The New Raith Rovers Thread

[Sergeant Wilson]

Just now, Melanius Mullarkay said:

B and Q kitchen installation  quotes. It’s in the small print.

Stop Press, signing news.

New Star player signed, debut tonight...unless any of us change our minds.

[Ro Sham Bo]

1 minute ago, DeeTillEhDeh said:

Apart from the rapey issues, its an utterly bizarre signing from football point of view.

Do you really need a 32 year old who has been plying their trade in the seaside leagues for the past 5 years?

Is doubtful to say the least. If only that was all we had to worry about today...

[Broken Algorithms]

I hope those that have resigned had made the decision to do so before the backlash and aren't just reacting to it. 
 

Val was vocal beforehand about the signing. Margie and Andy both took fans concerns to the board only for them to be disregard, which makes their resignations understandable- why work with a board who disregard the fans telling you this is a fucking stupid idea.

Tyler I have no idea about but I'd imagine being a young woman it would send quite a direct message to her.

[RH33]

14 minutes ago, Clown Job said:

I know most things on social media should be taken with a pinch of salt, but it’s scary the amount of people who think Goodwillie done nothing wrong

Not to mention the victim blaming and accusations she was being greedy and only on it for the money. 

The money think is a cheap shot, I don't think civil court cases qualify for legal aid, so I would think if she did actually get anything from the pair of them, I'd guess a fair chunk of it would go on the legal costs.

Woman (and men)face several issues when reporting sexual crimes to the police, firstly conviction rates are tiny so you know it's probably never going to lead to justice. Secondly you are grilled over and over and over again to ensure you're a credible witness. Sex life and preferences are pulled to pieces, not just the events of the assault but in general. If it does get to court it will, whether criminal or civil all be aired in public. As the accuser you will have give evidence but the accused can choose not to. 

The pay day mob seem to think it's an easy way to make some money. It wasn't like she shagged a player and cashed in with couple cheap tabloids.

 

[Melanius Mullarkey]

2 minutes ago, DeeTillEhDeh said:

Do you really need a 32 year old who has been plying their trade in the seaside leagues for the past 5 years?

If by "you" you mean "Dundee" then yes. 

[jamamafegan]

I can’t remember anything ever happening like this in Scottish football. The Malkay appointment or signing of Lithgow didn’t seem to stir up nearly as much controversy as this has. The resignations, making national news, Sturgeon getting involved. The impact this will have on Raith could be severe and long lasting. They’ve hit the self destruct button.

[RandomGuy.]

22 minutes ago, Piehutt said:

 

So as for Goodwillie or Lithgow or Griffiths... he takes a job at B&Q or delivering for Amazon. Is that ok? What if it was your local B&Q that your sister works at, or he was delivering to your house? 

I'd suggest if a high profile footballer saw their career utterly ruined after raping someone, and ended up working at B&Q instead, it would send a pretty good message to young boys growing up who used to idolise him before it happened.

Instead Raith have given everyone the impression that you can rape whoever you want and it's fine, as long as you can score a goal every so often to help them win at sport.

Its a horrendous message to send to young kids who are still learning what's right and wrong.

[Rugster]

Sky Sports News running it too. 
 

 

[Cosmic Joe]

1 hour ago, Rugster said:

I am assuming the entire board of directors (those remaining) are currently sitting in a room collectively with their heads in their hands. 

One would certainly hope so

[Pull My Strings]

43 minutes ago, Rammit Bawdeep said:

Remember the rape alarms being set off at a UTD Aberdeen game and the whole beech end giving it "we know she said no, david goodwillie we know she said no"

 

Filthy cretin on a man and unbelievably insensitive and disrespectful from the rape rovers board. No idea how they believed this one would pan out

Was this before he signed for Aberdeen?

[Michael W]

7 minutes ago, Hammerafc said:

12 minutes ago, Jilted John said:

I wouldn’t be surprised to see a U turn on this. That would explain the lack of the promised statement.

The thing is they knew Val would pull the plug. They knew the fans would be upset. They knew that the media would jump all over it. To decide that it would be worth it knowing all of that why would they do a u turn.

There is a chance the fan reaction has taken them.by susprise. For me I think it ought to have been foreseeable, but delusion viewpoints from a football board is not a new thing. 

They 100% knew what McDiarmid's reaction to this would be and also knew full well she is a main sponsor. And as such they have, in addition to everything else, willingly sacrificed sponsorship revenue to make this signing. They also forget other sponsors might be pretty pissed off as well. It's just further recklessness.

Maybe I'm being overly cynical here in my anger, but I wonder if thus is a preemptive strike by Sim against the only person that might have somewhere near the resources to challenge him, and make.sure that she's out the picture. 

[Sortmeout]

Even if, as I expect, Raith sack Goodwillie now I don’t think that will repair even 10% of the damage caused here. They are almost damned if they do and damned if they don’t now however they still should go ahead and cancel whatever deal they’ve put in place.

If they do cancel the contract then I assume they could leave themselves open to legal action from Goodwillie as it’s not like this issue wasn’t known about prior to him coming in.

[Ro Sham Bo]

3 minutes ago, Broken Algorithms said:

Val was vocal beforehand about the signing. Margie and Andy both took fans concerns to the board only for them to be disregard, which makes their resignations understandable- why work with a board who disregard the fans telling you this is a fucking stupid idea.

Tyler I have no idea about but I'd imagine being a young woman it would send quite a direct message to her.

Yeah it was more the board members I was thinking of. Presumably the board ratified this well in advance of the signing so why not just walk then rather than wait until the deal goes through?

I suppose it's not that big a deal in the grand scheme of our problems today right enough...

 

[Uncle Psychosis]

20 minutes ago, Piehutt said:

I'm sure that's been covered in the Morton thread. And was part of the reason I was interested in this today. 

You either believe in rehabilitation or you don't. Both point of views valid, but I don't think it's valid to say, of course someone can be rehabilitated as long as he doesn't work there or over there, or near me. 

Of course people with certain convictions won't be working with children or vulnerable people. But where do you draw the line if they can't work in football or can't work at a club that is at a certain level? This point of view doesn't stand up to scrutiny in my view as there is always a line from what you might deem acceptable to what is deemed unacceptable .

So as for Goodwillie or Lithgow or Griffiths... he takes a job at B&Q or delivering for Amazon. Is that ok? What if it was your local B&Q that your sister works at, or he was delivering to your house? 

Speaking as a self-confessed lily-livered woke type, I absolutely believe in rehabilitation. 

Thing is, I also believe in living in the real world and not allowing hypotheticals to cripple you. 

Firstly, rehabilitation requires remorse, which Goodwillie by all accounts has never shown. Secondly, football clubs just aren't normal businesses. Their values are integral to their existence. People go to Raith Rovers, and clubs like Raith, for reasons far beyond the normal customer-business relationship. 

That leads me to the inevitable conclusion - any football club signing David Goodwillie needs it's head examining and deserves everything coming to them.

Back in hypothetical land, it's possibly interesting to pose the question of "what's the worst crime I'd be happy for a football player to commit and still be playing football?" but that's a different discussion. Plus, just because I'm not sure where the line is, doesn't mean I can't tell you that unrepentant rape isn't way, way beyond it. 

 

[Broken Algorithms]

Yeah it was more the board members I was thinking of. Presumably the board ratified this well in advance of the signing so why not just walk then rather than wait until the deal goes through?
I suppose it's not that big a deal in the grand scheme of our problems today right enough...
 

I'll be honest, my understanding of transfers is limited to Football Manager so I've no idea how it would work. As others have eluded to, it's pretty much Sim's club so I can't imagine he had too much resistance.

[LeodhasXD]

1 minute ago, Michael W said:

There is a chance the fan reaction has taken them.by susprise. For me I think it ought to have been foreseeable, but delusion viewpoints from a football board is not a new thing. 

They 100% knew what McDiarmid's reaction to this would be and also knew full well she is a main sponsor. And as such they have, in addition to everything else, willingly sacrificed sponsorship revenue to make this signing. They also forget other sponsors might be pretty pissed off as well. It's just further recklessness.

Maybe I'm being overly cynical here in my anger, but I wonder if thus is a preemptive strike by Sim against the only person that might have somewhere near the resources to challenge him, and make.sure that she's out the picture. 

Being cynical too, I'd wager getting promoted to the Premiership is worth more than Raith's total sponsorship income. 

[staggy1929]

3 minutes ago, jamamafegan said:

I can’t remember anything ever happening like this in Scottish football. The Malkay appointment or signing of Lithgow didn’t seem to stir up nearly as much controversy as this has. The resignations, making national news, Sturgeon getting involved. The impact this will have on Raith could be severe and long lasting. They’ve hit the self destruct button.

Us hiring Malky I thought was a massive deal and certainly the most negative press the club has recieved and rightly so. Malky has made some good statements regarding the rainbow laces campaign and the abuse that RCC suffered after the rangers games however his conduct after the Jeando Fuchs incident at united was mental and showed that while he may not be a racist anymore he clearly doesn't understand the implications of racist abuse and how to conduct himself.

Goodwillie  is scum and I'm embarrassed to say he played for us.  Raith fans that are making a stand I salute you, I know from first hand experience how difficult it is to deal with the club you've loved for years throwing your support away. Rapists have no place in football at any level.

[LowerLeagueFC]

1 minute ago, staggy1929 said:

Rapists have no place in football at any level

they have no place in society. 

[Pull My Strings]

18 minutes ago, Jilted John said:

As with any contract, there will be a legal cooling off period. Not with the transfer fee but with the contract itself. It’ll leave him a free agent. For me, it’s the only way forward.

Do you think they bought him off the Home Shopping Network?

[Yoss]

Each case on its merits when it comes to other players with history. I've known some great people who did some daft things when they were young, and I have employed people with criminal convictions.

There are a whole range of factors to consider, though - the seriousness of the incident, the reaction and response they've shown to it subsequently, the level and profile of the job and the people he's likely to come into contact with through it. The Goodwillie case fails pretty comprehensively on all of these criteria. Other people can make their own judgements on Martindale, Lithgow, Gallagher et al, just as I already have done with Benedictus. None of that is relevant here.