The New Raith Rovers Thread

[pub car king]

I do wonder about the succession plan for Starks Park when John Sim says he's had enough or checks out permanently. Have the new board got first refusal? 

[Starksdynamo]

13 hours ago, SirJimmyofNic said:

The rot started setting in after the 6th January, so what went on behind the scene around that time

Is this true? I think a lot has been made of a "poor" second half of the season but other than a spell of 5 losses (2 in cups) in January we didn't lose a lot of games.  

[FitbaSupporter]

1 minute ago, CountryBumpkin said:

indeed both John and his wife are investing in the infrastructure at Starks Park. Probably why we can safely say that the playing budget is not being impacted by the renovations. Much to the likely disappointment of some who want it to fit their narrative. 

Sim has been Stark’s Park properties for decades. It’s obviously taken the new board coming in to get him to invest properly in the football stadium. That’s welcome, but doesn’t remove the years of neglect. So I’ll save any credit for the new board who persuade him. 

[CountryBumpkin]

2 minutes ago, FitbaSupporter said:

Sim has been Stark’s Park properties for decades. It’s obviously taken the new board coming in to get him to invest properly in the football stadium. That’s welcome, but doesn’t remove the years of neglect. So I’ll save any credit for the new board who persuade him. 

Yeah, i'm not in disagreement there.

[raith1974]

Have been thinking about formation and do think that 3 at the back could work now we have 3 fit CBs and a rightback keen to get forward however I would go with a 4 1 4 1.

Babo Fordyce Hanlon Stevenson

Brown 

Gibson Easton Stanton Pollock. 

Hamilton 

This allows Brown to sit and protect the back 4. Easton and Stanton have to support Hamilton by running past him for flick ons. Pollock and Gibson will need to work but could swap sides to give fullbacks a headache.

[pub car king]

9 minutes ago, FitbaSupporter said:

Sim has been Stark’s Park properties for decades. It’s obviously taken the new board coming in to get him to invest properly in the football stadium. That’s welcome, but doesn’t remove the years of neglect. So I’ll save any credit for the new board who persuade him. 

I suppose the counter to this is that sim was funding the playing side at the same time. 

Sim lives in Asia a lot of the time and has other business interests so it's difficult to manage it all. He has put others in charge but we'll say no more about that particular clusterf**k. 

The new investment has allowed him to step back and concentrate solely on the ground which he wants for the community side as much as the first team. 

 

[FitbaSupporter]

8 minutes ago, pub car king said:

The new investment has allowed him to step back and concentrate solely on the ground which he wants for the community side as much as the first team. 

 

That’s the frustrating thing about the pitch nonsense from the SPFL. If the club does achieve what they are aiming for and reach the top tier at some point, the community use of the club will be restricted to a venue for meetings not the community playing football in it. A real loss for the community and Rovers I suspect. 

[basher brash]

Only Rovers fans can turn ground improvements into a negative the players showers didn’t have hot water for starters  , Results have been poor so far but it’s still Ian Murray’s team apart from dapo who is the only Collins signing , Throw into the mix the injuries we have had from day one do you really think Murray would have had us any higher up the table ? Personally no ! We are where we are at the moment give it time for god sake I’ve not seen one team battering the Rovers we aren’t far away just keep the head guys it will turn 

[Raith2711]

27 minutes ago, raith1974 said:

Have been thinking about formation and do think that 3 at the back could work now we have 3 fit CBs and a rightback keen to get forward however I would go with a 4 1 4 1.

Babo Fordyce Hanlon Stevenson

Brown 

Gibson Easton Stanton Pollock. 

Hamilton 

This allows Brown to sit and protect the back 4. Easton and Stanton have to support Hamilton by running past him for flick ons. Pollock and Gibson will need to work but could swap sides to give fullbacks a headache.

We were at points almost 4-1-4-1 yesterday with Matthews so high up the pitch.

[Michael W]

2 hours ago, Ding Dang Doo said:

What I would say though is that by all accounts Sim is still very much involved behind the scenes.

He'll be involved in some capacity as long as he owns the stadium. However, he is no longer in charge of the club itself. 

The stadium is an issue that the new board does need to address and preferably quite soon. Doesn't necessarily need to be an answer, but some sort of medium-term plan would be good. 

[Zen Archer (Raconteur)]

20 minutes ago, basher brash said:

Only Rovers fans can turn ground improvements into a negative

There is clear justification for this.

Why put lipstick on the main stand when priorities could be placed improving supporter experience in other ways, such as, repair the South Stand roof. When it pisses down many get f**king soaked to the skin, until that's sorted, you can stick your big telly up your arse.

 

[raith1974]

17 minutes ago, Raith2711 said:

We were at points almost 4-1-4-1 yesterday with Matthews so high up the pitch.

But there's the problem. Matthews is not a forward thinking midfielder and hate to say it not good enough to play where we want the team to be. I also think having someone signed like Kerr McInroy would free Easton to go out left with Pollock right. I also don't think Hamilton is the answer up front. 

[SirJimmyofNic]

31 minutes ago, Starksdynamo said:

Is this true? I think a lot has been made of a "poor" second half of the season but other than a spell of 5 losses (2 in cups) in January we didn't lose a lot of games.  

From the 2nd January we played 18 league games 8 of which we won, following 2 preceding home games on the 22nd and 30th Dec (Ayr & Arbroath) which were drawn after chucking away points from a winning position, we were beaten again against Arbroath on the 1st march after chucking away a 2 goal lead, 

After beating the Pars on the 2nd we never won a game in January indeed it was the 16th March till we won again with that last gasp Broon rocket against Utd

So all in all yes it is true, it was poor and the league was thrown away, 30 points from a possible 60 since the 22nd Dec

[Enigma]

31 minutes ago, SirJimmyofNic said:

From the 2nd January we played 18 league games 8 of which we won, following 2 preceding home games on the 22nd and 30th Dec (Ayr & Arbroath) which were drawn after chucking away points from a winning position, we were beaten again against Arbroath on the 1st march after chucking away a 2 goal lead, 

After beating the Pars on the 2nd we never won a game in January indeed it was the 16th March till we won again with that last gasp Broon rocket against Utd

So all in all yes it is true, it was poor and the league was thrown away, 30 points from a possible 60 since the 22nd Dec

I also wonder if that chucking away of the league gets sort of brushed over a wee bit as it was to Dundee United. If it was somebody else, Ayr or Partick, say, I wonder if the reaction would be different.

Edited 31 minutes ago by Enigma

[RAITHROVERS84]

We shat the league last season, no doubt about it.

2-0 up and cruising at home v Abroath, their fat sub goalkeeper playing midfield and they walk away with a draw. Numerous other examples that evidence the squad didn’t have the cojones to go and win it. Losing at home vs a rotten ICT and Samuel banging in a 15 minute hat-trick plus the Friday night away game vs an already relegated Abroath stick long in the mind. 

We look so hapless at the moment and whilst on paper we shouldn’t be in a relegation scrap the reality is the current performance levels merits genuine concern.

Im hoping we get a good percentage of the season with Brown and Stanton playing 90 minutes. Stanton is the guy who can support Hamilton through the middle.

A significant part of training going forward needs to sort out this lack of creativity. Far too often we’re in and around the opponents box and we never seem to fashion any chances.

Hit the fcuking byline, cut it back, find your man and smash it in. Not difficult !

[SirJimmyofNic]

16 minutes ago, Enigma said:

I also wonder if that chucking away of the league gets sort of brushed over a wee bit as it was to Dundee United. If it was somebody else, Ayr or Partick, say, I wonder if the reaction would be different.

That could well be true, but the fact that that form albeit with a few new additions is still continuing into this season, I've often wondered if it's the case of too many cooks getting involved in the training etc,

[Broken Algorithms]