Raith Rovers manager Dougie Imrie assesses 16/1 odds to win William Hill Championship
Although bookmakers currently rank Raith Rovers as distant 16/1 fifth favourites to win this season’s William Hill Championship, gaffer Dougie Imrie has refused to be drawn into an assumption that he and his players may view those odds as “disrespectful” to his troops.
The 42-year-old Stark’s Park manager – who steered Raith to fifth place last season after replacing the sacked Barry Robson – launches into the new league campaign at home to Stenhousemuir on Saturday in a 3pm kick-off with Raith below Livingston (2/1 favourites), Partick Thistle (9/4), Dunfermline Athletic (7/2) and Inverness Caledonian Thistle (10/1) in the title odds list.
But Imrie told the Fife Free Press: “Don't look at me. I don't look at that kind of stuff. It's about us as a group.
"It's about us every week, making sure Monday to Friday we work hard.
"And then come a Saturday, we try and do the business to win as many games as we can to give ourselves a chance.
"Everybody will be out to do the same, Livingston, Partick, Dunfermline, Ayr, ourselves, Inverness, Morton, Arbroath, Queen's Park and Stenny will all be out to have a good season.
"I always think the first quarter of the championship is the most difficult, because if you can start well the confidence grows, the season just flows.
"If you start poorly, you're playing catch-up.
"After the first nine games of the season, we'll reflect. We'll see where we are and then we'll take it from there.
"The target is to be better than we were last season. So take out of that what you want.
"I've always said the Championship is the hardest league in Scotland. It will be cutthroat, it will be difficult.
"There's good players, good teams, teams that are well organised. And it's really important to get off to a good start.
"We’ve got no divine right to win any game.”
What will likely help Raith’s chances this season is that they are playing home games on a brand new state-of-the-art Greenfields 'MX Elite' synthetic pitch installed at Stark’s Park this summer to replace the ageing 3G surface.
Imrie said: “Time will tell, but it is a magnificent surface. We're delighted to have it.
"We thank the board and John Sim (Raith’s interim chairman) for doing that over the summer. We've spent a lot of money on it.
"So hopefully we can do the business on the pitch that complements getting a new surface down this season.
"Obviously the players are happy with the pitch. It's brand new, so it's going to play well.
"But that means we've got to play well on it.”
Meanwhile, Imrie said he is a fan of the summer transfer window system, which this year in Scotland started on June 15 and will run until September 3.
The gaffer added: “Yes, the transfer window is good for everyone.
“Up until the end of August, you've got cross-border. And then for another month, you've got in-house transfers where you can do it in Scotland.”