The New Raith Rovers Thread

[San Starko Rover]

For me McGlynn goes as soon as possible, no tears no sentiment he is majorly responsible here probably only second behind the Chairman. I appreciate we can’t sack all immediately as someone has to run the club. The board will have to stay until someone like Bill Clark can organise replacements.  As I said above all would be forgot quickly be some if we start winning and choruses of “Super John McGlynn” belted out. The fans of other clubs are looking at it without the same tinted glasses we have and they are pretty much all say he needs to go and that speaks volumes. I’d don’t buy any ulterior motives to weaken us on the pitch as someone above suggested as only yesterday these fans were right behind us in fighting this.  

[Brashy's Boots]

Strong Kyle Benedictus vibes from the Raith support last night and this morning.

"Mcglynn has our full backing" - Raith support

Is that you straight back into shite patter mode, aye?

[ribzanelli]

I guess it is a sign that things are starting to at least head back towards a bit of normality now that we have Falkirk-based whataboutery and deliberate misinterpretation of posts for point scoring purposes

[San Starko Rover]

10 minutes ago, Been going too long said:

No I won’t be singing his name and even if he did get promotion I still think he should leave, only suggested he stay to help the players already there as they don’t deserve this. 

Yes but that’s just you and You’ve obviously got an unwavering stance, we saw people interviewed who were happy to sign Goodwilie. There’s some fans who would soon want him to stay sadly.  

Edited February 4, 2022 by San Starko Rover

[101]

8 minutes ago, Jilted John said:

I’d like to see what Val plans on doing next. She was instrumental in getting this the media coverage it needed.

She cares a lot about the club and it’s on its knees at the moment. Will she be as proactive in helping us back up? I certainly hope she will play a part.

Why would she help the club back up when the manager and board that brought him in are still there.

However that misses the point of 

"Club signs rapist" is a bigger story than "Club puts rapist on gardening leave, board and manager remain"

[Zen Archer (Raconteur)]

1 hour ago, gav-ffc said:

From the outside I don’t think he should be sacked as that’s another pay off coming out of your club, he should be walking ( should’ve already) and not be taking a pay off.

When Barry Smith resigned the club still mysteriously had to pay him the remainder of his contract, I don't think the board would have changed when they employed John, they would have just taken the template contract and got him to sign it.

[San Starko Rover]

1 minute ago, Zen Archer (Raconteur) said:

When Barry Smith resigned the club still mysteriously had to pay him the remainder of his contract, I don't think the board would have changed when they employed John, they would have just taken the template contract and got him to sign it.

McGlynn could and should refuse to accept any pay off even if it’s in the contract. 

[forkboy]

16 minutes ago, Jilted John said:

I’d like to see what Val plans on doing next. She was instrumental in getting this the media coverage it needed.

She cares a lot about the club and it’s on its knees at the moment. Will she be as proactive in helping us back up? I certainly hope she will play a part.

Val McDermaid owes Raith Rovers nothing, she's poured huge sums of cash & personal time into the club & then the CEO lied to her face about not planning to sign the man found guilty in court of rape.

Absolute brass neck to act like she's somehow failing morally to just shrug her shoulders coz the rapist (who isn't gone & is clearly still on the wage bill) won't play a game. The CEO who lied to her face is still there, the board who signed off on it are still there, the manager who thought it was a good idea is still there.

Getting shot of Goodwillie was never going to be enough because it doesn't come close to addressing the institutional failings that allowed the signing to happen. Even if you ignore the moral failures, which we shouldn't, the contempt for leading sponsors, disregard for the fan representative on the board & just failing to consider the obvious PR fallout of signing a rapist who has shown no sign of remorse or repentance is incredibly bad stewardship of the club.

[San Starko Rover]

24 minutes ago, Been going too long said:

No I won’t be singing his name and even if he did get promotion I still think he should leave, only suggested he stay to help the players already there as they don’t deserve this. 

Hope my other post didn’t come across as having a go at you, I’m sure you’re a man of principal and would stick to your guns. Just trying to point out others are less so just look how many Clyde fans would have Goodwilllie back. Certainly at the moment we’ve all got strong opinions how to proceed. 

[Broken Algorithms]

I think Val McDermid is done with Raith Rovers.

100% and I don't blame her.

Val has never struck me as being anything other than someone who absolutely loves our club and her family ties with it. She's put in a tonne of money sponsoring in pretty much every form imaginable. Its unarguable that she'll have benefited both commercially and from a stature point of view.

But it has to be said that she's not your typical high profile fan: she's a proper regular and she's the furthest thing away from a box ticking exercise to use in the press you could get.

Over the last month, I've seen so many daft wee lads trying to get a rise out of her online. It's absolutely bizarre that people somehow see her in a negative light.

From what I know, both she and TAG games will back what was our women's team going forward. I can completely understand if she decided to avoid the Rovers in future.

[mrpaddyx]

30 minutes ago, DA Baracus said:

I think it's a bit naive hoping that inviting those who left the Raith board will result in their return after the insincere apology of yesterday. It's especially naive to think McDermid will return.

Perhaps I'm wrong, but seems like there would need to be significant changes before those people even considered it, and there haven't even been rumours of such changes yet.

I’d like to see McDermid return in some capacity but I’d understand it if she wanted nothing to do with the club in the future. 
 

McGlynn is gone, whether it’s now or when his contract ends in the summer. Ideally he would leave straight away but we would still have to pay his contract and we already have a situation with Goodwillie’s contract to deal with. 
 

I think it’s likely the club will just muddle on till the Summer and we can hopefully have some wholesale changes on the board and management then. 

[TheScarf]

7 minutes ago, forkboy said:

Val McDermaid owes Raith Rovers nothing, she's poured huge sums of cash & personal time into the club & then the CEO lied to her face about not planning to sign the man found guilty in court of rape.

Absolute brass neck to act like she's somehow failing morally to just shrug her shoulders coz the rapist (who isn't gone & is clearly still on the wage bill) won't play a game. The CEO who lied to her face is still there, the board who signed off on it are still there, the manager who thought it was a good idea is still there.

Getting shot of Goodwillie was never going to be enough because it doesn't come close to addressing the institutional failings that allowed the signing to happen. Even if you ignore the moral failures, which we shouldn't, the contempt for leading sponsors, disregard for the fan representative on the board & just failing to consider the obvious PR fallout of signing a rapist who has shown no sign of remorse or repentance is incredibly bad stewardship of the club.

Yep, McDermid isn't going to come shuffling back as soon as Goodwillie's contract is terminated.  The Rovers board are going to have to, probably fairly quickly, find a new main sponsor.

1 minute ago, Broken Algorithms said:

100% and I don't blame her.

Val has never struck me as being anything other than someone who absolutely loves our club and her family ties with it. She's put in a tonne of money sponsoring in pretty much every form imaginable. Its unarguable that she'll have benefited both commercially and from a stature point of view.

But it has to be said that she's not your typical high profile fan: she's a proper regular and she's the furthest thing away from a box ticking exercise to use in the press you could get.

Over the last month, I've seen so many daft wee lads trying to get a rise out of her online. It's absolutely bizarre that people somehow see her in a negative light.

From what I know, both she and TAG games will back what was our women's team going forward. I can completely understand if she decided to avoid the Rovers in future.

Indeed, I think some on here are clinging onto the hope that she will come back and that's a huge chunk of money for the club again.  That money is gone IMO.

[San Starko Rover]

2 minutes ago, Broken Algorithms said:

100% and I don't blame her.

Val has never struck me as being anything other than someone who absolutely loves our club and her family ties with it. She's put in a tonne of money sponsoring in pretty much every form imaginable. Its unarguable that she'll have benefited both commercially and from a stature point of view.

But it has to be said that she's not your typical high profile fan: she's a proper regular and she's the furthest thing away from a box ticking exercise to use in the press you could get.

Over the last month, I've seen so many daft wee lads trying to get a rise out of her online. It's absolutely bizarre that people somehow see her in a negative light.

From what I know, both she and TAG games will back what was our women's team going forward. I can completely understand if she decided to avoid the Rovers in future.

I’m not 100%, I think we’ve a slight chance to get her back if and only if we remove everyone involved. As you say she’s a Rovers fan the same as the rest of us and blames the individuals involved she also seems quite heartened by the response of the staff and supporters. 
 

She may be done and she may reconsider we won’t know until we try. Personally I’d be delighted to have her back as a just a fan even if she never put another Penny of sponsorship into us. I’m more sad to lose her as a lifelong fan than a sponsor.  

[PB1994]

I presume, before this transfer, McGlynn would have been nailed on for a contract extension? I know everything has changed from the fans point of view but will the board not still have every intention of offering him a new contract?

What would the reaction be like if he signed a new deal?

[SanStarko]

A week ago I'd have been happy for McGlynn to be given a contract for as long as he wanted.  But after all that's happened I want him leave, although I reckon he'll probably end up seeing it through till the end of the season.  

Ideally it would be McGlynn, Smith, the CEO and directors all leaving and Sim stepping away.  With all new people coming in as directors, chairman and new management team.  But that isn't all going to happen over night, and even if McGlynn was to go now, I sure as hell wouldn't want the current board to be appointing the new manager.  Plus it would be a tad hypocritical for the board who voted the signing through to sack McGlynn for the same signing.

So I'd imagine it'll be McGlynn seeing things through to the end of the season.  But it would really have to be announced that this is the plan and it's to allow time for the club to bring in new directors, etc who will then be responsible for appointing a new manager.  

I think McDermid might come back eventually, but certainly not while Sim or any of the other directors are still involved in the club.  Which means until somebody buys out Sim then it's not going to happen.  I seen on an interview she did that she mentioned her accountant told her she was still owe £75k by the Rovers and she doesn't expect she'll ever see it.  

 

Edited February 4, 2022 by SanStarko

[renton]

Aye, the club doesn't realise what it's lost in Val.

Let's be clear here, it's been the shittest week imaginable to be a Rovers fan, even liquidation of the club - which feels like more of a real possibility now than at Monday lunch time - would be hard pressed to top it (though I'm sure it would)

I've still got this knot of anger in my stomach. The shame and embarrassment I've felt as a Rovers fan this week hasn't dissipated really after yesterday's welcome but altogether too late announcement.

Where our club should be is a flaming impact crater. Yesterday's announcement is like the waves breaking and rolling back, but the cities are still destroyed and the nuclear winter is still coming.

The club has met my self imposed minimum standard for coming back, I guess. I will be back, I know it. Not this weekend though. 

I am entirely pessimistic about the future of the club. In order to even begin to move past this requires massive changes in the corporate governance of the club which I don't honestly believe - in spite of my suggestions as to what we might do - will come to pass.

I'm not sure where the club goes next. We need to win a couple more games to make sure we don't get sucked into the fight at the bottom, then limp over the line at the end. 

We are stuck in this fucked up limbo for the foreseeable.

[Michael W]

The management choices are basically this: 

1) McGlynn and Smith see out their contracts and leave at the end of the season; 

2) They go now. Put Berra in charge of the team as Player Manager. 

Either way, we muddle through to the end of the season. 

Any objections I have to removing McGlynn and Smith are purely financial. We are already in a shit position here given the amount of money we're going to have to pay Goodwillie and can ill-afford to take another hit there. In that respect, putting McGlynn/Smith on garden leave would mean we could hopefully continue without too much impact. I'm conscious we'd have to bump Berra's wage up a bit for him to take on the extra duties. But we wouldn't need to pay a package AND a whole new manager salary. 

There is a risk with (1) that the board decides to keep McGlynn and Smith and tie then down at some point. As @renton says the board lacks the moral aithority to do so, but in practical terms they can do whatever they want. 

In terms of whether McGlynn/Smith shouid forgo a payoff, that's an idea for the birds, unfortunately. They are entitled to it and I have no idea what their financial situations are. It would be nice if they did do so, but this isn't Chelsea where they're on a few hundred grand a week. 

[renton]

7 minutes ago, PB1994 said:

I presume, before this transfer, McGlynn would have been nailed on for a contract extension? I know everything has changed from the fans point of view but will the board not still have every intention of offering him a new contract?

What would the reaction be like if he signed a new deal?

I may be at odds with other Rovers fans on this, but my reading of the Starks Park kremlinology is no, I don't think he was if we didn't go up.

I dont think Sim is sentimental at all, and I don't think he'd have been above removing McGlynn. Sim has gotten it into his head that there is - or was - a golden chance at going up, he thinks we are more than consistent lower championship fodder. We aren't, but anyway... Sim would, in my opinion at least, have been looking at who could take Rovers beyond McGlynn's limits as a manager.

Now of course, we'll be lucky not to just plummet through the leagues.

[San Starko Rover]

Can we make Vaughan manager, he’s not doing much else

[Raith Against The Machine]

6 minutes ago, PB1994 said:

I presume, before this transfer, McGlynn would have been nailed on for a contract extension? I know everything has changed from the fans point of view but will the board not still have every intention of offering him a new contract?

What would the reaction be like if he signed a new deal?

It's an odd situation, actually. I'm not sure I realised McGlynn's contract expired at the end of this season, before all this happened. 

As you say, you'd think it was a foregone conclusion that he'd have been offered and agreed an extension, and maybe it was one of those where it was so locked in they just hadn't gotten around to actually completing the formalities, but there can't be many managers of McGlynn's (prior) standing with a club like the Rovers who enter the last five months of a contract. 

There was some discussion last night that this season is the end of John Sim's "five year plan" that targeted ending up in the Premiership and that McGlynn's contract depended on the success or failure of that, but I'd find that hard to believe. Or, at least I would have done, six or seven days ago.