The New Raith Rovers Thread

[baillieinleeds]

8 hours ago, roverthemoon said:

 

 

The fact that a story about our club ends with links to rape crisis organisations in case anyone has been traumatised by what they’ve just watched sum it up. Shameful day for the club.

My heart sank at this point. What the f**k is happening to our club, from rated to hated in over 24 hours. All involved in this fiasco must now leave. Despite John McGlynn’s standing in the game, it’s now clearly over and knows it. 

[Sergeant Wilson]

2 minutes ago, VincentGuerin said:

You're the second person who has misunderstood that, so it must be my poor wording.

I meant the poor judgement of the people doing the hiring. Vlad's choice of who coaches Hearts shouldn't cost me, my brothers, our mates the time we spend together doing the thing we all really enjoy.

Similarly, people for whom watching Raith and all that surrounds that is very important shouldn't have the rug pulled from under them by a mad decision their board have made. I don't, especially think in the current climate, encouraging people to give up a sociable hobby is necessarily wise. It's punishing the wrong people.

Having and demonstrating your principles isn't punishment.

[jamamafegan]

Looking forward to hearing the DG apologists on the Radio Scotland phone-in at 9.

Just stuck it on. Should be interesting.

[Shadwell Dog]

That statement is very much of the nothing to see here type.  Comes over as if they are talking about a handful of objectors when it's plainly the majority of the Raith support that has major issues with it.  Always thought bill Clarke was a bit of a twat but he's certainly gone up in my estatimations after this.  Mcglynn on the other hand. Good coach but hasn't come out of this at all well by constantly palming off difficult questions. 

[VincentGuerin]

2 minutes ago, Sergeant Wilson said:

Having and demonstrating your principles isn't punishment.

It is if it comes as a result of subtle social pressure. What I think we're seeing here is a tendency to encourage people to give up going to see their team. It's certainly behaviour people will applaud.

But there will be people for whom going to see Rovers is an important social outlet. One they were denied for ages recently. If you're a Raith Rovers fan, there's nothing wrong with going to watch Raith Rovers.

[RiG]

7 hours ago, zicoromaines said:

Goodwillie wasn’t convicted, he was found to probably be guilty of taking advantage of a drunk girl who likely didn’t give proper consent he has always claimed his innocence, he has kept his head down for a decade since

Glad that we've cleared up that he was found guilty of raping a woman.

[Raithie]

16 minutes ago, placidcasual said:

I can't be fucked traipsing thru 8 pages of "Rape Rovers lol" but was there any sort of a drop in attendance, and how was the atmosphere?

Think I read the attendance was 1005, probably only a couple of hundred down to what we'd have normally have gotten in normal circumstances. Didn't go to the game but watched it on RaithTV. Atmosphere at the best of times is flat at Starks however goals certainly came across as having been celebrated as per any game. Boos for McGlynn when he came out the tunnel. Apart from that no chants towards McGlynn or the board that I heard over the TV. 

[Michael W]

I am pretty sure that Clyde were harshly condemned when they signed Goodwillie. Perhaps it was less vociferous, but that's already been covered. 

It was also 5 years ago and in that time things have moved on. Allegations of rape as well as less serious but still horrific sexual offences committed by high profile men, who had otherwise just gotten on with their lives without repercussion, cane to the fore. You had the #MeToo disclosures, Harvey Weinstein and closer to home a former First Minister. High profile men that were accussed of a myriad of sexual offences and just got on as they were with no consequences. 

It is right that the actions of these men are met with derision and scrutiny applied where they are hired to do something. It is also a good thing that society is less accepting of this sort of behaviour and is no longer willing to simply dismiss it. Such actions should not be brushed under the carpet because of who they are, what they have done in the past etc. They are abhorrent and the perpetrators should be required to answer for them. 

Goodwillie has a lower profile than the people I've mentioned above but the point still applies. He has "answered" for his actions through a civil court case, but has otherwise shown no remorse for the impact his behaviour had upon his victim. Some will argue he can't show remorse as this would be an admission of guilt but I don't buy that - he accepts he had sex with the victim, he does not deny this. He denies it was non-consensual. Whether he feels like he didn't commit the offence or not, the victim feels that she has been raped; these are his actions that brought this trauma and for that he has to at least show contrition. He hasn't. I don't believe you can fully answer for your actions until you can show genuine remorse for actions. 

[keyser_soze]

1 hour ago, Dons_1988 said:

I get that this is an emotive subject, and fair play to those following their convictions and boycotting. 

But I can’t get onboard with hounding raith fans or calling them rape apologists for simply attending the game last night (not referring to the fishing trip posts from some on here). Folk have lots of reasons, many personal, for going to the football and they don’t deserve abuse for watching their team last night. 

Target the anger where it deserves to go. 

This 100%, I'm sure there will be a lot more happening between now and Saturday, plenty more bad publicity to come. As far as going to the game ? I'll wait until the team sheets are out, if his name is on it then I'll go, however the only reason for attending would be to show my utter contempt towards this disgusting excuse for a human and those who made the signing happen, I'll also match the admission fee with a donation to the just giving page set up.

 

My only hope is that someone at the club sees some sense and gets this horrible fucker in the sea asap, other heads will obviously need to follow.

Edited February 2, 2022 by keyser_soze

[HenryHill]

6 minutes ago, Raithie said:

Think I read the attendance was 1005, probably only a couple of hundred down to what we'd have normally have gotten in normal circumstances. Didn't go to the game but watched it on RaithTV. Atmosphere at the best of times is flat at Starks however goals certainly came across as having been celebrated as per any game. Boos for McGlynn when he came out the tunnel. Apart from that no chants towards McGlynn or the board that I heard over the TV. 

I take it Raith do what most teams do these days and count season ticket holders as attending even if they don't turn up? That could make the attendance higher than it was. I could be wrong though.

[Raithie]

1 minute ago, HenryHill said:

I take it Raith do what most teams do these days and count season ticket holders as attending even if they don't turn up? That could make the attendance higher than it was. I could be wrong though.

We've got over 1500 season ticket holders and don't think we've ever included them in the overall attendance for previous games. 

[John MacLean]

32 minutes ago, baillieinleeds said:

My heart sank at this point. What the f**k is happening to our club, from rated to hated in over 24 hours. All involved in this fiasco must now leave. Despite John McGlynn’s standing in the game, it’s now clearly over and knows it. 

If this is any consolation I don't believe anyone hates Raith Rovers Football Club over this matter. It's the current custodians that the vitriol is rightly being aimed at. Scottish football loves an ill-judged statement but that one last night was utterly revolting. 

Rovers fans should be angry, if that word is an even remotely adequate adjective in the circumstances, at what is being done in their club's name but they shouldn't be ashamed of being a Raith Rovers fan. If anything they should take pride in how the vast majority have collectively reacted to this. 

Edited February 2, 2022 by John MacLean

[Stellaboz]

1 minute ago, DundeeUnited9999 said:

guy on the radio saying it was fine for DG to play for Clyde cause they have 500 less fans going every week, WTF does that have anything to do with it

This is why I don't believe in absolute free speech. Idiots like that somehow get opinions like this heard outside of their own imbecile brain.

[baillieinleeds]

1 hour ago, Double Jack D said:

Absolutely.

In terms of morally opposing DGW, a sizeable amount of Raith supporters along with Key Sponsors and some very good people within the club are the first people in Scottish Football to take a real stand against his participation in our game. 

I think the criticism of fans still willing to go to games is well over the top. The people who have brought shame are the manager and 4 directors that sanctioned this move and appear to think that footballing ability alone is enough to make being a rapist ok.

As mere fans we have very little individual power or influence . It probably makes very little difference to them if I go to games or not. 

My main reason for not attending though is because I'm a dad of 3. I simply couldn't watch my kids celebrate a DGW goal or have a poster of him up their room or have him as their idol knowing what he has done, and shown zero remorse for. I don't want a culture around Kirkcaldy where boys grow up thinking what DGW did was alright if you have a bit of footballing talent. These are the guys that will populate the same social venues as my kids in the coming years.

What the club have done repulses me.

Call me a woke bed-wetter all you like, I'm just being a dad.

It’s not being woke, it’s just pure common sense. As a parent myself I’m totally with you on this very reasoned post.

[R.R.FC]

In terms of how we move forward as a club, terminating the contract of David Goodwillie (which seems unlikely to happen) is now only part of the issue. Even if that was to happen, we would still be left with a manager and a board of directors who choose this course of action. The board were well aware of the feelings of the fans and sponsors and pressed ahead regardless either not believing the strength of opposition or not caring.

Now John McGlynn is out of contract at the end of the season and may well walk away, he looked a broken man last night but for me he isn’t the biggest issue. And even if he was, he is by far the easiest to remove. John Sim and his stooges pushed through and approved the deal without a care, despite knowing the feelings of supporters, volunteers, sponsors and fellow directors when they are supposed to be custodians of the club and maintain and live by a club  concordat they helped put together.

From what I have heard about John Sim this seems exactly in line with what you would expect. He is extremely single minded and will generally do whatever he wants and unfortunately he has the power to do so at the club. He controls everything with regards to the club. There is no doubting he has done a lot of good for the club, until 48 hours ago, I had some concerns but was generally very happy with the job he had done.

However, that was all undone with the signing of Goodwillie. Naively, I had thought they had perhaps spoken to Val and other key stakeholders who had raised concerns as well as volunteers and staff around the club to gauge feelings and explain their reasons (obviously nothing they could say would really justify it). But it seems they didn’t and just pressed ahead any way because ‘he’s quite good at football.’

It’s fine for us, as supporters, to sit back and demand the resignations of the board, however, surely we all know deep down that isn’t going to happen. The resignations of those in opposition yesterday and the subsequent statement show they are doubling down.

I have never been convinced that fan ownership works for a team of our size but surely that is our only way out of this? I saw the Raith Trust statement yesterday and whilst it is to be commended and it is obviously less than 48 hours since Goodwillie was signed, we really need to move quickly with some action. I would love the trust or any other supporter organisation to do some work into the viability of fan ownership and start the fundraising as soon as possible. A model similar to Falkirk’s where you have 10-12 high value contributors supported by other fans making smaller monthly contributions seems the best option.

I don’t know if there is any real appetite for this or how viable it would be given Sim has the stadium as well as the club but I just feel sitting asking for resignations of board members won’t actually achieve anything, they are going nowhere and the longer things are left, the more the fans who are taking a stance just now will be lost forever. We are not a big enough club to afford to alienate and lose any section of our fan base.

Tl;dr version; the board who made this decision aren’t going anywhere unless we find a viable alternative and I would like to think some work will be started quickly to find this.

Edited February 2, 2022 by R.R.FC

[HenryHill]

13 minutes ago, Raithie said:

We've got over 1500 season ticket holders and don't think we've ever included them in the overall attendance for previous games. 

Thanks for info. That's that theory properly scuppered.

[Sergeant Wilson]

27 minutes ago, VincentGuerin said:

It is if it comes as a result of subtle social pressure. What I think we're seeing here is a tendency to encourage people to give up going to see their team. It's certainly behaviour people will applaud.

But there will be people for whom going to see Rovers is an important social outlet. One they were denied for ages recently. If you're a Raith Rovers fan, there's nothing wrong with going to watch Raith Rovers.

Except if they do something you are morally opposed to.

You're very polite about it but you clearly see this as someone else's problem and that it shouldn't interfere with your enjoyment.

Some people will feel more strongly. At the risk of being too emotive, would you go if he'd raped a relative or friend of yours, would you enjoy the day out the same?

[jamamafegan]

Oh my days. It sounds like JT Well has phoned in to Radio Scotland. Guys saying it’s “rich” of Val to complain about this because she makes a living from writing crime novels. Simply unbelievable.

[Jacksgranda]

12 hours ago, JTWell said:

Indeed however no mention of the hypocrisy of Raith’s (previous) sponsor making a career out of writing about increasingly deprived criminal activity,  including rape, in order to attract readers and make her more money.  

And don’t tell me it was all fiction as she has indicated her inspiration for characters such as Jacko Vance (Saville).  

 

These fictional criminals weren't very good then, if they couldn't hold onto their ill gotten gains...

[Salt n Vinegar]

Thank gawd that's over. I think the club got off pretty lightly on the radio.