The New Raith Rovers Thread

[baillieinleeds]

2 hours ago, Ro Sham Bo said:

 

Our passing has been utterly sublime. McGlynnball is a perfect summation 

[Roath Raver]

1 hour ago, Always next quarter said:

I agree, good sign the main stand will be in operation soon. Looked at the hospitality offer for my Dad and Uncle. Ended up with a sore head trying to keep up with the video. The Raith TV guy must be buzzing on some volume of energy juice. Slow it down lads.

ETA someone has been listening, much better/slower now, cheers

RaithTV didn’t make the video, think it came from the company behind the tech, but it’s now been amended to make it slower. 

Edited November 23, 2021 by Roath Raver

[San Starko Rover]

6 hours ago, 1320Lichtie said:

No. It’s frustrating when it’s like we only win at home because of the weather, when it’s only bad a few times a year. Also this Raith team are a proper footballing team, no other side come close to being as good as they are with the ball on the deck in this league the last 3 year. Shite conditions could actually genuinely help us.

Think the pitch is more likely to cause us problems than the weather (which we’ll obviously blame if we lose), we like to whip the ball about on our very flat predictable carpet.  Grass pitches no matter how well maintained will never be 100% level and deteriorate during the winter periods.  It’s easy to misplace a pass or misjudge the bounce while we’re playing it around at the back as we like to do. I’d expect Arbroath to pressure us into mistakes. Looking forward to this one, first trip up to Gayfield we’ll need to be at our best to take anything off a very good Arbroath team who are full of confidence after a win through in Kilmarnock.  

[Super Raith]

Are the supporters club running a bus to Falkirk? I can't seem to find any info on it. 

[renton]

6 hours ago, Wardy said:

It’s because it’s actually great.

Would never be able to play the way we play now if it was the old grass surface, was like a tattie field by the time it got to this time of year….

The thing I loved about the old grass pitch was the worn bit on the left hand side of the box  (from the South stand) from all the times Grant Anderson had checked his run and played in Jason Thomson on the overlap.

Was basically our only real attacking move for a couple of seasons.

[Specky Ginger]

50 minutes ago, Super Raith said:

Are the supporters club running a bus to Falkirk? I can't seem to find any info on it. 

Yes.

I'm not on Facebook,but if you Google Raith Rovers Supporters' Club Facebook,there are details of times and pick up points.

[CalmacRR]

On 20/11/2021 at 23:23, grumswall said:

What was the attendance given as today? I wasn't there due to illness, but honestly, we don't have a core fan base above 2k anymore. We haven't for quite a while now. Raising the stream prices won't do much. Alot of people still don't want to be in crowded places etc.

Sorry to go back to the crowds issue, but I'm really curious why our core home support isn't larger. Setting aside any effects of the pandemic/streaming, Dunfermline had 3,500 at East End on Saturday, almost 2,000 more than Rovers. Have the Pars always had a bigger fanbase? They've generally been higher up the leagues in the last 20 years, but haven't done anything in recent seasons. Does it go back further than that, to their success in the 60s? I haven't lived in Kirkcaldy since I was a kid, and that was in the 90s, so I'm a little hazy on the distribution of Fife's population and where the pockets of support are based. But I know Kirkcaldy and Dunfermline are roughly similarly sized towns. Does the Rovers crowd take a hit because of the Fife Flyers also being in town? Would appreciate if anyone can enlighten me.

[Jilted John]

35 minutes ago, CalmacRR said:

Sorry to go back to the crowds issue, but I'm really curious why our core home support isn't larger. Setting aside any effects of the pandemic/streaming, Dunfermline had 3,500 at East End on Saturday, almost 2,000 more than Rovers. Have the Pars always had a bigger fanbase? They've generally been higher up the leagues in the last 20 years, but haven't done anything in recent seasons. Does it go back further than that, to their success in the 60s? I haven't lived in Kirkcaldy since I was a kid, and that was in the 90s, so I'm a little hazy on the distribution of Fife's population and where the pockets of support are based. But I know Kirkcaldy and Dunfermline are roughly similarly sized towns. Does the Rovers crowd take a hit because of the Fife Flyers also being in town? Would appreciate if anyone can enlighten me.

I think there’s a couple of reasons why the Pars have a bigger support. They were a top flight club far more recently than we were. The new manager bounce will also have had an impact.

I’m sure if you asked most Pars fans they’d tell you that they’ve lost a lot of fans over the past couple of years. I’d imagine if both clubs stayed around the championship for a few more years that our attendances wouldn’t be too far off each other.

Edited November 23, 2021 by Jilted John

[Broken Algorithms]

Kirkcaldy has a larger population than Dunfermline and also has a good few additional "catchment zones like Glenrothes" but over the last two decades or so we've spent a fair amount of time at a lower level due to our own ridiculous financials.

Most clubs tend to have a core support and very few, if any, clubs tend to fluctuate much on it. I can only really think of Killie under Clarke as being one to buck the trend. You could argue there's less investment into Kirkcaldy given Dunfermline are next door to the bridges and have seen business's like Amazon involved. The Flyers might take a few fans here or there but nothing substantial.

For the most part, Kirkcaldy suffers like most post industrial Scottish footballing towns - it's filled with people who follow the old firm and have no desire to get behind a team they'll view as pish. We're easily in our best footballing spell since the mid 90s. We're widely acknowledged as one of (if not) the best football side in the league. Unfortunately it's coincided with football being more readily available than ever. You can watch EPL highlights on YouTube a minute after kick off.

I think Rovers are still going about things in the right way. We're developing the stadium as a community hub and thinking outside the box to make the club more sustainable. The new building to go in at the North Stand is an example of that. If any club has the potential to grow their fan base, its us.

Or we could just get promoted and get our average attendance up with gates from the biggest teams in Scotland. That would work.

[Offshore Rover]

54 minutes ago, CalmacRR said:

Dunfermline had 3,500 at East End on Saturday

Remember Dunfermline count all season tickets in the attendance regardless whether they are there or not

[raith1974]

11 minutes ago, Offshore Rover said:

Remember Dunfermline count all season tickets in the attendance regardless whether they are there or not

They also stated there was 4500 at the recent Fife Derby. Unlikely as our end had 1000 fans, the away end was empty and the Norrie stand was sparse at best.

[pantene proV]

1 hour ago, Broken Algorithms said:

Kirkcaldy has a larger population than Dunfermline and also has a good few additional "catchment zones like Glenrothes" but over the last two decades or so we've spent a fair amount of time at a lower level due to our own ridiculous financials.
 

Not anymore.

[Zen Archer (Raconteur)]

39 minutes ago, pantene proV said:

Not anymore.

Probably due to having 2 McDonalds (soon to be 3) and a new Burger King.

[Scary Bear]

21 hours ago, Offshore Rover said:

I was thinking this at half time on saturday

Aye, Saturday was cold when it got dark. Time to get the winter jacket out and two pairs of socks.

[Broken Algorithms]

Not anymore.

Probably says quite a lot about the situation tbh.

[WSDR 88]

Delayed input, but for me, Spencer has to be the no.1 priority for getting signed up. He ticks it over so well in the middle of the park, finds passes where no one else does. When he’s in the 2/3 man midfield, we are a level above.

[Ro Sham Bo]

1 hour ago, WSDR 88 said:

Delayed input, but for me, Spencer has to be the no.1 priority for getting signed up. He ticks it over so well in the middle of the park, finds passes where no one else does. When he’s in the 2/3 man midfield, we are a level above.

I'd agree with this. To lose Hendry, Tait and Spencer within 12 months would be a disaster and we'd need to rebuild the midfield completely.

[CalmacRR]

12 hours ago, Jilted John said:

I think there’s a couple of reasons why the Pars have a bigger support. They were a top flight club far more recently than we were. The new manager bounce will also have had an impact.

I’m sure if you asked most Pars fans they’d tell you that they’ve lost a lot of fans over the past couple of years. I’d imagine if both clubs stayed around the championship for a few more years that our attendances wouldn’t be too far off each other.

 

11 hours ago, Broken Algorithms said:

Kirkcaldy has a larger population than Dunfermline and also has a good few additional "catchment zones like Glenrothes" but over the last two decades or so we've spent a fair amount of time at a lower level due to our own ridiculous financials.

Most clubs tend to have a core support and very few, if any, clubs tend to fluctuate much on it. I can only really think of Killie under Clarke as being one to buck the trend. You could argue there's less investment into Kirkcaldy given Dunfermline are next door to the bridges and have seen business's like Amazon involved. The Flyers might take a few fans here or there but nothing substantial.

For the most part, Kirkcaldy suffers like most post industrial Scottish footballing towns - it's filled with people who follow the old firm and have no desire to get behind a team they'll view as pish. We're easily in our best footballing spell since the mid 90s. We're widely acknowledged as one of (if not) the best football side in the league. Unfortunately it's coincided with football being more readily available than ever. You can watch EPL highlights on YouTube a minute after kick off.

I think Rovers are still going about things in the right way. We're developing the stadium as a community hub and thinking outside the box to make the club more sustainable. The new building to go in at the North Stand is an example of that. If any club has the potential to grow their fan base, its us.

Or we could just get promoted and get our average attendance up with gates from the biggest teams in Scotland. That would work.

Interesting, thanks. I had figured the new manager bounce was a factor at the weekend. I suppose the longer term trends are mostly down to Dunfermline being a Premier League club more recently. If we could somehow pull off promotion this season it would be really interesting to see if that would bring the numbers back. I think the potential to grow the support is there.

[embow]

As has already been pointed out the counting of season ticket holders, whether they are in attendance or not, is a major reason (in my opinion) for the disparity in the numbers published. How much difference there is in affluence between the two towns (Kirkcaldy, Dunfermline) may also have a part to play. Affordability has to be factored in. Football is not cheap. In truth even in days past it wasn't the cheapest but was one of a few  limited entertainment venues available. Fitba' or the flicks for half a crown (2/6 auld money!) not including the cost of a snack, even then was fair chunk out of the pocket. Nowadays the number of options to do many other things with spare cash and spare time is huge and whilst many will have strong allegiance to the Rovers or any other local team, many will choose to do other things than sit/ stand outdoors for a couple of hours, especially in the depths of winter even allowing for global warming. Special one off big occasions will always bring out large numbers because of the uniqueness e.g Coca Cola cup final, Bayern Munich at Easter Road. These numbers then disappear quickly like snaw aff a dyke when it comes to bread and butter weekly fixtures.

Edited November 24, 2021 by embow

[CALDERON]

I'm 33, and after a break in the late 90s we started going to the Rovers again in 2001.

In that time,Dunfermline have had a good 5+ seasons at Premiership level, 3 national cup finals, and European football.

The Rovers have spent 8 seasons in League 1/2nd Division over that same period.  The years in life where football games are their most fun have been at a relatively keech level by comparison.

People will go and watch a winning team in big games.  Dunfermline have had far more high profile games in that period.  

My frustration has more been around how can St Johnstone, Ross County, Livingston, Hamilton and Inverness all enjoy Premiership football and in some cases Cup success, and we haven't.

Edited November 24, 2021 by CALDERON