The New Raith Rovers Thread

[Wardy]

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.

[Ro Sham Bo]

2 hours ago, Hank Scorpio said:

That’s a fucking hammer blow to our title chances, genuinely gutted by that. Announce Regan Hendry.

He's not getting a game at Forest Green... 

I'm trying to retain some perspective with Spencer, in that I thought he might have been done for the season on Saturday, but that's not great. 

We should get by okay until the Pars match if we keep Tait, Matthews and Ross on the pitch but beyond that it's a bit scary. 

[Ro Sham Bo]

14 minutes 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.

Every chance he's a bit unsettled with not getting a game. If he wants to play centre half I could see why he's maybe not happy. 

[renton]

12 minutes ago, Ro Sham Bo said:

Every chance he's a bit unsettled with not getting a game. If he wants to play centre half I could see why he's maybe not happy. 

f**k it, get on the phone to Forest Green and arrange a swap deal.

Pretty sure his contract is to the Summer, but who knows what break clauses are in there.

We should never have sold Tait.

f**k it, Aaron Arnott is meant to have tonnes of potential, chuck him in there.

[Broken Algorithms]

Just need to club to release a statement saying they're letting mcglynn go to Falkirk because "we can't stand in his way"...

[Double Jack D]

Well that's a fucking pisser!

[Ro Sham Bo]

We'll get a good idea of how far the board is prepared to go to push for promotion now. Will they allow us to get some quality in to replace Tait/Spencer, or will it be a case of muddle through for a couple of months until Spencer is fit?

[Paco]

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.

[Raithie]

https://www.thecourier.co.uk/fp/sport/football/2804337/brad-spencer-injury-blow-raith-rovers-broken-leg-john-mcglynn/

[Michael W]

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. 

[roverthemoon]

Gutting news about Spencer. I’m sure other clubs suffer just as many injuries, but feels like we can’t catch a break.

No need to panic though. We have coped despite the loss of Hendry. I trust John McGlynn to find a way to steer us through this. 

[CALDERON]

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.

[Against The Machine]

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. 

[Rover1990]

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.

[CALDERON]

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.

[Enigma]

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.

[CALDERON]

If we were to finish the transfer window with no Tait, no Musonda and Spencer still out for at least a month..and end up in a better position than we started..that would require some outrageous business.

 

[SirJimmyofNic]

5 crucial games coming up before the transfer window opens, Frankie, Arnott, or Snow  need to step up big time till then, and if that Frankie story is true at least it frees up a wage to bring a better level midfielder in 

[pantene proV]

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.

 

[SirJimmyofNic]

1 minute ago, pantene proV said:

 

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.

 

Wouldn't him coming home be great, but theres more chance of us getting Nouble in on loan