Raith Against The Machine

I like this from Ian Rankin: "Kenny was wearing a tie that had been his dad's, Raith's shield on it - some kind of animal holding a belt-buckle. Rebus had asked the significance, but Kenny had just shrugged."

Bionic Hands is excellent! The fella Mike had more misses than hits at Dumbarton but if Bionic Hands is his brain-child then all power to him. As for the Raith Lions (would've preferred Rovers Lions myself, there's something odd about Rovers fans referring to the team as "Raith". Like you'll never hear a Partick fan call themselves "Partick", always "Thistle".) it's easy to be negative (See previous parenthesis) but good on the boys for putting a wee bit of effort into something and hopefully making some noise.

Bit the bullet and had a look at FanTalk this evening. By christ, it's worrying to know that I share a stand with some of those people every Saturday.

What the f**k?

No, but him and his carer will get in half price.

It's funny because he was a mass murderer who killed millions of his own people and he's making a playful hand-gesture which we'd usually associate with Raith Rovers striker Greig Spence. Admittedly, it's not as funny when it has to be explained.

Hey, look, it's Stalin, doing "the Spencey". That is all.

Neil Warnock

We were 'back in town' when Calderon won promotion into the First. Not sure about any times before that.

I am entirely behind this campaign.

'The Evergreen Forest. Quiet, peaceful, serene... That is, until Bert Murray wakes up!'

A shite song is a shite song, unfortunately. In other news, Grant Murray is manager of the month. Well deserved!

This is the sum total of the stuff I got by casting my untrained eye over the accounts a wee while back: Stark's Park Properties Limited Stark's Park Properties Ltd is the company which deals with the stadium's finances. Formerly known as West City Developments Ltd, this is the company that was formed by certain former directors, possibly with a view to selling off the ground and replacing it with some lovely railway-adjacent three bedroom homes. It was wholly Reclaimed on the 30th of December 2005 and is now pretty simple in its ownership. John Sim (as NRR Investments Ltd) owns 51%, New Raith Rovers Ltd owns 27% and Mario Caira owns the remaining 22%. Of all the companies, this has the set of accounts that is most up to date (by about 6 months). For the year end 31st January 2012, Total Assets: £762,920 Total Liabilities: £572,514 Net Assets: £190,406 It looks like Stark's Park is valued at £725,035. The rest of the assets are made up of cash (£33,053) and other current assets (£4,832). Clearly the main liability here is the "mortgage" on the ground, owed to the Allied Irish Bank. The big positive to take from this is that the total liabilities of Stark's Park Properties Ltd are down 6.05% from the year before. It's not a massive amount, but it's better than an increase. To try and give a little more detail on the "mortgage", I've had a wee look at the previous year's accounts too, and the notes that go along with them. Prior to December 2008, the company was paying interest only on a loan from the Allied Irish Bank. At that point, it was restructured into a 15 year repayment plan, at 3% interest above the base rate. So, if all goes to plan, the loan should be paid off in December 2023. The loan is secured against the company's assets (essentially, Stark's Park) and a personal guarantee of £450,000 from John Sim. I'm not quite sure what the story is with this. Stark's Park Properties Ltd actually makes a profit each year (just under £43,000 for the last year) and there are notes in the accounts that don't exactly speak of great communication between Stark's Park Properties Ltd and the rest of the group. It appears that there's a dispute about all of the missed rent payments during the lean years. Maybe John Sim takes a cut in exchange for being a safeguard between the club and the bank, making loan repayments in the case of the club falling short on any particular month, but it doesn't seem quite as cosy as that. I'm not even sure if he's taking any money out of the business, though. If there's one question I really want answered, it's about the status of the relationship between Stark's Park Properties Ltd and the wider "Raith Rovers" group.

You could become very offended by the existence of Angel Delight if you chose to do so.

"My name is ASAC Schrader, and you can go f**k yourself."

I'm over the moon with that. Whether Vaughan makes it or not, it's a magnificent statement of intent from the board.

Hadn't noticed this until today.

There's not a chance that the appeal will be successful, but lodging it was still absolutely the right thing to do. £500 worth spending.

Surely I wasn't the only one watching that final scene waiting for... "Wh-wh-wh-what are you doing in my h-h-house?"

Magic!

Is it not possible to buy tickets for the Hearts game tomorrow? I'd just assumed I'd be able to do that, but now I'm looking at the website I'm not so sure.

Is anyone?

Is this confirmed? That would be fucking brilliant. Looks like I'll be getting up in the middle of the night for the next few Sundays, if so.

Wilson, sorry, not Donaldson.