The New Raith Rovers Thread

[Raithie]

1 hour ago, Geordie_Munrover said:

I don't think we will relocate to be honest... that would cost about 20 million.

St Mirren relocated for less than half of that.

[Enigma]

The good think about relocating now rather than 10-20 years ago is the advent of safe standing. I'd quite like to see us build a larger version of Forthbank, two seated stands running length of the pitch and two stands of safe standing (one for home fans, one for away) behind the goals. We should have these covered though.

[Typicalrovers]

Penman, upon his return from abroad, and looking for something to do offered to reinstate the seating and roof in the railway stand and build boxes along the back. All he wanted in exchange was the use of one of the boxes on match days. The wise men of the board, feeling threatened I suspect, weren't interested. Says it all really.

[RRFC1989]

That god we now have something to talk about rather than biting to every EF fans post!

[Stellaboz]

That god we now have something to talk about rather than biting to every EF fans post!

Beats biting to every mention of the words Wee Team though, eh?

[Shandon Par]

The best solution would be for Raith to pay for a new state of the art asrtro surface at East End. You could then rent the ground from us on matchdays. We don't need to worry about fixture clashes thanks to Yogi & Locke. It would also make it easy to scout your best (and I mean best in the most relative terms) players and punt our duds on without having to cover their bus fare to Kirkcaldy. You could mothball 90% of Starks and rent it to Cowdenbeath. Everyone's a winner. 

[Joma Boo]

39 minutes ago, Enigma said:

The good think about relocating now rather than 10-20 years ago is the advent of safe standing. I'd quite like to see us build a larger version of Forthbank, two seated stands running length of the pitch and two stands of safe standing (one for home fans, one for away) behind the goals. We should have these covered though.

I agree with you that it's a great prototype for a stadium. I'd love something similar for Ayr. 

[foreverarover]

I agree with you that it's a great prototype for a stadium. I'd love something similar for Ayr. 

And to further benefit with this concept nowadays is there is no requirement for 10000 seats.

[sjc]

How big would you make the proposed new stadium? 7500?

[RR #1]

All this talk of relocation is highly depressing for me. Raith Rovers belong in Linktown.

Also new modern stadiums are pish. Would hate to go to a stadium like Falkirk or St Mirren every week. Get something done with the railway stand and get some boxes/hospitality built on the old enclosure in front of main stand and starks Park would be more than adequate. 

 

[Scottydog]

58 minutes ago, Raithie said:

St Mirren relocated for less than half of that.

That's all and well but who's got the £10M ?

It'd be nice but I can't see it unfortunately.

 

Nor can I see the stands being made smaller and parts used elsewhere, unrealistic I think.

[fnxNTC]

Ryan Stevenson has signed for Annan

[Michael W]

I'd much rather we didn't move stadium but am open to it (as long as it's in Kirkcaldy) if I can be persuaded it's viable and in the club's best interests. 

We have a mortgage on the stadium that needs cleared, land to be purchased and a new stadium to actually be built - can the proceeds of a sale of Starks Park cover all of that? Sounds doubtful to me if I'm honest. So, if not, who makes up the shortfall? If the club is plunged into debt to do so, it's a no from me. 

I've seen Falkirk mentioned - remember that their council more or less paid for the stadium and have offices there.

[Raithie]

7 minutes ago, Scottydog said:

That's all and well but who's got the £10M ?

I have no idea. Was merely pointing out that £20 million was probably bit of an exaggeration for needing to relocate. 

On the topic of the Railway Stand was it not mentioned a while ago when we were redeveloping Starks Park back in the day that any work on the Railway Stand meant machinery had to come via the pitch as there wasn't ample room behind the stand itself to work on. Would have thought if we were did go down the route of ripping up the pitch that would be the best time to look at doing something with the Railway Stand whether it's improving it with a view to re-open (already been said the current board wouldn't be willing to entertain that) or putting some sort of hospitality area in place (if that's even on the agenda). I must admit, and whilst this probably wouldn't increase income per se, I'd love to see a standing area down that side. I reckon a lot of people would take up the option to relocate from the South Stand to the Railway side but would mean a bit of an empty/emptier looking South Stand mind you. 

[Typicalrovers]

I can't see Sim doing anything other than tarting up the existing ground. Didn't he undertake to sort out the railway stand when he first appeared on the scene?

[Beachbum]

52 minutes ago, Raithie said:

I must admit, and whilst this probably wouldn't increase income per se, I'd love to see a standing area down that side. I reckon a lot of people would take up the option to relocate from the South Stand to the Railway side but would mean a bit of an empty/emptier looking South Stand mind you. 

I'd love to see the railway stand reopened as a seated stand. It has the best view of the pitch in the whole ground and was another crass move on the part of the board when it was closed.

Regarding a safe standing area, you could easily have one in the acres of space in front of the main stand.

[Raithie]

1 minute ago, Beachbum said:

Regarding a safe standing area, you could easily have one in the acres of space in front of the main stand.

Think the further down that area you go the more difficult it would be to see over the wall, I've seen ball boys literally disappear when going to retrieve a ball over in that area. I've never stood there so could be taking out my hoop but it seems to be on a gradient until you get past the dugouts where you could probably have a decent little standing section there albeit having to remove the wee media portacabins.

[CALDERON]

That end of the ground was raised to level out the slope, won't be much of a view, if any at all.

[Nairney]

Re: renting out fancy new hospitality facilities for business meetings / events (as someone mentioned) I used to work in the corporate events / business tourism sector. Someone upthread (sorry, I've read so many posts!) said it should be easy straightforward to rent out hospitality space to businesses during the week. A couple of thoughts on this (based on experience):

- We're not a club who would attract neutrals based on a wow factor of our name or kudos if being seen to use / associate with our venue (see Old Firm, poss Edinburgh clubs, Hampden, Murrayfield etc). We'd be more likely to attract smaller local businesses (who may already have longstanding arrangements or preferences for local restaurants, hotels, community venues etc) or businesses owned by fans or other interested parties - very much the same crowd who currently support the club by putting their hands in their pockets for sponsorship and previous match day hospitality.

- In times of austerity (I.e. Pretty much the past 10 years) many companies cut back on holding meetings and events outside of their own premises as much as possible. New facilities at the club would certainly get interest to start with, but after the novelty has worn off, there would be no guarantee of regular corporate venue bookings... especially with more economic uncertainty (in the wider world) ahead. High paying corporate customers don't grow on trees anymore, potentially leaving us back to square one, with facilities used once a fortnight... but much more expensive facilities that we've gone into the red to pay for.

More reliable forms of income, which the club and community foundation could have greater control over would be:

- (Depending in promotion to the championship) Restructure of hospitality packages. More space for match day hospitality would allow the club to offer differing pricing structures, thus opening it up to more fans e.g. Platinum, Gold, Silver offering a sliding scale of experiences. The more fans take up a package for a "good day out", the more word spreads and the more people want to give it a go for a special occasion.

- Use of space during the week. Regular venue bookings for things like classes, courses or groups generate less income, than say a fancy corporate black tie dinner, however they are regular guaranteed income e.g. an after school club, fitness classes, slimming clubs, sunshine clubs etc. However, I don't live in Kirkcaldy so I don't know if these needs are well met elsewhere in the town. If venue hire is priced reasonably it could be a good source of regular income for the club and also help promote the football side and integrate Raith Rovers with the community more. The downside would be that it would take a hell of a lot of these type of bookings to offset the cost of the development, but positioning ourselves as a community facility may lead to funding / grant opportunities.

There is, potentially, space to make this all work at Starks Park.... but it requires vision and money and there is no guarantee that it would pay off financially.

[Stevo Fife]

3 hours ago, RRFC1989 said:

That god we now have something to talk about rather than biting to every EF fans post!

That's good old rivalry for ya. #TopBantz

 

Area at Southfield Industrial estate in Glenrothes is attracting some interest from a certain gent with connections to your mob.

(I'm in the know)