Raith Rovers manager Ian Murray agrees new three-year deal

Murray has been in charge of the Fifers – currently five points clear of Dundee United at the top of the Scottish Championship and looking to extend a 14-match unbeaten run at home to Arbroath this coming Saturday – since May 2022 and he’s now put pen to paper on a three-year extenstion to the two-year contract he signed after arriving from Airdrieonians.

“I’m delighted to be here first and foremost,” the 42-year-old told Raith TV after confirming that new deal.

“I’ve really enjoyed my time at Raith Rovers.

“Last year was difficult – I think that’s been well documented – but that’s in the past now and we move forward.

“It’s been a pleasure to be here this season, working with the guys we have not just on the pitch but off it too. They’ve been a tremendous help to me in giving me the tools to try and do the best we can.

“As a football manager, that’s all you can ask for – to be given an opportunity and to be given a fair hit at it, which I have been.

“It’s a great place to be at the moment. We’re trying to keep building and we’re trying to keep moving forward.

“We’re trying to make this football club better. There are going to be mistakes – there’ve been mistakes and there’ll be more, we have to realise that.

“For me, it’s about building something. Forget scorelines, it’s about can I leave this place in a better situation than when I walked in?

“So far, we’re doing all right, but once we get success, we want so much more.

“We’re ahead of where we thought we were going to be, but we knew it was possible.

“So far so good. We’re really, really happy and the club are thriving at the moment.”

Raith are former Hibernian, Rangers and Scotland defender Murray’s fourth club as manager following stints at Dumbarton from 2012 to 2015, St Mirren in 2015 and Airdrie from 2018 to 2022.

He credits hard work for his success in Fife to date and he’s promising more of the same going forward.

“Kirkcaldy is a hard-working, industrial town and we try to replicate that on the pitch,” he said.

“We try to work as hard as we can for these people, it’s as simple as that. That’s the minimum that people want to see and deserve, and I always think that if you do that and you give everything you’ve got, people appreciate that.

“Football isn’t always going to go your way regardless of how hard you work, but you can’t let your standards and your work ethic drop at any point, and I think this group of players certainly have that and they also have a bit of quality. We try to do our best.

“It’s been a tremendous journey this season so far, that’s for sure, and for the supporters as well. We’ve had some very strange games and exciting games.

“We are where we are at the moment. We’re not sitting here thinking we’re the best and we’re not thinking the job’s done because it’s just started. We know how quickly things can change in football.

“We’re ahead of where we thought we were going to be. I think if we were being realistic at the start of the season and we said we’d lose two out of 26 competitive games, both away from home and both by a goal and one against a top-six premiership team, we’d all probably be scratching our heads a little bit.

“We’ve had to win games in the league in particular to keep up with Dundee United as they’ve done fantastically well also.”

As well as Raith are doing at the moment, Murray is all too aware they’ve won nothing yet and need to keep up the good work if they’re to do so, adding: “There’s a long, long way to go. There are going to be loads and loads of twists and turns for all the teams in this league.

“We want more all the time. We want to be better all the time. We want more points.”