Raith Rovers' Next Permanent Manager

[SirJimmyofNic]

Whichever one of them can get Spencer, Tumilty and Musonda re-signed will be very good

[Rover1990]

Will be happy with either of them.  More leaning towards Murray but just glad its looking like it wont be some hasbeen.

[RRFC_Liam]

Looking like Thomson or Murray which will be good appointment in terms of that it won’t divide the fans base and both will be backed by supporters.

im glad it’s not the over the hill Hasbeens that’s here for a final payday….. let’s see which one the board picks 

[Michael W]

That would be grand, although my personal preference would be for Ian Murray. 

I am keeping myself grounded in case we end up with Liam Fox. 

[Raith_Raver]

They're obviously different in many respects but both are advocates of attacking football and can organise a team. I can't say who I prefer but will be pleased with either.

Edited May 23, 2022 by Raith_Raver

[Double Jack D]

Yes, either of those two would be more than acceptable. Both are a bit of a gamble but we finished 5th last season so it's time for a roll of the dice. Of all the names mentioned, these would be my top two.

Hopefully we get a decent statement of intent from the club and the fans can unite behind the new management team leaving the tail end of last season in the bin.

[Ro Sham Bo]

32 minutes ago, Michael W said:

That would be grand, although my personal preference would be for Ian Murray. 

I am keeping myself grounded in case we end up with Liam Fox. 

I'm the same. Murray seems the safer option so I would tend towards him.

I also would not put it past us to snatch defeat from the jaws of victory here though.

[Jilted John]

I don’t really want Murray. He’s got Airdrie in and around the playoffs but hasn’t been able to go that one step further. Most people who wanted Mcglynn gone were critical that he had perhaps taken us as far as he could. I don’t see what Murray has done that would make people think he could have us punching above our weight when he couldn’t do the same at Airdrie?

Edited May 23, 2022 by Jilted John

[Raith Against The Machine]

If Murray can bring Dylan Easton with him, that might tip the balance. 

[GazH6]

9 minutes ago, Jilted John said:

I don’t really want Murray. He’s got Airdrie in and around the playoffs but hasn’t been able to go that one step further. Most people who wanted Mcglynn gone were critical that he had perhaps taken us as far as he could. I don’t see what Murray has done that would make people think he could have us punching above our weight when he couldn’t do the same at Airdrie?

Or St Mirren 

[Ro Sham Bo]

10 minutes ago, Jilted John said:

I don’t really want Murray. He’s got Airdrie in and around the playoffs but hasn’t been able to go that one step further. Most people who wanted Mcglynn gone were critical that he had perhaps taken us as far as he could. I don’t see what Murray has done that would make people think he could have us punching above our weight when he couldn’t do the same at Airdrie?

When you look at the list of candidates, there's much more potential for someone to take us backwards at a rate of knots. If Murray can come in and do what he's done at Airdrie and keep us competitive in the top half of the table while improving the squad each year that will do me.

Thomson is the potential risk/reward option. In theory he is the more exciting appointment with the hope he really is as good as the hype, but at the same time he also seems more likely to be a disaster than Murray would be.

[Heid_The_Baw]

Murray is my 1st choice, then Thomson.  However Thomson seems to have this wee problem of his football management coming second to his very vocal support for Sevco/appearances on Sevco TV.
THAT will need to change for me, or it will show his focus is elsewhere.
 

[CALDERON]

All I can remember about Murrays Airdrie side was that they played every minute as if there was 2 minutes of injury time left.  Was really bizarre to watch.

That said, I'd be happy enough.  He's obviously improved Airdrie and they were within a few seconds of bring Cove down to the wire.

[Enigma]

9 minutes ago, Heid_The_Baw said:

Murray is my 1st choice, then Thomson.  However Thomson seems to have this wee problem of his football management coming second to his very vocal support for Sevco/appearances on Sevco TV.
THAT will need to change for me, or it will show his focus is elsewhere.
 

I can accept some media stuff, that’s par for the course, but that Chris Sutton tweet of his made me wince.

Edited May 23, 2022 by Enigma

[SirJimmyofNic]

Aye lets just go for Fox, then we can all be feckin unhappy, christ we need a manager a.s.a.p. and those two are as good as we are likely to get. 

 

[Mr November]

41 minutes ago, Jilted John said:

I don’t really want Murray. He’s got Airdrie in and around the playoffs but hasn’t been able to go that one step further. Most people who wanted Mcglynn gone were critical that he had perhaps taken us as far as he could. I don’t see what Murray has done that would make people think he could have us punching above our weight when he couldn’t do the same at Airdrie?

We blew the play-offs but we finished 13 points clear of 3rd and 21 points clear of 4th, going the last 20 league games unbeaten. Cove were slightly better and had the edge in the games between us which made the difference but given Cove, Falkirk and Queen’s Park all presumably had bigger budgets than us, I’d say that’s very much punching above our weight in a 36 game season.

I posted something similar on  our thread but for the last three seasons our head to head record against Raith, Thistle and Cove has been the difference between the teams. We haven’t beaten any of them and have finished 2-7 points behind them. Given that Murray was working with a team he didn’t build entirely on his own and he was clearly working with some players he didn’t trust for the first two of those seasons, I’d say that’s pretty good going. It took him a while to get fully going with Airdrie but he’s steadily improved us each season and I’d say that’s more impressive than winning a league with Kelty.

15 minutes ago, CALDERON said:

All I can remember about Murrays Airdrie side was that they played every minute as if there was 2 minutes of injury time left.  Was really bizarre to watch.

That said, I'd be happy enough.  He's obviously improved Airdrie and they were within a few seconds of bring Cove down to the wire.

He’s calmed down slightly this season. The big difference from the 19-20 season was that Murray clearly didn’t fully trust our midfield, which led to us playing counter-attacking football which was often a bit stodgy or rushed. That 1-0 game at Starks where we must have taken about 50 long throws summer up our lack of creativity.

This season he’s been allowed to build a team of his own and it’s pretty telling that he signed Easton, Frizzell, Agnew and McCabe (albeit he ended up at centre back), four ball-playing midfielders who Murray has given a lot of freedom to which has led to us playing very open (sometimes too open), expansive attacking football. Murray still has his moments, if we’re losing he just keeps chucking strikers on and the second leg against Montrose was very much no obvious positions or tactics, just get it forward and cause chaos but to be fair it worked. He’s done that a few other times this season too where we’ve ended up playing a 2-2-6 with no natural defenders as he’s chucked Fordyce up to win headers, it generally has mixed success but it’s a good laugh to watch.

[Raith_Raver]

38 minutes ago, Ro Sham Bo said:

Thomson is the potential risk/reward option. In theory he is the more exciting appointment with the hope he really is as good as the hype, but at the same time he also seems more likely to be a disaster than Murray would be.

Exactly my thinking; Thomson looks a greater risk but could be a real winner. I'm not bothered that he's a Rangers fan, but maybe not such a stable influence on the dressing room as Murray. I think the latter is a safer pair of hands. It's a hard choice.

[Michael W]

55 minutes ago, Jilted John said:

I don’t really want Murray. He’s got Airdrie in and around the playoffs but hasn’t been able to go that one step further. Most people who wanted Mcglynn gone were critical that he had perhaps taken us as far as he could. I don’t see what Murray has done that would make people think he could have us punching above our weight when he couldn’t do the same at Airdrie?

From my perspective, his positives are:

Had an extended unbeaten run last season (20 league games). 

Finished second in the league and ran a well-backed Cove Rangers close. 

Despite the play-off disappointment, Airdrie bettered that Queens team over the course of the season. Disappointing naturally that he lost it, but looking looking at the bigger picture it was a pretty successful season. 

I'd also counter his disaster at St Mirren with him doing a good job at Dumbarton whilst they were in the Championship. 

It's also a fair comment that the Airdrie fans were wanting him out last season, but he managed to turn it around. Made the playoffs last season when it looked like they might not and had a good run this year. 

The only 'unblemished' candidate is Kevin Thomson who, in his only season won the league at a canter albeit with a budget befitting of a Championship team. He will not get this at Raith and I have reservations over how he would cope with that. 

[Jilted John]

The way I see it is, if we wanted ‘stability’ then we should have gone all out to keep Mcglynn… we didn’t. A large number of fans were fed up with stability. 

If we want someone who’s going to look to really push us forward, Kevin Thomson ticks that box. Albeit it’s a bigger risk. 

[Raith_Raver]

7 minutes ago, Jilted John said:

The way I see it is, if we wanted ‘stability’ then we should have gone all out to keep Mcglynn… we didn’t. A large number of fans were fed up with stability. 

If we want someone who’s going to look to really push us forward, Kevin Thomson ticks that box. Albeit it’s a bigger risk. 

Aye, he does. I suspect the board aren't that brave though and for that reason I think they'll go for Murray (assuming it's between these two).