A Farewell to David McGurn

Rovers playoff adventure came to an end at Dens Park last night, after an excellent season for the club.

The final whistle also marked the end of Raith Rovers goalkeeping coach David McGurn’s time at the club – he will leave at the end of this season to focus on his full–time college lecturing job as the club returns to a wholly full–time setup from next season.

Davie has made a total of 256 appearances for Raith Rovers Football Club and he currently sits 41^st in the all-time appearances list for the club and in the goalkeeping position he is 3^rd in the all-time list behind Murray McDermott (495 appearances, 5^th all-time) and Bobby Reid (328 appearances, 19^th all-time).

Davie was signed by John McGlynn on the 21^st May 2008 after a successful 6 season spell at Greenock Morton.

He quickly established himself as a first team regular and made 35 appearances in his first season at the club including 30 league games of which 15 of these were clean sheets. In fact he had the truly remarkable record of conceding only two goals in the final 11 league games in 2008-09. Rovers won the league in his first season at the club and the contributions from the keeper playing behind a steady defence that included Marvin Andrews, Mark Campbell, Craig Wilson & Laurie Ellis were a major factor.

Davie has always commented that winning the title at the National Stadium was a real highlight, and nobody

will forget that fantastic picture of Dave McGurn sliding along in the mud in the final, rain soaked game against Arbroath at Stark’s Park.

The 2009-10 season saw Raith promoted to the second tier of Scottish football with Davie playing a total of 49 games which included playing in 35 out of the 36 league games. The one game he did miss was the final match against Ross County where goalkeeper Gary O’Connor’s took his place in Gary’s final game for the club. (Rovers winning that game 4-1 with a Johnny Russell hat-trick!). In his 35 league games Davie McGurn kept 10 clean sheets. Davie has always said one of his favourite ever saves was against Dunfermline at East End Park in August 2009. It came from a bullet Graham Bayne header that not only prevented a Dunfermline goal but also set up a counter attack that led to Darren Smith setting up Damian Casalinuovo to put Raith Rovers 2-0 ahead.

Rovers fans also remember a remarkable triple save that Davie made against Ayr United at Stark’s Park in March 2010 earning him the nickname ‘the Witch’. But whilst the league campaign proved challenging, Rovers finishing in 7^th, the Scottish Cup campaign was a great success with Rovers making it through three cup replays in the 3^rd(vs Peterhead), 4^th (vs Airdrie Utd) 5^th (vs Aberdeen) rounds before beating Dundee in the Quarter finals and eventually being knocked out by Dundee Utd in the semi-finals. Dave played in all 8 of the ties and as always made valuable contributions in each of the ties.

In the following season Davie played the first 23 consecutive games in all competitions before his season was halted through injury early in February 2011. At that stage Rovers had moved 5 points clear at the top of Division One with the only unbeaten away record in the whole of the British Leagues. Dave had played 19 league games prior to injury and kept an amazing 10 clean sheets. Rovers brought in keeper Andy McNeil to act as competition for the keeper’s jersey and he replaced Davie for much of the rest of the season. Rovers eventually ran out of steam and their promotion hopes finally dashed with the 2-1 defeat at East End Park in the third last league game of the season. Despite missing virtually half the season Dave McGurn still made a total of 29 appearances.

In the 2011-12 season Dave McGurn played 45 out of 47 fixtures. Rovers finished seventh in the league,

despite conceding less goals than Hamilton and Livingston who finished fourth and fifth respectively. During the season Davie made a penalty save in a 3-2 win over Hamilton to help secure the points.

Rovers stay in the division was in doubt with 6 games remaining but a run of 4 wins and a draw in the final 6 games kept them in the league.

The 2012-13 season was a bit stop/start for Dave McGurn. He managed to get himself sent off in the 5-2 Ramsdens Cup win against Montrose meaning Rovers had to draft in keeper Allan Fleming from Kelty Hearts for the next round of the cup with Davie suspended and Ross Laidlaw injured. The game was televised but ended in a 3-0 defeat at Firhill by Partick. Davie played through until end October when he picked up an injury that kept him out for two months with Ross Laidlaw stepping in for his mentor.

Davie did manage to achieve a lifelong ambition when Rovers played Celtic at Parkhead in the third round of the League Cup. It is well known that David is a lifelong Celtic fan so to play at Parkhead for Rovers was a dream. Rovers pulled the game back to 1-1 with an Allan Walker goal but it was a night when Gary Hooper stole the headlines with all 4 Celtic goals. Davie made a total of 36 appearances, 27 of those in the league with 8 clean sheets.

Despite 2013-14 being a successful season for Rovers when they won the Ramsdens Cup on 6^th April 2014 it was a frustrating one for David McGurn. In a match against Morton at Stark’s Park in October 2013 Davie tore his Achilles tendon which required surgery and he missed the rest of the season. This was a cruel blow as Davie had played in all the Ramsden Cup games up to and including the semi-final but sadly he missed the final.

Ross Laidlaw initially replaced David McGurn for the league games but in February 2014 Lee Robinson was brought in by manager Grant Murray and he played in the successful Ramsden Final when Rovers beat Rangers in extra-time. In an absolutely magnificent gesture Lee Robinson handed his winner’s  medal to Davie McGurn. Rovers once again finished seventh in the league escaping the relegation play-offs by just 2 points. Davie only played 18 games this season.

The following season Davie was back from injury but newly arrived Kevin Cuthbert was between the sticks for the early games of the 2014-15 season. But in September a troublesome shoulder injury meant he was sidelined. Ross Laidlaw assumed the keeping role for the next seven games before Davie McGurn returned to first team action for the next 25 consecutive games. In total David made 28 appearances in a very competitive league that included Hearts, Hibs, Rangers and a strong Falkirk. David kept 5 clean sheets in the league. As a Celtic fan, Davie also has fond memories of the Scottish Cup win at Ibrox in February 2015 with Rovers beating Rangers 2-1 through Ryan Conroy and Christian Nade goals.

In 2015 David McGurn was quite rightly rewarded for his service to the club by being inducted into the Raith Rovers Hall of Fame.

In 2015-16 with competition for the first team goalkeeping position very strong with Kevin Cuthbert and Ross Laidlaw, David McGurn went out on a season-long loan to Stranraer to continue to be guaranteed first team football. The following summer and after 241 appearances for Rovers, David departed to join Cowdenbeath for two seasons.

It is a mark of the respect that Raith Rovers fans and the club have for David McGurn that on 23^rd September 2018 a testimonial match for the well-loved keeper was held at Stark’s Park. A fantastic turn out of former players managed by John McGlynn and ex-Rovers goalkeeping coach Wayne Henderson, enjoyed a brilliant afternoon and it was poignant that David’s family were in attendance to witness a really great occasion. Davie even managed to score a late penalty (at the second attempt!!!)

Davie was brought back to Stark’s Park by John McGlynn in the summer of 2019 both as a player and as a qualified SFA Goalkeeping Coach.

Rovers started the 2019-20 season with Robbie Thomson recovering from a ruptured Achilles which happened in April the previous season. Ross Munro was brought in on-loan from Ross County and Davie McGurn and Ross shared keeping duties for the first half of the season with Davie making 15 appearances. His final game for Rovers being the 2-0 defeat away at Peterhead on 2^nd November 2019.

Everyone at Raith Rovers Football Club would like to thank David McGurn for all his contributions over the years. He has been the consummate professional both on and off the park and the description of ‘fan’s favourite’ has never been more appropriate.

We wish Davie all the best in his future endeavours and hope that he will not be a stranger at Stark’s Park.

Rovers manager John McGlynn paid tribute to Davie McGurn during his post – match interview with RaithTV last night (scroll forward to 4 minutes 20 seconds):

Back to News