Raith chief executive Eric Drysdale admits he didn’t fear that the club would lose Ray McKinnon to St Mirren.
The new Stark’s Park manager had already agreed to take over in Kirkcaldy last week but he had also previously committed to an interview with the Buddies.
The Paisley outfit, who have been relegated from the Premiership this season, ultimately decided to appoint Ian Murray as their new manager but Drysdale believes the fact they had shown serious interest in McKinnon speaks volumes for the 44-year-old.
The chief executive said: “There’s always a concern they could have come up with something we couldn’t compete with, but I was always confident from the discussions I had with Ray last week that he was extremely keen to come here. There was never any doubt at all about that.
“But until such time as everything is signed, sealed and delivered, you’ve always got that wee gnawing doubt something could go wrong at the last minute.
“But, thankfully, it hasn’t and here he is.
“St Mirren are coming down to the Championship, obviously, but they are a good size club and it just shows someone of Ray’s calibre does attract clubs of that size.
“It’s great he’s decided to come here and we’re really looking forward to working with him.”