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The New Raith Rovers Thread


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6 hours ago, BairnBrainBrian said:

I heard you guys are looking at Durnan as cover. Just a rumour, so it might not be true...

Heard a rumor that the Rovers offered to pay for Durnan’s salary as long as he started for Falkirk at CB.

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Losses almost halved, which is a positive development. The rest of it less so, even if in line with expectations. 

Shows the problem with being in this league too clearly - it is an absolute crippler. 

Sadly I suspect that our medical bill problem won't be getting any better this season. 

Edit: bottom line - we need to get promoted. I can't see how that gap can possibly be closed in this league even if we went fully PT. 

Edited by Michael W
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2 hours ago, Michael W said:

Losses almost halved, which is a positive development. The rest of it less so, even if in line with expectations. 

Shows the problem with being in this league too clearly - it is an absolute crippler. 

Sadly I suspect that our medical bill problem won't be getting any better this season. 

Edit: bottom line - we need to get promoted. I can't see how that gap can possibly be closed in this league even if we went fully PT. 

I'm sure at the last AGM Ali More said that between prize money (difference between 3rd in L1 and 8th Championship), home hospitality sales and gate revenue from visiting fans we are down by around  £400,000 from what we would have if we were in the Championship. Continuing to lose six figure sums will be the death of us, your edit is bang on.

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Its pretty straightforward you live within your means! No one is forcing us to stay predominantly full time East Fife even managed to make a small profit at this level and in case I've missed something we're still in the same league as them. If the time comes where we have to go part time then so be it being full time at this level hasn't worked out so far but to continually lose large amounts of money is just crazy.

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42 minutes ago, Jilted John said:

The gamble is, do you throw money at it by saying if we could sign 3 or 4 players in Jan, does it guarantee us promotion at a cost of perhaps 80k?

The flip side is, what happens if it doesn’t work?

I'd say no, knowing our luck we would sign 3 outstanding players and lose them all to end of season injuries by the end of the month.

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Despite cutting costs and increasing revenue (an away tie to Hibs in the Scottish Cup accounting for a chunk of this) we still lost £200k - that's, maybe, 8 first team players on full-time wages? That's a hell of a lot to reduce by even to get to a break even. 

Even if we did go fully PT, I'm not convinced we would break even given the amount we would need to reduce spending by. 

Medical bills we have no control over and, regrettably, injuries show no sign of stopping. That's a separate issue, really, but it does incur a really irritating cost to the club. 

The above of course doesn't take into account potential negative consequences of getting the club to a break even by reducing the playing budget, namely by decreased attendances and hospitality if the team is performing badly. 

What will also be interesting is how much money the pitch is bringing in, as this was one of the big arguments for installing it. 

Edited by Michael W
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We also had some (perhaps unbudgeted ) income from favourable cup draws last season? Certainly not this season unless the 'Michael Mouse' trophy delivers anything later in the season.

Part time football can be successful. Arbroath?

An awful lot is to do with management and skills set etc., of those in the team squad. I think this might well be our year. No idea, or irrefutable evidence, why I'm saying this, but I just have the feeling things will turn out ok. 

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7 minutes ago, embow said:

We also had some (perhaps unbudgeted ) income from favourable cup draws last season? Certainly not this season unless the 'Michael Mouse' trophy delivers anything later in the season.

Part time football can be successful. Arbroath?

An awful lot is to do with management and skills set etc., of those in the team squad. I think this might well be our year. No idea, or irrefutable evidence, why I'm saying this, but I just have the feeling things will turn out ok. 

In McGlynn we trust!!

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It's a difficult one.

Cutting cloth and going totally part time is probably tempting - but it makes getting out this league all the harder - and removes any edge we may have over other sides in this league.

Whilst it may well get costs under control, it could well leave the club being a fair to middling league 1 club for a number of years. That would then go onto hurt the average gate, and therefore income. There's also the question on what we do if we manage to win promotion - just remain a part time club or rip things up again and go full time.

I think the way we have approached this season is sensible. We have a full time core which means we can attract decent players. Hendry, for example, would not be near Starks Park with a completely part time set up - and he could well be the difference between promotion and not. It also means we can supplement the squad with part time players, which gives us some depth - and depth has played a massive part in our season so far. We have been absolutely fucked with injuries yet are currently top.

Losing 6 figures is in no way sustainable - but I think its still a fair solution to try and beat that through means of promotion rather than slashing the cost base. There's only so long you can do that, but there isnt anything so far to suggest we cant go up this season.

The trend is at least going in the correct direction, small mercies and all that.

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1 minute ago, Rovers_Lad said:

Unless someone is willing to throw a huge bung at it for no return it,ll take a long time to rid ourselves of historical debt

It does beg the question as to how much cutting our cloth in terms of playing budget can actually make a difference. 

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5 minutes ago, embow said:

We also had some (perhaps unbudgeted ) income from favourable cup draws last season? Certainly not this season unless the 'Michael Mouse' trophy delivers anything later in the season.

Part time football can be successful. Arbroath?

An awful lot is to do with management and skills set etc., of those in the team squad. I think this might well be our year. No idea, or irrefutable evidence, why I'm saying this, but I just have the feeling things will turn out ok. 

I think even if we win the TCW cup the winners cut is less than £30k so getting past Livvi is still our best hope of a windfall to ease things.

It seems bad to be always blaming bad luck but injuries and their subsequent medical bills aside we have had other dodgy luck too. The TCW QF and SF meant the loss of Forfar and Falkirk leagues games on Saturdays to becoming midweek fixtures, that will eventually have had a near 5 figure impact of crowds and hospitality, all money that we can ill afford to lose out on.

While it was good luck in getting to the Semi, it was bad luck that both QF and SF fell on dates that we were at home and had full hospitality booked.

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31 minutes ago, Michael W said:

 

What will also be interesting is how much money the pitch is bringing in, as this was one of the big arguments for installing it. 

I,m guessing not as much as expected at the moment as(,somebody correct me if I,m wrong ) the hiring of the pitch is only open to select groups at the moment and not to any Tom,Dick or Harry

Edited by Rovers_Lad
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