Early 2024/25 predictions

[AllanJM]

It's going to be a hell of a league next season.  Most seasons you look at the championship and think everyone can beat everyone else on the day.  Next season looks like this will be the case more than ever.

As someone who mostly drives to away games with my son (8) rather than making a day of it, I also think it's a great league for going to away games.  For me it ranges from a 40 mile round trip to Falkirk to a 140 mile round trip to Ayr (with home games being in the middle at a 90 mile round trip) so I'm aiming to get to most.

I'm feeling pretty optimistic about Rovers and believe Andy Barrowman and the board when they say we're just getting started.  That has already been backed up this week with the signing of Fordyce who is a very decent addition at this level.

My prediction will undoubtedly change as more signings are made by each of the clubs, but here's a very early stab at a prediction:

1. Raith Rovers

2. Partick Thistle

3. Dunfermline

4. Livingston

5. Falkirk

6. Ayr United

7. Queens Park

8. Airdrie

9. Hamilton

10. Morton

I'm relatively confident on the top 2 and bottom 2 (although places could easily be switched in both cases and I wouldn't be surprised if all 4 were completely wrong) but the middle 6 is bloody hard to predict. 

[RAITHROVERS84]

2 minutes ago, AllanJM said:

It's going to be a hell of a league next season.  Most seasons you look at the championship and think everyone can beat everyone else on the day.  Next season looks like this will be the case more than ever.

As someone who mostly drives to away games with my son (8) rather than making a day of it, I also think it's a great league for going to away games.  For me it ranges from a 40 mile round trip to Falkirk to a 140 mile round trip to Ayr (with home games being in the middle at a 90 mile round trip) so I'm aiming to get to most.

I'm feeling pretty optimistic about Rovers and believe Andy Barrowman and the board when they say we're just getting started.  That has already been backed up this week with the signing of Fordyce who is a very decent addition at this level.

My prediction will undoubtedly change as more signings are made by each of the clubs, but here's a very early stab at a prediction:

1. Raith Rovers

2. Partick Thistle

3. Dunfermline

4. Livingston

5. Falkirk

6. Ayr United

7. Queens Park

8. Airdrie

9. Hamilton

10. Morton

I'm relatively confident on the top 2 and bottom 2 (although places could easily be switched in both cases and I wouldn't be surprised if all 4 were completely wrong) but the middle 6 is bloody hard to predict. 

Not done a full prediction but I don’t like touting my own team to win the league!

I reckon a few chairmen will be looking at it saying this is a very rare golden opportunity to go and win the league and might find teams speculating a bit more than usual on the budget.

If we were to replicate 69 points / 20 wins then that would almost certainly win the league. Doing that though will be tricky with the competitiveness of it.

With Stevenson to be announced, we’d only be 2/3 signing away from a very strong side.

[cb_diamond]

17 hours ago, cb_diamond said:

Always nice to see an "in the field" expert on the judgement element of a sentence weighing in.

Also applying to...

2 hours ago, Jives Miguel said:

Can I have your Roasters-per-capita predictions for each teams support please.

1. Falkirk
2. Airdrie
3. Morton
4. Partick
5. Ayr
6. Raith
7. Dunfermline
8. Hamilton
9. Livingston
10. Queens Park

 

[starshot131]

3 hours ago, ATLIS said:

As a side note, Brian Graham really reminds me of Lee Miller from our promotion run last time in the Championship. Big, older striker who's up front just giving it his all and getting battered around in doing so. Class is still there, hopefully for you guys he's got another season of that level in him. 

You're calling Graham class now, wait till he referees your team's games

[A Diamond For Me]

How serious are the court cases around Livi?  Is there a serious threat of them imploding and having to offload players if they go against them? 

 

Edit:  I know the big dramatic scenarios that people predict whenever a team gets into trouble usually don't materialise, but sometimes they do (which as Airdrie fan I know quite well), and... well... this is Livi, after all.

Edited May 29 by A Diamond For Me

[ATLIS]

4 minutes ago, A Diamond For Me said:

How serious are the court cases around Livi?  Is there a serious threat of them imploding and having to offload players if they go against them? 

 

Edit:  I know the big dramatic scenarios that people predict whenever a team gets into trouble usually don't materialise, but sometimes they do (which as Airdrie fan I know quite well), and... well... this is Livi, after all.

It's two groups fighting about who's actually the owner of the club. The side that's running things now have 'sold' the club but that's been halted until this gets sorted. I think the club was sold for about 300-400k and that valuation is also being disputed. The sale was made possible by diluting a lot of shares and ownership %s, again that's being disputed too. 

[Glasgow Diamond]

23 minutes ago, ATLIS said:

It's two groups fighting about who's actually the owner of the club. The side that's running things now have 'sold' the club but that's been halted until this gets sorted. I think the club was sold for about 300-400k and that valuation is also being disputed. The sale was made possible by diluting a lot of shares and ownership %s, again that's being disputed too. 

That clears that up then 

[jagsfan57]

6 hours ago, cb_diamond said:

Very early in the thread to be thinking about bookmarking, but here we are! Wild arrogance, from a fan of, checks notes, Livingston FC 

Livi have got a much bigger slice of prize money than any Championship club plus they have close to £1M in UEFA money to come too. Every reason for them to think they can compete at the top end of the league. 

[Oberon43]

1. Airdrie

2. Raith Rovers

3. Greenock Morton

4. Dunfermline 

5. Partick Thistle 

6. Queen’s Park 

7. Livingston

8. Falkirk 

9. Ayr United

10. Hamilton Academical 

[Chapelhall chap]

I think I'll stick to the weekly predictions game, but I should be unafraid to have a go just now.

Raith

Partick 

Livingston 

Dunfermline 

Airdrie 

Falkirk 

Queens Park 

Ayr

Hamilton 

Morton 

[foreverarover]

16 hours ago, ATLIS said:

1. Livi
2. Raith
3. Partick
4. Dunfermline
5. Airdrie
6. Ayr
7. Falkirk
8. Hamilton
9. Morton
10. Queen's Park

Very very early but squad building so far I don't really see a team that we need to worry about. Partick and Raith both got put out the cup last season by one of the worst Livi teams I've seen in recent history. No doubt it'll be different in a league format though. 

IMO Davidson is a very average manager and his stint at St Johnstone shows that he wastes money whenever given a budget, 3 year deal on 32+ year old journeymen. He'll probably end up worse than last year. Hamilton will struggle too and Morton seem to go hot and cold with form. Falkirk/Ayr/Airdrie good enough to be midtable, not good enough to be anything beyond that, you could probably add Dunfermline into that too. 

Raith and Partick will probably be the biggest challenge for us but Brian Graham's legs can't last forever. Says a lot that those two clubs, plus us are chasing Shaun Byrne - that could end up be telling in the race for whoever gets him. 

I think so far we've managed to keep some proven Premiership quality players in guys like Montano, Tete Yengi, Stephen Kelly, Jamie Brandon, Pittman, who should all be a relative cut above this level. Recruited from a decent level, Prior in goals was playing in Ligue 1 not too long ago. Muirhead has banged goals in at this level with far worse guys than who we'll have supplying him. We just need to focus on some CMs and CBs to get the squad put together far ahead of time. 

With the biggest budget in the league  the manager has nothing to moan about. Thank fcuk for that. 

Edited May 29 by foreverarover

[LIVIFOREVER]

12 hours ago, jagsfan57 said:

Livi have got a much bigger slice of prize money than any Championship club plus they have close to £1M in UEFA money to come too. Every reason for them to think they can compete at the top end of the league. 

Aye but where will the money go, Neil Rankine is still hanging about trying to get control of the club. 

As it stands just now Martindale has signed about 8 players and retained a core group of decent quality players, but if the ownership changes he'll be replaced with a new manager, so fuckknows where that has us. Could be an exciting season for us, or another shit show, the joys supporting Livi.

 

Edited May 30 by LIVIFOREVER

[AUcal]

Will make a 1 to 10 prediction down the line after squads have been assembled more, not that it will help, I'm atrocious at these things.

Raith to fall off a cliff and finish outside the top 4. Airdrie to suffer second season syndrome but not be in trouble of relegation. Livi to initially toil but end up in a play-off spot. 

Partick to win the division, Falkirk to make the play-offs. Ayr to challenge for the play-offs alongside the Pars and QP. One of these 3 sides to ultimately end up involved in the 9th place scrap as the season goes on.

Hamilton to struggle (initially anyway) then maybe sack Rankin and pick up some form, but ultimately still finish in the bottom two. Morton to look definite 10th place finishers, only for them to pull off another miraculous run of form to put them in good contention of avoiding the bottom 2 - and given how tight the league always is, contention for 4th.

Edited May 30 by AUcal

[jagsfan57]

7 hours ago, LIVIFOREVER said:

Aye but where will the money go, Neil Rankine is still hanging about trying to get control of the club. 

As it stands just now Martindale has signed about 8 players and retained a core group of decent quality players, but if the ownership changes he'll be replaced with a new manager, so fuckknows where that has us. Could be an exciting season for us, or another shit show, the joys supporting Livi.

 

There’s always the possibility that off field stuff screws anybody’s chances. 

[LIVIFOREVER]

On 29/05/2024 at 08:21, HoBNob said:

It's a wonder that you've kept so many players, who are apparently Premiership quality and a cut above, and yet they were a part of an absolutely honking Premiership side. I get the off season optimism from fans, every player released was awful and won't be missed and every player brought in is an improvement. 

Your comments about Robbie Muirhead show allot about your knowledge of the level imo, you're right he scored goals in what might be a worse side, but what you're discounting is that Muirhead only got to that level after stinking it out at multiple different, and better sides. For all that he seems disliked I'd challenge anyone on the job that Imrie does in regards to making jobber players look better. Do I trust Martindale to do the same job? Nope. 

Livingston might do well, but there's also a reasonably large chance they stink the gaff up and I don't think many fans would be surprised. I wouldn't have them in the same tier as Raith and Partick, who it would be a real shock if they didn't finish in the top four. 

Our biggest problem was our defence, injuries meant we never had the same players getting a chance to form any sort of understanding with one another, but they were also shite. Devlin was the slowest CB in the league and get caught out quite a lot with balls in behind him, Martindale also seemed to fall out with a few and moved them on, then got in even worse ones.

In other areas we competed well enough, decent midfield and we signed Yengi in Jan who looked good up front. But when you're shipping 3 or 4 goals in games it's hard to get pts. for example St Kelly scored 2 against Hearts and had us 2 goals up, then we fucked it 4-2, it must've been so frustrating for our attacking players. 

Looking at the league from last season, Partick thistle and Raith looked the best of the rest, and we beat both in cup games, still shipped goals but managed to score more. If we manage to sign some decent CB's i think we'll be in with a shout competing for the top spots.

Looking at who we've kept from the Premiership, Pittman is still a cracking midfielder and has tons of experience in the Championship and Premiership, St Kelly looks quality, Yengi is a bit like Nouble, has skill and physique, and i'd expect him to be very good at Championship level, Montano will be an absolute standout at this level, IF he stays fit, Brandon looked good at RB and in midfield, Se Kelly will be ok if we keep him away from being a CB, same aplies to big Nottingham, he was one of our worst CB's, but looked no bad as a RB/RWB (was hoping we'd punt him tbh), Donnellan looked decnt at CB or FB, but picked up an injury, happy we've retained him. A few others who might still be here or could be away, like Bradley and Welch-Hayes (who was on loan to Dunfermline).

The wildcard is wee Teto, heard he's unbelievable on the ball in training, and you can't get the ball off him, but couldn't get past the paperwork for International clearance, hearing we'll have a better chance now we've dropped down a leel. Bursting to see him playing for us.

Course a lot depends on what Martindale turns up, last season's meddler that fucked about putting square pegs in round holes, or the one that helped get up back to back promotions, back to back top 6 finishes and a cup final. Oh and the court squabbles for control of the club.  

[Raithie]

On 28/05/2024 at 22:47, AuldReekie said:

At the moment, all the pressure and expectation is on Raith. Clearly splashing the cash and making the early moves. Hoping to see the wheels come off though.

I'd imagine Dunfermline signing Chris Kane has worked out more costly than us signing Fordyce (our only confirmed signing thus far).

[AuldReekie]

4 minutes ago, Raithie said:

I'd imagine Dunfermline signing Chris Kane has worked out more costly than us signing Fordyce (our only confirmed signing thus far).

I'm not just referring to the coming transfer window but over the last season in general. You boys have made a number of significant signings, including several players other Championship clubs were trying to sign (including us). Been pretty clear your board have money to spend. Catering revenue is up I hear.  

[Raithie]

39 minutes ago, LIVIFOREVER said:

The wildcard is wee Teto, heard he's unbelievable on the ball in training, and you can't get the ball off him, but couldn't get past the paperwork for International clearance, hearing we'll have a better chance now we've dropped down a leel. Bursting to see him playing for us.

Maybe someone with better knowledge can chirp in but not sure what difference being down a level will help expedite getting international clearance for someone. There's nigh on no one at our level buying players that require such clearance probably due to the timescales it takes to get things through. 

[Raithie]

Just now, AuldReekie said:

I'm not just referring to the coming transfer window but over the last season in general. You boys have made a number of significant signings, including several players other Championship clubs were trying to sign (including us). Been pretty clear your board have money to spend. Catering revenue is up I hear.  

500% mind, don't forget that. I haven't a scooby what our playing budget has been, the board said it wasn't hugely different from seasons gone by however I'm sure it'll show in future accounts. However if Byrne plumps for Livi or Partick we're either not keen (which I'd be surprised at) or as flush as folk think we are. 

[Heid_The_Baw]

Amazing how the myth of Raith being sugar daddied is still doing the rounds.

Our budget last season was 1/4 of Dundee United.  

For the coming season it will be up a little due to positional finish money but with Lavvy taking in a parachute payment and an Euro payment of £1m the gap will be even bigger this year (Utd did not get the Euro payment).

The myth has been perpetuated by Pars fans as an excuse as to why players chose to come to the inferior (in their eyes) 'wee Fife team' as opposed to their world class on a Par with Barcelona effort along the road in the other town.

We are balancing the books.......  wonder how that happens if we are 'splashing the cash?'