The New Raith Rovers Thread

[basher brash]

The big spenders of the division ? Simple Maths 

when your average gates jump from 1800 to 4100 

record strip sales

record season ticket sales 

hospitality fully booked most weeks 

prize money jumps from 250k roughly 22/23 to 750k last season

higher attendances knock on effect with a million pies being sold every home game 

pitch hire fully booked the majority of the time it’s not hard to understand where the extra finance is coming from 

[Bigbrbairn]

Just now, basher brash said:

The big spenders of the division ? Simple Maths 

when your average gates jump from 1800 to 4100 

record strip sales

record season ticket sales 

hospitality fully booked most weeks 

prize money jumps from 250k roughly 22/23 to 750k last season

higher attendances knock on effect with a million pies being sold every home game 

pitch hire fully booked the majority of the time it’s not hard to understand where the extra finance is coming from 

But it is much more amusing to think that proper stewardship is merely based on an increased pie uptake.

[Beastie Russell]

1 minute ago, Bigbrbairn said:

But it is much more amusing to think that proper stewardship is merely based on an increased pie uptake.

& cartoons, don't forget the cartoons

[Raith Against The Machine]

As touched upon above, the increase in the football budget has (if you believe what we've been told, and personally I do) been met by an increase in revenues, across a whole number of streams. 

The catering took the headlines on here, but beyond the laughs it's genuinely a very good example. For decades, the club had been paid a (small) flat fee for rental of the pie stalls and saw none of the profits. Moving those in-house led to a huge revenue increase in that one particular area. Take that same approach to hospitality, sponsorship, ticketing, memberships, and it all starts to add up. 

However, what I don't think has been documented or explained in any great detail, is the capital expenditure that has happened since the new board came in. Revamping the guts of the Main Stand and recladding the exterior isn't cheap, and certainly isn't affordable out of the operational budget, no matter how many pies you sell.

Alongside the increase in revenues, a good deal of the perceived increased spending will, I imagine, be a direct result of now having two distinct budgets; one for football operations and this secondary one for capital expenditure. Before now the club was effectively working from one single pot, and the manager's budget was taking a hit every time a seat needed replaced or the fuse box caught fire. 

Someone's paying for that capital budget, and the big unknown currently is how, when or if they get their money back.

I'm quite relaxed about it, everything that's been done has only been in the best long-term interests of the club and I am happy to go on the assumption that the underlying funding is the same, but it's a question mark nonetheless. 

[Aufc]

Since the new owners came in, every decision seems to have been controlled and measured and worked out well. This one seems the opposite so will be interesting to see how it develops. 

[Wee Sandy]

I think the interview with Barrowman was honest and interesting! Sure it shocked us all but, when you consider,

8 games in and we are NOT the team we were for most of last season.......something has to change.

I along with many others was shocked at the dismissal............let us wait and see.

At least AB came out quickly to make his point

ETA Tom Courts was at KELTY with AB?............HMM!

 

Edited August 6 by Wee Sandy

[The Tiel Burn]

Pretty much every angle pro and against has been covered.

What does merit recognition is the clubs communication. We are in the really unusual position that we get interviews like this fairly regularly. What's more unusual is that times of crisis don't see the new board hiding. 

I'm sure Inverness and Pars fans would love the engagement. I disagree on a fair few of the points but fair play for the chance to hear it all first hand.

Gut feeling new manager early next week so it doesn't look too obvious (though it still will) Tam Courts probably the first pick. Personally holding out for a Brazilian coach who left Boca Juniors in disgrace.

 

 

 

 

[Wee Sandy]

36 minutes ago, Broken Algorithms said:

I'll come in on this one because this has had the arse kicked out of it and probably needs a longer form response. 

One person put in an absolutely butchered (no pun intended) response in the playoff thread which now gets trotted out for a meme response that Rovers fans are completely oblivious to what is going on and that we're funding everything at Stark's Park thanks to those delicious donner pies. 

To expand on the point which the poster was trying to make in that thread - the club have undergone a systematic review of revenue streams across the club. That will involve some changes - speaking to people internally memberships of things like the Jim McMillan lounge are going up this summer because the board looked at the rates and said "if you go to other Championship clubs (Dunfermline included), they're paying more than you are for less. Why shouldn't we review this?". The club and the group running the lounge then reviewed the deal and agreed a new rate. 

It's exactly the same with the catering. Opposition fans jump in with a response from one poster on here saying "pie sales are up 1000%". That isn't what happened. Under our previous regime, we'd done as we always had. A catering company paid a flat fee for the use of the facilities for Stark's, and then kept any profits. That got changed by the new board as part of their reviews. They've changed the pricing structure for the food, which now comes via Stuarts, and the club have managed to increase revenues off the back of it. The previous regime had set up a negligent way of handling the catering, which is why the Rovers have claimed there's been such a change in the revenues. 

That came off the back of a document sent out to club 1883 members where they've provided some statistics about the changes made. This was obviously really well received, but anyone with a working brain realises that this isn't a set of accounts with a profit or loss margin. Nobody is claiming that we've not had external investment. The board have already said that they'd put in money to do up the stadium such as changing rooms etc. 

I think that under the old regime, there had been very much a "...but we've always done it this way" mentality. The new board have changed that. We also had quite a lot of deals come up which McGlynn had signed which upon review had been described as rather 'eye-watering' for what we were getting. 

Even the board themselves, all the focus tends to lie with McKenzie rather than anyone else. Colin Smart for example sold off a care home business for £40m. Ruaridh Kilgour's company had a deep dive in the press recently where there were comments it had over seven figures in the bank. Obviously that doesn't equate to Rovers having money in the bank but it probably lends itself to why some most of our fans feel a bit more relaxed than people on the outside think we should be. I can understand why people on the outside are looking in with a degree of frustration, but I don't think it's as simple as going "pie sales 1000%!!!??!?!1111". I'd say the club are modernising, reviewing and developing - you'll have a lot of Rovers fans optimistic because it's been long overdue and in all honesty wasn't something people thought possible. 

I'd also add, there's still plenty of Rovers fans who are eagerly waiting to see the P+L margins when the accounts come through next spring. 

Much appreciated, Sir!!

[kdypar]

32 minutes ago, basher brash said:

The big spenders of the division ? Simple Maths 

when your average gates jump from 1800 to 4100 

record strip sales

record season ticket sales 

hospitality fully booked most weeks 

prize money jumps from 250k roughly 22/23 to 750k last season

higher attendances knock on effect with a million pies being sold every home game 

pitch hire fully booked the majority of the time it’s not hard to understand where the extra finance is coming from 

Do Raith now own Starks park? Otherwise how would they benefit from the pitch hire? 

[Fifes Elite Force]

The board when at kelty have never really got into a position of medicrocity or stagnation. Its been pretty much an upward trajectory until they left and then upwards since coming to rovers. I always wondered how they would react when things wernt as smooth or moving forward at the pace they want. Time will tell if this is the right move or not but it looks like an expensive change financially on the face of it. 

I think they have someone in mind as people above have suggested

 

Edit- Thinking back I think this might be the first time they have sacked a manager. Courts was already there at Kelty and then resigned after a falling out. Thomson left on his own accord and Ferguson took the clyde job. Then Potter came to Rovers.

 

 

Edited August 6 by Fifes Elite Force

[Zen Archer (Raconteur)]

Regarding the previous model for the catering kiosks.

Let's not forget that it was held for a number of years by a director who constantly put his hand in his pocket to put funds into the club, although it wasn't going directly to the club via profits, the catering was indirectly aiding the upkeep.

[Broken Algorithms]

1 minute ago, kdypar said:

Do Raith now own Starks park? Otherwise how would they benefit from the pitch hire? 

We don't own the pitch directly. John Sim owns Starks and is a minority shareholder. 

[BPM]

23 minutes ago, Wee Sandy said:

I think the interview with Barrowman was honest and interesting! Sure it shocked us all but, when you consider,

8 games in and we are NOT the team we were for most of last season.......something has to change.

I along with many others was shocked at the dismissal............let us wait and see.

At least AB came out quickly to make his point

ETA Tom Courts was at KELTY with AB?............HMM!

 

If he shook my hand I would check if the ring was still on my finger. 

[Brashy's Boots]

24 minutes ago, Aufc said:

Since the new owners came in, every decision seems to have been controlled and measured and worked out well. This one seems the opposite so will be interesting to see how it develops. 

Have you watched the interview?

Controlled - yes

Measured - yes

Worked out well - time will tell (nice rhyme)

So, almost the opposite of what you said.

[Nightmare]

21 minutes ago, The Tiel Burn said:

Personally holding out for a Brazilian coach who left Boca Juniors in disgrace.

 

The last Brazilian who coached Boca Juniors is called Dino Sani and is now 92. That would certainly be a bold choice.

[Wee Sandy]

7 minutes ago, BPM said:

If he shook my hand I would check if the ring was still on my finger. 

 

Ah yes, a "considered" and erudite response to AB interview based on.................

..oh!! ye never saw it!!.......must be a Falkirk  fan

Edited August 6 by Wee Sandy

[Brashy's Boots]

7 minutes ago, BPM said:

If he shook my hand I would check if the ring was still on my finger. 

I suspect you may be well used to having your finger in rings. 

[DA Baracus]

4 minutes ago, Brashy's Boots said:

I suspect you may be well used to having your finger in rings. 

What does this mean?

[Michael W]

38 minutes ago, Aufc said:

Since the new owners came in, every decision seems to have been controlled and measured and worked out well. This one seems the opposite so will be interesting to see how it develops. 

I actually think it seems quite controlled, even if I don't agree with it. Barrowman was fairly clear they'd been thinking about this for a while, so I don't think it's a knee-jerk reaction, even if it looks that way externally. 

There is no doubt however that it is an enormous gamble, particularly as Murray was under little to no pressure from the fans. Bold was the word Barrowman used, which is one way of putting it. 

[BPM]

7 minutes ago, Brashy's Boots said:

I suspect you may be well used to having your finger in rings. 

Your sisters