The New Raith Rovers Thread

[Cosmic Joe]

3 hours ago, virginton said:

Morton didn't 'scramble about the Third Division' at all. We came out of administration and immediately stormed to the title in front of the largest crowd in the history of that league. Your current white knighting effort on behalf of bumpkins is borne out of your absolute hounding on the Morton forum; a more pathetic individual than yourself could not be found.

Unlucky.

 

You didn't storm your way to any title. You won it on the last day of the season with three part-time sides still in contention. The following campaign you then imploded in spectacular fashion... 

[GhostZapper]

56 minutes ago, Tonsilitis said:

Being full time in League one is tough.  Firstly the financial implications of relegation mean that you have to be prepared to and able to take a big loss due to reduced gate revenues, severely reduced SPFL prize money and much harder to sell commercial activities.  

Then even though you are full time, you end up scraping around the bottom of the full time player pool because you can't afford to pay higher league wages and even if you do decent players want to play in higher leagues.  One way for bigger clubs (i.e. traditionally full time clubs on loan to league one) to mitigate this is through good use of the loan market.  Factor in though, that there will apparently three clubs looking for such players and it gets harder still!

Finally, running a youth academy is not cheap, especially now that Project Brave is threatening funding received to develop youth for all clubs bar the top 4 or 5 in the land, so you need to get a return from youth in the shape of credible players coming through.  League gate money after VAT is likely to be sub £300k and a youth academy is going use a minimum of around 40/50% of that on its own!

Its not easy but likewise, the costs difference between a league one wages full time squad and going part time but looking for the best part time players is not huge. In other words, going part time is not necessarily going to balance the books for a club like Raith in League One.

 

Absolutely Agree.

We have 1 year max of staying full time. If we can't get up at first ask, then the decision is already made I imagine for next summer....!

[adundeemonkey]

We managed three seasons full time in League One, but that included one season with two visits from Rangers while having a youth team after Admin, and then two seasons while having the lifeline money from fans (just under 1000 fans chip in monthly to the club). It was generally accepted that if we didn't get promoted we would have been going part-time.

The thing going against you guys is that we also had crowds of 3000 with most of them season ticket holders. With your crowds it is going to be a challenge. Ground maintenance alone swallowed a lot of our budget.

[Beachbum]

Darren Young's recent record in League 1:

D L D D L L L D W W D D W L L L L 

That's 3 wins in 17 games.

With that form and our board he's a shoe in.

 

[vikingTON]

25 minutes ago, Angusfifer said:

You didn't storm your way to any title. You won it on the last day of the season with three part-time sides still in contention. 

We clinched it by winning our last five games by a combined score of 12-0 champ. The dictionary definition of both 'never in doubt'.

As we said to your plucky losers back in May 2003: thanks for playing anyway.

 

 

[invocr]

59 minutes ago, Enigma said:

 

Was Murray's assistant at the Sons not Jack Ross? Might explain why he was a success there are was found out a bit at St.Mirren without Ross.

 

Ian Murray is currently assistant manager to Kevin Nicol at Asker in Norway. They're currently second bottom of the second tier after five matches. (Drawn 3, Lost 2).

[Enigma]

Darren Young's recent record in League 1:
D L D D L L L D W W D D W L L L L 
That's 3 wins in 17 games.
With that form and our board he's a shoe in.
 

At Albion Rovers though, on a shoestring budget. Can see why he's left, surely can't take that club any further. What he's done overall at the club is pretty impressive. Think Albion were 7th or 8th in League Two the season before he won it. He also won that league fairly comfortably.

[Bambino7]

1 minute ago, invocr said:

Ian Murray is currently assistant manager to Kevin Nicol at Asker in Norway. They're currently second bottom of the second tier after five matches. (Drawn 3, Lost 2).

They have had a very tough start to the season and finished 4th last year.  Apparently he's on more wages than he was managing in Scotland. 

[SuperHans]

Darren Young's recent record in League 1:
D L D D L L L D W W D D W L L L L 
That's 3 wins in 17 games.
With that form and our board he's a shoe in.
 

Hmm that is a worry, be interesting to see what Albion fans think about him. I don't know if he still makes himself eligible as a player now or not.

Those stats would be concerning, but keeping Albion Rovers up was his ambition and he managed it so well done to him. With facilities, full-time squads and budget that we'd have you'd think he's getting every opportunity to succeed. Hopefully...

[GhostZapper]

19 minutes ago, adundeemonkey said:

We managed three seasons full time in League One, but that included one season with two visits from Rangers while having a youth team after Admin, and then two seasons while having the lifeline money from fans (just under 1000 fans chip in monthly to the club). It was generally accepted that if we didn't get promoted we would have been going part-time.

The thing going against you guys is that we also had crowds of 3000 with most of them season ticket holders. With your crowds it is going to be a challenge. Ground maintenance alone swallowed a lot of our budget.

Correct! I'd be amazed if we averaged much beyond 1,500/1,600 next season...... unless the board come up with a way to encourage more support.

[johnnymac]

Was he not interviewed previously and didn`t impress ??  Seem to have read that somewhere.

 

The info I was given was " Darren young could barely string a sentence together at interview"

 

Unfortunately Locke could

 

Also aitken intimated he would only take the rovers job part-time so was discounted pretty early

[Sheevedawg]

Will prices drop even further next season? A few friends of mine are pretty reluctant to fork out £15 but that's down to them not being avid fans of Scottish Football, let alone Rovers. I think they may be enticed if it was maybe a tenner.

[SuperHans]

The info I was given was " Darren young could barely string a sentence together at interview"
 
Unfortunately Locke could
 
Also aitken intimated he would only take the rovers job part-time so was discounted pretty early

That's interesting, I think Young put his hat in the ring for the sake of it last season, knowing fine well he was under the requirements for experience and knowing he had the comfort of the job he was already in. Locke had the experience and the capability to win the board over as a hungry manager looking to prove himself.

Pretty sure I heard Aitken is in a pretty good job outside of football at Rolls Royce so really would be a gamble for him leaving that kind of comfort.

[johnnymac]

That's interesting, I think Young put his hat in the ring for the sake of it last season, knowing fine well he was under the requirements for experience and knowing he had the comfort of the job he was already in. Locke had the experience and the capability to win the board over as a hungry manager looking to prove himself.

Pretty sure I heard Aitken is in a pretty good job outside of football at Rolls Royce so really would be a gamble for him leaving that kind of comfort.

[/quote
The real travesty is we interviewed jack Ross and decided unanimously that Locke was the better option

[SuperHans]

I think the bottom line for us to realise is that in Scottish Football at most levels, managers that come in are going to be young and relatively inexperienced. These guys are going to be learning their trade at places like us. The key word is recruitment, we can't have a say on who the manager brings in and let's go so we have to have someone that has had a career where they've got the contacts, worked with or had experiences of players they trust to be good enough to do a job for them as a manager.

People like McKinnon were highly regarded in Scottish football and had worked with and played with players at plenty of clubs and levels. Jack Ross proved it by making 10 changes in January for St Mirren! Grant Murray failed with us on that front and so did Gary Locke.

I'd happily take another younger manager like Young because he's been around the block a bit as a player. Witnessed different managerial styles, played with different players, worked with players in League 1 and had someone like Billy Stark to call upon for contacts and advice on players.

[The Pastmaster]

1 hour ago, johnnymac said:

The info I was given was " Darren young could barely string a sentence together at interview"

 

Unfortunately Locke could

 

Also aitken intimated he would only take the rovers job part-time so was discounted pretty early

That`s the one about DY that I saw/heard.  Any post match interviews make you cringe. DY is only as good as his assistant - Sandy Clark arguably got ARFC promoted. 

Edited May 17, 2017 by The Pastmaster
missed word

[Beachbum]

How about Ian Durrant? After his arrival at Dumbarton in January they lost only 4 games in 14.

[MICMAC]

Wouldn't surprise me if we went for an ex player. Kirkwood, Lennon, Wilson, Brittain, Cameron or Crawford

[CALDERON]

Kirkwood

[SuperHans]

The other main factor the board are looking for, and I know this was the case for McKinnons replacement, is that the club want someone that is "community minded". McKinnon and Ellis were always on hand for community based projects, shirts getting signed, school visits etc. Locke had that up his sleeve which went in his favour. I know that the clubs number one ambition is to get out of League 1 first time but there has to be a massive effort to try and get fans back on board and I'm sure they'll be hoping that the next manager can help with that.