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The New Raith Rovers Thread


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Spencer is out until the last quarter. You can’t win a title by then but you can definitely lose it.

We’re going to need a new midfielder in January, and we’ll need two if Tait goes for good too. McGlynn pulled a rabbit out the hat when he signed Ethan Ross to effectively replace Vaughan. Going to need to do it again to keep us in the hunt unfortunately.

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Go back to the comments on here when we sold Tait and strip out some of the anger. You'll see that most people highlighted this left us very vulnerable if we picked up an injury. Bear in mind also that we've never really heard if Matthews' injury problem has now fully healed. 

The transfer is done, but the consequences were entirely foreseeable. Good quality midfielders available on a free are of course ubiquitous in the January transfer window. 

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Yeah, this was always the danger when Tait was going.

That said, it's unlikely that we would have had the clout to bring in Ross without the sale of Tait.

Even ignoring the loss of Spencer and Tait, I thought that Mcglynn would need to pull a quality striker out of the hat to keep our challenge going.  Adding another 2 midfielders onto that is ominous,  in a market where at least 3 other clubs in this league will be looking for similar.

It's a real pisser.

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January is certainly going to be interesting. I think shelling out for Ethan Ross should defray any accusations of a lack of ambition from the board. They've shown they're willing to put money on the table, so it'll be a case of whether the right options are out there. 

It's been mentioned, but the real issue we've got is that we don't just need two midfielders, we really need two starting midfielders. That's not going to be an easy, or cheap, thing to do. 

We've got December to get through first, with Tait in situ, so there's a chance for someone to grab a jersey. We know Musonda has class, but can he transform defensive solidity into an all-round midfield role? I'm hopeful but not confident. Not because he lacks ability, but because it's just a further stretch. Have we really pulled a guy out of Luton Reserves who can perform at Championship level at right back, left back, central defence and as a box to box midfielder? 

There's no reason why Aaron Arnott can't become a first team fixture in exactly the same way that Dylan Tait did, but with it being a level up and a higher pressure environment, again you'd have to say it's unlikely. He's much more likely to need a gradual introduction, as he's been getting so far, rather than suddenly getting 90 minutes every week. 

And Blaise Riley-Snow, for all his endeavour, looks the least likely of the three. Stranger things have happened, but he's had plenty game time this season and has largely looked off the pace. He's not really had a run of games and it's a level of football that's alien to him, but I'd be stunned if he does enough to warrant a new deal as a back up option, let alone makes himself a first pick. 

McGlynn will, I'm sure, have someone lined up on the first of January. I wouldn't be surprised if it's Stephen Kelly, although there's likely to be bottom half Premiership clubs keen on him too. 

I wouldn't be entirely surprised if the 'second' arrival isn't delayed until the back end of the month, for two reasons.

Firstly, there'll naturally be a temptation to see if Hibs really want to keep Tait for the rest of the season. Since they signed Tait, Josh Campbell has broken into the first team and their midfield landscape has changed, so I think that's completely up in the air. With Tait training at Hibs already, I imagine Jack Ross has a fair idea of what he wants to do, but he's not going to commit to that before he has to. 

And secondly, we're at Banks o' Dee on 22 January. The result of that game, and any subsequent draw, might well dictate a further stretching of the budget to a more marquee option, although I've no idea who that could be. 

Interesting times ahead. 

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2 hours ago, Wardy said:

Not to start anything else wildly but when I was in the barbers yesterday, (a few players go there) The guy cutting my hair was saying Musonda was in maybe 10 days ago, and he told him he wasn’t that keen on staying beyond January. I’m pretty sure he’s signed to the summer but the barber was under the impression it was January his contract was up. 
 

I’ll take 8th right now. 👀😂

Hope this is rubbish.  Hes always looked to enjoy his time here but maybe hes not happy with being moved about positions. 

If it is true move him on no point keeping players that don't want to be here but as I say hopefully just rubbish.

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Challenge will be that time isn't on our side.  Any title challenge could be dead by end of Jan.

Not that a scrap towards top 4 is by any means a failure,  it would just be frustrating to see a genuine opportunity drift away.

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1 hour ago, Rover1990 said:

Hope this is rubbish.  Hes always looked to enjoy his time here but maybe hes not happy with being moved about positions. 

If it is true move him on no point keeping players that don't want to be here but as I say hopefully just rubbish.

Could be a case of moving him on, recalling McKay for defensive cover and being able to free up a decent wage for a midfielder. I hope not to be honest as I like Frankie but he is 4th choice centre back right now, not something I’d have imagined after last season.

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We could go 3-5-2 with Frankie at the pivot, like where Davo is playing for Brechin 😅 until we get someone in.

Ross up front with Varian (of course, we still have to confirm him for the rest of the season too). Maybe the lure of a championship medal will keep Tait here till the summer.

Hendry? No chance. He might not be in the FGR 1st 11 but he's definitely in the 1st team squad every week with the occasional starting slot.

 

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2 hours ago, CALDERON said:

Challenge will be that time isn't on our side.  Any title challenge could be dead by end of Jan.

Not that a scrap towards top 4 is by any means a failure,  it would just be frustrating to see a genuine opportunity drift away.

I think with no further injuries or stupid suspensions then we'll make it to early January ok, particularly if Connolly is back in contention for Saturday. After that is the difficulty, and it's not like it's starting with an easier run of fixtures.

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The only positives from this are that we have known for 3 months that Tait is away so I am sure McGlynn will have been working to get something lined up quickly and also in regular dialogue with Hibs as to what the likelihood is of Tait being loaned back at any point.

To lose Spencer ahead of some of our biggest games of the season is a huge blow but again, it’s happened just over 3 weeks away from the transfer window, this could have happened at the start of October and we’d have been well and truly fucked.

On the more negative side, January is traditionally a tougher market to get quality players in, particularly those ready to hit the ground running. As much as McGlynn’s signing record has been strong for us, his January transfer record is  not good and highlights the difficulty of the market. A quick check suggests his signings from January onwards each season since he returned are:

2018/2019

Jamie Gullan (1st spell)     
Jamie Barjonas     
Craig McGuffie     
Dean Lyness     
Tony Dingwall 

2019/2020

Steven MacLean

2020/2021

Kai Kennedy     
Timmy Abraham   
Adam King    
Jamie Gullan   
Nathan Cooney

I am possibly missing some obvious ones but from that list Steven MacLean and possibly Jamie Gullan last season are the only clear successes. We’ll need a better hit rate this time around to keep us in the mix.

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