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The New Raith Rovers Thread


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9 minutes ago, Grant228 said:

That's a bold shout when no one knows how any team is actually going to line up come the start of the season! 

Kilmarnock, Hamilton, Partick, Dunfermline and Raith all have fan bases that expect they'll be in the playoffs, and I'm sure Ayrs would aswell however they look quite frankly, pish.

Someone's got to miss out, Killie will be favourites for the title, Partick will have that promotion bounce, Hamilton have spent years in the prem and with the benefit of parachute payments, I've got absolutely no idea how we'll be lining up come the start of the season, Inverness have done some really, really good business IMO however have an untested manager, Raith haven't done great business but have a tried and tested manager... 

Anyone's guess who comes where at the moment, and that's on the presumption that the likes of QoTS or Arbroath don't elevate themselves with some decent business. 

Another whoosh.

I was taking the Michael at the vocabulary on here, not making a serious point about football.

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1 hour ago, Grant228 said:

That's a bold shout when no one knows how any team is actually going to line up come the start of the season! 

Kilmarnock, Hamilton, Partick, Dunfermline and Raith all have fan bases that expect they'll be in the playoffs, and I'm sure Ayrs would aswell however they look quite frankly, pish.

Someone's got to miss out, Killie will be favourites for the title, Partick will have that promotion bounce, Hamilton have spent years in the prem and with the benefit of parachute payments, I've got absolutely no idea how we'll be lining up come the start of the season, Inverness have done some really, really good business IMO however have an untested manager, Raith haven't done great business but have a tried and tested manager... 

Anyone's guess who comes where at the moment, and that's on the presumption that the likes of QoTS or Arbroath don't elevate themselves with some decent business. 

There is absolutely no chance we finish in the playoffs; my guess would be 6th/7th which is reasonable given the competition.

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23 minutes ago, Athlete29 said:

There is absolutely no chance we finish in the playoffs; my guess would be 6th/7th which is reasonable given the competition.

Ach there's every chance you end up winning the title, who knows eh? 

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42 minutes ago, Athlete29 said:

There is absolutely no chance we finish in the playoffs; my guess would be 6th/7th which is reasonable given the competition.

Overstated. There's no reason why we'll be unable to compete in the top half, and I think we will.

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At the moment Ayr and definitely weaker, and yourselves losing Hendry is a big blow.  The Caley have replaced Todorov and Keatings with McKay and Gardyne who are clearly upgrades.

Killie appear to be going for the bog standard Championship quality route for their new signings.  Dunfermline haven’t signed enough people to say if they’ll be weaker. Think they’ve only signed Todorov so far?

 

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6 minutes ago, RandomGuy. said:

Dylan Taits going to be a star this season, Hendry leaving and allowing him to start will be a blessing, IMO.

I've been thinking along the same lines. We still need a bit of midfield cover 'tho, not to mention that Tait gets a lot of cards.

PS - I would stop short at Hendry's departure as a blessing 😄

 

Edited by Raith_Raver
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There is absolutely no chance we finish in the playoffs; my guess would be 6th/7th which is reasonable given the competition.

Every single team will still make a few signings whether it be permanent or loan signings. Apart from losing Hendry, I’m happy with the rest of the summer business so far. Liam Dick will be able to fulfil the Kieran MacDonald role. I’m sure Aidan Connolly can turn up for 1 in every 7 games that Armstrong did. I reckon Keatings will be a quality signing for us. We’ll still have a few loan signings to come. And they’ll more than likely be a CM, a winger and a striker. There is no need to panic as there’s still almost 6 weeks til our first league game.

So how anyone can suggest where each team will end up when the majority of the teams still have a third of potentially their starting lineup to fill, I’ll never know.
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Still no signings makes me think all the more that there are some quality loan deals on the horizon for us.

Though nothing concrete my reasoning being I think these days we are well in with the bigger clubs to land the choicest loanees.  Apparently (if you believe all ye hear) both Hib's and Rangers were very impressed with the way MgGlynn has his team playing and the latter was especially happy in the way Kai Kennedy was looked after and instructed while in Kirkcaldy.

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10 minutes ago, Scottydog said:

Still no signings makes me think all the more that there are some quality loan deals on the horizon for us.

Though nothing concrete my reasoning being I think these days we are well in with the bigger clubs to land the choicest loanees.  Apparently (if you believe all ye hear) both Hib's and Rangers were very impressed with the way MgGlynn has his team playing and the latter was especially happy in the way Kai Kennedy was looked after and instructed while in Kirkcaldy.

Pretty sure all teams will bring in loanees, but we're about 5 bodies short and I don't think we'd get everything we need by that route. There is no reason not to think that McGlynn has made offers to players and we are waiting to see which, if any, of those pans out.

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1 hour ago, TheScarf said:

At the moment Ayr and definitely weaker, and yourselves losing Hendry is a big blow.  The Caley have replaced Todorov and Keatings with McKay and Gardyne who are clearly upgrades.

Killie appear to be going for the bog standard Championship quality route for their new signings.  Dunfermline haven’t signed enough people to say if they’ll be weaker. Think they’ve only signed Todorov so far?

 

Obviously losing Hendry is a blow and we won't sign someone of comparable quality which probably means changing our system about to try and compensate.

In terms of man for man replacements, I think it's fairly uncontroversial to suggest that Berra and Lang are solid upgrades on Davidson and Mendy. Dick, based on his performance last season is as good a replacement as we are likely to have gotten for McDonald, and having been fortunate enough to keep Musonda I'd say we are defensively better on paper.

Up front Keatings is likely a better technical player than Duku, though they are very different types of forwards. Obviously there is his injury record to contend with which is on brand for us with Vaughan. Speaking of, if he's got a bit of distance from his injuries and we get more games out of him this year then that's obviously a big plus for us and gives us a real goal threat. Big if of course.

Midfield is more controversial, as apart from needing some kind of replacement for Hendry we are replacing all our wide forwards/mids as well. Hopefully Tait comes on more this season - he definitely has the potential to make a big impact, though in a different role from Hendry. Keeping Spencer and Matthews is a good base to build from.

Having been disappointed with his signing previously, I've come round a bit on Connolly. My principal gripe with his signing having been his sheer lack of availability. Never realised he was actually still only 25. I think he does have the ability to do a decent job at this level. Zanatta has bigger question marks for me regarding his lack of application since he moved from Alloa.

I dunno, this time last year our wingers were Armstrong and Grant Anderson. One had a good season, the other left in August.

Next few signings will be critical as to where we end up I think. Giving the injury records of our signed forwards as much as their styles of play and the need to complement that I think we need a couple of forwards, and a winger to give competition to Zanatta and Conolly, and another body for midfield.

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33 minutes ago, renton said:

Obviously losing Hendry is a blow and we won't sign someone of comparable quality which probably means changing our system about to try and compensate.

Agreed, which is why I suspect the Gaffer loaded up on CB's.

34 minutes ago, renton said:

In terms of man for man replacements, I think it's fairly uncontroversial to suggest that Berra and Lang are solid upgrades on Davidson and Mendy. Dick, based on his performance last season is as good a replacement as we are likely to have gotten for McDonald, and having been fortunate enough to keep Musonda I'd say we are defensively better on paper.

Up front Keatings is likely a better technical player than Duku, though they are very different types of forwards. Obviously there is his injury record to contend with which is on brand for us with Vaughan. Speaking of, if he's got a bit of distance from his injuries and we get more games out of him this year then that's obviously a big plus for us and gives us a real goal threat. Big if of course.

Can't disagree with any of that.

34 minutes ago, renton said:

Midfield is more controversial, as apart from needing some kind of replacement for Hendry we are replacing all our wide forwards/mids as well. Hopefully Tait comes on more this season - he definitely has the potential to make a big impact, though in a different role from Hendry. Keeping Spencer and Matthews is a good base to build from.

This is where our current group of players gets more interesting...

1 hour ago, RandomGuy. said:

Dylan Taits going to be a star this season, Hendry leaving and allowing him to start will be a blessing, IMO.

I'm of a similar thought about Tait stepping forward, but I'm not calling Hendry's departure a blessing...

1 hour ago, Raith_Raver said:

I've been thinking along the same lines. We still need a bit of midfield cover 'tho, not to mention that Tait gets a lot of cards.

PS - I would stop short at Hendry's departure as a blessing 😄

 

Whoops, but Tait does indeed need to clam down a bit.

So, here's a thought...Tait is a genuinely offensively minded/obsessed player versus Hendry's more defensive mentality. So if Tait steps in, it would be at either side or the middle as an AM, which still leaves the deeper lying DM role open, perhaps for Matthews or Spencer. But if Tait takes the central AM role, that shunts Vaughan out to the wing or as a pure CF. So, do we see a midfield diamond of Matthews deep, Spencer and Vaughan wide and Tait up top (optionally, switch Tait and Vaughan and/or Spencer and Matthews)?

So back to loading up on CB's...what if we decide to play Tumilty/Berra/Musonda/Bene/Dick with Musonda in a sweeper or libero role? McKay is the first choice reserve CB and RB cover while Lang is the second reserve CB and covers LB. That frees the midfield players to play a bit more forward, and Frankie has shown the passing eye and touch to replace Hendry in that role pretty decently.

45 minutes ago, renton said:
1 hour ago, Scottydog said:

Still no signings makes me think all the more that there are some quality loan deals on the horizon for us.

Though nothing concrete my reasoning being I think these days we are well in with the bigger clubs to land the choicest loanees.  Apparently (if you believe all ye hear) both Hib's and Rangers were very impressed with the way MgGlynn has his team playing and the latter was especially happy in the way Kai Kennedy was looked after and instructed while in Kirkcaldy.

Next few signings will be critical as to where we end up I think. Giving the injury records of our signed forwards as much as their styles of play and the need to complement that I think we need a couple of forwards, and a winger to give competition to Zanatta and Conolly, and another body for midfield.

I'm taking Scotty's view here, as quality loans tend to fall out after the preseason and inital Cup matches, once the managers have sorted their lineups and decided who needs playing time to develop. I don't think there is any midfield player out there right now that I'd say we should take (and can afford), so a little bit of Trailist and squad player testing should be the order of the day. Forwards are a bit easier to find, but quality there is an elusive quantity.

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I'd be very surprised if McGlynn isn't trying to have quality loanees lined up. There's no point in making predictions about how we'll do in the league without knowing who will be in the squad but I'm confident for the season ahead, we certainly won't be anyone's whipping boys.

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With the friendlies starting on Saturday, I’d expect there to be a striker signing this week.
Although, I do expect come next Saturday, the team sheet will be littered with Trialist’s.

With games starting also, possibly the new strip release this week?

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Hopefully we can get fans at Saturdays game.  The only one explicitly mentioned as closed doors was the Clyde one.  Could be a busy week ahead.

Re the season ahead, impossible to tell where we are going to finish - but the target absolutely has to be top 4.  The managers and the clubs stock are as high as they are realistically going to be and the club is about an enticing a prospect for players as we could be at this level, barring any wild influx of cash.

 

 

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