The New Raith Rovers Thread

[Frank conner]

I wouldnt put it past the board to try and bring in another player out of desperation. 

[R.R.FC]

I'm not sure how much of a difference falling attendances will make this season. I'd imagine a large percentage of our home support are season ticket holders so the loss of income from attendances probably won't outweigh the cost of sacking him.

Will definitely hit them in the summer though when season ticket sales plummet and by that point you've probably added a few more fans to the stay away list who find other things to do on a Saturday.

He has to go for me, no hope in him turning things around. New manager would still be left with Locke's bloated squad until the summer but there is still enough quality in the team to be doing much, much better.

[Raithie]

Remember when we appointed Maurice Malpas to basically hold Murray's hand when things were getting tough? Odds on the board pulling that card shortly before making a decision on Locke's future?. The current crop of players should be more than capable in this league. We've got a decent squad on paper, much like the Murray era, but once again with a manager that has no clue what he's doing. As others have alluded to Locke would be stupid to walk as I doubt any team would take a punt on him. This is basically his last chance in management and for the sake of security he'll be happy coming away with a wage at moment. If we're relying on season ticket sales as a way of the board generating a playing budget then god help us next season, IF we survive and IF we persevere with Locke, as I can't see a sudden light bulb moment occurring in his head with regards to knowing that the fook he's doing.

[Rover1990]

4 minutes ago, Raithie said:

Remember when we appointed Maurice Malpas to basically hold Murray's hand when things were getting tough? Odds on the board pulling that card shortly before making a decision on Locke's future?. The current crop of players should be more than capable in this league. We've got a decent squad on paper, much like the Murray era, but once again with a manager that has no clue what he's doing. As others have alluded to Locke would be stupid to walk as I doubt any team would take a punt on him. This is basically his last chance in management and for the sake of security he'll be happy coming away with a wage at moment. If we're relying on season ticket sales as a way of the board generating a playing budget then god help us next season, IF we survive and IF we persevere with Locke, as I can't see a sudden light bulb moment occurring in his head with regards to knowing that the fook he's doing.

The reason they did that with Murray was because he was a new manager with no other coaching experience......the reasoning behind Locke was that hes managed and coached at the highest level.  Pulling that stunt again just ridicules every reason they hired him....the board have already lost face by hiring him in the 1st place so better to sack him or hope that if we lose to Utd and Morton he walks.....hope the board have the bottle to get rid though!

[Shandon Par]

 

[Bambino7]

Another week, another time I come on here to disappointingly see Golden Gary is still in the gig.  

[Scary Bear]

Another week, another time I come on here to disappointingly see Golden Gary is still in the gig. [emoji20] 

Our Board probably have a pretty good rep among football managers, as they are anything but knee-jerk. Would be interesting to be a fly on the wall in the Boardroom. They are watching the games too, so they can't be happy.

They are probably in the Denial stage and thinking that it'll all come good in February or March, as happened in the last five or six seasons; we come good and see out enough wins to finish somewhere between 4th and 8th.

[Paco]

I took a thought on Saturday that Chris Johnston might not have actually won a league game with us, in my mind he returned round about the 0-0 at East End Park but it was slightly earlier than that. Having looked at it, Johnston has actually appeared in three league wins, starting just one (the lucky 1-0 over Queen of the South, our last victory - he was subbed on 75 minutes with the score 0-0). 

This then led me on to looking at our record with Johnston/Barr both playing. I posted the below after the 0-0 with Dumbarton in November...

With Barr/Johnston on the wings we looked a little imbalanced and easy to play against, even against dross like Montrose. Very few teams at this level play 4-4-2 with two attacking wingers, Grant Murray played it for years and took us absolutely nowhere.

Johnston's on the pitch league record is scored four, conceded thirteen. This is from fifteen league appearances. Now in fairness to him, of the four we've scored with him on the park, he's scored one (Falkirk) and assisted one (M'Voto v Hibs). 

Our record with Barr/Johnston simultaneously on the pitch. Scored three, conceded eleven, from eight such occasions. 

Contrast this now with our record with only Bobby Barr on the pitch, and no Chris Johnston - scored sixteen, conceded twelve.

Now there are a range of factors involved in this, I'm not saying it's exclusively the problem, and I think Johnston mostly as an individual has been somewhere been OK and decent for us. It isn't a dig at him, it's a dig at the manager for not noticing this pattern. Very few teams at this level constantly play a flat 4-4-2 with two attacking wingers. Grant Murray played it virtually through his entire tenure and never got out of the 6th/7th/8th rut.  The stats show we are significantly worse when we play both Johnston and Barr, we are so easy to play against with space behind the wingers that the central midfielders just can't cover. Virtually all our better performances (and victories) came with either Ross Matthews on the right wing tucking in on opposition attacks, or a three man midfield, in which Callachan thrives. In fact, we have won just two matches in which both Bobby Barr and Chris Johnston have appeared - 3-2 v Dumbarton, when Johnston came on the park at 3-1, and Falkirk away where Johnston replaced Barr. So one victory where they've simultaneously been on the park, and that came when we were already 3-1 up.

If I, a pillock on a message board with access to Soccerbase, can not only see this pattern now but also call it in early November, why can't our manager, assistant manager, coaching team or team of match analysts/statisticians notice? Or have they noticed and continue to do nothing about it? 

Just one of a long list of reasons why he's shown he's just not upto football management in his spell here so far. Face it Eric and correct the mistake now before it's too late...

[Ro Sham Bo]

7 minutes ago, Paco said:

I took a thought on Saturday that Chris Johnston might not have actually won a league game with us, in my mind he returned round about the 0-0 at East End Park but it was slightly earlier than that. Having looked at it, Johnston has actually appeared in three league wins, starting just one (the lucky 1-0 over Queen of the South, our last victory - he was subbed on 75 minutes with the score 0-0). 

This then led me on to looking at our record with Johnston/Barr both playing. I posted the below after the 0-0 with Dumbarton in November...

Johnston's on the pitch league record is scored four, conceded thirteen. This is from fifteen league appearances. Now in fairness to him, of the four we've scored with him on the park, he's scored one (Falkirk) and assisted one (M'Voto v Hibs). 

Our record with Barr/Johnston simultaneously on the pitch. Scored three, conceded eleven, from eight such occasions. 

Contrast this now with our record with only Bobby Barr on the pitch, and no Chris Johnston - scored sixteen, conceded twelve.

Now there are a range of factors involved in this, I'm not saying it's exclusively the problem, and I think Johnston mostly as an individual has been somewhere been OK and decent for us. It isn't a dig at him, it's a dig at the manager for not noticing this pattern. Very few teams at this level constantly play a flat 4-4-2 with two attacking wingers. Grant Murray played it virtually through his entire tenure and never got out of the 6th/7th/8th rut.  The stats show we are significantly worse when we play both Johnston and Barr, we are so easy to play against with space behind the wingers that the central midfielders just can't cover. Virtually all our better performances (and victories) came with either Ross Matthews on the right wing tucking in on opposition attacks, or a three man midfield, in which Callachan thrives. In fact, we have won just two matches in which both Bobby Barr and Chris Johnston have appeared - 3-2 v Dumbarton, when Johnston came on the park at 3-1, and Falkirk away where Johnston replaced Barr. So one victory where they've simultaneously been on the park, and that came when we were already 3-1 up.

If I, a pillock on a message board with access to Soccerbase, can not only see this pattern now but also call it in early November, why can't our manager, assistant manager, coaching team or team of match analysts/statisticians notice? Or have they noticed and continue to do nothing about it? 

Just one of a long list of reasons why he's shown he's just not upto football management in his spell here so far. Face it Eric and correct the mistake now before it's too late...

Have to say I was shocked to see both Johnston and Barr starting on Saturday. I thought we would go back to Matthews on the right again.

I just looked back a couple of years and saw that it was a Monday evening that we announced the sacking of Murray. So there is still the slightest possibility we will make some sort of announcement today. I will cling on to that slither of hope for the rest of the day.

 

[Ding Dang Doo]

I have no issues playing both Barr and Johnston on the wings but you can't do it with only a 2 man midfield and Thomson and McHattie as the full backs. There's absolutely no protection there for the defence. Barr and Johnston needed to be 10 yards further up the pitch on Saturday to be able to affect the match more and having only 1 striker would allow us to do that. It would also allow Callachan to push further forward. Having said that we can discuss starting line-ups all day long and it won't make a damn bit of difference if we persist in punting long balls forward and bypassing the midfield entirely. I lost count of the amount of times Thomson did it on Saturday.

The worst past on Saturday was when Dumbarton were pushing forward in the final 5 minutes and it looked like Callachan was being asked to play centre mid by himself as Skacel was standing up top beside Stevenson. It was just clueless tactics once again by Locke.

I actually don't believe money has anything to do with it with this board when it comes to decide whether to sack Locke or not. There are some members, Drysdale in particular, who have this unmerited arrogance about them. The statement he made to the fans summed this up entirely!

My worry for the board is that they will have budgeted to finish top 5 based on last season and so if we finish 8th or 9th then we are already in trouble with the loss of money awarded on league position. 

 

[San Starko Rover]

I like our board and I do believe they have the best interests of the club at heart as like us they are supporters of the team but for me they have made 5 shocking calls this season.

1. Hiring Gary Locke, overwhelming opinion in Scottish football is he is a poor manager no matter how well he interviews, I recall the horror of our fans and laughter of other fans when we named him manager.  Look at the league predictions thread for examples many predicted us last.  
2. After hiring him they decided to give him a 2 year contract, why? he's hardly in demand and his previous record shows he was a big gamble they may have to pay off when it went south.
3. Letting him sign a team of Hearts has beens who are obviously just his pals looking for a last pay cheque, yes you might get the odd gem from this tactic but most of them are has beens for a reason, see Jon Daly 
4. Letting Lewis Vaughan go on loan not only is he one of our more talented youngsters and in my opinion better than some we play now, they sent him to a club in our division which is fine if you're Sevco or Hibs and going for the title but relegation is always a possibility for us in this league so giving Dumbarton a boost is a bad idea.  
5.  Bates to Rangers, selling talented youngsters to bigger clubs is the way to generate more income, if Rangers were interested surely others might be.  Accies made a fortune selling talented youngsters to English clubs.  Let players move on to bigger clubs but at least get a fee for them, what are we a feeder team.  As for the pish about not standing in his way WTF we are a business not a charity.  

The board need to eat some humble pie and admit they got appointing Locke wrong this one is 100% on them as I doubt any supporter wanted to see him in our dugout.  

 

Edited January 30, 2017 by San Starko Rover

[R.R.FC]

I actually don't blame the board regarding Vaughan. Whilst it was clearly a stupid decision, and I hope most of the board agree, if they aren't going to sack the manager they have to back him. They shouldn't be interfering with who the manager keeps and gets rid of if they think he's the right man for the job.

 

[Frank conner]

At the end of the day its not just players and management wages  thats paid for by fans its also drysdales salary  aswell so he has to be accountable if the worst happens. Unfortunately  i dont there is many on the board with enough  backbone  to make that decision. 

 

[San Starko Rover]

No problem sending him on loan, the problem was who we sent him to.  

[R.R.FC]

Yeah, that's definitely a fair point. Not sure if Vaughan himself would have been happy to drop a level though.

[Mocochinchi]

Looking for some info, please, if you can.

My son and I are trying to work our way around the 42 SPFL grounds (https://visitthe42.wordpress.com).

As part of this 'journey' we are planning on coming through to the Raith game v Morton on the 7th Feb.

Where's a good place to park?

Where's the best section in the stadium to watch the game (taking the fact I'll have an 8 year old with me)?

Any thoughts?

[The Moonster]

1 hour ago, Paco said:

I took a thought on Saturday that Chris Johnston might not have actually won a league game with us, in my mind he returned round about the 0-0 at East End Park but it was slightly earlier than that. Having looked at it, Johnston has actually appeared in three league wins, starting just one (the lucky 1-0 over Queen of the South, our last victory - he was subbed on 75 minutes with the score 0-0). 

This then led me on to looking at our record with Johnston/Barr both playing. I posted the below after the 0-0 with Dumbarton in November...

Johnston's on the pitch league record is scored four, conceded thirteen. This is from fifteen league appearances. Now in fairness to him, of the four we've scored with him on the park, he's scored one (Falkirk) and assisted one (M'Voto v Hibs). 

Our record with Barr/Johnston simultaneously on the pitch. Scored three, conceded eleven, from eight such occasions. 

Contrast this now with our record with only Bobby Barr on the pitch, and no Chris Johnston - scored sixteen, conceded twelve.

Now there are a range of factors involved in this, I'm not saying it's exclusively the problem, and I think Johnston mostly as an individual has been somewhere been OK and decent for us. It isn't a dig at him, it's a dig at the manager for not noticing this pattern. Very few teams at this level constantly play a flat 4-4-2 with two attacking wingers. Grant Murray played it virtually through his entire tenure and never got out of the 6th/7th/8th rut.  The stats show we are significantly worse when we play both Johnston and Barr, we are so easy to play against with space behind the wingers that the central midfielders just can't cover. Virtually all our better performances (and victories) came with either Ross Matthews on the right wing tucking in on opposition attacks, or a three man midfield, in which Callachan thrives. In fact, we have won just two matches in which both Bobby Barr and Chris Johnston have appeared - 3-2 v Dumbarton, when Johnston came on the park at 3-1, and Falkirk away where Johnston replaced Barr. So one victory where they've simultaneously been on the park, and that came when we were already 3-1 up.

If I, a pillock on a message board with access to Soccerbase, can not only see this pattern now but also call it in early November, why can't our manager, assistant manager, coaching team or team of match analysts/statisticians notice? Or have they noticed and continue to do nothing about it? 

Just one of a long list of reasons why he's shown he's just not upto football management in his spell here so far. Face it Eric and correct the mistake now before it's too late...

It was glaringly obvious on Saturday that your midfield wasn't coping.  Since our additions in January we've played with both Docherty and Carswell as holding midfield players in a midfield 5, on Saturday they just matched up with your two centre midfielders and that left Stanton with plenty of room to run and affect play ahead of them, and that's before you get to how much space and time Stirling had out wide due to your wide men pushing on. Any manager worth their salt would've spotted that early (Stanton had two efforts at goal within the first 15 minutes) and changed it. Glad he didn't mind you.

[San Starko Rover]

1 minute ago, Mocochinchi said:

Looking for some info, please, if you can.

My son and I are trying to work our way around the 42 SPFL grounds (https://visitthe42.wordpress.com).

As part of this 'journey' we are planning on coming through to the Raith game v Morton on the 7th Feb.

Where's a good place to park?  Beveridge Park is a short walk 

Where's the best section in the stadium to watch the game (taking the fact I'll have an 8 year old with me)? The Away end  South stand is probably best 

Any thoughts?

 

[donny86]

At the end of the day its not just players and management wages  thats paid for by fans its also drysdales salary  aswell so he has to be accountable if the worst happens. Unfortunately  i dont there is many on the board with enough  backbone  to make that decision. 
 

I think the issue on the board is there isn't really anyone with influence on it, apart from Caira, there's no real investment.

Drysdale is a mouthpiece, the chairman has no major investment, neither does Dave Wann or Tom Morgan. The fans rep has been anonymous despite all his promises. The only person with the financial clout to make decisions is Val, and she had appointed a proxy

[liam_barnett]

7 minutes ago, Mocochinchi said:

Looking for some info, please, if you can.

My son and I are trying to work our way around the 42 SPFL grounds (https://visitthe42.wordpress.com).

As part of this 'journey' we are planning on coming through to the Raith game v Morton on the 7th Feb.

Where's a good place to park?

Where's the best section in the stadium to watch the game (taking the fact I'll have an 8 year old with me)?

Any thoughts?

Penman (South) Stand behind the goals would be best place to sit, that's where the majority of home fans go & while there might be a lot of bad language (taking into consideration the kid) you're likely to hear it anywhere in the ground especially as the away support will likely be in the Main Stand, parking is available at Beveridge Park but can sometimes get extremely busy so alternatively there is the back of the flats across from the stadium, plenty side streets, Morrisons & a car park on the Esplanade.