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East Fife v Raith Rovers (28th Dec 2019)


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This league is almost always won by full time sides. What full time football wont do, is make poor or average players good. As we saw last season, we expected full time football to turn a poorly assembled and unbalanced squad into something they weren’t. Generally though, it gives the edge providing the quality of player and management are already there. 
When we won this league 10 years ago, the difference in fitness was huge. It isn’t anymore, for whatever reason – but I do think we are starting to see some benefits. Our style of football has generally been a lot better this season, you can noticeably see moves and passages of play that have been worked on extensively, and we more often than not are finishing games strongly – and that is something that should improve as we enter the winter months. We scored late on against Dumbarton, Montrose, Forfar this season, and finished strongly against Airdrie and EF (2nd time around). We are generally turning defeats into points, which we didn’t do last season, and a greater work ethic has something to with that – and I’m sure being full time helps that. 
Its not just about money or wages though. Generally, its easier for players to make the step up if they are already full time – so in theory more talented players want to come to the club. There isn’t a hope in hell that Regan Hendry, for example, would have signed for a completely part time Raith Rovers – especially with some of the offers elsewhere he was receiving. However a good season or two with us would make him less of a risk for bigger clubs. Its much less of a gamble from the players side , especially the younger ones who feel like they can still have a crack at the top level – they don’t have to go through the hassle of getting a job etc. I’d imagine the part time lifestyle would be a difficult one to give up (see Rory Mcallister) Even in recent years, we’ve taken a chance on guys like Ryan Mccord, Mitch Megginson and Lewis Milne – all talented players who ended up struggling badly with full time football.  
I think we have done a very sensible thing this season in keeping a core of full time players, but supplementing them with some part time guys. Saturday was an example of the kind of depth our squad now has – decimated with injuries yet we really should have beaten one of the leagues form sides. Last season, god knows what on earth we would have seen in that situation. Staying 100% full time would have been to the detriment of squad depth, and going 100% part time wouldn’t see us attract some of the quality players we have – it’s a nice balance.
The short/medium term aim for the club will/should be to become an established Championship side – very difficult to that if you are 100% part time – can get by for a couple of seasons maybe but then it becomes really difficult. 
Raith forum for this pish
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38 minutes ago, fatdoug1938 said:
49 minutes ago, CALDERON said:
This league is almost always won by full time sides. What full time football wont do, is make poor or average players good. As we saw last season, we expected full time football to turn a poorly assembled and unbalanced squad into something they weren’t. Generally though, it gives the edge providing the quality of player and management are already there. 
When we won this league 10 years ago, the difference in fitness was huge. It isn’t anymore, for whatever reason – but I do think we are starting to see some benefits. Our style of football has generally been a lot better this season, you can noticeably see moves and passages of play that have been worked on extensively, and we more often than not are finishing games strongly – and that is something that should improve as we enter the winter months. We scored late on against Dumbarton, Montrose, Forfar this season, and finished strongly against Airdrie and EF (2nd time around). We are generally turning defeats into points, which we didn’t do last season, and a greater work ethic has something to with that – and I’m sure being full time helps that. 
Its not just about money or wages though. Generally, its easier for players to make the step up if they are already full time – so in theory more talented players want to come to the club. There isn’t a hope in hell that Regan Hendry, for example, would have signed for a completely part time Raith Rovers – especially with some of the offers elsewhere he was receiving. However a good season or two with us would make him less of a risk for bigger clubs. Its much less of a gamble from the players side , especially the younger ones who feel like they can still have a crack at the top level – they don’t have to go through the hassle of getting a job etc. I’d imagine the part time lifestyle would be a difficult one to give up (see Rory Mcallister) Even in recent years, we’ve taken a chance on guys like Ryan Mccord, Mitch Megginson and Lewis Milne – all talented players who ended up struggling badly with full time football.  
I think we have done a very sensible thing this season in keeping a core of full time players, but supplementing them with some part time guys. Saturday was an example of the kind of depth our squad now has – decimated with injuries yet we really should have beaten one of the leagues form sides. Last season, god knows what on earth we would have seen in that situation. Staying 100% full time would have been to the detriment of squad depth, and going 100% part time wouldn’t see us attract some of the quality players we have – it’s a nice balance.
The short/medium term aim for the club will/should be to become an established Championship side – very difficult to that if you are 100% part time – can get by for a couple of seasons maybe but then it becomes really difficult. 

Raith forum for this pish

East Fife fans were asking specific questions on Raith Rovers full time status and it's benefits, to be fair. 

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19 minutes ago, Brashy's Boots said:
57 minutes ago, sammytroot said:
754 EF fans reported as being in away end.
Would be great ifthey all turned up at Bayview on Saturday.

Would be a miracle.

Zinger. Odds on the extra few hundred Raith fans who turned up on Saturday being there for the Stranraer game in two weeks?

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56 minutes ago, Gordon EF said:

Zinger. Odds on the extra few hundred Raith fans who turned up on Saturday being there for the Stranraer game in two weeks?

 

And what a piss-poor deflection that was.

Well spotted the whole gate was 2900ish and East Fife accounted for 754 of that, ergo the home support was 2150 which is actually 500-600 up on our average home gate (the average for East Fife at home last season was 698 just in case you didn't know). Those figures show that your point was valid in that the home support was up by over 30%. 

On the other hand the return zinger (whatever the f**k that is) shows that East Fife's travelling support was indeed not only greater than the average home gate but also up over 800% on their away norm. Here's a tip: If you're going to shift focus by pointing out we have some fair-weather fans then I suggest you'd be better making sure your own arse is better covered first, or to put it in layman's terms people who live in glass houses.....

Perhaps in reality it really only goes to show that there are more East Fife fans who are willing to come out and treat this as a meaningful derby, fair fucks to them for it!

 

https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/football/48473238

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3 minutes ago, Scottydog said:

 

And what a piss-poor deflection that was.

Well spotted the whole gate was 2900ish and East Fife accounted for 754 of that, ergo the home support was 2150 which is actually 500-600 up on our average home gate (the average for East Fife at home last season was 698 just in case you didn't know). Those figures show that your point was valid in that the home support was up by over 30%. 

On the other hand the return zinger (whatever the f**k that is) shows that East Fife's travelling support was indeed not only greater than the average home gate but also up over 800% on their away norm. Here's a tip: If you're going to shift focus by pointing out we have some fair-weather fans then I suggest you'd be better making sure your own arse is better covered first, or to put it in layman's terms people who live in glass houses.....

Perhaps in reality it really only goes to show that there are more East Fife fans who are willing to come out and treat this as a meaningful derby, fair fucks to them for it!

 

https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/football/48473238

image.png.aa2c37f20a80df0065e864baf82ff69e.png

Ooooft

Edited by Gordon EF
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9 minutes ago, TxRover said:

How about both sides recognize that this year the EF/RR matches are a bit more attractive and attracting better crowds.

Far too sensible, not enough petty point scoring attempts, must try harder 😉

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10 hours ago, RioRab said:

I think you are clutching at straws.  In what bracket do you think are the wages at Raith are for full time players?  Consider what that means to the wages of their part time players.  Do you think Raith part time players earn less than other League 1 part time players?  Or do you think comparing Raith full time players wages to their part time players will show that their is little difference between their wages?  So - why bother signing players on full time contracts??

You lost me on i think. The words waffle and slavering spring to mind. You didn't answer my question. Read back what I said. Full time teams should have the edge over part time teams but at third tier level and indeed second, the difference is generally small for reasons i and others have given. I think you are clutching at straws to suggest full time teams should be humping part time teams when we are competing for similar quality of player. Part time football at league one level is generally more lucrative for a player if you have a semi decent job outside football.

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10 hours ago, RioRab said:

Don't you think that is a bit of an insult to generations of part time players over the years that have played in the Scottish leagues?  If you think that is the case, it follows that you must also think the same about current full time players and that they are better/fitter than previous generations?  If so, how do you think say the current Scotland team would fare against say any of the 60's, 70's and 80's Scotland teams?  Or say the current Aberdeen/Dundee Utd teams against their 80's teams?

Historically part-time players weren't as fit as full time, however that has definitely changed over the last 15 years or so. The exposure of the basement leagues when Rangers reformed highlighted that to many. The game has changed so much over the years. I don't believe guys like Best, Puskas, Baxter & a 50 year Mathews would get by, despite their undoubted ability. Whereas it would be great to see the Lisbon lions, the busby babes, Pele etc with today's tactics, methods, balls, boots and pitches. They would be nowhere near fit enough. Hard to argue how Scotland would compare with past sides, or the Don's or Utd v their 80s sides, remember in these eras the opposion wasn't as strong as is today (there's no way theyd beat Real Madrid or Barcelona nowadays, they money has given them squads packed with world class players) I suspect the ability has fallen, but fitness has certainly increased. Money isn't as evenly spread across the European game now making it harder for teams from outside the big 5 to compete. I live in hope our game can improve both club and nationality though. 

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4 hours ago, Scottydog said:

 

And what a piss-poor deflection that was.

Well spotted the whole gate was 2900ish and East Fife accounted for 754 of that, ergo the home support was 2150 which is actually 500-600 up on our average home gate (the average for East Fife at home last season was 698 just in case you didn't know). Those figures show that your point was valid in that the home support was up by over 30%. 

On the other hand the return zinger (whatever the f**k that is) shows that East Fife's travelling support was indeed not only greater than the average home gate but also up over 800% on their away norm. Here's a tip: If you're going to shift focus by pointing out we have some fair-weather fans then I suggest you'd be better making sure your own arse is better covered first, or to put it in layman's terms people who live in glass houses.....

Perhaps in reality it really only goes to show that there are more East Fife fans who are willing to come out and treat this as a meaningful derby, fair fucks to them for it!

 

https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/football/48473238

FAR too accurate,analytical, erudite and balanced for this forum!!................😉

Edited by Wee Sandy
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6 hours ago, Scottydog said:

 

And what a piss-poor deflection that was.

Well spotted the whole gate was 2900ish and East Fife accounted for 754 of that, ergo the home support was 2150 which is actually 500-600 up on our average home gate (the average for East Fife at home last season was 698 just in case you didn't know). Those figures show that your point was valid in that the home support was up by over 30%. 

On the other hand the return zinger (whatever the f**k that is) shows that East Fife's travelling support was indeed not only greater than the average home gate but also up over 800% on their away norm. Here's a tip: If you're going to shift focus by pointing out we have some fair-weather fans then I suggest you'd be better making sure your own arse is better covered first, or to put it in layman's terms people who live in glass houses.....

Perhaps in reality it really only goes to show that there are more East Fife fans who are willing to come out and treat this as a meaningful derby, fair fucks to them for it!

 

https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/football/48473238

I would imagine both ends had more than a few Pars/Cowden fans from round the region who's teams were both playing away attracted by the big top of the table derby.

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Second the opinion on a very nice package of highlights. A nicely balanced commentary too, very refreshing after listening to the Falkirk v Clyde highlights from Falkirk, because everyone was saying how absurd they were, and they were right.

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