Raith Rovers And Ross County

[El gofer]

Watching Sportscene, I know its only highlights but what a performance by both teams.

 

Michael Gardyne is what we are missing just now.

 

Gregory Tade was dismissed on this board as being sub standard and not good enough.... looked good to me.

 

David McGurn: Rae didnt want a part timer.........ahem.

 

Both clubs are very well run it would appear. Raith wipe out their debt by making the semis and County are the archetypal community club....... youth set up anyone. Both managed by guys who have prior experience of managing and coaching. They also pick up players with promise or a point to prove or from the local area.

 

They do the things that we dont do. Instead of a wing and a prayer it is all thought out.

 

Also the style of play..... ross county play a veyr attractive passing style with pace. Raith are well organised. Their set pieces were impressive in that they had a plan unlike ourselves.

 

THey nurture young players. I dont just mean bringing them through their ranks but taking boys at 18 or 19 from elsewhere and making them into players......such as Don Cowie, John Rankin and now barrowman, Gardyne, Steven Watt, Scott Boyd. How many rejects are in that Raith team? Simmonds, Weir, Ellis, McGurn, Murray.

 

Our signing policy, recruitment of players and managers and general vision as a club are what separates us from perennial dogfights and pushing towards the top.

 

Ross County have not done this overnight. It has taken about 3 or 4 years.

 

We have no vision for the future apart from a second hand stand and budgeting for crowds of 4000 while contributing nothing to the community in the form of an effective youth set up. And dont give me that it does not serve a purpose for a club like ours......look at the midden, hamilton, ross county, st johnstone, falkirk, motherwell. Their youth set up not working either??

 

We really need a fresh approach. TO start with Mr Rae must realise that he needs to accept advice when making decisions with regards the football side of things.

[SramTon]

Good post.

 

The Club has run out of ideas from top to bottom. There's no inspiration at all: just the same old same old, and when that doesn't work we try more of the same.

 

 

[dunning1874]

Watching Sportscene, I know its only highlights but what a performance by both teams.

 

Michael Gardyne is what we are missing just now.

 

Gregory Tade was dismissed on this board as being sub standard and not good enough.... looked good to me.

 

David McGurn: Rae didnt want a part timer.........ahem.

 

Both clubs are very well run it would appear. Raith wipe out their debt by making the semis and County are the archetypal community club....... youth set up anyone. Both managed by guys who have prior experience of managing and coaching. They also pick up players with promise or a point to prove or from the local area.

 

They do the things that we dont do. Instead of a wing and a prayer it is all thought out.

 

Also the style of play..... ross county play a veyr attractive passing style with pace. Raith are well organised. Their set pieces were impressive in that they had a plan unlike ourselves.

 

THey nurture young players. I dont just mean bringing them through their ranks but taking boys at 18 or 19 from elsewhere and making them into players......such as Don Cowie, John Rankin and now barrowman, Gardyne, Steven Watt, Scott Boyd. How many rejects are in that Raith team? Simmonds, Weir, Ellis, McGurn, Murray.

 

Our signing policy, recruitment of players and managers and general vision as a club are what separates us from perennial dogfights and pushing towards the top.

 

Ross County have not done this overnight. It has taken about 3 or 4 years.

 

We have no vision for the future apart from a second hand stand and budgeting for crowds of 4000 while contributing nothing to the community in the form of an effective youth set up. And dont give me that it does not serve a purpose for a club like ours......look at the midden, hamilton, ross county, st johnstone, falkirk, motherwell. Their youth set up not working either??

 

We really need a fresh approach. TO start with Mr Rae must realise that he needs to accept advice when making decisions with regards the football side of things.

 

Yep, Ross County really are excellent with the youth set-up. It doesn't take a genius to decide the strategy, but I used to live in Dingwall and basically every kid in Dingwall Primary is welcome to go along and play with the youth teams, and they're rewarded for this with the occasional free ticket to a game etc. Any local youngster with the slightest bit of talent is picked up straight away by doing this.

[hayfever]

How those in charge allegedly "can't see the point" in a youth setup astounds me and is thoroughly depressing. Certainly for a team living in the shadow of the Brothers Grim at the very least the club should be as visible in the community as possible.

[port-ton]

Im a fan of Rae in the sense that i think he's better for the club that anyone else, but he must look at Raith and Ross County and learn from his mistakes. He needs an experienced manager and someone to look after the youth players. it shouldnt be the job of the fans.

[Colkitto]

It's all about finiance and balancing the books I'm afraid. We cannot afford to build a stadium and run a Youth set up.

Ok, things have not gone to plan at Cappielow, Rae spent a large amount of funds on players, pitch upgrading and a new stand.

So things have gone wrong and he is now castigated for not having a Youth set up. Give the guy a break ffs !

 

What if things went right and we were in a position to be promoted but we couldn't do that because we spent the stand money on a Youth set up ? I'm sure there would be plenty on here moaning about Rae costing us promotion.

 

I'm as frustrated as anyone about our lack of progress. But constanly attacking Rae and just about everything else is becoming disgraceful. The man is ploughing thousands of pounds into this club EVERY season.

God knows how much extra he has put in with all our cancelled games. Players and staff are still getting paid on time, I remember the days that didn't happen and the embarrassment of having our club on National TV with players arguing to get their money.

 

Of course Dougie is not immune to criticism, and nor he should be. But lets keep it in perspective, some of the knee-jerk comments on here are just plain ridiculous.

Perhaps it's time we started to support our team and give them a bit of backing in our hour of need. Leave the post-mortems to the end of season !

 

[Rhubarb Mess]

It's all about finiance and balancing the books I'm afraid. We cannot afford to build a stadium and run a Youth set up.

Ok, things have not gone to plan at Cappielow, Rae spent a large amount of funds on players, pitch upgrading and a new stand.

So things have gone wrong and he is now castigated for not having a Youth set up. Give the guy a break ffs !

What if things went right and we were in a position to be promoted but we couldn't do that because we spent the stand money on a Youth set up ? I'm sure there would be plenty on here moaning about Rae costing us promotion.

 

I'm as frustrated as anyone about our lack of progress. But constanly attacking Rae and just about everything else is becoming disgraceful. The man is ploughing thousands of pounds into this club EVERY season.

God knows how much extra he has put in with all our cancelled games. Players and staff are still getting paid on time, I remember the days that didn't happen and the embarrassment of having our club on National TV with players arguing to get their money.

 

Of course Dougie is not immune to criticism, and nor he should be. But lets keep it in perspective, some of the knee-jerk comments on here are just plain ridiculous.

Perhaps it's time we started to support our team and give them a bit of backing in our hour of need. Leave the post-mortems to the end of season !

 

 

Well before the new stand, floodlights, playing surface etc expenditure Rae wasted hundreds of thousands on pish players whom HE thought would take Morton back to where we all want them. All through the past 7 years or whatever, Rae has not spent a penny on youth, he (very much in the minority) does not think it worth investing in.

 

He had the money and was not interested. DDF Rae is wrong, but he will never admit to that. Mr Rae has indeed ploughed a fair bit of dough into Cappielow (well until the bubble bursts that is) but most of it has been squandered, he has failed to spend the money taking Morton to a professional level that should be expected.

 

We ARE a Diddy team in the context that clubs like Raith and Ross County are enveloped in the local communities and think as clubs they should invest in local talent, give something and you may well reap the benefits.

 

Morton as a club on the other hand are so far out of touch with the local community it beggars belief, it wasn't that long ago when Morton was linked very closely to the local community. Whats changed? Simple, we had a strong youth policy which allowed local talent the chance to progress, now kids laugh at Morton and ridicule pals who follow them.

 

Are we, the fans, to take the blame for those failings? Are we to silently accept those failings? Do we continue to shrug our shoulders and mutter "well he did save us".

 

Mr Rae has done some grand things in his time at Morton but lets never make that grounds for not pointing out what people perceive as failings. The legacy that will remain when Rae walks away will determine how good or bad a job that was done. The road we are on at the moment does not fill me with confidence that the legacy will be one of fondness.

[El gofer]

Colkitto, I was not simply attacking Rae, but the direction the club has taken and some significant decisions that have been taken.

I spoke to a colleague of mine who refereed the U17s as they were soundly destroyed 7-0 by Ayr last week. He said the attitude of the players was not good, reflecting on the coaching, I think he sent one player off. He said the quality was embarassing also.

That is particularly galling to hear.

 

We are a local team that she not simply be paying lip service to the local community. We pay attention to them and they pay attention to us. Look at attendances.

[Colkitto]

Colkitto, I was not simply attacking Rae, but the direction the club has taken and some significant decisions that have been taken.

I spoke to a colleague of mine who refereed the U17s as they were soundly destroyed 7-0 by Ayr last week. He said the attitude of the players was not good, reflecting on the coaching, I think he sent one player off. He said the quality was embarassing also.

That is particularly galling to hear.

 

We are a local team that she not simply be paying lip service to the local community. We pay attention to them and they pay attention to us. Look at attendances.

 

 

I know you have a genuine concern about the Youth set up going by what you have said in your post. And it is a concern as we need the young players to come through and be the life-blood of our Club. And I'm not saying it shouldn't be properly addressed in the future.

 

Looks like Douglas Rae thought the stadium, pitch and bringing in ex SPL players were the priority. And to be honest I agree with him as we were in the lower leagues of Scottish football. We needed to get into the 1st division as quickly as possible and that was the main focus of where the funds were directed. I have to agree with him on that.

 

We find ourselves fighting relegation once again, and things have gone wrong this season. Douglas Rae as chairman takes the ultimate blame for the position we now find ourselves in. But some of the OTT criticism he has received on this forum at times has been quite sickening.

 

In my opinion he was NOT wrong to focus on the playing staff, playing surface or the upgrading of the stadium before focusing on the Youth set up.

 

 

[El gofer]

I just think that a number of decisions seem to have been short term fixes and that has ultimately come back to bite us on the erse!

[Colkitto]

I just think that a number of decisions seem to have been short term fixes and that has ultimately come back to bite us on the erse!

 

 

Mistakes have been made El gofer no doubt about that. Our league position doesn't lie.

[TaunTon]

I tend to disagree with Col but I can understand where he's coming from. DDFR has gambled mainly on shortcuts that haven't paid off and once again we are a poor team playing poor football in front of poor crowds. My biggest disappointment is our failure to invest in local youth as I'm sure that it is the only way forward although clearly it's not a risk free option. However what we have at the moment has the benefit of being crap while also being expensive.

 

The question for fans is how patient are you prepared to be if we adopt a new strategy? A youth policy will take some years before it starts showing results and I'm not sure a lot of Ton fans are prepared for that kind of wait. For me I'd be quite happy so long as we were seeing some year to year progress in terms of football rather than results but I'm sure others will see if differently.

 

One thing is certain though - we are currently going nowhere and unless something changes in strategy we'll be sliding back down with no hope of return.

[dunning1874]

It's all about finiance and balancing the books I'm afraid. We cannot afford to build a stadium and run a Youth set up.

Ok, things have not gone to plan at Cappielow, Rae spent a large amount of funds on players, pitch upgrading and a new stand.

So things have gone wrong and he is now castigated for not having a Youth set up. Give the guy a break ffs !

 

What if things went right and we were in a position to be promoted but we couldn't do that because we spent the stand money on a Youth set up ? I'm sure there would be plenty on here moaning about Rae costing us promotion.

 

I'm as frustrated as anyone about our lack of progress. But constanly attacking Rae and just about everything else is becoming disgraceful. The man is ploughing thousands of pounds into this club EVERY season.

God knows how much extra he has put in with all our cancelled games. Players and staff are still getting paid on time, I remember the days that didn't happen and the embarrassment of having our club on National TV with players arguing to get their money.

 

Of course Dougie is not immune to criticism, and nor he should be. But lets keep it in perspective, some of the knee-jerk comments on here are just plain ridiculous.

Perhaps it's time we started to support our team and give them a bit of backing in our hour of need. Leave the post-mortems to the end of season !

 

While I do see where you're coming from with this post, I'd say we cannot afford not to run a youth set-up.

[TRVMP]

There are very few clubs in Scotland who don't have at least some semblance of a youth setup. Brechin are one of them, and that's because they have a catchment area of virtually zero, and the Dundee clubs on their doorstep, so that's fair enough. But for a club like ours with a near-six figure catchment area to draw on, and a penchant for paying big transfer fees, it's inconceivable that we're not hunting the talent in the area (and there is some talent around here.) That players are ending up at Aberdeen and St. Mirren instead of their local club is a massive indictment of the Rae regime.

[Alibi]

Our record under Grady and McManus is worse than it was under Davie Irons. That tells you all you need to know about some of the decisions that have been made this season at least.

[hayfever]

I know you have a genuine concern about the Youth set up going by what you have said in your post. And it is a concern as we need the young players to come through and be the life-blood of our Club. And I'm not saying it shouldn't be properly addressed in the future.

 

Looks like Douglas Rae thought the stadium, pitch and bringing in ex SPL players were the priority. And to be honest I agree with him as we were in the lower leagues of Scottish football. We needed to get into the 1st division as quickly as possible and that was the main focus of where the funds were directed. I have to agree with him on that.

 

We find ourselves fighting relegation once again, and things have gone wrong this season. Douglas Rae as chairman takes the ultimate blame for the position we now find ourselves in. But some of the OTT criticism he has received on this forum at times has been quite sickening.

 

In my opinion he was NOT wrong to focus on the playing staff, playing surface or the upgrading of the stadium before focusing on the Youth set up.

 

I disagree, it should have been one of the first things that got put back together, and put in properly. If indeed it's been 7 years we may have reaped the benefits already. It only takes one new Derek Lilley to pay for the new surface/stand/Chairman's Lounge.

 

In fact, there was the Joe McLaughlin era...what happened there? Did it go so badly it put DDR off?

 

And I'm not attacking DDR specifically, it's the stench of amateurism that emanates from everything GMFC do these days (the quality of the pitch excepted of course!), both on and off the pitch, and it's embarrassing. And reflected in the attendances.

[GiGi]

In my opinion he was NOT wrong to focus on the playing staff, playing surface or the upgrading of the stadium before focusing on the Youth set up.

No perhaps not to begin with but we've now been in the division for 3 years and what progress have we made on any front? The playing staff are still not good enough, the manager is still not enough and there's been very little progress on the stadium.

 

We're not raising any funds to bring in anyone to improve the situation and will again rely on someone else's money to keep us afloat because we can't do it ourselves and the football we play is chasing more and more supporters away.

 

We're arguably worse off than when we were just promoted.

[foobs the elder]

Its very difficult.

dammed if you do and dammed if you don't.

 

However if Douggie had turned his face the other way...........

There would be no Morton.

 

If we had spent on other schemes, rather than a dismantled stand, we may , just may have been in a position the win the league but the be denied Premiership status because cappielow was not up to standard.

 

Douggie bought the stand, in my view because the price was a fraction of what Morton would have to pay at a later date, prudence, he did the right thing in my view.

 

However the playing side leaves a lot to be desired and the manager can only do so much; we have all seen these players turn it on ( infreaquently) aka Hibs game last year, played fought and scrapped for everything.

 

Then why, O why do they turn in such abysmal displays on other days.

 

The truth is in desire.........or lack

 

I give in.....just want to see attractive football......even happy with a 75% win rate.

 

Foobs

[Colkitto]

While I do see where you're coming from with this post, I'd say we cannot afford not to run a youth set-up.

 

 

Well, you should be able to tell us how we can afford to....It's all very well having nice sound bites, but where is the money to fund a Youth set up ?

[Malt]

Well, you should be able to tell us how we can afford to....It's all very well having nice sound bites, but where is the money to fund a Youth set up ?

 

Sportsmen dinners, SFA grants, commercial sponsorship. . .