SuperHans

There are clubs that have lost a slight 'spark' when they've moved. Modern grounds suck out history and heritage from a club and there's nothing usually identifiable with a standard modern stadium. Would you be happier if he stadium was moved to an area further in town or against the whole idea of moving?

I think that's a myth. Match day experience comes down to a lot more factors than just the location. Crowd numbers, product on the pitch and even how open or enclosed the stadium is. The heritage of the club is lost as we're not on Pratt Street anymore, however what kind of match day experience are we getting right now rattling around in our 10,000 seater, meccano kit stadium?

I think a move was definitely considered but once it had been added up and thought about regarding logistics and planning permission etc it was decided to make use of what we've got. I'd love to see Starks move. I think it will happen one day but not soon. A modern facility which is built for purpose is exactly what we need. Sim has a big ambition to get Starks Park used more regularly as he said in his interview. Unfortunately with it being in the location that it is then it's harder for that to happen. Parking, room for expansion and it's not easy for people to get to and from if there's large numbers. A nice we 6,000 seater on the edge of town with plenty of room around it and modern facilities would be a dream come true. But for now Starks Park will have to suffice. I'll not stop buying my lottery tickets though.

Obsessed [emoji41][emoji41]

Was hardly his fault that the 'unsinkable' ship he was driving sank...

When you put that beside the losses of the team that pipped is at the post that season, it puts it into a better prospective. People can list his failings all day, at the end of the day he was still an employee of the club. If he had been so poor then why wasn't he sacked? A manager would have been for a lot less. His tenure will always be looked upon as a failure but he was the guy running the club. We need someone else doing a similar (hopefully better) job in my opinion. No point in having a new BoD and a new owner without having someone there at the coal face every day keeping the place ticking over. Sim seemed to put an awful lot of responsibility on Barry Smith in his interview stating that he didn't know a lot of what was going on with the team. He also pleaded ignorant when it came to Callachan and more importantly, Bates and the dev fees. Are we just supposed to all sit tight and let the new BoD make mistakes and then hold their hands up and say "whoops, we're still learning, hahaha."? I'd like to see some kind of management put in place for the running of the club as well as the team.

Claude Anelka was 2004 and Gary Locke was 2016. Granted that everything you've said was a complete and utter shambles but if he was so bad then how did he last the length of time he was actually at the club? He must have had some attributes that made a difference? I'm not defending him here. I'm just highlighting, that without someone taking care of the day to day running of the football club, we're leaving ourselves wide open for mistakes and standards slipping.

The hatred for Drysdale is clear here but I think if you look at his time at the club on a broader scale, he did more good than bad. I'm not denying that he was a complete joke at times; his use of the twitter account, statement after the goalkeeper fiasco, statement questioning the fans and so on. However, there's absolutely no denying that the club need someone who knows about running a football club there on a day to day basis making sure the right things are being done. The football Chief Executive title has become more and more popular and successful over the years. Alan Burrows at Motherwell, Leeann Dempster at Hibs and Tonny Fitzpatrick at St Mirren. They have all been success stories because the clubs have made the long term decision to have someone who knows what they're doing in charge on a daily basis. Who have we had at the club running the place daily since Drysdale left? Will the new chairman be there overseeing the work that's going on 8-5 every day?

So far so good from Sim. There's a lot of "we're still learning" and smiles all round. I see his plans as long term solutions which is obviously a good thing. I hope it's not a case of starting one project and then forgetting about it when the size of the task is realised and then starting something else. The pitch is happening and with a bit of luck, it won't be too long until we have the finished article rather than a pitch with no lights and no public facility. I think it will be a step in the right direction and the fact that the funding for this is "ring fenced" from Starks Park Properties then it is reassuring that the club itself won't be directly affected financially. He's obviously good with the numbers and has a business head on. On a footballing side, I think we need someone at the club with a bit of football savvy about them. Eric Drysdale for all of his faults at least knew how the game worked and how the organisations within the game worked.

Murray would be a great signing if we can get him to stay. I'd maybe be tempted to let go either Davo, Robertson or Thomson but wouldn't be too surprised or disappointed if they stayed. Benedictus is a funny one for me as he clearly wasn't fit when he came back and it's obviously hard to get himself back 100% under the circumstances. I think if it came down to it then we need Bene or Davo not both. Smiths at least building a nucleus and spine of a team here. That's what we missed last season. Good luck to him and I'm getting excited already.

There's no doubt that these guys all have the club at heart and will undoubtedly do whatever they can. I don't know Andy but know who he is. My concern with him is that maybe he's too involved in the 200 Club. Would he be approachable for those who aren't members of the 200 Club? Will he be continuing his role at the 200 Club if he was elected?

I'm excited for this group of candidates. Having read through their profiles, I think Bill Gilby is the one that stands out. His profile sands out more and his professional experience seems a lot more than the others. The others kind of just tell a story about how they've supported the club and what they would like changed. I don't think the supporters director on the BoD will have much of a say over anything major that's being decided but they will need to be much better than the last one. They have a chance to give the fans a voice in the running of the club and I'd hope that they can be approachable for supporters and be able to regularly update the fans on what's going on. Sitting in the directors box or the announcers cupboard every Saturday isn't being approachable in my eyes. These guys should be down in the concourse every home game and running Q&As regularly for supporters to get an insight on what's going on.

Yes I did remember that and I found it fairly uninspiring at the time and still do to be honest. I think the club have found themselves in a bit of a no-mans land with this 'development fund' and now that they've started it, can't really stop it and have no real direction of where to take it. I'd prefer to see some kind of strategy and pathway for the youth players. I'd be more likely to put money into the fund if I knew that players with potential weren't just getting signed up on contracts (good thing) and then left to sit on a bench not getting any kind of first team experience (bad thing) and then getting moved on because we can't stand in their way (usual outcome). I don't think it's realistic for a club like Raith to think about selling on players for massive fees at our level like some on here seem to dream about. But I do think that becoming slightly more self sufficient is something that could be achievable. There are examples of this already with the likes of Vaughan, Matthews, Laidlaw Callachan and Bates as well as Mackie which I see as a result from McGlynns structure and influence. We've got players like McKay and some of the other younger players to look forward to but throwing them in and hoping for the best doesn't seem to me like the best option at that level. Sim is hell bent on relying on the youth players but unless these guys get bled in earlier at youth level then winning under 20s leagues and then stepping into professional football is a step only the exceptional players would manage seamlessly. I think the BoD needs to consider its stance and ask whether they want to be a development club that bring players on then sell them or bring players in and use them. Because right now we don't really know what we're doing.

Well there you go. I didn't realise he'd been away already. Allan Preston was talking last year on the radio about Hearts youth players when Zanatta had scored for Hearts v Hamilton. He was basically saying that Levein and Hearts have written off their U20s team in terms of competitiveness and would rather have any young players with some talent getting as much first team football as possible and sent out on loan across the country in all divisions. What do we realistically get from winning the East of Scotland Development League other than kudos among the youth leagues. Surly it would benefit us more if these players were getting first team football and learning their trade as early as possible. So if we did have an emergency situation like we had this season at centre back then there's no worry about a player like McKay stepping in.

Would Easton be a great loss to us? Can see how good he is with the U20s as a coach. When you actually look at the other teams in the U20s league, it's not really surprising that we've won it 2 seasons in a row. The one thing that actually worries me about our 'youth development' system is how poor we actually are with loaning players out. I'm not really interested if our youth teams are winning their league. I'd rather see the players developing. Court is a classic example, he's 22 years old and how many senior games has he played. If he'd been loaned out last season and maybe even this season then we'd at least have seen his potential as a Raith player.

It seems that Sims boxed quite clever here. He's now able to stand up and take responsibility for some of the decisions. However, there's heehaaw we can do about it. He's the man in charge and he owns the ground. He can tell us all to go f**k ourselves and there's nothing we can do. He's not even in the country to take any flack that may come his way. I'm holding back any judgment on him. I've heard mixed opinions from a few different people and I suppose now we're going to see what he can do.

This was a concern of mine this season when we had it in our hands and then there was the chance of winning the playoffs. He'll surly be looking at getting his contract extended half way through next season. As you've said, how can you say no to someone who's performing well? I suppose the BoD could play it cool and offer him something lower than he'd likely want to accept. However, we don't know how next season will pan out. 75-80 points with a better style of football and this season might all be forgotten about. People will be queuing at the door to get a new season ticket.

Has anyone got an answer for this? I'm assuming bank loan or does Sim have the cash?

How are we paying for this new pitch?

I'd hope we can get around the same amount as last season. It'll be really interesting to see if there will be some form of campaign to try and get some kind of positive spin on the manager staying etc. I'd hope so, I think there's no better time to get people behind a club than when there's a chance of winning a league. Look at Hibs and how they went up with so much feel good factor and support. The Roaring Back campaign wasn't a bad idea but again I think it was poorly executed and could have been done a lot better. It always comes down to money though and unless we see investment in the commercial departments then we won't see new and exciting marketing strategies to encourage people to spend some money on a season ticket.

Admittedly it is hard to pick out good performances from this season because we've all got it stuck in our heads that we were shite. The Albion Rovers home game when we huffed and puffed was a good performance in my eyes because we gradually broke them down. Some could argue the Smith got it wrong with his style of play and how he set the team up but, for the majority of the time, he got what was needed. The clubs commercial side is pathetic. There are part time clubs with a lot less resources than we have that are doing a much better job. Maybe there will be shake ups in the office staff now that the seasons over, hopefully something is changed or shaken up. With the lack of revenue from hospitality last season it will be interesting to see what their decisions are this season. Bill Clark isn't an accountant and has plenty of diplomatic experience working with international governments and was supposedly a referee so you'd hope has some knowledge of the game. I've no doubt that this season we should be winning this league and hopefully it's easier than stumbling over the line as many are expecting. What I'd really like to see is improvements on the business side of the club. Better social media, better incentives for fans, new sponsors etc. I'd also like to see work going in to improve the work in the community. It's easy to say that we've got a community trust but I want to see it. Players out and about in the towns and businesses. I'll never forget when Ray McKinnon invited fans to Oconnels for a drink after a Morton home game and we'd scored a late winner. That gesture made the news papers and gave Raith a bit of kudos and good publicity.

All we seem to point out is the negatives. Yes there were plenty of them last season but there's a positive spin on it when you look at things in a different light. Our home record, our ability to win ugly (with the occasional good performance), over 50 goals from the front 3 players ( top scorer was moved to centre mid for large parts of the season), defensive record was excellent and the fact that over the course of a season we more than comfortably beat the teams below us on points and goal difference. If some of the knuckle draggers who post on here can see that things weren't very good and point them out then I'm more than confident that Smith and co saw that too. He's been given a second chance and I'm certain that he'll know that there's a lot more at stake for him than there is for us in terms of his career. With a new board he might be given some more freedom to bring in players he can trust and get rid of the ones he doesn't. He's here now and there's f**k all anyone can realistically do about it. Just get behind the club and whoever he puts out on this amazing new plastic pitch we're going to be treated to next season.

OH MY GOD!! NEWS JUST IN: Football team signs a player! Calm down, Trouten played for the team that were automatically relegated... I wasn't his fan before this season and I don't think he lived up to the hype but Lewis Vaughan bagged over 20 goals this season. Buchanan was slated and again, he's not hit the highs we expected and yet he scored double figures along with Spence who was below average. Alloa may well get promoted and if they don't, who's to say that they won't lose some players this summer? Arbroath were a good side this season but why on earth are we all of a sudden shitting ourselves because of what other teams are doing. I'm sure there's plenty of teams this season not happy that we are staying down.

You're an absolute roaster!! [emoji122][emoji122]

All of the games you've mentioned were poor but you can't argue with the facts that over 36 games we managed to 75 points. That's an average of just over 2 points per game. Livi won the league with a 2.5 points per game average and the Pars won it with 2.19 points per game. I'm sorry but with the averages that we had this season as well as the home record, we were, to a degree, victims of circumstance. Some of our performances were extremely poor and of anyone knows that it's Smith.