The New Raith Rovers Thread

[CALDERON]

18 points off the playoffs isnt reall acceptable at all when you look at it. 5 defeats in a row would be the death knell of most managers.

[Myview]

Briefly the comparison between Jeffries and Murray( I think Jeffrey's had him twice as a player Hearts and Kilmarnock) ... Unfair to Muuray. Bit like apples and pears. Jeffrey's well into his 60s and Murray isn't 40 yet and just starting off in his managerial career.

I think managers of clubs who ' have nothing to play for' especially with 5 games to go must worry. Players normal attitude in these circumstances is normally disgraceful. If he had taken 10 pts from the last 15. I'm not saying it would have changed things but maybe.

I've said this before. The top 3 were always going to be the top 3 in whatever order. Imo vast majority would have gone for QOS and Falkirk battling for 4th and 5th and Raith in 6th place. If this is true Raith fans what you wish for you don't always get.

Murray was a model professional as a player and an extremely hard working manager doing all the tasks before being allowed to coach more after the introduction of Malpas.

If I was a chairman I would feel the at this level most of the managers/ coaches are much the same however to me I would be very interested to know what contacts he has for players. Just maybe this could have been a downfall of Murrays. He wasn't a high profile player (tho very good)and only played in Scotland and therefore may not have contacts down south etc.

He still managed to beat Rangers in the final and put them out of the Scottish cup at Ibrox. A great day for the Raith fans. Good luck in the future Grant Murray.

[Rovers_Lad]

Still if he had to go, then he had to go. Buzzwords do annoy me though, and yes he mentioned 'work' but again, in what sense? Nothing particularly to do with Murray but vague terms that have lost all meaning just leave the whole thing opaque - you can take what Young has said and attach any meaning you like to it. As for Falkirk and Queens, well both have bigger budgets than us, Falkirk significantly so, and that's as much to do with recent history of the two clubs as the current or recently departed manager.

buzzwords,something you frequently utilise

could you share queens and falkirks significantly bigger budget in comparison to ours?

pretty sure stranraer have one if not the lowest budget in the seaside league

[renton]

buzzwords,something you frequently utilise

could you share queens and falkirks significantly bigger budget in comparison to ours?

pretty sure stranraer have one if not the lowest budget in the seaside league

Really, when? I'm very conscious of trying to explain what I mean, whether that's correct or not, I do try to be precise in the content of my posts, please point out where you think I'm retreating into vague generalities.

I really couldn't, and I acknowledge that I don't know for certain - but like you with Stranraer 'I'm pretty sure' - in all honesty in falkirk's case at least you couldn't look at their year on year crowds, use of facilities for other events besides football and their ability to sell young player son often and not say they wouldn't have a bigger budget than us.

Edited April 28, 2015 by renton

[DownUnderJag]

I like Grant Murray. He was a good servant at Partick Thistle. Wish him all the best in his managerial endeavours.

[graeme_p]

Maybe, just maybe the decision was not taken as a response to what was going on in the stands. Maybe the Director of Football has been doing his job and bringing Murrays short comings to the Boards attention. How many times in other jobs does a "consultant" Come in to review the key staffs abilities.

Just a possibility.

[Raithie]

Really don't understand why people are attempting to look into Murray's sacking in so much detail. What Young has came out and said is more than enough info to give the fans and football in general for the reasons behind Murray being given the chop, folk expecting more clarity will more than likely not get it (unless there's some mega indepth report in the FFP).

Anyone what's done is done. The majority of the support have gotten their wish and he's away. Time to re-group, attempt to get the negative vibe surrounding the club back into a more positive mode and look forward to next season.

[roverthemoon]

18 points off the playoffs isnt reall acceptable at all when you look at it. 5 defeats in a row would be the death knell of most managers.

The problem I have with that is that a large chunk of that 18 points adrift is down to our complete capitulation in the last 5 games. 5 defeats in a row is brutal but 4 of those games have been totally meaningless for Raith Rovers even in terms of league position.

So the final straw was effectively his inability to motivate the team to play in glorified friendlies. Fair enough that might be a wider indication of his ability to motivate them when it really matters but players have to take some responsibility for completely switching off since the defeat to Falkirk

[roverthemoon]

What's done is done. The majority of the support have gotten their wish and he's away. Time to re-group, attempt to get the negative vibe surrounding the club back into a more positive mode and look forward to next season.

Wise words

[Virtual Insanity]

I thought at the end of last session it was announced top 4 was our aim but the excuse given was due to the amount of injuries. This season 4th place has consistently been talked about but as you say correctly we are well short. We are as close to relegation as 4th place and in many of the past seasons we'd have been involved in a relegation battle with our current points total.

If we'd gotten to 50 points this season then I have no doubt he'd still be there. It would have been clear progress and we'd all have acknowledged that.

It's hardly fair to compare your points total this year, when 1/3 of your games are against Hearts, Hibs & Rangers, against relegation points totals in previous seasons.

I love it when fans of other teams tell us we should be happy with our lot...

To be fair, it seems like the sacking is also not going down that well with quite a few of your posters on here either. Fans of a club who have to watch poor football on a regular basis have a tendency to overreact. Not many teams are watching great games every week. Fans of other clubs are often able to look at it more objectively.

Will be interesting, shades of St Mirren sacking Lennon last year as far as I can see. A recent cup win, general mediocrity in the league. You're quite far behind Queens and Falkirk in budgets but also in infrastructure off the pitch. Not really sure that can be put on Murray.

[Raithie]

You're quite far behind Queens and Falkirk in budgets but also in infrastructure off the pitch. Not really sure that can be put on Murray.

Figures please? and I'd hazard a guess we're one of the few teams (outwith the big 3) that train at an excellent, borderline state of the art, facility.

[Ding Dang Doo]

I'm not really. I never like to see a guy lose his job, fair enough and I do tend towards caution over taking gambles in my opinion of when to dismiss someone from a football management job. In this case I think Rovers are doing well but still in a fragile condition, and I'd hate to see us end up going massively backwards and sliding into relegation. That's pretty much it, the worst Murray was gonna do was have us marooned in obscurity if the last three years were anything to go by. We get the next appointment wrong and we could be well fucked (again I'm just massively scarred by both the 96-97 season and the 04-05 season). of course, it could turn out brilliantly as well, but as I say I tend to favour caution over this.

I go on the opposite view that we could have been in serious trouble next season. We survived this year due to Livi being in financial turnmoil again (yet they still hammered us twice!), and 2 part-time teams with very low budgets also being in our league. Other teams had worked us out and we were becoming progressively easier to play against. When was the last game you went to and thought it was perfect game management from Murray? (other than maybe Rangers in the cup)

I agree a lot with what Renton is saying. Now that he's gone I'm actually now a bit fearful of where we go from here, especially given some of the names being suggested.

Maybe I've nothing to worry about but at the moment it's feel like the bloke who's just walked out on his marriage because he liked the thought of shagging the local barmaid. Fast forward 12 months and he could end up shacked up with the barmaid living happily ever after. But it is equally likely he'll be sitting alone in s bedsit with only Babestation for company thinking 'what the f**k have I done?'

Time will tell

I doubt that any of the names being suggested will seriously be appointed. Most are has-beens who've had their time in Scottish football or managers, similar to Murray, who've never really shown they have the ability at this level.

It's hardly fair to compare your points total this year, when 1/3 of your games are against Hearts, Hibs & Rangers, against relegation points totals in previous seasons.

To be fair, it seems like the sacking is also not going down that well with quite a few of your posters on here either. Fans of a club who have to watch poor football on a regular basis have a tendency to overreact. Not many teams are watching great games every week. Fans of other clubs are often able to look at it more objectively.

Will be interesting, shades of St Mirren sacking Lennon last year as far as I can see. A recent cup win, general mediocrity in the league. You're quite far behind Queens and Falkirk in budgets but also in infrastructure off the pitch. Not really sure that can be put on Murray.

If this year's point total was down to those teams, what was last years excuse? It's not even necessarily down to the points total but the way and manner we played. It was simply awful to watch. Can anyone honestly say otherwise? We've all seen poor football. Under McGylnn it was poor but we had a structure and style that we all knew and could see. McGlynn was never going to be manager who encouraged free-flowing football but we were very difficult to beat and break down. Under Murray this slowly eroded and so many times this season it was simply a matter of when, not if. If our only big defeats had come to the Top 3 then fair enough but both last season and this season saw us well beaten by nearly every team in the league at one point or another.

The point it generally comes down to, and this has been stated by the board, is that we have not progressed at all. 3 years in and we have actually conceded more and scored less in each campaign. That amounts to a regression by anyone's standards.

[Double Jack D]

I don't think Murray was a failure as manager but I do think change was needed. The majority of the fans were against him and the board are counting the cost of their ludicrous decision to extend his contract on the back of a half decent run 2 years ago.

Good luck to Bert, I'm sure someone will take a punt on him and I wouldn't be surprised if he goes on to have a successful managerial career.

I'm both excited and nervous about what the Rovers are about to do next!

[rrfsee]

Anyone think Novo could do the job? Plenty contacts, likes the club and could be cheap for a one year stint.Fancy it will go to a player/manager who will actualy play to save a wage as with Jimmy Nic,Caulderon and Bert.

It'd be nice to see the club thinking outside of the box for our next appointment. Get some foreign guy in,

Edited April 28, 2015 by rrfsee

[Big Berk]

Briefly the comparison between Jeffries and Murray( I think Jeffrey's had him twice as a player Hearts and Kilmarnock) ... Unfair to Muuray. Bit like apples and pears. Jeffrey's well into his 60s and Murray isn't 40 yet and just starting off in his managerial career...

Jefferies took Falkirk into the Premier League as champions by the time he was 40, and before that his record at Berwick remains unrivaled. Yes, there's no comparison between Murray and Jefferies.

[L. Brilliant]

From the outside it will look rash - freshest in their.memories will be the wee cup win, the win at Ibrox and maybe Hibs away last season. But we've nearly reached this point twice previously. It's not rash.

[L. Brilliant]

Anyone think Novo could do the job?

wat

[Stelios]

Alan Young has made a business decision. The majority of Raith fans probably only (or mostly) attend home games and home is where make our money.

Regardless of overall record and league positioning, our home record over the last year and a half is pretty appalling. 27 home games since January 2014 of which 14 have ended in defeat, seeing our goal breached at least 3 times on 11 occasions.

I like facts.

Yes, successsive mid-table finishes are probably where we should be in the natural order of things but being the whipping boys to part-time/struggling teams at home is not. With 4th place in the league offering a playoff spot, the board may be thinking that Premiership football is not as ambitious as it would have been a few years ago (look at Hamilton and what they have achieved with crowds not much better than us)

I'm dissapointed Murray didn't make the grade and would have given him next season but then again, I thought exactly the same thing 12 months ago . . . .

[Rover the Moon]

Don't really subscribe to the 'foreign is best' idea. That comes from too many fans sitting on their arses watching the English Prem every weekend. The Calderon example is slightly different due to the fact he'd been in Scotland for a couple of years before he joined us.

I think someone with a good knowledge of or contacts in the English lower leagues would be ideal, to take advantage of some exciting loan prospects and go down the Caley Thistle route of picking up guys from the likes of Newport, Macclesfield or whatever.

[Rjc-1988]

Looking at Rovers from the outside I feel as though Fox's sending off was a turning point in the Falkirk game. It is amazing how after going on a great run to challenge for a play off place they have folded like a cheap suit.

There is nothing worse for the fans - expectations raised and then dashed immediately.With the run of fixtures Raith had a decent outside chance of getting there. To lose the Falkirk game and then cave in is a horrible way to finish. The Livvy home defeat was the final straw although to be fair having seen Livvy a few times recently I rate them much higher than Cowden, Alloa and Dumbarton.

I think Raith have a decent squad and were realistically competing in that middle league of 4 against ourselves, Falkirk, and Livvy. Livvy have had a dire season but overall Raith have been solid if uninspiring.

From Murrays own point of view i think he may have held on to his job if he had avoided the tail end capitulation and finished the season in reasonable style.

John Potter's name doesnt appear to have figured on the short list.............................only joking!!!!!!!!