Raith Rovers had been pondering sacking manager Ian Murray for months, reveals CEO Andrew Barrowman

Seven months after being handed a three-year contract extension – a deal announced on the club’s Facebook page with a spoof of a scene from the 2003 romantic comedy Love Actually featuring Barrowman showing cards to Murray bearing messages including ‘to me, you are perfect’ – the 43-year-old was surprised to be handed another piece of paper by his boss, this time with P45 written on it.

Though derided by many football fans both locally and nationwide as naff, that two-and-a-half-minute clip, posted on December 24 and billed as an early Christmas present, went on to garner almost 1,000 positive reactions and just short of 200 comments from supporters glad to see Murray, at Raith since agreeing a two-year deal in May 2022, commit himself to the Scottish Championship title challengers until 2027.

Murray was given the boot a day on from overseeing a season-opening 1-0 league defeat away to Airdrieonians on Saturday, his fifth loss in six meetings with his old club as Raith boss, the odd man out being a 1-1 draw last November.

“I spoke to Ian a couple of times on Sunday and he was shocked obviously,” Barrowman, 39, revealed in a near-20-minute interview with Raith TV on Monday explaining the day before’s shock move.

“I don’t think he necessarily agreed with my points, but he understood the rationale behind the decision, which is a mark of the individual.

“He’s been in the game along time. he’s been at the highest level a long time. He understands how the football world works, as crazy as it can be at times.

“I understand the shock. I can see why it came as a shock to fans and the wider football community given the exploits of last season.

“I can absolutely understand the shock that came yesterday when the news broke.”

Murray’s sacking had been coming for months but his success over the last two years, including finishing second in the table last season and earning a premiership play-off against Ross County, had earned him the right to try to change his paymasters’ minds by getting the new season off to a winning beginning, said former Kelty Hearts sporting director Barrowman, at Raith as CEO since May 2023.

“This isn’t a kneejerk reaction. It’s not based on one performance, five performances, or eight including the pre-season games,” he explained. “It’s an opinion formed over a number of months.

“We live and breathe this club. Every waking moment, we think about Raith Rovers.

“We see things, we hear things, we feel things that inform these opinions.

“Ultimately it’s our job to make decisions. Whether they’re right or wrong, only time will tell.

“Despite what people think, there was no flashpoint and no falling out.

“People talk about timing – why did we not do it at the end of last season?

“Rightly or wrongly, we believed that Ian deserved the opportunity for us to be better. We think he earned the right to go into the new season.

“Hindsight’s a wonderful thing. Could we have acted differently? Possibly, but it’s still our belief that Ian had earned the right to go into the new season.

“Ultimately, we don’t believe Ian was the man to take us forward and that’s why we came to the decision.”

Barrowman is backing former Hibernian hero Murray to go on to further success elsewhere, saying: “I don’t think Ian comes out of the situation badly at all.

“He did a very good job at Raith Rovers, I think, even previous to our time at the club.

“I don’t think his CV’s been damaged in any way, shape or form and I’m absolutely sure that he’ll go on to be successful in his next job and his next job after that.”

Barrowman believes standards have been slipping at Raith of late and that new leadership is required to get them back up to the heights they hit earlier in Murray’s tenure, saying: “We think there’s been a regression individually and collectively since the turn of the year.

“We didn’t feel that regression was going to change under Ian’s leadership, and that’s the reason we made the decision we have made.

“Could we have waited and given further opportunity to change? We didn’t think that was going to happen.

“Could we have waited four, five, six games? Possibly, but why, because that’s the norm, because that’s what you’re supposed to do?

“We believe that it was the right time to act. It’s in the best interests of the club to act now and move forward.

“There wasn’t a lot of toing and froing. An opinion had been formed over a long period of time and we felt it was right.

“We felt it was the right time to make the call, bold as it is absolutely, and it’s in the best interests of the club to do so at this time, we believe.

“We’re fully content and fully comfortable with the decision we’ve made.

“It is bold to do it now, that’s fair to say, but we believe it’s in the best interests of this football club and, above anything else, that’s all that matters.”

Former Scottish international Murray this week declined to comment on his departure from Stark’s Park.

The Christmas Eve Love Actually spoof announcing Murray’s contract extension can be seen at https://www.facebook.com/watch/?v=761717889326703, and Barrowman’s Raith TV interview can be seen at https://www.facebook.com/raithroversfc/videos/811079694484729?locale=en_GB

See also …

https://www.fifetoday.co.uk/sport/football/hibs-legend-paul-hanlon-one-of-bookies-favourites-to-take-over-from-ian-murray-as-raith-rovers-manager-4731389

and …

https://www.fifetoday.co.uk/sport/football/raith-rovers-hoping-to-name-new-manager-within-days-after-sacking-ian-murray-says-ceo-andrew-barrowman-4731858