The New Raith Rovers Thread

[Broken Algorithms]

I tried to book on my mobile initially, but the website crashed when I went to verify the payment on my mobile banking app. I ended up waiting until I was home on my desktop to get the order sorted.

[RRFC_Liam]

I wonder when we will hear about the new strips for next season and hopefully they look good… 

could there be a slight delay after January Signing of you know who that we can’t find a sponsor for the away strip. We know the Dean park hotel is likely to be on the home one 

[Broken Algorithms]

55 minutes ago, RRFC_Liam said:

I wonder when we will hear about the new strips for next season and hopefully they look good… 

could there be a slight delay after January Signing of you know who that we can’t find a sponsor for the away strip. We know the Dean park hotel is likely to be on the home one 

I'd expect we'll just continue on with SM Electrical. 

[San Starko Rover]

3 hours ago, RRFC_Liam said:

I wonder when we will hear about the new strips for next season and hopefully they look good… 

could there be a slight delay after January Signing of you know who that we can’t find a sponsor for the away strip. We know the Dean park hotel is likely to be on the home one 

Just hope the new away shirt is better than the current as I thought it was horrendous when it was released and it didn’t grow on me as the season went on. 

[San Starko Rover]

5 hours ago, Raith_Raver said:

I think it was intended

Have you said bad things about Falkirk that Marshmallow is following you and Red dotting every post?

[Raith_Raver]

53 minutes ago, San Starko Rover said:

Have you said bad things about Falkirk that Marshmallow is following you and Red dotting every post?

He's a well known irrelevance. He follows several people around -  anyone who "dishonours" Falkirk, currently me and some Airdrie supporters. He even red dots certain Falkirk fans

Incidentally, he himself has a negative rating well over five thousand. I suspect he's somewhere at the lower end of the spectrum.

Edited May 29, 2022 by Raith_Raver

[Raith Against The Machine]

So as things stand at the moment, is this the state of play? 

For the purposes of the chart, I've assumed that our out of contract players will return but that none of the loan players will. I've also just stuck with McGlynn's 4-2-3-1 but of course Murray might fancy a totally different set up. 

Keepers are obviously fine. 

Obviously it looks likely that Reghan Tumilty will leave, but even if RT stays, I think we could still do with an out-and-out right back to come in as a second choice, even if it's a kid out of a Premiership academy. I think Musonda suffered last season for constantly being shifted around the back line. At left back, I wouldn't be surprised to see Mackie return but I'd be a wee bit disappointed. Maybe he just needs a pre-season, but I don't think he was a particular upgrade on Liam Dick who was probably the weakest regular in last year's team. 

I'm quietly confident about Musonda staying, and while I wouldn't be overly upset about Benedictus leaving, I'm starting to think it might not be the worst idea to keep someone of his experience and ability around. I'm not sure we'll get better in a like-for-like swap in this market. Those four centre halfs are a solid unit for this level, albeit there's a reliance on Lang and Berra maintaining an element of fitness. 

The base of the midfield intrigues me, but I'm thinking about it through a real John McGlynn lens where he's always tried to pair a tackler with a passer. We don't really have an alternative to Matthews, and I wonder if that's where Murray maybe sees Scott Brown filling in? At the very least I think he'd be a more all-action option compared to Spencer (who we might not have, of course) and Stanton who are both more creative/passive. 

Into the attacking midfield and you come to another of the issues we had last season, with Zanatta and Connolly as the only two wingers. Ethan Ross clocked a lot of minutes on the left but he's half the player there as he is in the middle. Although I've put Easton into the middle, hopefully he can be an effective wide option to go into a three man rotation with Zanatta and Connolly to make things much less predictable for opposition managers and defences. The middle of that three though is where this squad shines brightest. Ethan Ross, on his day, might well be the best in the league in that role, we know Easton can do it, and Vaughan is excellent there too if he drops back. 

Speaking of Vaughan, as things stand there's a fair onus on him to hit the ground running and stay fit. Obviously that's completely in the lap of the Gods. We know if he's fit he scores goals, but there's no point putting any pressure on him, it's not fair and it's not pragmatic. That leaves Jamie Gullan, who I think is better than he showed last season, but he needs a good strong start to the season if he's to avoid accusations of flattering to deceive. We definitely need at least one more proper striker to come in. 

[TxRover]

3 hours ago, Against The Machine said:

So as things stand at the moment, is this the state of play? 

For the purposes of the chart, I've assumed that our out of contract players will return but that none of the loan players will. I've also just stuck with McGlynn's 4-2-3-1 but of course Murray might fancy a totally different set up. 

Keepers are obviously fine. 

Obviously it looks likely that Reghan Tumilty will leave, but even if RT stays, I think we could still do with an out-and-out right back to come in as a second choice, even if it's a kid out of a Premiership academy. I think Musonda suffered last season for constantly being shifted around the back line. At left back, I wouldn't be surprised to see Mackie return but I'd be a wee bit disappointed. Maybe he just needs a pre-season, but I don't think he was a particular upgrade on Liam Dick who was probably the weakest regular in last year's team. 

I'm quietly confident about Musonda staying, and while I wouldn't be overly upset about Benedictus leaving, I'm starting to think it might not be the worst idea to keep someone of his experience and ability around. I'm not sure we'll get better in a like-for-like swap in this market. Those four centre halfs are a solid unit for this level, albeit there's a reliance on Lang and Berra maintaining an element of fitness. 

The base of the midfield intrigues me, but I'm thinking about it through a real John McGlynn lens where he's always tried to pair a tackler with a passer. We don't really have an alternative to Matthews, and I wonder if that's where Murray maybe sees Scott Brown filling in? At the very least I think he'd be a more all-action option compared to Spencer (who we might not have, of course) and Stanton who are both more creative/passive. 

Into the attacking midfield and you come to another of the issues we had last season, with Zanatta and Connolly as the only two wingers. Ethan Ross clocked a lot of minutes on the left but he's half the player there as he is in the middle. Although I've put Easton into the middle, hopefully he can be an effective wide option to go into a three man rotation with Zanatta and Connolly to make things much less predictable for opposition managers and defences. The middle of that three though is where this squad shines brightest. Ethan Ross, on his day, might well be the best in the league in that role, we know Easton can do it, and Vaughan is excellent there too if he drops back. 

Speaking of Vaughan, as things stand there's a fair onus on him to hit the ground running and stay fit. Obviously that's completely in the lap of the Gods. We know if he's fit he scores goals, but there's no point putting any pressure on him, it's not fair and it's not pragmatic. That leaves Jamie Gullan, who I think is better than he showed last season, but he needs a good strong start to the season if he's to avoid accusations of flattering to deceive. We definitely need at least one more proper striker to come in. 

TBF, the back line is most likely currently Young/Berra/Masson/Dick if you play our four healthy defenders. In reality, it would probably be Dick and Berra at CB, Young at LB and perhaps one of the wingers (Connolly?) at RB…if we were playing four across. More likely is three across with Young/Berra/Dick.

Up top, I’d be tempted by Gullan in front of Vaughan as a pairing. Mitchell at LW would be an interesting little test too, but isn’t a real option yet.

[RRFC_Liam]

3 hours ago, Against The Machine said:

So as things stand at the moment, is this the state of play? 

For the purposes of the chart, I've assumed that our out of contract players will return but that none of the loan players will. I've also just stuck with McGlynn's 4-2-3-1 but of course Murray might fancy a totally different set up. 

Keepers are obviously fine. 

Obviously it looks likely that Reghan Tumilty will leave, but even if RT stays, I think we could still do with an out-and-out right back to come in as a second choice, even if it's a kid out of a Premiership academy. I think Musonda suffered last season for constantly being shifted around the back line. At left back, I wouldn't be surprised to see Mackie return but I'd be a wee bit disappointed. Maybe he just needs a pre-season, but I don't think he was a particular upgrade on Liam Dick who was probably the weakest regular in last year's team. 

I'm quietly confident about Musonda staying, and while I wouldn't be overly upset about Benedictus leaving, I'm starting to think it might not be the worst idea to keep someone of his experience and ability around. I'm not sure we'll get better in a like-for-like swap in this market. Those four centre halfs are a solid unit for this level, albeit there's a reliance on Lang and Berra maintaining an element of fitness. 

The base of the midfield intrigues me, but I'm thinking about it through a real John McGlynn lens where he's always tried to pair a tackler with a passer. We don't really have an alternative to Matthews, and I wonder if that's where Murray maybe sees Scott Brown filling in? At the very least I think he'd be a more all-action option compared to Spencer (who we might not have, of course) and Stanton who are both more creative/passive. 

Into the attacking midfield and you come to another of the issues we had last season, with Zanatta and Connolly as the only two wingers. Ethan Ross clocked a lot of minutes on the left but he's half the player there as he is in the middle. Although I've put Easton into the middle, hopefully he can be an effective wide option to go into a three man rotation with Zanatta and Connolly to make things much less predictable for opposition managers and defences. The middle of that three though is where this squad shines brightest. Ethan Ross, on his day, might well be the best in the league in that role, we know Easton can do it, and Vaughan is excellent there too if he drops back. 

Speaking of Vaughan, as things stand there's a fair onus on him to hit the ground running and stay fit. Obviously that's completely in the lap of the Gods. We know if he's fit he scores goals, but there's no point putting any pressure on him, it's not fair and it's not pragmatic. That leaves Jamie Gullan, who I think is better than he showed last season, but he needs a good strong start to the season if he's to avoid accusations of flattering to deceive. We definitely need at least one more proper striker to come in. 

Depending on formation and who else we bring in, I don’t see Zanatta Starting for this team if it’s 4231 then I would go with Ross on the left, Easton in the AM and Connolly on the Right because he wouldn’t sign Easton and bench him so he’ll start

Also at the back I would prefer an upgrade on Liam Dick because he’s suspect defensively and not that great going forward either but I don’t think we will get 1 in. Also I wouldn’t mind losing Bene either and get a younger 24/25 yo better CB in. 
 

midfield this is the big issue if we go for 2 CMs then who does he play, with possibly 5/6 player fighting for 2 spots Matthews, Stanton, Arnott, Maybe Spencer, there’s rumours of this guy from Peterhead coming in.

luckily were not paid to make these decisions. 

 

 

[Ro Sham Bo]

[Ro Sham Bo]

Also a small article in the Courier about us signing Brown. 

[Broken Algorithms]

With Musonda, I think there might be a small chance we're beneficiaries of circumstance again. Last season it was injury, this season he's away playing with Zambia which will take him up to early June. A lot will hinge on whether he's looking to play down south but if he's looking to remain in Scotland other clubs might want to get players signed up quicker.

[pub car king]

I think Musonda will be after a move back south but last season he was patchy  

[ribzanelli]

Ethan Ross looked far better through the middle than out wide for me. Cup final was exhibit A but plenty other examples 

[Raith_Raver]

1 hour ago, Ro Sham Bo said:

Also a small article in the Courier about us signing Brown. 

Another midfielder. If Murray runs on a "tight" squad we must be offloading Spencer. I've no idea what Brown is like - better than what we already have?

[Michael W]

If Spencer is away then we will need to strengthen there, albeit it would not the most pressing priority. If he's staying then I don't think we need another CM. 

Then again, I remember saying last season that we had too many Centre Backs, and we all know how that ended up. 

[renton]

4 minutes ago, Michael W said:

If Spencer is away then we will need to strengthen there, albeit it would not the most pressing priority. If he's staying then I don't think we need another CM. 

Then again, I remember saying last season that we had too many Centre Backs, and we all know how that ended up. 

Also worth noting that we started the season with 4 CMs last year and ended up needing to replace three of them for different reasons come January.

[Been going too long]

Think we have to accept Murray will have his own ideas on the squad, don’t know much about brown but if he signs will get behind him. I personally feel re energised with the rovers since the change and hopefully it works out well for us 

[RRFC_Liam]

2 hours ago, Ro Sham Bo said:

Also a small article in the Courier about us signing Brown. 

Saying that it’s going to happen yeah? Did it mention anything about Brad Spencer? 

[Beachbum]

1 minute ago, Been going too long said:

Think we have to accept Murray will have his own ideas on the squad, don’t know much about brown but if he signs will get behind him. 

Scott Brown was in the League 1 SPFL Team of the Season for 2020-21.