The New Raith Rovers Thread

[Scary Bear]

That’s a shame that Kieran MacDonald is away. Seems a bit strange that we’re getting rid of a perfectly good left back but we must have a plan.

Are Queens Park still part-time? They seem to be splashing the cash.

Edited May 25, 2021 by Scary Bear

[Nightmare]

1 hour ago, Beachbum said:

Leon McCann was at Hamilton, then Airdrie.

I’m not disputing that. But the poster mentioning a rumoured LB signing originally posted “the Hamilton left back (McMann?)”

Which would be the current Hamilton LB Scott McMann, who has not played for Airdrie.

 

Anyway, ATS would probably be a decent fit at Raith. No idea what kind of salary he’ll be expecting, mind you.

[Rovers_Lad]

1 hour ago, Lockstock said:

Watch how it pans out Then come back and revisit what I said and you’ll find I’m right. The offer from Raith was weak and didn’t make it worthwhile going full time.  The player in question can’t help that, Raith’s answer was to transfer list him. It’s football and it happens, I don’t see him struggling for a team

What  was Raiths offer and what were the better offers from the 5-6 other clubs?

[Scottydog]

41 minutes ago, Nightmare said:

I’m not disputing that. But the poster mentioning a rumoured LB signing originally posted “the Hamilton left back (McMann?)”

Which would be the current Hamilton LB Scott McMann, who has not played for Airdrie.

 

Anyway, ATS would probably be a decent fit at Raith. No idea what kind of salary he’ll be expecting, mind you.

Did they?

[Nightmare]

6 minutes ago, Scottydog said:

Did they?

Yes. Go back and read the Jack Jarvis Esq post you originally quoted a couple of hours ago.

[Scottydog]

24 minutes ago, Nightmare said:

Yes. Go back and read the Jack Jarvis Esq post you originally quoted a couple of hours ago.

So your'e  keeping all this going based on one guy who (by the looks of it) typo'd a M instead of a C? when there was no other mention of McMann in the entire thread?  Bash on neibs! Obviously means more to you than most.

Edited May 25, 2021 by Scottydog

[TxRover]

3 hours ago, Scary Bear said:

That’s a shame that Kieran MacDonald is away. Seems a bit strange that we’re getting rid of a perfectly good left back but we must have a plan.

Are Queens Park still part-time? They seem to be splashing the cash.

As noted, he may be looking for a better full time salary than Raith are willing to offer, or he may be intending to remain part time. Since the team has stated they will be full time next year, the BoD and Staff must feel that the advantage of full time football is sufficient to make up for the costs. A well run part time (partially or fully) team can find a better player or two because of outside jobs and such, but it has quite a bit of downside too. As was noted in another thread, Arbroath are now the sole part time Championship side.

[Lang Toun Lad]

I think I'd have liked to keep MacDonald on even as a part time squad member backing up a full time left back. That all depends on a number of factors (wages, player happiness, available transfer targets etc) so may not be possible but a player of his ability will be missed. 

Arbroath will be looking for a left back but he'll probably have his pick of a few clubs. Hopefully he has a nightmare every time he plays us.

[TxRover]

56 minutes ago, Lang Toun Lad said:

I think I'd have liked to keep MacDonald on even as a part time squad member backing up a full time left back. That all depends on a number of factors (wages, player happiness, available transfer targets etc) so may not be possible but a player of his ability will be missed. 

Arbroath will be looking for a left back but he'll probably have his pick of a few clubs. Hopefully he has a nightmare every time he plays us.

I just think that the commitment to a full time squad meant that KMac had to decide if the offered salary was enough to quit the day job, and it apparently wasn’t. The question becomes does a side like Hamilton, who likely has the money to entice him to go full time and a pre-existing relationship with him, or a side like Falkirk who has the resources to pay well part tiime get him…if those locales work for KMac. The question is where (geographically) he works right now and/or where he can do the same job if a team is looking to sign him part time. As I understand it, he works for a family business, and has played at East Fife, Airdrie and Raith since 2016 or so, which makes me think for a part time gig teams like Arbroath, East Fife, Falkirk, Alloa or Kelty would be decent shouts.

[Michael W]

6 hours ago, TxRover said:

As noted, he may be looking for a better full time salary than Raith are willing to offer, or he may be intending to remain part time. Since the team has stated they will be full time next year, the BoD and Staff must feel that the advantage of full time football is sufficient to make up for the costs. A well run part time (partially or fully) team can find a better player or two because of outside jobs and such, but it has quite a bit of downside too. As was noted in another thread, Arbroath are now the sole part time Championship side.

We only had two PT emoloyees in McGurn and MacDonald, didn't we? The extra costs shouldn't be that much and will probably outweigh the "hassle" of accommodating PT players. 

Incidentally I had no objections to us running a hybrid model, but when you get to the stage where it is imbalanced like it is now, I think something has to give. It's the right choice. 

I didn't realise MacDonald had a year left on his deal so it would be disappointing if we weren't to make him a good enough offer for FT football. Then again I have no idea what he earns outside football, so the amount needed to make it worthwhile may be prohibitive to us. Worst case for him is that he has the pick of the PT teams. 

Edited May 26, 2021 by Michael W

[Jilted John]

Based on the comments above, I’m probably in the minority here but I don’t think losing Kieran Macdonald is as big a loss as some are making out.

I thought he had a fantastic first season in league 1. Last season, in my opinion anyway he was steady, but certainly not a stand out. I think John Mcglynn will be able to replace him with similar, if not better. 
 

[CALDERON]

Sad to see him go. Did a really good job for us. 

However, I trust the manager 100 percent. 

[renton]

41 minutes ago, Michael W said:

We only had two PT emoloyees in McGurn and MacDonald, didn't we? The extra costs shouldn't be that much and will probably outweigh the "hassle" of accommodating PT players. 

Incidentally I had no objections to us running a hybrid model, but when you get to the stage where it is imbalanced like it is now, I think something has to give. It's the right choice. 

I didn't realise MacDonald had a year left on his deal so it would be disappointing if we weren't to make him a good enough offer for FT football. Then again I have no idea what he earns outside football, so the amount needed to make it worthwhile may be prohibitive to us. Worst case for him is that he has the pick of the PT teams. 

Partly I guess it's the hassle of changing around training sessions to accommodate a PT group, which is doable but feels extraneous when you are talking about one guy, partly it'll be football related and McGlynn wanting everyone in, same time,all the time.

He comes across as obsessive about detail and preparation and while he has worked with hybrid systems before, it must grind his gears having one nailed on starter who he can't prepare to the same degree as the rest.

I imagine we made McDonald a FT offer. If he doesn't want to, then fine happy to let him go. He's done really well for us over two years, although I felt he was a bit closer to his ceiling this year, and Tumilty was our stand out FB this year.

[Michael W]

1 minute ago, renton said:

Partly I guess it's the hassle of changing around training sessions to accommodate a PT group, which is doable but feels extraneous when you are talking about one guy, partly it'll be football related and McGlynn wanting everyone in, same time,all the time.

He comes across as obsessive about detail and preparation and while he has worked with hybrid systems before, it must grind his gears having one nailed on starter who he can't prepare to the same degree as the rest.

I imagine we made McDonald a FT offer. If he doesn't want to, then fine happy to let him go. He's done really well for us over two years, although I felt he was a bit closer to his ceiling this year, and Tumilty was our stand out FB this year.

Completely agree. As I said I have no objection to running a hybrid model, but when you're doing so there is an obvious trade off. One player being on PT terms is a relatively extreme example that we've been running with, but I think you need at least a handful of PT players to justify the adjustments required. Clearly that's not what we had in place last season. 

I'm disappointed to let him go but think it's the right call for the club. Main concern really is it's another starter needing replaced in a team that didn't really need that much adjustment. There's a gap up front and there will also be a gap in midfield assuming Hendry leaves too, so that's three. We then have Musonda, Spencer and Armstrong as likely starters too, and depending on how that all pans out we might be looking at replacing more than half the starting XI, which isn't ideal. Continuity can be underrated at times. 

[Nightmare]

8 hours ago, Scottydog said:

So your'e  keeping all this going based on one guy who (by the looks of it) typo'd a M instead of a C? when there was no other mention of McMann in the entire thread?  Bash on neibs! Obviously means more to you than most.

 Ah, the old “I don’t care anyway” routine when you’ve made a mess of something.

Of course that’s why I’m keeping it going. A guy mentioned McMann. You replied to him about a different player, which I pointed out, and then you told me to try Specsavers despite it being you who failed to read a post correctly. Well done.

[Scottydog]

25 minutes ago, Nightmare said:

 Ah, the old “I don’t care anyway” routine when you’ve made a mess of something.

Of course that’s why I’m keeping it going. A guy mentioned McMann. You replied to him about a different player, which I pointed out, and then you told me to try Specsavers despite it being you who failed to read a post correctly. Well done.

More likely "the old" you keeping this going when you knew the guy had made a typo but you were desperate to be seen and heard, at least I now know why you were given the handle nightmare. Feel free to reply (you know you will) but I'm not pandering to your ego anymore.

[Frankly, Mr Shankly]

9 hours ago, Scottydog said:

So your'e  keeping all this going based on one guy who (by the looks of it) typo'd a M instead of a C? when there was no other mention of McMann in the entire thread?  Bash on neibs! Obviously means more to you than most.

No. I was talking about McMann. 

[raith1974]

The good thing about the announcement is that any LB contacted will know they will be 1st choice and may give us an advantage over other teams that already have a LB on the books.

[Beastie Russell]

2 hours ago, Jilted John said:

Based on the comments above, I’m probably in the minority here but I don’t think losing Kieran Macdonald is as big a loss as some are making out.

I thought he had a fantastic first season in league 1. Last season, in my opinion anyway he was steady, but certainly not a stand out. I think John Mcglynn will be able to replace him with similar, if not better. 
 

Very attacking left back which always  leaves holes in behind, as exploited by Adam and McGhee for the 1st Dundee goal.

McGlynn will have prepared for him not resigning, any Celtic U21 left back’s being released  ?

Edited May 26, 2021 by Beastie Russell

[TxRover]

2 hours ago, Michael W said:

Completely agree. As I said I have no objection to running a hybrid model, but when you're doing so there is an obvious trade off. One player being on PT terms is a relatively extreme example that we've been running with, but I think you need at least a handful of PT players to justify the adjustments required. Clearly that's not what we had in place last season. 

We started the year with three part time players, we ended with two. Miller moved on before the year started, perhaps foreshadowing this change; Anderson moved on after the year started; McGurn was effectively just a coach all year and MacDonald was our only starter.