Ian Murray feels “a big, big difference” from this time last year.
Changes off the field are the remit of others – but on the footballing side, the Raith Rovers manager is happy with the increase in staff to share the workload.
John Potter has been brought in as technical director and has been heavily involved in the early transfer business, with six new faces already in the door.
Most of those have been in attacking areas and the club has been working hard to strengthen the backline to avoid a repeat of the makeshift defence that kicked off last season.
Waiting game
Asked if any new signings would be brought in this week, Murray told Courier Sport: “I’m not sure, is the truthful answer.
“We’re waiting on a couple of answers, which could be tomorrow, could be Monday. Hopefully, in the next 24-48 hours, we do know what we’ve got and what we don’t have.
“But I don’t think we’ll have any done by the weekend.
“We’ve still got a few boys on the treatment table from last season: Kieran Mitchell and Aidan Connolly.
“We have a couple of wee niggles, which is normal in pre-season. So we have to assess them.
No immediate outgoings
“At the moment there are no plans for players to leave the club – and in terms of outgoings in the loan market, we’ll look at that much further down the line and see what numbers we’ve got.
“But I don’t see too much movement going out the way – certainly until the League Cup.”
🏆 We have a Fife Derby!
2023/24 Viaplay Cup Group F:
⚽️ Kilmarnock
⚽️ Raith Rovers
⚽️ Annan Athletic
⚽️ Albion Rovers
⚽️ Dunfermline Athletic🗓️ Fixtures to be announced in due course.
⏳ 37 days until competitive football is back! pic.twitter.com/NgO2pyuLzX
— Raith Rovers Football Club (@RaithRovers) June 8, 2023
Rovers were the only Championship side on the final day of last season that started the day with nothing to play for.
The silver lining was that preparations for the coming campaign – in what will be a stronger division – could get under way and a decision was made to bring the players back a week earlier than most other clubs.
Early return
“It was intentional,” continued Murray. “It was about a week earlier than a lot of other teams in the league.
“I just felt we needed to be a wee bit ahead of the game, ahead of the curve.
✅ Week one. pic.twitter.com/B65pudvcJ5
— Raith Rovers Football Club (@RaithRovers) June 16, 2023
“We did get five weeks off as well, which is great, and we decided to come back early.
“It probably looks a bit earlier than it actually is. We’re only three weeks away, on Saturday, from our first League Cup game.
“I felt five weeks was enough for us. We’re back in and ready to get going again.”
