As Trust members are no doubt aware tickets are now on sale for our Scottish Cup semi-final from a range of outlets including online via Ticketmaster for those living outside Kirkcaldy (Full details available on the official Club website). Given that the club has made tickets so readily available to fans, The Raith Trust will not be playing a formal role in distributing tickets to members. However, if any members are having problems accessing tickets then please do get in touch and we will do what we can to help.

Rovers Down South, who you may recognise as John McGlynn’s kit sponsor this season, are now expanding.

Recruiting supporters across England and Wales their aims are to:

• Coordinate the efforts of the exiled community for the good of the club
• See if they can help others to home games, if they can’t get there themselves
• Promote the club however they can, and have a good time in the process

(more…)

“The club has given the Trust 30 tickets to distribute for the game v East Fife at New Bayview on Sat 1st August. Any member wishing to purchase one of these tickets should go to the Trust table in the South Stand concourse at half-time during the forthcoming Hibs game on Tue 21 July. The sale will be on a first-come-first-served basis and will be one ticket per member.”

Blair White

Membership Secretary

Congratulations to everybody at the club for such a fantastic achievement. The championship was not won on Saturday – it was won every time the team took to the field this season. We have been lucky enough to witness an incredible season… and since losing to Ayr a couple of months ago have put together a run of results that no other team in the country have matched.

Let’s make it 9 in a row on Saturday!!!

The Raith Trust has been give 20 tickets for distribution to Trust members for the game away to East Fife on March 7th.

Anyone who is intending to join the sponsored walk to Methil but does not have a ticket should visit the Trust information point in the South Stand before 3pm on Saturday. He/she will be required to pay cash for the ticket at that time, and will be provided with the ticket on arrival at New Bayview. Any remaining tickets not sold to sponsored walkers will be sold to other Trust members on a first come, first served basis at half-time on Saturday. All tickets will be sold for cash as the Trust has to give the money to the club within a very short timeframe.

The Raith Trust have issued the following Press Release regarding this week’s events in Starks Park Properties:

The Raith Trust have raised concerns about the future of Starks Park Properties (SPP) Ltd, the company that owns Starks Park. In a General Meeting held on Tuesday, Thailand based John Sim, the majority shareholder (owning 51% of the company) acting through a lawyer removed all three directors of the company, replacing them with himself as the sole director.  This included the removal of Alex Condie, the outgoing supporters representative on the board of Raith Rovers.

It is understood that Mr Sim’s actions have been driven by a desire to safeguard the future of Starks Park – and that through controlling the club’s most significant asset he will in turn be able to improve the governance and financial accountability of the football club. While these objectives cannot be criticised, the Raith Trust believe Mr Sim could better achieve these through his significant investment in the football club itself, and by working with the current board of the football club.  Any scenario where a major shareholder pays more attention to the stadium than the football club sets alarm bells ringing amongst all football fans.

Starks Park Properties was originally established (as West City) to ensure Raith Rovers survival at a time when the football club was experiencing significant financial difficulties.  The company was set up to take advantage of the borrowing powers that weren’t available to the football club – it’s sole purpose was to facilitate the continuing survival and development of the football club.  Following the successful conclusion of the Reclaim the Rovers campaign, Mr Sim took up a 51% stake in SPP in return for providing a personal guarantee to the bank.  Whilst RRFC and SSP were controlled by the same individuals the two companies shared a common interest – the continuing survival and wellbeing of the football club; but by separating control of the two companies the priorities are not the same, and potential conflicts of interest have been created.  Mr Sim stands to benefit if the football club (in which he is a major shareholder) is unable to pay the rent to the stadium management company (in which he is the majority shareholder and sole director).  Mr Sim is now in a position of being both landlord and tenant.

The voices of the minority shareholders, who include the Raith Trust on behalf of all the fans who contributed to the Reclaim the Rovers campaign, can no longer be heard in the SPP boardroom.

The Raith Trust are committed to the long term prosperity of Raith Rovers, and to ensuring that the club is run in a democratic and transparent manner.  These changes in the SPP boardroom eradicate any sense of democracy and cloud the windows of transparency, and our fear is that this could one day threaten the future of Raith Rovers.  Despite discussions with Mr Sim little is known of his long-term intentions, and until concrete plans are in place for the future direction of SPP these fears will remain.

Three years that have passed since the conclusion of the Reclaim the Rovers campaign, and the change in ownership it introduced, have seen a gradual stabilisation of the club’s finances and a significant improvement in the team’s performances.  Assurances are needed from Mr Sim that this progress will not be jeopardised by this week’s developments, along with his detailed proposals for the future of SPP and his involvement in the football club.

The Raith Trust’s AGM will be held tomorrow evening, the 27th of November at 7pm in the Raith Suite at Starks Park, where these developments will be discussed further along with the formal business of the AGM.  All members are encouraged to attend.

Note to editors:

The Reclaim The Rovers campaign in 2005 created a consortium of shareholders under the name of New Raith Rovers (NRR) Ltd. NRR holds a majority share in Raith Rovers Holdings Ltd (the majority shareholder in Raith Rovers Football Club Ltd) and a minority share in Starks Park Properties (SPP) Ltd. John Sim is one of the shareholders in NRR and also holds the majority share in SPP in his own right. The complex ownership structure of these four companies that comprise Raith Rovers is shown in detail on the attached factsheet.

The factsheet referred to in the footnote is a representation of the “Who Owns What” article previously published on this website.

We’re sure that these developments will generate a lot of discussion; please use the comments field below to let us know your thoughts.

As you may have read, the club decided that the allocation of tickets for the game at New Bayview on November 8th would go to season ticket holders first, then to members of the supporters groups, and finally to a public sale (if any are left). The first part of that is now complete, and we have been offered a small number of tickets to distribute to our members, as have the other supporters groups.

If you haven’t already got a ticket for this match and would like one, please send an email to chairman@raithtrust.org.uk with your name and address (so that we can confirm that you are a Trust member) and whether you would like an adult (£13) or concession (£7) ticket.

The club need to know whether we’re taking up our allocation by Friday morning, so it’s a case of first come first served – apologies for the tight timescale for this, but as you’ll hopefully understand the club would rather not organise a public sale at the last minute. We’d also ideally have liked to make this offer to all of our members rather than just those with email and internet access, so if you know of any Trust members who are not online please let them know about this.

Some good news for the club this week – the SFA’s Disciplinary Committee included Raith Rovers in it’s group of 6 senior clubs with a commendable disciplinary record for season 2007/08.

Read the SFA news article here

Read the full SFL disciplinary analysis here

Prime Minister Gordon Brown has praised the role of his favourite football club in helping youngsters acquire skills for employment.

BBC NEWS | Scotland | Brown praises Raith training move

The SFL have published a new official weekly bulletin with facts and figures for all the weekend’s games which you might be interested in. It’s in PDF format and can be downloaded here. It’s a bit late for this weekend’s matches but it looks like something they intend to publish fr the rest of the season so bookmark the page and have a look towards the end of next week.

And yes, I am emailing them to say I think they’ve got their sums wrong on the ‘Goals Scored’ and ‘Goals Conceded’ tables