The New Raith Rovers Thread

[Broken Algorithms]

A few folk nothing Goodwillie's only just come out of bankruptcy last month. I don't think he'd have expected for things to end up how they have, but it looks like he's told Clyde he wanted a final crack at full time and our directors have been the only club stupid enough to ignore the outrage it would generate. Denise Clair has been quite open that she's been told she'd never get her full settlement, but Goodwillie will be up £150k due to the stupidity of our board. I don't he thought he'd get it in full, but it's the easiest payday of his life. I'd be surprised if he gets another gig in football, but given the hatred he generates he probably won't care.

Our fans gave the club over £100k at the start of the pandemic and never asked for anything in return. If the four directors had any decency they'd be the only people footing the bill for their arrogance and stupidity. John Sim has obviously pumped a decent amount of money into the club, but really should have had the sense to realise that signing a rapist was a stupid idea.

[GordonD]

11 hours ago, San Starko Rover said:

It was announced late at night they could hardly ring John Sim at 23:00 to resign. 

I'd have waited until 3am.

[Rover the Moon]

A lot of talk in this about Goodwillie’s lack of remorse - the same thing is going to get levelled at the board unless urgent remedial action is taken. 

For me, they MUST:

Foot the bill for this so the Celtic cup windfall(s) can go towards the playing budget and reducing debts.

Issue a public apology directly naming Denise Clair.

Offer free shirt and away stand sponsorship to Rape Crisis Scotland. 

Of course, other action is needed but this has to be a starting point to show that they acknowledge what they’ve done.

[grumswall]

A lot of talk in this about Goodwillie’s lack of remorse - the same thing is going to get levelled at the board unless urgent remedial action is taken. 
For me, they MUST:
Foot the bill for this so the Celtic cup windfall(s) can go towards the playing budget and reducing debts.
Issue a public apology directly naming Denise Clair.
Offer free shirt and away stand sponsorship to Rape Crisis Scotland. 
Of course, other action is needed but this has to be a starting point to show that they acknowledge what they’ve done.

I'm pretty sure mcdermaids stadium sponsorship is running until 2026 so they aren't really in a position to offer that.

[RiG]

Sometimes I wonder what's going on inside the head of @Raith_Raver I always end up thinking it's something like this...

[roverthemoon]

28 minutes ago, grumswall said:

36 minutes ago, Rover the Moon said:

A lot of talk in this about Goodwillie’s lack of remorse - the same thing is going to get levelled at the board unless urgent remedial action is taken. 
For me, they MUST:
Foot the bill for this so the Celtic cup windfall(s) can go towards the playing budget and reducing debts.
Issue a public apology directly naming Denise Clair.
Offer free shirt and away stand sponsorship to Rape Crisis Scotland. 
Of course, other action is needed but this has to be a starting point to show that they acknowledge what they’ve done.

I'm pretty sure mcdermaids stadium sponsorship is running until 2026 so they aren't really in a position to offer that.

Wonder if she can change the wording on the North Stand

[Broken Algorithms]

Sometimes I wonder what's going on inside the head of [mention=13165]Raith_Raver[/mention] I always end up thinking it's something like this...

I don't think there's a single Rovers fan he's not been raging at. It's quite the work.

[McGuigan1978]

Sporadic reminder, that I have very much not adhered to recently, that not responding to Raith Raver absolutely kills his presence.

Just don’t do it, don’t respond to him and don’t give him oxygen. Like a couple of others I’ve hidden him and rightly so. 

Edited February 7, 2022 by McGuigan1978

[btb]

I think the public mood has moved since 2017 (and for the better) when Goodwillie signed for Clyde but say Raith had a more conventional sponsor rather than Val McDairmid would they have kept their heads down rather than forcing the issue , might he have seen the furore out elsewhere?

[San Starko Rover]

2 hours ago, roverthemoon said:

So as we start week 2 of this:

 

The positives

Goodwillie will never play for Raith Rovers

 

The negatives 

We are down over £200k  (£150k in wages/£50k+ fee) for nothing

We’ve lost two major sponsors

We’re down 2 directors 

We’ve lost our fans rep

We no longer have a Women’s team 

We have lost Raith TV 

We no longer have an employability manager

We are down roughly 400/500 fans

We don’t have enough volunteers to run the full matchday experience

Not one single person still at the club has been held responsible or resigned over this

There’s been no apology to Denise Clair or victims 

The four directors who thought this signing was a price worth paying are still making decisions about the future of our club 

And that’s all before you even begin to consider the reputation damage. 

Yet the club still seem to be ‘nothing to see here’ 

I really hope we hear something today from the club even if it’s just an update on the plan with his contract and further apology to the people who’ve been hurt by all this especially Denise Clair would be a start. At the moment it stinks of Go to the Winchester have a pint and wait for it to all blow over. Since the story broke many people (above) walked away.  To have any chance of getting them to return will take some serious amount of work and saying nothing will absolutely not do that. If the rumour of a PR person being brought in are true they’ll surely tell them saying nothing isn’t an option. 

[Double Jack D]

I have no direct communication with any of the residual board but I have heard informally from more than one voice who would probably be quite close to the thinking currently within the club. 

I have to say that the account given above that there is absolutely no contrition coming from within the club wouldn't surprise me in the slightest. I sense more rage at Andy Mill, Bill Clark and Val McDermid than genuine remorse for the decision made. A bit like, well we've said sorry, what more do they want?

We'll see what this week brings but I'm not hopeful we are going to make any great strides towards redemption. 

Edited February 7, 2022 by Double Jack D

[San Starko Rover]

4 minutes ago, Double Jack D said:

I have no direct communication with any of the residual board but I have heard informally from more than one voice who would probably be quite close to the thinking currently within the club. 

I have to say that the account given above that there is absolutely no contrition coming from within the club wouldn't surprise me in the slightest. I sense more rage at Andy Mill, Dave Clark and Val McDermid than genuine remorse for the decision made. A bit like, well we've said sorry, what more do they want?

We'll see what this week brings but I'm not hopeful we are going to make any great strides towards redemption. 

The more I see people saying this the more depressing it is if there’s any truth in it. I do wonder if there’s a hope the Celtic game will take some of the attention away FYI for them IT WON’T

[SanStarko]

9 minutes ago, San Starko Rover said:

 If the rumour of a PR person being brought in are true they’ll surely tell them saying nothing isn’t an option. 

 

The poor PR person has probably the last few days with their head in their hands repeatedly saying "You did what?"  after being told each part of this entire disaster.

[Hawk89]

6 minutes ago, Double Jack D said:

I have no direct communication with any of the residual board but I have heard informally from more than one voice who would probably be quite close to the thinking currently within the club. 

I have to say that the account given above that there is absolutely no contrition coming from within the club wouldn't surprise me in the slightest. I sense more rage at Andy Mill, Dave Clark and Val McDermid than genuine remorse for the decision made. A bit like, well we've said sorry, what more do they want?

We'll see what this week brings but I'm not hopeful we are going to make any great strides towards redemption. 

There is a good chance the remaining board are if anything even further entrenched in their view. They clearly thought they were making the right choice with the signing, they doubled down thinking people would understand. They will have been under constant attack since the announcement which if anything has probably further hardened their stance. It is very difficult to pull someone from an entrenched position when they are constantly under attack. I am in no was saying they shouldn't be getting hounded because they absolutely deserve it at present. They clearly need someone to take them by the hand and say to them, this is how we fix it. Whilst they are within their own bubble that probably won't happen. 

[Double Jack D]

I've listened to the Bill Clark interview and, whilst he gives a decent account of things, he hasn't really clarified a lot of the key issues. I believe he wasn't involved in the deal over last weekend but I sense he is protecting McGlynn and Smith by trying to alleviate any blame from them. 

However he does give an indication of how transfers at the Rovers have worked, and would be currently expected to work. The key thing is that the initial request always comes from the management team and based purely on footballing reasons. It is then escalated to the board for approval who look at all the other implications, usually the financial investment in most cases however you would like to think other things like reputational matters would be considered also.

Clark is very much of the opinion that McGlynn has no authority over anything outside of football and therefore he points the blame for this mess squarely at the board who voted for it. I'm not sure I can agree.

It seems clear now that the signing of Goodwillie would never have happened unless McGlynn wanted it. Although only responsible for footballing matters, he was willing to overlook Goodwillies character in order to benefit his team. He is as complicit as the board who voted for it. They are all rape apologists and if the club is to move forward beyond this then they all need cleared out. 

[RRPT]

I wonder if this is the same Karen Macartney? If it is, it looks like she has previous.

https://www.dailyrecord.co.uk/entertainment/celebrity/john-leslie-returns-work-marketing-1332448

[Frank conner]

44 minutes ago, McGuigan1978 said:

Sporadic reminder, that I have very much not adhered to recently, that not responding to Raith Raver absolutely kills his presence.

Just don’t do it, don’t respond to him and don’t give him oxygen. Like a couple of others I’ve hidden him and rightly so. 

I wish they would do the same with your show tbh.

[San Starko Rover]

7 minutes ago, Double Jack D said:

I've listened to the Bill Clark interview and, whilst he gives a decent account of things, he hasn't really clarified a lot of the key issues. I believe he wasn't involved in the deal over last weekend but I sense he is protecting McGlynn and Smith by trying to alleviate any blame from them. 

However he does give an indication of how transfers at the Rovers have worked, and would be currently expected to work. The key thing is that the initial request always comes from the management team and based purely on footballing reasons. It is then escalated to the board for approval who look at all the other implications, usually the financial investment in most cases however you would like to think other things like reputational matters would be considered also.

Clark is very much of the opinion that McGlynn has no authority over anything outside of football and therefore he points the blame for this mess squarely at the board who voted for it. I'm not sure I can agree.

It seems clear now that the signing of Goodwillie would never have happened unless McGlynn wanted it. Although only responsible for footballing matters, he was willing to overlook Goodwillies character in order to benefit his team. He is as complicit as the board who voted for it. They are all rape apologists and if the club is to move forward beyond this then they all need cleared out. 

 McGlynn is at least partly responsible as he’s got to have some common sense when looking at players.  I don’t imagine he pops into the boardroom and asks if we could get Messi, Ronaldo and De Bruyne as footballing-wise they’d be great signings to then be laughed at. Yes the BOD ultimately tell him Yes or No but as you say McGlynn should consider certain things too like cost, background and how a player will be received by the fan base before he even goes to the board. This wasn’t a little known fact hiding in his past McGlynn knows what Goodwillie did he’s heard it chanted at him from the stands. 

[McGuigan1978]

1 minute ago, Frank conner said:

I wish they would do the same with your show tbh.

Which is absolutely fair enough! 

[smpar]

Issue a public apology directly naming Denise Clair.

That could be quite dangerous. You’ve probably considered this but the club should do nothing of the sort without having her written consent first. I know she is already named in numerous sources, but she might not want that sort of attention on her. A good step would be for Raith to find out what she thinks would be a positive step in terms of public apologies/statements.