The New Raith Rovers Thread

[TxRover]

41 minutes ago, spot on said:

I’m sure I seen somewhere you have him until 16th Jan, but feel free to keep him longer

That’s the published end of the loan.

39 minutes ago, Raith_Raver said:

McGlynn gave an update on all signings and loanees; Keatings was the only one who wasn't mentioned. He even said that McKaywas returning from Edinburgh City, so we can take it from that he'll be staying with you.

JMcG failed to mention Coulson either…his loan expired 2/1/22 from what I can see, so I’m unsure of his status.

[Hank Scorpio]

A lot of doom and gloom amongst the support lately, somewhat understandably so given our goal scoring issues, but it’s worth noting that after not scoring a goal from open play in 6 matches and undoubtedly enduring our worst run of the season so far - and quite importantly are likely to go through for the rest of the season - we are only 4 points off top of the league, in January. A few more shrewd signings at the top end of the park and a few wins and we will all be singing John McGlynn’s name again whilst challenging right at the top. Said right from the start of the season that I thought we would win the league, and I’m reticent to jettison that feeling at the first sign of a few poor performances. McInnes being appointed at Killie is a spanner in the works, right enough and it’ll be really interesting to see McGlynn test himself against someone who, up until very recently, was looked upon by most as one of the most talented managers in the country. 
 

Lots to be positive about at the football club. Just really hope we can get back in sooner rather than later to support the team. 

[Raith_Raver]

I also suspect we will win the league, given even breaks on the injury front for a change and we get our forward line sorted out.

[Broken Algorithms]

A lot of doom and gloom amongst the support lately, somewhat understandably so given our goal scoring issues, but it’s worth noting that after not scoring a goal from open play in 6 matches and undoubtedly enduring our worst run of the season so far - and quite importantly are likely to go through for the rest of the season - we are only 4 points off top of the league, in January. A few more shrewd signings at the top end of the park and a few wins and we will all be singing John McGlynn’s name again whilst challenging right at the top. Said right from the start of the season that I thought we would win the league, and I’m reticent to jettison that feeling at the first sign of a few poor performances. McInnes being appointed at Killie is a spanner in the works, right enough and it’ll be really interesting to see McGlynn test himself against someone who, up until very recently, was looked upon by most as one of the most talented managers in the country. 
 
Lots to be positive about at the football club. Just really hope we can get back in sooner rather than later to support the team. 

I'm still undecided. There's been a lot of overreactions and bed wetting to the last few games. Against the Pars, we didn't create any clear cut chances but we played far better with our new additions compared to when we made subs.

The main issue for me is that there feels like there's a schism which has developed within our support. We've already suffered with the 500 fans removing any vocal backing but I feel like the main issue is the rumours from Scott Burns about Goodwillie.

It looks like the deal isn't moving forwards but you've got folk on twitter saying "we'd have won that game if we had him" (which, in my opinion, is a fucking daft take given how nothing is guaranteed in football). I've zero doubts that this will continue in any games where we don't get goals.

It's understandable to see why McGlynn and the players might get frustrated. They'll all be desperate to win the league by any means. But for me, I think the leak/rumour has been a necessary evil. We can only speculate, but I think there would've been serious questions asked if the deal had gone through without our fan base knowing.

Ideally, we'll all be able to move forwards and McGlynn can identify a player who he can get the best out of us and get us the goals to kick on.

[Paco]

An obvious statement but I think we need to start taking chances again in order to really challenge. For a few months there we didn’t create much but could come out with a win - Killie and Arbroath at home as examples - and even when playing pretty terribly still came away with results as shown at EEP and Palmerston, simply by nabbing goals at the right time.

There were slices of luck in there, like Killie randomly throwing away a penalty, but when it happens so often luck isn’t the main reason. We were simply better at nicking goals than the opposition, but Varian missed a great chance to equalise at Ayr and we missed a fair few good chances on Saturday too. If they go in we’re all still happy, and potentially top of the league.

We’ve had a dreadful start to this quarter, one from six against two of the bottom four. As a result we need to pull some results against the top half out the bag again - and it’s ICT/Arbroath in our next two. It wouldn’t be terminal of course but we could very easily be 7 points off top by 5pm Saturday and suddenly it feels like a big ask. At least four points from those two and it feels like game on again.

Gut call? We aren’t winning the league and I think we’ll fall away early enough that it doesn’t feel like a possibility going into the run-in. There are five clubs in with a shout at this stage and one will miss the play-offs though - we need to make sure that isn’t us.

[roverthemoon]

Have always thought the Kilmarnock are winning the league due to quality and depth of squad and now that McInnes is in charge then that simply reinforces that view. The 1-0 win over Kilmarnock was probably the closest I’ve come to thinking that this might just be our year, but the last three results haven’t been great. But I don’t think it’s the crisis or catastrophe some folk are making out out to be.

Partick was a 96th minute loss in farcical conditions with a covid-hit squad and 10 men. Ayr was poor, but the defence was minus Berra and it showed with individual errors costing us. Also the result was no different from our no-show against QOS at the same time last year. The Pars was another poor match, but again we were minus Berra and we were drawing with them even when we were on our unbeaten run.  Do any or even all three results together make us a shite team or McGlynn a shite manager? No. No matter how much some in our support seem to want the club and him to fail. 
 

As Hank says, we are only 4 points off the top of the league. With Berra back to steady the defence (and allow Dick and Tumilty more confidence to push forward), Williamson and Stanton settling in and hopefully a slight refresh up front, then there’s every reason to be confident.  Beat Inverness and Arbroath in our next two games and we could back challenging or even top. Of course, we might lose both and have to start looking at a play-off, but even that’s success and I’d fancy us on any day against anyone in those.

There’s a long way to go. The last three results, haven’t changed or decided anything. What they have done is given a few panic merchants and doom-mongers desperate for us to fail a chance to resurface. Hopefully we get back to winning ways so they go silent again. 

[R.R.FC]

57 minutes ago, Paco said:

An obvious statement but I think we need to start taking chances again in order to really challenge. For a few months there we didn’t create much but could come out with a win - Killie and Arbroath at home as examples - and even when playing pretty terribly still came away with results as shown at EEP and Palmerston, simply by nabbing goals at the right time.

There were slices of luck in there, like Killie randomly throwing away a penalty, but when it happens so often luck isn’t the main reason. We were simply better at nicking goals than the opposition, but Varian missed a great chance to equalise at Ayr and we missed a fair few good chances on Saturday too. If they go in we’re all still happy, and potentially top of the league.

We’ve had a dreadful start to this quarter, one from six against two of the bottom four. As a result we need to pull some results against the top half out the bag again - and it’s ICT/Arbroath in our next two. It wouldn’t be terminal of course but we could very easily be 7 points off top by 5pm Saturday and suddenly it feels like a big ask. At least four points from those two and it feels like game on again.

Gut call? We aren’t winning the league and I think we’ll fall away early enough that it doesn’t feel like a possibility going into the run-in. There are five clubs in with a shout at this stage and one will miss the play-offs though - we need to make sure that isn’t us.

Tend to agree with most of this. Couple of huge games coming up which will probably shape our expectations/hopes for the rest of the season.

We have started each quarter slowly for whatever reason. 1 point from our first 2 games in quarter 1 and 3. And 2 points from our first 2 games in quarter 2. Hopefully we can kick on after a slow start again.

I feel like we need a spark from somewhere to get things back on track. Whether that be a new striker or a ‘surprise’ win against Inverness/Arbroath something to reinvigorate the squad and support is needed to bring back the earlier optimism and confidence. 

I think most of us would have taken a 4th place finish at the start of the season and that will still be a realistic target regardless of the next 2 games. However, lose them both and we are almost certainly out of any title race in January which would be very disappointing given where we were just a couple of weeks ago.

Too soon to tell what way it will go but I think we’ll have a very good idea in the next couple of weeks based on our January signings and next 2 results.

[roverthemoon]

If we can’t win the league, I’d like to think we can go one better and finish second, avoiding that 3/4th place game. Still think we may have reached the PO final of we’d held off Dundee for second last season. 

[TxRover]

I see Killie as the likely winner, sheer weight of resources will tell now that they seem to have fixed the coaching void. Arbroath have been walking on air and will likely stumble, we have over achieved somewhat and Patrick are radically inconsistent. That leave ICT as the only challenger to Killie, and they seem duty bound to choke in some manner.

For Raith to be where they are with the lack of a scorers is nearly a miracle, and even then I’m not sure that the entry of a real scorer would solve the malaise that seems to pervade our “strike force”. Early times we saw some beautiful passes to spring attackers for goals, recently the killer touch, or even the decent crossing touch, seems to have flown south for the winter. We can pass with the best of them, but until we can score with that play, we will hover in the 3-5 positions.

[Ro Sham Bo]

Yeah Killie have won the league as a result of getting McInnes in. They'll probably win it by at least 6 points and the battle will be three from four for the play offs.

[SirJimmyofNic]

I dont get all this McInnes saviour of Kilmarnock guff, hes still gonna have more or less the same players who got Wright the sack, so its not writen in stone that they win the title,

Theres 5 teams going at a top four and don't discount a Hamilton side that are starting to put points together ,they could somehow sneak into the equation

If McGlynn can find a way to get the goals coming again, I wouldn't bet against us for the league, its just a shame he shot himself in the foot signing Keatings 

[baillieinleeds]

7 minutes ago, SirJimmyofNic said:

I dont get all this McInnes saviour of Kilmarnock guff, hes still gonna have more or less the same players who got Wright the sack, so its not writen in stone that they win the title,

Theres 5 teams going at a top four and don't discount a Hamilton side that are starting to put points together ,they could somehow sneak into the equation

If McGlynn can find a way to get the goals coming again, I wouldn't bet against us for the league, its just a shame he shot himself in the foot signing Keatings 

Exactly, although Killie have a decent bit of cash. They can essentially buy the league. But who’s to say they’ll play as a team. That takes time. Arbroath for me are the best team in the league so it’s up to McGlynn to show he has the guile to force us over the line. 

[renton]

19 minutes ago, SirJimmyofNic said:

I dont get all this McInnes saviour of Kilmarnock guff, hes still gonna have more or less the same players who got Wright the sack, so its not writen in stone that they win the title,

Theres 5 teams going at a top four and don't discount a Hamilton side that are starting to put points together ,they could somehow sneak into the equation

If McGlynn can find a way to get the goals coming again, I wouldn't bet against us for the league, its just a shame he shot himself in the foot signing Keatings 

Aye, but Wright was like Barry Smith with us. Get 11 decent players, chuck them on the pitch and hope something good happens. The issue for the rest of the league is if McInnes can actually develop a coherent game plan to make the best use of the talented players he has.

No doubt Wright was a drag on Killie, rather than necessarily the playing staff.

[RossBFaeDundee]

https://www.thecourier.co.uk/fp/sport/football/2885481/hibs-transfer-news-jamie-gullan-nearing-permanent-raith-rovers/

[R.R.FC]

The Courier reporting Gullan is close to completing a permanent transfer to us. Should be in before the Inverness game. As said elsewhere, we definitely need another striker in addition to him, he isn’t the answer on his own.

However, he is a very versatile attacker with a lot of potential for us to improve over the duration of a long term deal so will be a good signing. If we can get a good quality central striker in as well then we look to have had a strong window, big ‘if’ though, obviously.

Edited January 6, 2022 by R.R.FC

[Raith Against The Machine]

Chuffed with that. He's a good player with room to improve. That's a very good squad place filled for the rest of this season and next season already.

Pleasing to get a deal done over the other rumoured interested parties too, if indeed it does come to fruition. There have been plenty times recently where just the mention of another club's interest pretty much guaranteed we wouldn't get a transfer over the line. 

Also, 14 goals in 50 games for us is a better return than I'd thought. I'd still like to see a 'proper old fashioned number nine' come in during the window, but that's easier said than done. 

[renton]

1 minute ago, RossBFaeDundee said:

https://www.thecourier.co.uk/fp/sport/football/2885481/hibs-transfer-news-jamie-gullan-nearing-permanent-raith-rovers/

 

1 minute ago, R.R.FC said:

The Courier reporting Gullan is closing to completing a permanent transfer to us. Should be in before the Inverness game. As said elsewhere, we definitely need another striker in addition to him, he isn’t the answer on his own.

However, he is a very versatile attacker with a lot of potential for us to improve over the duration of a long term deal so will be a good signing. If we can get a good quality central striker in as well then we look to have had a strong window, big ‘if’ though, obviously.

If you look at the second goal in that Dunfermline game embedded in the Courier article, that is kinda the thing we've been missing - keeps himself up the park, doesn't drift wide, powers towarsds the defender and his first instinct is to get the shot away. 

I dont think he is the total answer, and he had a fair number of anonymous games for us, but would certainly welcome him as part of the answer.

 

[SirJimmyofNic]

Signed sealed and delivered 

[renton]

3 minutes ago, Raith Against The Machine said:

Chuffed with that. He's a good player with room to improve. That's a very good squad place filled for the rest of this season and next season already.

Pleasing to get a deal done over the other rumoured interested parties too, if indeed it does come to fruition. There have been plenty times recently where just the mention of another club's interest pretty much guaranteed we wouldn't get a transfer over the line. 

Also, 14 goals in 50 games for us is a better return than I'd thought. I'd still like to see a 'proper old fashioned number nine' come in during the window, but that's easier said than done. 

Indeed, I'd worry about him playing the 9 in our oft used 4-2-3-1 but in a diamond 4-4-2 he should work well with either of our current forwards.

[Broken Algorithms]

Keep in mind, his first spell he was being supplied by a midfield including Wedderburn, Gillespie, Barjonas and McGuffie.

He knows the squad and manager. Plenty of potential and physical attributes. Doesn't alienate half the fan base.

I'm all for it.