The New Raith Rovers Thread

[HoBNob]

18 hours ago, Hank Scorpio said:

Would love to know the thought process of those at K107 prior to handing this well known idiot another platform. Great thinking, only good can come from this, I’m sure. 

I may be wrong, but K107 aren't affiliated with the club are they? 

 

People in power saying stupid things brings views/listeners, I'd imagine they'll get plenty of listeners to hear whatever wild shit Sim has to say. 

[grumswall]

I may be wrong, but K107 aren't affiliated with the club are they? 
 
People in power saying stupid things brings views/listeners, I'd imagine they'll get plenty of listeners to hear whatever wild shit Sim has to say. 

You're not wrong. The people that do the show are rovers fans but there's no official affiliation.

[RAITHROVERS84]

Reading from one of the Patrick posters they’ve 8 forwards fighting for 3 places.

Quite illuminating given we’ve got Gullan and two teenagers one of which is a loan. 

Early days but I think Dundee & Patrick look likely to be occupying the top two spots this year.

 

[Raith Against The Machine]

1 hour ago, RAITHROVERS84 said:

Reading from one of the Patrick posters they’ve 8 forwards fighting for 3 places.

Quite illuminating given we’ve got Gullan and two teenagers one of which is a loan. 

Early days but I think Dundee & Patrick look likely to be occupying the top two spots this year.

To be fair, that presumably includes "wide forwards" like Scott Tiffoney, so you'd have to include the likes of Zanatta, Ross and Connolly in a like-for-like comparison. 

What they do have though, is Brian Graham, who by himself represents a huge resource that we just don't have. Now, we're not alone in that, pretty much every club in this division other than Thistle would kill for a 30+ year old striker who still scores goals, but it feels like a profile that the Rovers in particular would benefit from. 

The likes of Gullan and Connell are really having to learn by experience only, they've not got that more mature head alongside them that would be hugely beneficial. 

[Raith Against The Machine]

Some thoughts as I hear them on the Sim interview. 

First of all, no detail given on the mechanics of how this works, but Sim claims the whole debacle has been, financially, separated from the club. 

[Raith Against The Machine]

In response to the Courier interview, firstly he writes it off as "you'll always got a backlash sooner or later" and then lists a load of folk who've been in charge of the club over the last 30 or so years. 

Also says he's not read the Courier article, and that he was promised he'd get a copy but it wasn't forthcoming, although it is obviously available online. 

Refutes the "you can go and watch 41 other teams" comment. Doesn't deny that he said it, but says that the meaning was misconstrued. Doesn't actually address the substance of his comments. 

On the "just close the club" aspect, refutes the accusation that he'd a dictator by waffling some nonsense about living in Asia and how there's a culture of consensus, and then says he wouldn't need to do anything to "close" Raith Rovers other than walk away, because the club has lost £2m since 2005. Which... doesn't answer the question. 

[The Tiel Burn]

Majority of decision makers took action to rectify "the situation" as soon as possible. Utter garbage. 

[Raith Against The Machine]

He's asked "Why are you the owner?", in light of his comments about shutting the club. 

He says "I'm not the owner" (which is semantics) and then gives a rundown of all the corporate structure which obviously confirms he is the ultimate owner. 

Once again, he hasn't answered the question. He's answered "how" he became the owner, but not why. 

He's just said "you can own the ground and the company, but the fans own the football club" which is a nice sentiment, but is literally untrue. The fans own very little. 

I will say, his tone is much more conciliatory than the one you could read in his Courier comments. I don't think there's going to be any sort of bombshells here. 

[Specky Ginger]

4 minutes ago, Against The Machine said:

 the club has lost £2m since 2005. Which... doesn't answer the question. 

A frightening proportion of that figure will have gone towards paying off the contracts of buffoons like Locke and Smith, and salaries for CEOs.

[Raith Against The Machine]

My general impression here is very much what I thought of John Sim before the whole Goodwillie thing. Stubborn, obtuse, pig-headed, but ultimately genuinely interested in the community, and particularly the Raith Rovers Community Foundation. 

But obviously the Goodwillie situation is incredibly relevant, and he's showing no signs of any sort of contrition or understanding of the views of most people at that time. 

[foreverarover]

In response to the Courier interview, firstly he writes it off as "you'll always got a backlash sooner or later" and then lists a load of folk who've been in charge of the club over the last 30 or so years. 
Also says he's not read the Courier article, and that he was promised he'd get a copy but it wasn't forthcoming, although it is obviously available online. 
Refutes the "you can go and watch 41 other teams" comment. Doesn't deny that he said it, but says that the meaning was misconstrued. Doesn't actually address the substance of his comments. 
On the "just close the club" aspect, refutes the accusation that he'd a dictator by waffling some nonsense about living in Asia and how there's a culture of consensus, and then says he wouldn't need to do anything to "close" Raith Rovers other than walk away, because the club has lost £2m since 2005. Which... doesn't answer the question. 

How can you go and missconstrue as comment like that?. It's quite obvious.

[roverthemoon]

8 minutes ago, foreverarover said:

16 minutes ago, Against The Machine said:

In response to the Courier interview, firstly he writes it off as "you'll always got a backlash sooner or later" and then lists a load of folk who've been in charge of the club over the last 30 or so years. 
Also says he's not read the Courier article, and that he was promised he'd get a copy but it wasn't forthcoming, although it is obviously available online. 
Refutes the "you can go and watch 41 other teams" comment. Doesn't deny that he said it, but says that the meaning was misconstrued. Doesn't actually address the substance of his comments. 
On the "just close the club" aspect, refutes the accusation that he'd a dictator by waffling some nonsense about living in Asia and how there's a culture of consensus, and then says he wouldn't need to do anything to "close" Raith Rovers other than walk away, because the club has lost £2m since 2005. Which... doesn't answer the question. 

How can you go and missconstrue as comment like that?. It's quite obvious.

He said all the same shit he said to The Courier to fans groups before the interview was even done. It was all the exact same words and views. Implying he’s been somehow misrepresented or misquoted is just nonsense. 

Edited August 20, 2022 by roverthemoon

[Raith Against The Machine]

Asked about future plans (having initially said he wanted to retire in 2021), Sim says that he can't see a scenario where he's not majority owner until such time as someone else Rovers-minded wins the lottery. 

Says he'll be around for at least another couple of years as some sort of penance for the Goodwillie situation. Also says he was never chairman, he was interim chairman, which is yet more semantics. 

In terms of succession planning, which I know the Trust is very concerned about, he says the Chairman and CEO of the SPFL previously told him fan ownership is a bad idea which could never work (!?), but he's also now saying he's had meetings with Supporters Direct about how other clubs have achieved fan ownership. Some chat about Morton as a bit of a warning on what can happen with fan ownership without significant monetary backing.

Sounds like the Trust might have made a tiny bit of headway in discussing ways forward, and how that might work. 

[Raith Against The Machine]

Reckons there's half a million quid maintenance needing done to the North and South stands. 

[TxRover]

1 minute ago, Against The Machine said:

Asked about future plans (having initially said he wanted to retire in 2021), Sim says that he can't see a scenario where he's not majority owner until such time as someone else Rovers-minded wins the lottery...Sounds like the Trust might have made a tiny bit of headway in discussing ways forward, and how that might work. 

So it’s time for the Trust to set up an account we all donate to so they can buy lottery tickets? Seems a mental outlook by Sim so far, not good. I’ll listen to the actual interview a little later and hope it makes more sense.

[Raith Against The Machine]

3 minutes ago, TxRover said:

So it’s time for the Trust to set up an account we all donate to so they can buy lottery tickets? Seems a mental outlook by Sim so far, not good. I’ll listen to the actual interview a little later and hope it makes more sense.

To be honest, that last bit is more positive than I was expecting. At the last Trust AGM, the feeling I got was that there had only been a brickwall on the subject of succession, and that Sim was basically refusing to engage. Taking his interview at face value, he's at least looking at it and willing to engage. 

The parallel he's drawing with Morton - your auld boy dies, his family pull the funding, how does the support plug the gap - is stark, but it's also true. 

Edited August 20, 2022 by Against The Machine

[Raith Against The Machine]

Asked for information on the leadership structure, he says Ian Murray is completely in charge of the football operations. 

The CEO is in charge of everything else, basically. 

[Raith Against The Machine]

"Why did the last two managers choose to walk away, and is that concerning?" 

Disagrees with the premise. Says he thinks it was time for John McGlynn to go. 

Some lengthy chat about Barry Smith, says he really liked him and would've kept him, but Smith basically chucked it because of the stress involved. 

Back to McGlynn, Graeme asks if McGlynn walked because the budget was cut/low. Says McGlynn never told him that, but that they had previously discussed budgets because McGlynn was building automatic increases into contracts that were eating up budget in advance. 

Then pivots to talking about how we were knocked out of the League Cup, and seems to be suggesting that last year's budget was larger because of the Cup success so it was going to come down this year. Kind of struggled to see the relevance of his point here, quite a ramble. Blames McGlynn for signing Goodwillie, says the board wouldn't have picked him. 

I think the basic idea is that both the club and McGlynn were happy to split. 

[Raith Against The Machine]

Graeme, to his credit, asks directly about the conflict of interest with Karen Macartney and Paul Smith's relationship, but it's a bit of a nothing answer. With regards to the management team leaving, says it made things easier rather than more difficult. 

[Raith Against The Machine]

Says he reads Pie and Bovril. 

Hiya John, hiya pal!