The New Raith Rovers Thread

[Hank Scorpio]

Vaughan is signed for next season anyway, so your point is moot. For what it’s worth, the players who are already contracted for next season will be taking a massive portion of the wage bill, before Murray has even had a chance to bring anyone in. Gullan, Vaughan, Easton, Ross, Stanton will all be on very, very good wages - likely 4 figures per week. Murray is operating with his hands tied behind his back through very little fault of his own. 

[pub car king]

Murray has done a reasonable job considering the absolute shocker of a pre season and squad he inherited. 

We started the season with no centre half's, this was a problem even before Berra upped and left out of nowhere. Murray got hold of Nolan and the young lad from Crewe, he also managed to make Liam Dick into a functioning centre back and thankfully he's got Lang back from a bad injury. 

Then there was the right back situation where he brought in Millen who was shaky as f**k but he's turned into a solid right back who is more defensively minded than Tumilty was. 

In the centre of midfield Spencer and Matthews were out injured he brought in Brown who has been fantastic. 

Up front/wingers/attacking midfielders we had Ross who was out of form carrying a long term injury, Vaughan who it is a miracle can still play but was out until October and is still realistically recovering, Gullan who is a sort of perma crock and you're lucky to get an hour out of when he is fit. Connolly who is generally as dependable as a wood burning stove, Stanton was well out of sorts but has transformed this season for me he's a different player now and he signed Easton who is a quality player but inconsistent at times. 

There seems to have been some long term mismanagement of fitness and injuries under the old regime. 

Murray has rolled the dice trying to find the elusive striker big John enough said, Akio and Isma have at least contributed goals but are not the answer, Connell doesn't work out. 

In terms of the rest he's brought in have been filler to bolster a thread bare squad. 

On the plus side Masson looks a player and Arnott, Young and Mitchell have all had time out on loan so there is a bit of long term planning at least. 

Murray has done a good enough job for me, he's got us to a cup final and comfortably kept us up in a transitional season where he has regularly had no bench to speak of and its quite clear we have f**k all money to play with. 

The real judgement will be next season when he's but his own team. For me the most important are is defence get this right and we turn a lot more draws into wins/defeats into draws. He needs at least 1 experienced defender  in there because the individual parts are decent enough to do the job. 

We'll just have to wait and see who stays and goes between now and June. 

This talk of getting rid of Ian Murray is frustration and folk need to step back a bit. 

 

[CALDERON]

36 minutes ago, TxRover said:

 Vaughan has had four knee ops, Gullan has had a op to correct an issue that’s surfaced this year. As it stands, yes, Vaughan is healthy right now…but Gullan is the better bet. It sucks, I don’t like the fact, because LV is pretty much a talisman for the club, but can we afford that?

More than we can afford a striker who isn't a striker and is himself injury prone.

[Ro Sham Bo]

3 hours ago, Paco said:

To be honest that’s complete rubbish from Murray. We’ve won 7 out of 11 league games against the teams below us, and 4 from 19 against the teams above us.

Yeah that seems very much a knee jerk reaction to the two recent defeats v Hamilton, but as you say, it's not reflective of our season at all. It's our results against the bottom 3 that have kept us out of danger this season.

[Been going too long]

Be very interesting to see who he brings this summer, the aforementioned players who are all signed up won’t be going anywhere in my opinion, firstly no one will buy them and secondly I don’t think Murray will want to rip apart the whole squad and start again. It hasn’t been a disastrous season just a transition one as others have said. I think Brad will move on of his own choice and probably connelly ( hope not and tell him what happened last time he left us)and maybe lang as well( again hope not) , loanees all go back to parent clubs and not sure if dick and Mcbride will get another deal and not sure about Nolan if he will try his luck down south again . I would like an experienced centre back signed like a Steven Anderson and a bit more aggression/ steel in the team, we are a nice bunch of boys. The elusive striker who knows but hopefully someone with some presence. Going to be a tough league next season and we can’t afford another summer transfer window like this year. We are definitely all pretty down with the 2 accies results but by the end of may we will be champing at the bit to get back. 

Edited April 5, 2023 by Been going too long

[SirJimmyofNic]

Can we finish above Morton and Inverness probably not, in which case what is the financial difference between 5th and 7th assuming that's where we'll be come the end

[TxRover]

20 minutes ago, SirJimmyofNic said:

Can we finish above Morton and Inverness probably not, in which case what is the financial difference between 5th and 7th assuming that's where we'll be come the end

Last number I saw it was £25k per spot between 5th and 10th, but that was from a few years ago. There is a bigger jump 5th to 4th (plus, of course, the extra match).

To be totally honest, if £50-70k is making that much difference, we’re probably screwed next year with Sim staying in charge.

30 minutes ago, Been going too long said:

Be very interesting to see who he brings this summer, the aforementioned players who are all signed up won’t be going anywhere in my opinion, firstly no one will buy them and secondly I don’t think Murray will want to rip apart the whole squad and start again. It hasn’t been a disastrous season just a transition one as others have said. I think Brad will move on of his own choice and probably connelly ( hope not and tell him what happened last time he left us) , loanees all go back to parent clubs and not sure if dick and Mcbride will get another deal. I would like an experienced centre back signed like a Steven Anderson and a bit more aggression/ steel in the team, we are a nice bunch of boys. The elusive striker who knows but hopefully someone with some presence. Going to be a tough league next season and we can’t afford another summer transfer window like this year. We are definitely all pretty down with the 2 accies results but by the end of may we will be champing at the bit to get back. 

That’s just it, it’s that we have a signed core than pretty much puts paid to any real overhaul of the team. Here’s where I see opportunities:

-Matthews is similar to Spencer (and McGill might function nicely in that role too). If Brad declines the player option and tests the market, I wouldn’t cry.

-If Brad is away, we could do much worse than McGill in his place. More versatile and younger, but really untested…a chance worth taking?

-Lang and Nolan are both out of contract, but I’d like us to keep them both. Nolan has improved, and is still very early in his career experience wise. Lang, if he can be coached to avoid his little issues, seems a very good CB. We could do much worse as our primary CB pairing.

-Dick is out of contract, and would be a decent re-signing due to his versatility. Before he showed the ability to play CB, as just a LB I wouldn’t have lamented his moving on.

-Connolly would be a massive loss, however IF Vaughan, Gullan and Ross are healthy, they should be able to cover most of that role…possibly opening up a spot for a more hold up attacker. McBride hasn’t shown he’s that player, but IM likes him, so he might be back.

-Our Modern Apprentices, that’s Masson, Mitchell and Young, should all be signed to full time contracts.

[renton]

2 hours ago, Raithie said:

The cold hard facts are you're slavering shite. As it stands Gullan isn't 'healthier' than Vaughan - he's out fooking injured whereas Vaughan is playing and scoring goals. 

He's also clearly a better footballer.

[renton]

13 minutes ago, TxRover said:

Last number I saw it was £25k per spot between 5th and 10th, but that was from a few years ago. There is a bigger jump 5th to 4th (plus, of course, the extra match).

To be totally honest, if £50-70k is making that much difference, we’re probably screwed next year with Sim staying in charge.

That’s just it, it’s that we have a signed core than pretty much puts paid to any real overhaul of the team. Here’s where I see opportunities:

-Matthews is similar to Spencer (and McGill might function nicely in that role too). If Brad declines the player option and tests the market, I wouldn’t cry.

-If Brad is away, we could do much worse than McGill in his place. More versatile and younger, but really untested…a chance worth taking?

-Lang and Nolan are both out of contract, but I’d like us to keep them both. Nolan has improved, and is still very early in his career experience wise. Lang, if he can be coached to avoid his little issues, seems a very good CB. We could do much worse as our primary CB pairing.

-Dick is out of contract, and would be a decent re-signing due to his versatility. Before he showed the ability to play CB, as just a LB I wouldn’t have lamented his moving on.

-Connolly would be a massive loss, however IF Vaughan, Gullan and Ross are healthy, they should be able to cover most of that role…possibly opening up a spot for a more hold up attacker. McBride hasn’t shown he’s that player, but IM likes him, so he might be back.

-Our Modern Apprentices, that’s Masson, Mitchell and Young, should all be signed to full time contracts.

Matthews is nothing like Spencer as a midfielder.

[roverthemoon]

Murray should absolutely be given another season. As grim as last night was, there have been enough signs of life this season to give us some optimism. 

[HoBNob]

I reckon one, or both of Todorov and O'Hara will be leaving us, wouldn't be shocked if they rocked up at Starks. 

 

 

[Broken Algorithms]

32 minutes ago, Grant228 said:

I reckon one, or both of Todorov and O'Hara will be leaving us, wouldn't be shocked if they rocked up at Starks. 

 

 

Surely Todorov wouldn't given what happened with Davidson. It wasn't exactly Suarez support shirts but still. O'Hara is one I could see happening tbf. 

[HoBNob]

4 minutes ago, Broken Algorithms said:

Surely Todorov wouldn't given what happened with Davidson. It wasn't exactly Suarez support shirts but still. O'Hara is one I could see happening tbf. 

I'd forgotten about that. 

 

He'll rock up at another championship club then I'd imagine. I think O'Hara might be on fairly large wages at us but there's not a chance he's matching then anywhere. 

[SirJimmyofNic]

37 minutes ago, Grant228 said:

I reckon one, or both of Todorov and O'Hara will be leaving us, wouldn't be shocked if they rocked up at Starks. 

 

 

Why would they leave you to come to us, when your gonna be in the Championship as well and probably can pay a lot more than we can, 

[YorkshireRover]

39 minutes ago, Grant228 said:

I reckon one, or both of Todorov and O'Hara will be leaving us, wouldn't be shocked if they rocked up at Starks. 

 

 

I've always thought O'Hara would really suit the way Rovers have been set up the last few seasons. I know he's never really scored the number of goals he should have at the Pars but would have definitely taken him.

[Kuma Power]

Just now, YorkshireRover said:

I've always thought O'Hara would really suit the way Rovers have been set up the last few seasons. I know he's never really scored the number of goals he should have at the Pars but would have definitely taken him.

Plus O'Hara loves a goal against the Rovers. If we sign him, it at least stops him scoring against us for someone else. Not that that strategy worked out particularly well when we tried it with James Keatings, though...

[Brashy's Boots]

6 minutes ago, Kuma Power said:

Plus O'Hara loves a goal against the Rovers. If we sign him, it at least stops him scoring against us for someone else. Not that that strategy worked out particularly well when we tried it with James Keatings, though...

Or Kenny MacDonald....

Young team- look him up.

[SirJimmyofNic]

2 hours ago, TxRover said:

Last number I saw it was £25k per spot between 5th and 10th, but that was from a few years ago. There is a bigger jump 5th to 4th (plus, of course, the extra match).

To be totally honest, if £50-70k is making that much difference, we’re probably screwed next year with Sim staying in charge.

£50k - £70k is a years wages for a top striker or two other badly needed players, so it would make a difference.

But again that'll be down to Sims purse strings even if we did manage to get that little bit higher up the league

Edited April 5, 2023 by SirJimmyofNic

[HoBNob]

27 minutes ago, SirJimmyofNic said:

Why would they leave you to come to us, when your gonna be in the Championship as well and probably can pay a lot more than we can, 

I think we'll allow them to leave to allow us to strengthen elsewhere, we have four first team strikers and O'Hara and Todorov (who will both be on decent wages) aren't starting. Neither were signed by McPake aswell. 

[ohnononowheredidRossgo]

Agree that IM should be given another season, really interesting to see how he shapes us up.

I'd imagine we'll definitely lose/not retain:

Spencer

McBride

Then you'll have Isma, Akio, Ngwenya.

Over and above that i'd not be against us moving on from Nolan, Gullan and Ross.