The New Raith Rovers Thread

[Michael W]

The housing crash is not due to an oversupply of property, though. The land Stark's is on is low cost and any development suitably priced. The most pressing problem with housing is affordability for those looking to get on the ladder, after all.

At any rate, that's clearly not the base intention and is the insurance policy if the attempt at building the club up fails to generate income - this is what this lot are looking for and the fact we are likely a cheap acquisition will help. PE outfits are not some sort of benevolent enterprise existing for the greater good: they are hard-nosed, profit-driven setups. They will slash costs to bring the business around to profitability and will not absorb losses like we have done. That isn't a bad thing for our viability (indeed it's good), but cutting costs correlates with bad footballing outcomes. Bad footballing outcomes will not allow money to be made. Most PE buyouts end up with assets being stripped to generate cash as well.  

It is therefore baffling why on earth such an outfit would look at Raith Rovers given our general loss-making and poor position. If they want to generate money they need to invest in good players that 1) Get us up the top of the league and possibly promoted and 2) can be sold for decent fees. Or spend absolutely loads on facilities the community can use and hope a profit is generated. 

This cannot be done on a shoestring, barring a miracle. In the immediate term, they could achieve profitability by cutting costs and hoping declines in the team's fortunes don't turn fans away. This is almost certainly incongruous to their aims. 

All I'm saying is that there must be something of substance they see if things don't go to plan and the club doesn't start making money and they want to cut their losses and get their money back (pr at least most of it). It's not how PE business work - they buy businesses with substance behind them and usually those with assets. It's why the whole thing makes me suspicious - looking at the situation as dispassionately as possible, it seems they would be backing a loser. The club is in a shite position and therefore vulnerable to shysters as well. 

We need to hear more about what might happen, particularly with the stadium, but the alarm bell are ringing. 

 

[Brashy's Boots]

29 minutes ago, Michael W said:

The housing crash is not due to an oversupply of property, though. The land Stark's is on is low cost and any development suitably priced. The most pressing problem with housing is affordability for those looking to get on the ladder, after all.

At any rate, that's clearly not the base intention and is the insurance policy if the attempt at building the club up fails to generate income - this is what this lot are looking for and the fact we are likely a cheap acquisition will help. PE outfits are not some sort of benevolent enterprise existing for the greater good: they are hard-nosed, profit-driven setups. They will slash costs to bring the business around to profitability and will not absorb losses like we have done. That isn't a bad thing for our viability (indeed it's good), but cutting costs correlates with bad footballing outcomes. Bad footballing outcomes will not allow money to be made. Most PE buyouts end up with assets being stripped to generate cash as well.  

It is therefore baffling why on earth such an outfit would look at Raith Rovers given our general loss-making and poor position. If they want to generate money they need to invest in good players that 1) Get us up the top of the league and possibly promoted and 2) can be sold for decent fees. Or spend absolutely loads on facilities the community can use and hope a profit is generated. 

This cannot be done on a shoestring, barring a miracle. In the immediate term, they could achieve profitability by cutting costs and hoping declines in the team's fortunes don't turn fans away. This is almost certainly incongruous to their aims. 

All I'm saying is that there must be something of substance they see if things don't go to plan and the club doesn't start making money and they want to cut their losses and get their money back (pr at least most of it). It's not how PE business work - they buy businesses with substance behind them and usually those with assets. It's why the whole thing makes me suspicious - looking at the situation as dispassionately as possible, it seems they would be backing a loser. The club is in a shite position and therefore vulnerable to shysters as well. 

We need to hear more about what might happen, particularly with the stadium, but the alarm bell are ringing. 

 

Nice overview Michael. I see it very similarly but I'm always left with, what else can we do? We're in the doldrums without any sign of a change. It's clear something momentous needs to happen. All else is just kicking the can doon Pratt Street.

[grumswall]

2 hours ago, Brashy's Boots said:

Away man. Steak pies are decent. The rest is a bit shit though.

The steak pies are usually a congealed mess. They where pretty good pre covid but they are terrible now. I sometimes get a mince pie but that's just because it's a safe bet. Maybe we can look forward to some dim sum soon?

[Brashy's Boots]

1 minute ago, grumswall said:

The steak pies are usually a congealed mess. They where pretty good pre covid but they are terrible now. I sometimes get a mince pie but that's just because it's a safe bet. Maybe we can look forward to some dim sum soon?

Admittedly I've not had one since pandemic's end, so if they've deteriorated I've not kept up.

Yeah, a wee hen fried rice at half time will be ideal. I suspect there's a won ton o' puns awaiting us if we pursue (char siu) this.

[Zen Archer (Raconteur)]

2 minutes ago, Brashy's Boots said:

Admittedly I've not had one since pandemic's end, so if they've deteriorated I've not kept up.

Yeah, a wee hen fried rice at half time will be ideal. I suspect there's a won ton o' puns awaiting us if we pursue (char siu) this.

You'd be knackered carrying it.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[basher brash]

The positives could be these guys know they are getting a football club relatively cheap and can use the Rovers as a stepping stone to punt there catalogue of players on for a decent profit to clubs at a higher level then re invest any profit into the club / receive some return on there investment , Wipe any debt we have and to be honest wouldn’t need a huge amount of investment to gain promotion to the premier league when most of the championship clubs are on there back side financially 

The negatives are we don’t really know why these people wish to invest in the Rovers , What are there real intentions ? This could go down the route of another Anelka takeover scary stuff ! 

[pub car king]

Do they have any other sporting connections?  Could we become a gateway to players from the east who will then make the step up and subsequent transfer fees. 

Although we would realisticly need to be a Premier league club amd even then we'd likely be selling to the old firm in the first instance.

[Ro Sham Bo]

Too much of this reminds me of the Anelka situation for me to be comfortable with this. 

If they are intending to bring in their own man as manager that would make it all a bit more palatable at least. 

[Frank conner]

Folk wanting Sim away and when he goes folk will still complain  

[RRFC_Liam]

5 minutes ago, Frank conner said:

Folk wanting Sim away and when he goes folk will still complain  

Exactly even on twitter people were like aw Sim and the board out we’ll go nowhere if they stay, now the main guy is going those same people still ain’t happy 

[CountryBumpkin]

1 minute ago, RRFC_Liam said:

Exactly even on twitter people were like aw Sim and the board out we’ll go nowhere if they stay, now the main guy is going those same people still ain’t happy 

Is the assumption that anyone that isn't SIM must be better than Sim? That seems overly hopeful with absolutely zero basis. Personally I'd like to understand the intention of the buyers in detail first before making any call on whether it's a good move or not. I doubt anything like that will be forthcoming however so we have to hope that those in the club have done their due diligence and seek certain agreements regarding the short and long term future. 

[SirJimmyofNic]

The stadium need £600k+ spent on it, plus whatever debt the Football Club has round its neck, Sim for all he has spent cant keep that up, so if this deal goes through I'd hope it starts us off on a clean slate and debt free.......... theres no-one else out there so we're in the lap of the gods whichever way we turn

[Lang Toun Lad]

Chinese Belt & Road Initiative hits Scottish shores.

Hope we get one of these bad boys on our new badge:

[foreverarover]

Someone has already mentioned it but there is little to no chance of a new owner being able to bring in their portfolio of young players to bring through the club, unless they are Scottish. The paperwork and rigmarole of doing that multiple times, waiting months on a decision. If that was the motivation and I was the guy looking to purchase a club it would be I the EU, not in the second league in Scotland. 

 

 

[Michael W]

1 hour ago, Brashy's Boots said:

Nice overview Michael. I see it very similarly but I'm always left with, what else can we do? We're in the doldrums without any sign of a change. It's clear something momentous needs to happen. All else is just kicking the can doon Pratt Street.

I know. I really don't know what the answer is at all; just this leaves me with a pretty bad feeling as it seems hard to fathom the intentions behind it. 

Maybe it'll be good. Really we need to hear a lot more as to what their plans are and how they'd take us forward. The stadium is the big one - I am not really enamoured at the thought of a new stadium as I think they are generally a bit crap, but I can be persuaded if a viable plan is presented. Staying at Stark's is also problematic as has been outlined, so one way or another a firm commitment to one of those options is needed. 

[raith1974]

43 minutes ago, Frank conner said:

Folk wanting Sim away and when he goes folk will still complain  

Exactly, some of the comments in the past 12 months have been shocking, yes mistakes have been made but can't help that these comments have pushed Sim away. Hopefully his intentions are still to ensure the club survives and not just about getting some money back.

[johnnydun]

5 hours ago, philpy said:

I hope they will be here for our 5-0 win over dundee??

I will wait and see what way Griffiths and Gowser place their bets.

[Brashy's Boots]

Something and nothing but there has been huge Chinese investment in a business in Fife already this year, following the withdrawal of Russian money immediately the war in Ukraine started. It's a Distillery, so a completely different animal altogether, but they're here and who knows, some of them might be in acquisition mode.

[TxRover]

1 hour ago, pub car king said:

Do they have any other sporting connections?  Could we become a gateway to players from the east who will then make the step up and subsequent transfer fees. 

Although we would realisticly need to be a Premier league club amd even then we'd likely be selling to the old firm in the first instance.

Yes, as posted earlier, two of their “partners” are in sports management. Players from the East, no…the partners are in Spain and the Netherlands.

After reading their strategies, buy for pence, sell for pounds, I’m not sure Premiership play suits their plan. They seem to be taking the young up and comer, polishing them up, and selling them on. They seem to have in mind the numbers game, lots of people in and sell on some, build a pipeline that will earn more and more money from sell-on clauses, etc. it’s doable, with investment that allows a large team and lots of loans going out, and to best develop/showcase talent, the Championship is much better than the Premiership.

[Rovers_Lad]

46 minutes ago, raith1974 said:

Exactly, some of the comments in the past 12 months have been shocking, yes mistakes have been made but can't help that these comments have pushed Sim away. Hopefully his intentions are still to ensure the club survives and not just about getting some money back.

Some of the comments were justified IMO and goes with the territory I,m afraid and its not just at the Rovers

Mistakes that have been made are part of the reason we,re in the s.h.i.t and that applies to numerous BoD,s