The New Raith Rovers Thread

[Raith Against The Machine]

Boo.

[Finlay21]

Just listened to your managers post match interview , what a lot of shite he talks , all he had to say was I am tactically unaware and that’s why we lost 

[Typicalrovers]

We would have had a better season had Dick Campbell got the job. Going from bad to worse with Smith.

[D'Jaffo]

Was there any truth in the rumours that Raith gave Smith the job instead of Stevie Aitken? Massive mistake if so.

[ayrmad]

16 minutes ago, Typicalrovers said:

We would have had a better season had Dick Campbell got the job. Going from bad to worse with Smith.

You would have had a better season had Menzies Campbell got the job.

[Raith Against The Machine]

Was there any truth in the rumours that Raith gave Smith the job instead of Stevie Aitken? Massive mistake if so.

I believe we've interviewed him at least twice over the past few years.

[Broken Algorithms]

6 minutes ago, somerset_lad00 said:

Was there any truth in the rumours that Raith gave Smith the job instead of Stevie Aitken? Massive mistake if so.

No idea but we missed out on Aitken going for Locke instead last season. The frustrating thing, is that we had an excellent manager before in Ray McKinnon. Tactically sound, good man manager, got the best from a lot of our players. Dundee United poached him, and it's not worked out for either us, him or them. That's the way it works for clubs like ourselves though. The same happened with Toshney and (though he's got a lot of time left) Callachan. 

[McGuigan1978]

Was there any truth in the rumours that Raith gave Smith the job instead of Stevie Aitken? Massive mistake if so.

No, I think Aitken was potentially in line to replace Hughes if we stayed up, but being relegated by a Brechin team that’s barely won a game since scuppered that plan.

[D'Jaffo]

No idea but we missed out on Aitken going for Locke instead last season. The frustrating thing, is that we had an excellent manager before in Ray McKinnon. Tactically sound, good man manager, got the best from a lot of our players. Dundee United poached him, and it's not worked out for either us, him or them. That's the way it works for clubs like ourselves though. The same happened with Toshney and (though he's got a lot of time left) Callachan. 

I never paid much attention to Raith that season with McKinnon but from what I heard you weren’t that great then managed to go on a run towards the end of the season which got you in the play offs.

I really can’t understand why the Raith board thought it was a good idea to give Gary Locke the job. He should be nowhere near the running of a team. John Hughes at the start of the season would probably have been a good appointment as I think he’s a decent manager but he doesn’t take any nonsense. With guys like Bobby Barr in the dressing room and a relegation fight it was always going to end badly.

[Broken Algorithms]

1 minute ago, somerset_lad00 said:

I never paid much attention to Raith that season with McKinnon but from what I heard you weren’t that great then managed to go on a run towards the end of the season which got you in the play offs.

I really can’t understand why the Raith board thought it was a good idea to give Gary Locke the job. He should be nowhere near the running of a team. John Hughes at the start of the season would probably have been a good appointment as I think he’s a decent manager but he doesn’t take any nonsense. With guys like Bobby Barr in the dressing room and a relegation fight it was always going to end badly.

We were dross for the first half of the season. Then things took a strange turn of fortune in that Jon Daly (who we'd lumped long balls up to) left to go to Hearts to coach their u20s. We then signed Louis Longridge, Aiden Connolly, Ryan Hardie as well as Harry Panayiotou (who came up from Leicester) and Joel Thomas. Rory McKeown and James Craigen were far superior to what we had at the moment, Callachan improved substantially, but Longridge, Connolly and Hardie were utterly superb. I get the feeling if McKinnon had stayed, we'd have kept Toshney (who he took with him to United), Connolly (who ended up at York) and Longridge (who actually expressed an interest in staying initially that summer). He'd turned us into a team who worked hard, but could also put play some good football. 

 And then we brought in Locke and our directors started bragging about how he'd be the best decision we'd made at our club to fans. Christ, Drysdale said he's the most understanding to work with in terms of budgets and was more media friendly than McKinnon. 

[D'Jaffo]

We were dross for the first half of the season. Then things took a strange turn of fortune in that Jon Daly (who we'd lumped long balls up to) left to go to Hearts to coach their u20s. We then signed Louis Longridge, Aiden Connolly, Ryan Hardie as well as Harry Panayiotou (who came up from Leicester) and Joel Thomas. Rory McKeown and James Craigen were far superior to what we had at the moment, Callachan improved substantially, but Longridge, Connolly and Hardie were utterly superb. I get the feeling if McKinnon had stayed, we'd have kept Toshney (who he took with him to United), Connolly (who ended up at York) and Longridge (who actually expressed an interest in staying initially that summer). He'd turned us into a team who worked hard, but could also put play some good football. 
 And then we brought in Locke and our directors started bragging about how he'd be the best decision we'd made at our club to fans. Christ, Drysdale said he's the most understanding to work with in terms of budgets and was more media friendly than McKinnon. 

Yeah I remembered watching the updates of the Raith vs Rangers game on Sky Sports where Rangers could’ve won the title but blew it and the guy from Leicester scoring at least one goal.

McKinnon would’ve been better off staying at Raith and trying to build on that season but it’s no surprise he went to Dundee Utd who he’d played for and was a big step up.

Some owners seem to be more concerned with how their manager talks rather than how good a coach he is. Surprised they gave Yogi the job given how out spoken he is and the rant he gave to Raith TV last season.

Barry Smith is a decent manager for getting a team organised (hence the good defensive record earlier on) but going forward it’s basically give the ball to Vaughan and hope for the best. Unfortunately you can’t do that when he’s crowded in midfield with no time to create chances. Craig Easton has a decent reputation, you might’ve been better off taking a punt on him this season.

[Broken Algorithms]

A lot of fans wanted Easton, but he ruled himself out quickly as he wanted to focus on carrying on his work with the under 20s. I'm sure he'll be a good manager for a club at this level at some point though. 

[Zen Archer (Raconteur)]

11 minutes ago, somerset_lad00 said:

Yeah I remembered watching the updates of the Raith vs Rangers game on Sky Sports where Rangers could’ve won the title but blew it and the guy from Leicester scoring at least one goal.1

McKinnon would’ve been better off staying at Raith and trying to build on that season but it’s no surprise he went to Dundee Utd who he’d played for 2 and was a big step up.

Some owners seem to be more concerned with how their manager talks rather than how good a coach he is. Surprised they gave Yogi the job 3, given how out spoken he is and the rant he gave to Raith TV last season.

Barry Smith is a decent manager for getting a team organised (hence the good defensive record earlier on) but going forward it’s basically give the ball to Vaughan and hope for the best. Unfortunately you can’t do that when he’s crowded in midfield with no time to create chances. Craig Easton has a decent reputation, you might’ve been better off taking a punt on him this season.

1, Harry fucked it up minutes earlier insisting on taking a penalty and it being saved.

2, He played for us as well but was lured away by the baldy snake, this episode is lore due to being business done long before the play offs.

3, Strong drink will make you do strange things, however, before I run out of all of the numbers in the given universe, Hughes is a massive cúnt and should never have crossed our threshold.

[CALDERON]

7 hours ago, somerset_lad00 said:

Yeah I remembered watching the updates of the Raith vs Rangers game on Sky Sports where Rangers could’ve won the title but blew it and the guy from Leicester scoring at least one goal.

McKinnon would’ve been better off staying at Raith and trying to build on that season but it’s no surprise he went to Dundee Utd who he’d played for and was a big step up.

Some owners seem to be more concerned with how their manager talks rather than how good a coach he is. Surprised they gave Yogi the job given how out spoken he is and the rant he gave to Raith TV last season.

Barry Smith is a decent manager for getting a team organised (hence the good defensive record earlier on) but going forward it’s basically give the ball to Vaughan and hope for the best. Unfortunately you can’t do that when he’s crowded in midfield with no time to create chances. Craig Easton has a decent reputation, you might’ve been better off taking a punt on him this season.

Hughes had a decent reputation as a manager. He certainly had enough to suggest he could get a team at that time in 8th place, to finish in 8th place. We didn't enter 9th place until the second last game if the season from what I can remember.

Essentially he thought he could turn up, kick some arses and ride off to the next job. By the time he realised how big a job it was, the players realised he was an absolute wide-o.

Easton won the development league but as we know development football is nowhere near even this level. He would have been far too big of a gamble in my view. Smith was probably seen as a a more steady pair if hands, in the mould of John Mcglynn perhaps.

Problem with his style of football is that when the defence goes, that's it.

[R.R.FC]

Nobody can deny that Locke and Hughes were disasters and that it looks like Smith is going to end up a disappointment too. However, if we fail to go up (long way still to go) then the players need to take their fair share of the blame.

They guys still here from last season got off extremely lightly due to most of the anger being directed at the board/managers. But if they fail under 3 managers in 2 different seasons they need to take a look at themselves.

My main concern is that Ayr are starting to keep clean sheets now. They’ve scored goals all season but always given teams a chance at the other end. 

Thats the negative side of things but we still have 8 games to go. I bet a lot of us were asking the same questions of the managers/players after our defeat at home to Ayr in 2008/2009 and look how that ended up. Something similarly spectacular is required now, let’s hope Barry and the players have got it in them.

 

[No_Problemo]

In our next six games, we only have one at home so I wouldn’t be too despondent tbh.

[roverthemoon]

The title is still wide open but my main concern is the attitude of the players. The minute that first goal went in we looked defeated and Ayr just cantered away from us. It’s worrying how badly we have collapsed in both games down at Somerset. It doesn’t give me any confidence that  when the pressure is really on that this group of players can handle it. Too many retreat into their shell and disappear - much like they did last season. 

With the pressure now on to win every game then it’s just going to get tougher. And if we do end up in a play-off against the likes of Alloa or Dumbarton, I’ve little confidence that we have the character to see it through. 

The next two games are critical. Two points from nine is dreadful form so we need two wins to get back on track and restore some sort of belief amongst players and fans 

[baillieinleeds]

I was called out for my negativity and again called out when other fans on this sight said I was talking rubbish. We have no fight when it comes to a big game like yesterday. We have regressed so much this season, albeit top of the league (for now) we haven’t been convincing at all since the first quarter. I had an awful feeling we’ll get pumped. It kinda looks like 3-0 flattered us. We have nothing going forward. And Bene, McHattie and Barr should be nowhere near this team. No leadership whatsoever. Waits for the hand wringers

[Beastie Russell]

Hated by many, but Davo is THE driving force in that team.

[Broken Algorithms]

3 hours ago, roverthemoon said:

The title is still wide open but my main concern is the attitude of the players. The minute that first goal went in we looked defeated and Ayr just cantered away from us. It’s worrying how badly we have collapsed in both games down at Somerset. It doesn’t give me any confidence that  when the pressure is really on that this group of players can handle it. Too many retreat into their shell and disappear - much like they did last season. 

With the pressure now on to win every game then it’s just going to get tougher. And if we do end up in a play-off against the likes of Alloa or Dumbarton, I’ve little confidence that we have the character to see it through. 

The next two games are critical. Two points from nine is dreadful form so we need two wins to get back on track and restore some sort of belief amongst players and fans 

Completely agree about the attitude. But Smith really needs to take the hit. It looks like pretty much every other team barring maybe East Fife have gone down to Somerset and at least given them problems. We've gone down twice, and given them no problems at all. Of course, we've had injuries, but yesterday we went into the game with one up top. That's utterly depressing stuff. There was no impetus to attack at 1-0 down. At 2-0, we changed it but it was too little, too late. 

15 minutes ago, baillieinleeds said:

I was called out for my negativity and again called out when other fans on this sight said I was talking rubbish. We have no fight when it comes to a big game like yesterday. We have regressed so much this season, albeit top of the league (for now) we haven’t been convincing at all since the first quarter. I had an awful feeling we’ll get pumped. It kinda looks like 3-0 flattered us. We have nothing going forward. And Bene, McHattie and Barr should be nowhere near this team. No leadership whatsoever. Waits for the hand wringers

I'd say less so about Bene, but can't disagree with what you've said. McHattie and Barr aren't good enough and it feels like Matthews has regressed as a player this season. We missed Robbo, Herron and Davo. It doesn't feel like there's 8 games to go in a title race. We've been less than convincing for a large chunk of the season and ground it out.