The New Raith Rovers Thread

[Beachbum]

16 minutes ago, Zen Archer said:

The submission to Fife Council only states a 3m run off.

From the FFP article:

John Sim also made comment this week, adding that extra work is required on pitch surroundings to meet regulations. “Currently the recommended gold standard pitch size is 105m by 68m with a 4m runoff,” he said.

[Zen Archer (Raconteur)]

1 minute ago, Beachbum said:

From the FFP article:

John Sim also made comment this week, adding that extra work is required on pitch surroundings to meet regulations. “Currently the recommended gold standard pitch size is 105m by 68m with a 4m runoff,” he said.

OK, I haven't read it yet.

[WSDR 88]

I’m all for the artificial pitch, we’re a 100k a season repairing/relaying a grass pitch. This 500k for the artificial pitch is for the laying of it plus drainage plus all the other good stuff that goes along with installing one. Lifespan on one, somewhere between 5 and 8 years, probably depends on its usage. Then a new pitch down, circa 200k 5-8 years later. It’s 100% a money saver. Players train on a lesser quality pitch just now, not 1 injury we’ve had this season (so far) has been injury related at training. I think it’s false thing that artificial pitches cause injuries. McHattie was injured on one at Alloa “oh it was the pitch” when in fact it was the challenge that caused him to twist his knee.
Along with the elephant in the room, 500k where’s the money coming from? Well it’s stated that SPP are sourcing the funds, that translates to what Sim said in his interview he’s funding the pitch. Totally unrelated to the playing budget. Also all level of teams will be able to play on it also rather than paying out money at Michael Woods or wherever else they play. Sim is a business man at the end of the day, he’s wanting to stop us spending needless money which we don’t have loads (if any) of.
Hopefully a season or 2 down the line with the money we’ve saved and generated, that’ll go towards a player or 2 as well.

[San Starko Rover]

Our ground was pretty much screwed by the old 10k seats rule the SPL forced on Scottish football to suit the ugly sisters fans. To meet this we had to build the ends too big and we’re now left with two ends that should be about the size of our stadium. Had this rule not been in we could have built the ends to about half their size and we’d have 4 functioning stands still.

 

I like the quirky main stand but as mentioned it generates little income. In a perfect world with unlimited funds I’d rebuild the stadiums to hold around 6000-7000 with two terraced ends (safe standing) and two seated stands running down either side, Pratt Street side as long as it will allow with function rooms, bars, corporate boxes and meeting facilities under the stands with the stands raised above pitch level like Hamilton you could use the space under all 4 stands. I’d also have 3 corners filled in obviously north Pratt Street wouldn’t be possible.

 

Reality is unless we’re in the top division the 3 stands more than covers our needs for attendances. The Railway stand is utterly redundant and the only option is something like Sims idea of turning it into corporate as I can’t see it being used as seating again. For our towns size 10k seats was a ridiculous size. We must have one of the only stadiums in world football that you can’t watch from the halfway line.

 

 

[Ding Dang Doo]

https://www.dailyrecord.co.uk/sport/football/football-news/raith-rovers-queens-park-stripped-11993457

Not going to lie my heart stopped when I saw this headline

[Rovers_Lad]

1 hour ago, WSDR 88 said:

I’m all for the artificial pitch, we’re a 100k a season repairing/relaying a grass pitch. This 500k for the artificial pitch is for the laying of it plus drainage plus all the other good stuff that goes along with installing one. Lifespan on one, somewhere between 5 and 8 years, probably depends on its usage. Then a new pitch down, circa 200k 5-8 years later. It’s 100% a money saver. Players train on a lesser quality pitch just now, not 1 injury we’ve had this season (so far) has been injury related at training. I think it’s false thing that artificial pitches cause injuries. McHattie was injured on one at Alloa “oh it was the pitch” when in fact it was the challenge that caused him to twist his knee.
Along with the elephant in the room, 500k where’s the money coming from? Well it’s stated that SPP are sourcing the funds, that translates to what Sim said in his interview he’s funding the pitch. Totally unrelated to the playing budget. Also all level of teams will be able to play on it also rather than paying out money at Michael Woods or wherever else they play. Sim is a business man at the end of the day, he’s wanting to stop us spending needless money which we don’t have loads (if any) of.
Hopefully a season or 2 down the line with the money we’ve saved and generated, that’ll go towards a player or 2 as well.

Cant comment on figures on up keep of pitch etc but

 

I,m not so  sure we haven,t had one injury related to training at MW .Maybe coincidental but we seem to have had more injuries since we moved their.

Theres  many a manager that leave player/s out when a games to be played on an artificial surface so dont think they are trustworthy.Theres a marked difference training on an artificial surface than playing a full blown game on one.I like to think  Sim etc have done their reseach,homework by looking at the likes of east fife,queens or alloa to see what revenue their pitches are bringing in.

I,m old school,football should be played on grass and suspect most managers and players are the same

Edited February 8, 2018 by Rovers_Lad

[Beastie Russell]

1 hour ago, Ding Dang Doo said:

https://www.dailyrecord.co.uk/sport/football/football-news/raith-rovers-queens-park-stripped-11993457

Not going to lie my heart stopped when I saw this headline

Would never have happened with Eric at the helm

[Hank Scorpio]

I’m all for the artificial pitch, we’re a 100k a season repairing/relaying a grass pitch. This 500k for the artificial pitch is for the laying of it plus drainage plus all the other good stuff that goes along with installing one. Lifespan on one, somewhere between 5 and 8 years, probably depends on its usage. Then a new pitch down, circa 200k 5-8 years later. It’s 100% a money saver. Players train on a lesser quality pitch just now, not 1 injury we’ve had this season (so far) has been injury related at training. I think it’s false thing that artificial pitches cause injuries. McHattie was injured on one at Alloa “oh it was the pitch” when in fact it was the challenge that caused him to twist his knee.
Along with the elephant in the room, 500k where’s the money coming from? Well it’s stated that SPP are sourcing the funds, that translates to what Sim said in his interview he’s funding the pitch. Totally unrelated to the playing budget. Also all level of teams will be able to play on it also rather than paying out money at Michael Woods or wherever else they play. Sim is a business man at the end of the day, he’s wanting to stop us spending needless money which we don’t have loads (if any) of.
Hopefully a season or 2 down the line with the money we’ve saved and generated, that’ll go towards a player or 2 as well.

Where are you pulling this £100k a year figure from?

[Varna Rover]

2 minutes ago, Hank Scorpio said:

 

Where are you pulling this £100k a year figure from?

 

I think its a speculative post from him. But what no-one has mentioned is just what will they do with the railway stand. If as suggested it will be hospitality suites and etc then their is ample opportunity for business functions etc on non match days. That could and i repeat could bring in substantial income to the club so maybe 100 grand is not out of the question

[Broken Algorithms]

16 minutes ago, Hank Scorpio said:

 

Where are you pulling this £100k a year figure from?

 

If there's one person I'd actually listen to on this forum seriously about the pitch maintenance at Stark's, it would be yourself. 

[WSDR 88]

Where are you pulling this £100k a year figure from?

They were all fairly rough guestimates, however the 100k was mentioned by Sim in his initial interview when the idea of an artificial surface was first mentioned.

I mentioned to my mates in our group chat earlier, for any semi neutral football fan that’s wanting to come to the Rovers but never really bothered before, what an excellent time to start getting involved and coming to watch the team, well in to the 2nd half of the season battling away for a league title and with investment going in to the club and stadium. Just need they ‘pick your game fans’ to become regulars. (Obviously this a half glass full point of view)

[McGuigan1978]

I’m sure when the park had that weird disease about 4 or 5 years ago, the quote to fix it was around £25,000 - £30,000.

The press stories at the time suggested that was a much higher figure than the usual cost for replacing the turf each summer.

[Zen Archer (Raconteur)]

Just now, McGuigan1978 said:

I’m sure when the park had that weird disease about 4 or 5 years ago, the quote to fix it was around £25,000 - £30,000.

The press stories at the time suggested that was a much higher figure than the usual cost for replacing the turf each summer.

At the last AGM, Mr Sim quoted an annual pitch maintenance cost of £30K.

He then looked at a minimum five year lifespan of a synthetic pitch saying  this amounted to £150K presenting a £350K shortfall which the club were looking to fill from 'other sources' which he was hopeful of finding.

[Broken Algorithms]

Just now, WSDR 88 said:

They were all fairly rough guestimates, however the 100k was mentioned by Sim in his initial interview when the idea of an artificial surface was first mentioned.

I mentioned to my mates in our group chat earlier, for any semi neutral football fan that’s wanting to come to the Rovers but never really bothered before, what an excellent time to start getting involved and coming to watch the team, well in to the 2nd half of the season battling away for a league title and with investment going in to the club and stadium. Just need they ‘pick your game fans’ to become regulars. (Obviously this a half glass full point of view)

I know at least of one person and his mates that decided to start going to games this season in a wee group. Also, my mate and I have been joined by a guy who is just starting to follow us. He's yet to hit a spell where we've been eye-bleedingly bad like last season (seems to have avoided a good few games like that this season). I think he'll probably come along games now after seeing us on Tuesday where we played with quite a lot of attacking movement. 

I've had other mates who have been to games before, but said that the weather and the prices just totally put them off. 

[Wardy]

6 minutes ago, rw89 said:

I know at least of one person and his mates that decided to start going to games this season in a wee group. Also, my mate and I have been joined by a guy who is just starting to follow us. He's yet to hit a spell where we've been eye-bleedingly bad like last season (seems to have avoided a good few games like that this season). I think he'll probably come along games now after seeing us on Tuesday where we played with quite a lot of attacking movement. 

I've had other mates who have been to games before, but said that the weather and the prices just totally put them off. 

Imagine getting put off by the weather. Jessie’s!  

[Rovers_Lad]

36 minutes ago, Varna Rover said:

I think its a speculative post from him. But what no-one has mentioned is just what will they do with the railway stand. If as suggested it will be hospitality suites and etc then their is ample opportunity for business functions etc on non match days. That could and i repeat could bring in substantial income to the club so maybe 100 grand is not out of the question

Anything to do with railway stand,hospitality suites etc  is in the longer term if at all (IMO.)

They have ample opportunity at the moment to utilise the Raith Suite for business functions or whatever but to my knowledge lies empty on non match days

Sim has a lot of hurdles to overcome to get the first phase of the project,the pitch to come to fruition.Planning approval and funding

[Nairney]

34 minutes ago, Varna Rover said:

I think its a speculative post from him. But what no-one has mentioned is just what will they do with the railway stand. If as suggested it will be hospitality suites and etc then their is ample opportunity for business functions etc on non match days. That could and i repeat could bring in substantial income to the club so maybe 100 grand is not out of the question

I think I posted about this before, but I used to work in the corporate events sector and I worked with a couple of different sports venues during that time. It's not the cash cow that it once was or is sometimes perceived to be. Hospitality at games is one thing, for supporters if nothing else, but business functions on non- match days are an entirely different matter. 

A better bet, for using any new facility (outwith match days) would be as more of a community facility - fitness classes, after school groups, parent and toddler groups, adult education etc. Regular community based groups generate a steady income - plus this would tie in with Sim's desire to see the club at the heart of the community, bring new people into the stadium. Potentially there could even be grants available too. Of course, it would be daft to turn down any corporate business that was suitable, but it's too risky to rely only on it.

[Varna Rover]

18 minutes ago, Nairney said:

I think I posted about this before, but I used to work in the corporate events sector and I worked with a couple of different sports venues during that time. It's not the cash cow that it once was or is sometimes perceived to be. Hospitality at games is one thing, for supporters if nothing else, but business functions on non- match days are an entirely different matter. 

A better bet, for using any new facility (outwith match days) would be as more of a community facility - fitness classes, after school groups, parent and toddler groups, adult education etc. Regular community based groups generate a steady income - plus this would tie in with Sim's desire to see the club at the heart of the community, bring new people into the stadium. Potentially there could even be grants available too. Of course, it would be daft to turn down any corporate business that was suitable, but it's too risky to rely only on it.

I agree but you have omitted one vital factor. Any business function could and very often is a for runner to advertising and or sponsorship on a larger scale than is the norm. Yes community functions are good, but the income is a tad limited from that so its essential that a corporate system is incorporated into whatever they decide to do.

[Ancient Mariner]

On 2/7/2018 at 14:17, somerset_lad00 said:

As is Vaughan.

We’ve got a few players on 4 bookings but given we’ve got a few players missing because of injury we could do without silly bookings leading to suspension.

that's good, someone else will have to take the corners 

[Beastie Russell]

Increasing the use of the stadium isn’t new, my grandpa used to go to see Bob Methven at Starks Park for physio on his knees in the late 70’s

Or a player wanting a career out with football could use the facilities and do this

https://www.facebook.com/tandmfitness/

 

Edited February 8, 2018 by Beastie Russell