or SPFL vote and keep the money dripping in. Fans quite rightly questioned Brora Rangers when they said they didn't want promotion. If we just keep accepting the status quo aren't we just the same, albeit at a higher level?

As for the quality of football this, for me, is probably the more pressing issue. I could forgive mid-table finishes for the next 5 years if we actually had a product on the pitch that made people want to go to games and made the 90 minutes sometimes enjoyable. I could probably count on one hand the number of the games this season where I've enjoyed watching us play and that has to be down to the manager. I liken us, in a strange way, to West Ham. The West Ham fans were clearly happy to be back in the Premier League and thankful Sam Allardyce helped them achieve this. But even last summer fans demanded that a better brand of football was on offer. I see that resembles our position right now.

We have now had 6 seasons back in the 2nd tier of Scottish football and our final league points totals have been 42, 60, 44, 46, 42 and so far 42. This season we have also only won, so far, 1 more game that we managed in 4 of the past 5 seasons, that being 12 this season and 11 in those past seasons. I've said it a lot this season but I believe we have been very fortunate that the 3 teams at the bottom of the league are so poor as otherwise we'd have been involved in the same old battle.

So have we made progress off the pitch? Of course. We have more investment and better finances and certainly have much more stability. There's of course lots of improvements that can still be made but you can see things have changed gradually.

On the pitch have we progressed? The stats say no. So far we're on roughly similar points to past seasons, we've only won 1 more game than past seasons, we've conceded more goals than in 4 or the past 5 seasons (only last year being worse) and scored less than in 4 of the past 5 seasons.

As I've said already I hope Murray proves me wrong, we go rest of season unbeaten and have a great 2015/16 but he's now had 3 seasons to progress us and he's failed in each occasion, making the same mistakes time and time again.

[Big Berk]

another that wanted Murray gone,at the end of last season,nothing I,ve seen this season to make me change my mind

criticise away but I,m consistent

When I listen to Murray's interviews and see the constant lack of tactical awareness I think he's a bit dim. He's always the same. Things improved significantly with the arrival of Malpas after a year of dire performances, but the dead hand of Murray is still very evident. I'm more tolerant now and dont grudge him the remainder of his contract, but I dont think it should be renewed.

[Rovers_Lad]

i dont think the quality of our football has improved significantly since the arrival of Malpas

i must be less tolerant :wink:

[Big Berk]

i dont think the quality of our football has improved significantly since the arrival of Malpas

i must be less tolerant :wink:

Or rather we're making less mistakes (until today - back to free headers from set pieces).

I think its clear to all that Murray isnt a competent manager at this level, at least without someone next to him.

[Geordie_Munrover]

I think Malpas will have a big influence with regards to signings for next season and who to keep/let go. I think next season will be Murray's last and then Malpas will be given the job.

[Whistle Blower]

I think Malpas will have a big influence with regards to signings for next season and who to keep/let go. I think next season will be Murray's last and then Malpas will be given the job.

Oh please God no...........

Malpas is hardly regarded as a coach who demands free flowing attacking football.

If the fan base is bored with negative tactics, a stipulation for any new manager must be attacking football, I doubt Malpas could give us this.

[L. Brilliant]

Sounds like a lot of assumptions are being made about the way the manager and DoF work together. I don't see how anyone outside of the club can know or how it can be judged how who is influencing what.

I am quite happy for Murray to get one more go at building a team. I am, though, a bit worried about how it's going to go and don't feel hugely enthusiastic about shelling out for the season. Real concerns that we'll end up losing McGurn and Barr and keeping Cuthbert and the likes of Scott ( ). This season's signings were not much of an upgrade on last (except Barr).

Dream scenario: Keep McGurn, Thomson, Barr, Watson, Callachan, Vaughan, Conroy, Moon. Release Scott and Cuthbert.

[roverthemoon]

Sounds like a lot of assumptions are being made about the way the manager and DoF work together. I don't see how anyone outside of the club can know or how it can be judged how who is influencing what.

I am quite happy for Murray to get one more go at building a team. I am, though, a bit worried about how it's going to go and don't feel hugely enthusiastic about shelling out for the season. Real concerns that we'll end up losing McGurn and Barr and keeping Cuthbert and the likes of Scott ( ). This season's signings were not much of an upgrade on last (except Barr).

Dream scenario: Keep McGurn, Thomson, Barr, Watson, Callachan, Vaughan, Conroy, Moon. Release Scott and Cuthbert.

Only thing I'd add to your dream scenario is keep Nade and release Fox and Elliot. Genuinely can't make up my mind about Stewart.

[Zen Archer (Raconteur)]

For what it's worth, unless you can buy a place on the board wish lists have no more value than flinging a letter to Santa up the lum.

The board currently backs the manager and has brought in a DoF to back this up therefore the die is cast, all that is left is to sit tight and watch things develop over the next 10 - 12 weeks.

[Ro Sham Bo]

The board might still back the manager but I was encouraged by the interview with the chairman. I feel he is less inclined to sit back and endure another run of form like the two we had under Murray in 2014. There is also the fact that any compensation payment will get lower as time goes by.

[Michael W]

Despite his recent up turn in form, I can't quick make my mind up over Stewart either. I think Nade could probably offer us more if we got in a decent striker (Nade playing as a classic #10), but he hasn't done much recently at all. I think i could only keep one of them and of course Vaughan.

We simply must keep the following, in my view: McGurn, Thomson, Barr, Watson, Conroy, Anderson, Callachan and Vaughan. I'd also like to see us keep Hill and I'm undecided on Moon & McKeown. I'd veer towards keeping Nade rather than Stewart, but won't be too upset if Murray goes the other way or even releases both of them.

Martin Scott has been an almighty disappointment this season. I had high hopes for him as an attacking midfielder, but he just hasn't offered us what I hoped he would. Too often he just looks as if he's going to get sent off.