Roth Raivers | Part 25: Legendary Status

Imagine seven years from now, in real life, Raith Rovers have not only surpassed Rangers as the second-best team in Scotland but are also tantalisingly close to toppling Celtic.

That is exactly the case as, on 3 April 2027, Raith Rovers have just convincingly defeated Hibernian 3-0, sending them into the Premiership’s end of season table split top of the league. Every team in the top half now has to play each other once, and Raith lead Celtic by one point.

That means we have five games remaining to claim a historic, unprecedented title. Not only would it be the first in Raith Rovers history, it would be the first outside the Old Firm since 1985. That’s 42 years! Needless to say, the good folk of Fife were delirious with excitement at the prospect of such glory, but also the meteoric rise of their club.

But this was going to be far from easy. We had to visit fourth-placed Hibs, sixth-placed Hearts and third-placed Rangers, and had home games against Celtic and Greenock Morton.

Match 1: Hibernian away

Hibernian started strongly in our 34th game of the season, forcing Alex ASimpson into a couple of saves. But we soon took control, peppering their goal with 11 shots of which one found the net from midfielder Colin Rebello.

We were straight on the front foot after the break as striker Grzegorz Jakubowski going close from a corner. They went down the other end and forced Simpson into another big save, and nothing happened for the final 25 minutes. That meant we edged to a 1-0 win at the same time as Celtic beat Hearts 2-0. So, four games to go and still one point clear.

Match 2: Celtic at home

A huge game followed, up against the mighty Celtic, We started strongly and it paid off as we won a penalty that big Willie Binnie stepped up to smash home. Odsonne Edouard missed a huge chance just before the break and we went in one goal to the good.

We again started the half well with Oliver Higgins firing wide, then a Glen Cranston free-kick rebounded to captain Dylan Tait, who fired home from 20 yards. However, the idiot Higgins then got himself sent off with 35 minutes remaining.

Despite the man disadvantage, ten minutes later Jakubowski had a goal ruled out for offside, then right-winger Mark Frost sealed it with a powerful drive from left-back Joshua Willis cross. Celtic got alate consolation, but we sealed a massive victory to move four points clear with three games remaining!

Game 3: Hearts away

The third game in the season conclusion saw a welcome return from injury for midfielder Callum Wigley, who returned to the bench. We again started strongly with Frost shooting narrowly wide on 5 minutes then Hearts went close in the final minute of a very quiet first half.

We were struggling to make anything happen as Hearts again went close just after the break. But the big turning point was inspired by the inspirational summer signing Raphael Varane. The big centre-back stepped out of defence and slid the ball through Hearts’ backline for Niall Quinn – the loanee from Celtic – to slide home the opener.

We went defensive and nullified Hearts, to ease to another 1-0 away win. Those three points ensured we qualified for the Champions League for the second time. Celtic responded by thumping Rangers 4-0 in the Old Firm Derby.

Game 4: Greenock Morton at home

We were now four points clear of Celtic with two games remaining, which meant that a win over Greenock Morton would seal our first ever title. However, the fifth-place side were no pushover, had the league’s top scorer and beat us away a month prior.

I held a team meeting to buoy the lads’ confidence, which seemed to go well, and we went with the same starting eleven that had won six on the bounce.

However, this time we started terribly, with Greenock dominating and going ahead with a Willis own goal. Despite improving in the second half we simply couldn’t find a way through and slipped to a dire 1-0 defeat.

Game 5: Rangers away

Surely Rangers wouldn’t want Celtic to win the league, again? Well, that would be the case if they beat us and Celtic avoided defeat at Greenock. And the situation wasn’t lost on Neil Lennon, who issued a reminder to Rangers boss Savo Milosevic prior to the game.

Bizarrely, FM scumbags Man United decided to recall our right-back Godwin Uzeh two days before the big game (on my birthday) so another United loanee Matt Booth came in for him.

The game started quietly, with Quinn having a decent chance but firing wide. Celtic took the lead on 27 minutes only to score an own goal 3 minutes later.

Our former player then put Greenock ahead on 47 minutes, just as Rangers scored with their first highlight of the game. Absolutely nothing happened for the rest of the first half, with time ticking by so fast and with me concentrating on the Celtic score so much that I forgot to make subs and didn’t realise how much time had ticked by.

We lost 1-0 at Rangers, but Celtic unbelievably went and lost 2-1 at Greenock. Which meant that Raith Rovers were champions of Scotland for the very first time in their history!!

The Raith faithful were unsurprisingly beyond delighted, and singled me out for praise claining that I was “thoroughly deserving of the ‘legend’ moniker.” And, indeed, this achievement propelled me to become a Legend of Raith Rovers for the first time.

It’s safe to say this achievement was highly unexpected at the start of the 2026/27 campaign. We were expected to finish third and were 4/1 to win the league, so it shouldn’t be too much of a shock, but Celtic were basically guaranteed to win it.

Taking Raith from League One to champions of Scotland in eight seasons has to be up there as my top achievement in Football Manager, ever. It’s up there with taking Boreham Wood to Premier League champions and making Atalanta the best team in the world. But I think with the finances – we still only have £15 million in the bank – and player quality, and given the tight Brexit restrictions in place, this one probably outshines them.

Just to prove this point, we’ve won the Scottish Premiership captained by Dylan Tait, who has been with Raith since the very start of the save and still remains a starting midfielder. His physical attributes are solid but the rest, well, aren’t brilliant. But, he has been exceptional throughout this journey, racking up 322 appearances for the club in that time.