The New Raith Rovers Thread

[Raithie]

8 hours ago, Halbeath Raith Rover said:

I applaud the club for trialing the singing section, however I think it's doomed to failure in smaller games due to location, and lack of numbers.

The North West works at East End because you have the young boys in the corner... and the atmosphere they start spreads to the rest of the stand and to the stand behind the goals. 

To best replicate that at Starks a singing section would be better at the back or front of the South Stand... that might mean having to have a conversation with a few season ticket holders at renewal time (about their seat now being in a singing section, and offering the chance to move slightly)so it's probably too late to do this season.

The atmOsphere in the South at points in the last two home games has been pretty good, so paying to have another stand open for a couple of dozen (mainly) concessions, doesnt seem cost effective. 

Establishing any Singing section in the South would also retain the option of giving two away stands in the event of a #moneyspinner of a cup draw.

I was on holiday when the Pars cup game was on, so will be interested to see what the atmosphere is like in the singing section/ rest of the ground v Dundee Utd and the Pars in October.

Our youngsters don't have an identity or something to build on in comparison to Dunfermline (amongst others) who have a dedicated singing section name, their own flags, merch, organisation etc. It'll take someone sitting down with the club to see about getting some help to promote it and maybe help provide them with flags, banners, t-shirts, their own scarfs and ultimately their own section of the South Stand. For the amount in the Railway Stand at the moment I don't see it being a huge admin job to move them back to the South Stand and just shut the Railway Stand. It's also filthy and covered in bird shite. Cracking view though and pie stall queue is next to zero 

[Double Jack D]

All for a singing section in the South Stand, then old codgers like me can move to the Railway Stand

[McGuigan1978]

Just looking at the bump in our home attendances compared to the matches at Stark's Park against the same opponents last season. 

The two Morton matches were 1600 and 1431 last term, admittedly one may have been a midweek game, but nevertheless, even combined, that's less than what came through the gates a couple of weeks ago (3041) .

That's a pretty amazing effort, and it was broadly similar to the game at the weekend, with a smidgen under 3000 compared to both games bringing in well under 2000 against the Spiders during the last campaign. 

I appreciate a chunk of that will be free kids etc, so it won't translate as our gate money going through the roof, but what a difference it makes in general, and another sign of how much people are buying in to what's going on around the club. Fair play!

[Broken Algorithms]

20 minutes ago, McGuigan1978 said:

Just looking at the bump in our home attendances compared to the matches at Stark's Park against the same opponents last season. 

The two Morton matches were 1600 and 1431 last term, admittedly one may have been a midweek game, but nevertheless, even combined, that's less than what came through the gates a couple of weeks ago (3041) .

That's a pretty amazing effort, and it was broadly similar to the game at the weekend, with a smidgen under 3000 compared to both games bringing in well under 2000 against the Spiders during the last campaign. 

I appreciate a chunk of that will be free kids etc, so it won't translate as our gate money going through the roof, but what a difference it makes in general, and another sign of how much people are buying in to what's going on around the club. Fair play!

Aye, I think it's quite easy to look at it as being padded but there's a big knock on effect. They'll be accompanied with at least one adult, and then you've got stuff like kits which are more likely to be bought. Hopefully it turns into a consistent attendance for us and we can break away from that 1600 or so core we've had for years. The end of games like Saturday will certainly help no end on that front. 

[TxRover]

7 hours ago, Beastie Russell said:

To be honest Murray has been right to bench him as he’s been the poorest of the front 4 this season.

Great to see him back scoring though.

I’m thinking about how we’ve seen him this year, and wondering if “super sub” or (to use a basketball term) “sixth man” isn’t his best role. He’s not physically big enough to bully the opposition, he seems slightly slower than he’s been before, but he still has “that” about him. He seems pretty effective against a tiring team, although Queen’s Park had just pulled a triple sub for exactly that reason. It’s not the role Lewis wants, but it might be where he’s most effective and it might perhaps extend his playing time.

Now, this option only seems possible because of the team upgrades that IM has sheparded through, so we have to agree his recruitment is looking a lot better now than it was last year. The question is why? Is it the management change, or is it the additional time to prepare for the season?

[grumswall]

It's most likely down to the structure that's in place now. He isn't having to do everything himself and it does appear alot more thought out. There's also the rumour of our budget actually being smaller, meaning his hands where tied with mcglynns big contracts last season. 

[R.R.FC]

23 minutes ago, TxRover said:

Now, this option only seems possible because of the team upgrades that IM has sheparded through, so we have to agree his recruitment is looking a lot better now than it was last year. The question is why? Is it the management change, or is it the additional time to prepare for the season?

I’m not sure there’s much mystery about it, it’s the two factors you have mentioned plus more money.

John Potter has been spoken about by nearly all our new signings for the part he has played in them signing so the new structure has definitely helped provide support and focus. Also, Murray had about a 2 months headstart in terms of knowing what league we’d be in as things petered out last season as opposed to taking over late May the previous year.

Finally, Sim stated the budget last season had been cut by around 50% compared to McGlynn the previous campaign. Looking at the signings we have made, I would imagine the budget is now back to where it was under McGlynn and obviously more money helps build a better squad both in terms of quality and quantity.

[CountryBumpkin]

This is cracking, well done. 

[RR #1]

23 minutes ago, CountryBumpkin said:

This is cracking, well done. 

Really enjoyed watching that. More of these please RaithTV

[Michael W]

3 hours ago, R.R.FC said:

I’m not sure there’s much mystery about it, it’s the two factors you have mentioned plus more money.

John Potter has been spoken about by nearly all our new signings for the part he has played in them signing so the new structure has definitely helped provide support and focus. Also, Murray had about a 2 months headstart in terms of knowing what league we’d be in as things petered out last season as opposed to taking over late May the previous year.

Finally, Sim stated the budget last season had been cut by around 50% compared to McGlynn the previous campaign. Looking at the signings we have made, I would imagine the budget is now back to where it was under McGlynn and obviously more money helps build a better squad both in terms of quality and quantity.

A big difference is that there is actually proper oversight in place now and we don't have an idiot manager dishing out contracts with automatic increases built in, thus decimating next season's budget. It took a fair bit of time for some of what had been going on to come out, but when it did you started to see where the issues were and could understand what had gone wrong. McGlynn was very well backed, but totally wasted it, partly due to a lack of someone in the boardroom setting parameters. 

The benefit of proper management is that we are in a position to bring in the likes of Jack Hamilton, which I doubt we'd have been able to do with McGlynn spending half next season's budget on pay increases. 

 

[Jilted John]

2 hours ago, Michael W said:

A big difference is that there is actually proper oversight in place now and we don't have an idiot manager dishing out contracts with automatic increases built in, thus decimating next season's budget. It took a fair bit of time for some of what had been going on to come out, but when it did you started to see where the issues were and could understand what had gone wrong. McGlynn was very well backed, but totally wasted it, partly due to a lack of someone in the boardroom setting parameters. 

The benefit of proper management is that we are in a position to bring in the likes of Jack Hamilton, which I doubt we'd have been able to do with McGlynn spending half next season's budget on pay increases. 

 

While I’d love to agree with all of that, let’s see where we are in two years time if we can’t get out this league. Maybe I’m a pessimist but I do worry about where the money is coming from for everything that we are doing both on and off the park. 

[RRFC2711]

A wee question are season tickets valid for this Saturday?

[Broken Algorithms]

Just now, RRFC2711 said:

A wee question are season tickets valid for this Saturday?

Can't imagine they will be with it being a cup match.

[Zen Archer (Raconteur)]

1 minute ago, RRFC2711 said:

A wee question are season tickets valid for this Saturday?

There's always one.

[Zen Archer (Raconteur)]

I had to check it wasn't April 1st.

 

 

[TxRover]

44 minutes ago, Zen Archer (Raconteur) said:

I had to check it wasn't April 1st.

 

 

What’s the issue…just you and 53 pals travelling to a pub that happens to be located down the road from a game…

[Michael W]

10 hours ago, Jilted John said:

While I’d love to agree with all of that, let’s see where we are in two years time if we can’t get out this league. Maybe I’m a pessimist but I do worry about where the money is coming from for everything that we are doing both on and off the park. 

Yes, this is a very fair perspective. The increase in the non-playing staff certainly raised my eyebrows as that's a cost that needs to be covered. It's the only concern I have about the new management structure, really. At the moment I can only take things at face value: a problem was uncovered in our financial governance (giving the manager too much freedom) and this has now been rectified. 

Obviously that doesn't mean all the club's ills are now resolved. The off the field side as you say has seen some development and that costs money. Some of it (e.g. hospitality) brings money back in, whilst other aspects (the changing rooms etc.) don't. However, we do know we are in need of some forthcoming spending that is necessary for stadium upkeep and we can't hide from that. 

The increased attendances are encouraging, so hopefully what we are doing is paying off. I guess we'll see how it's going when the next set of accounts are released. 

 

[R12ATH]

On 04/09/2023 at 07:12, Beastie Russell said:

To be honest Murray has been right to bench him as he’s been the poorest of the front 4 this season.

Great to see him back scoring though.

Id say Hamilton and Gullan have been worse. Hamilton gives us a different dimension given his attributes. Smith the pick of the bunch so far. His form might not be what it was before all his injuries but he scores us goals.

[Ex Machina]

Early days obviously but nice to see Vaughan joint top goalscorer in the league after the first few games with a much better minutes per goal record than his competitors. A really special talent that we're lucky to see for so long in a Raith shirt although due to pretty brutal circumstances. 

[Broken Algorithms]

I feel like we've used Hamilton as more of a target man, which isn't nearly his best role, but as a result we're getting more out Stanton and Smith. By the same token, if we had Hamilton as more of a poacher, we'd get far more out of Josh Mullin who has been putting in exceptional deliveries in time and time again only for nobody to be there. 

It feels like we're caught between two systems as such, yet still scoring goals. Gullan probably offers more of an ability to cover ground than Hamilton but didn't feel remotely as threatening as a nine. 

I'd still stick with Hamilton up top. Whoever drops out with no doubt feel aggrieved, but when you've got Vaughan coming on and banging in two goals then it's impossible to not play him. Coincidentally, I think Vaughan works best with Easton. 

Next week we can add Connolly back into mix too. What an absolutely absurdly brilliant and stupid problem to have.