Raith Rovers F.C.
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| Raith Rovers F.C. | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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| Full name | Raith Rovers Football Club | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Nickname(s) | The Rovers | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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| Founded | 1883 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Ground | Stark's Park, Kirkcaldy, Scotland |
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| Capacity | 10,104 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Chairman | Vacant | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Manager |  John McGlynn |
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| League | Scottish Second Division | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| 2005-06 | Scottish Second Division,7th | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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Raith Rovers F.C. are a professional football club who currently play in the Scottish Football League (Division 2). Their Manager is former Hearts head coach John McGlynn who replaced former manager Hearts and Leicester Manager Craig Levein.
A famous victory in the 1960s led to the famous quote (commonly attributed to English commentator David Coleman - but actually said by Sam Leitch, a BBC sports broadcaster of the time, that the fans would be "dancing in the streets of Raith tonight." Clearly, Sam, although a Scotsman himself, was unaware of the the club's actual location in Kirkcaldy.
Raith Rovers currently play their football at Stark's Park in the Raith area of Kirkcaldy, Fife. Stark's Park is a 10,104 seater stadium which remains among the most impressive of the stadia owned by the lower league clubs despite it needing some structural work on the older 'Railway Stand'. Due to past victories, Raith Rovers FC remains one of the higher supported clubs in the lower divisions of Scottish football, regularly attracting gates of 1500+.
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[edit] A history of the club
Raith Rovers were founded in 1883 and play in the town of Kirkcaldy. Though there were a few other teams who incorporated the town name, such as Kirkcaldy Wanderers, Raith were the most successful of the local teams. A mixture of local success and ambition took the club into the Senior leagues where they established themselves and thereby became the pre-eminent team in the town. As a curiosity the town also plays host to the oldest British ice hockey team but they too eschew the town’s name, instead taking the county name to be called Fife Flyers.
The town itself is located on the south coast in the County (or Kingdom) of Fife in the east of Scotland, just north of Edinburgh over the Firth of Forth. It has a population of around 60,000 and is therefore the largest town in Fife and around the 12th largest in Scotland. The old Kirkcaldy District which includes the surrounding towns and villages has a population of around 148,000 people.
There are three other senior league teams in Fife with East Fife F.C. around eight miles to the east, and Cowdenbeath F.C. and Dunfermline Athletic F.C. nine and fourteen miles respectively, to the west. Kirkcaldy has historically been an industrial town with linoleum and coal mining the main employers.
In 1994, Raith surprisingly beat Celtic on penalties to win the Coca Cola Cup. Gordon Dalziel scored the equalising goal for Raith and later became manager of the club, but was sacked on September 1, 2006 after poor performances on the park. The same season, Raith were promoted after winning the First Division title.
Following the Cup win, Raith qualified for Europe (UEFA Cup) for the first time in their history, eventually facing Bayern Munich. The Kirkcaldy side lost 4-1 on aggregate, but were famously 1-0 ahead at half-time in the Olympic Stadium, Munich in the second leg. This was the first time a Scottish team had qualified for a major European competition while playing outwith the top league.
In 2004/05, Raith suffered a disastrous season amd were relegated from the First to the Second Division after Claude Anelka bought the Manager's job. Anelka signed a team of mostly foreign players from clubs as low as the 7th or 8th division in France. Despite Anelka resigning halfway through the season (replaced by Gordon Dalziel) and his signings either leaving, or having their contracts terminated, Raith were relegated to the Scottish Second Division after finishing bottom of the First Division with just 16 points in a season.
During 2005/06, The future of the club looked doubtful after the club and its traditional home of Stark's Park were both placed under threat by previous owners Colin McGowan and Alex Short. The Glasgow based property developers had repeatedly threatened to sell Stark's Park for housing in a bid to find a buyer for their 50% stake in the club and after months of legal and financial wrangling a deal was struck with their company, West City Development.
Former chairman Turnbull Hutton and director Mario Caira, who were part of West City retained their investment and have been joined by major investor John Sim, a Thailand-based senior financial figure with liquidator KPMG.
The Reclaim the Rovers fans' campaign, which was launched in a bid to secure a local future for the club, has also secured a place for a Supporters' Representative, on the new-look board after raising £100,000 towards the final figure.
On 30th December 2005, Raith Rovers' future was secured after a £1.2 million community buy-out (The New Raith Rovers Limited consortium) assisted by Chancellor of the Exchequer Gordon Brown. A number of individuals including previous Chairman David Sinton worked tirelessly behind the scenes, and for no reward other than the satisfaction of securing the club's future, for a number of months before the buy-out could finally be completed.
[edit] Key dates
1883 – Club founded and start playing at Robbie’s Park in Kirkcaldy.
1891 – Club move to Stark’s Park when Robbie’s Park is used to create a new public park named after Provost Michael Beveridge.
1902/03 – Elected to the Scottish League.
1907 – The club incorporated into a limited company and the Raith Rovers Football and Athletic Company, Ltd was born.
1909/10 – Elected to join 1st Division after two consecutive successful seasons in 2nd Division.
1912/13 – Only appearance to date in the Scottish Cup Final losing 2-0 to Falkirk.
1921/22 – The club has its highest ever league finish when they come third to the Old Firm.
1923 – Shipwrecked on way to play friendly matches on the Canary Islands when their boat runs aground. All players safely disembark and continue on their way a few days later.
1937/38 – Become British League Record Goalscorers with 142 goals in just 34 league matches while winning the 2nd Division championship, a record which still stands today. The forward line of Glen (5 goals), Gilmour (35), Haywood (47), Whitelaw (26) and Joyner (21) scored 134 of the record 142 goals. record crowd of 25,500 fills Stark’s Park on a Wednesday afternoon for a Scottish Cup quarter-final replay against East Fife. East Fife win 3-2 and go on to become the only 2nd Division club to win the Scottish Cup. The first game had attracted 19,000 to Bayview!
1948/49 – Reach the League Cup final for the first time although lose 2-0 to Rangers. In an echo of what will happen four decades later the club go on to win the 2nd Division title.
1951 – Lose 3-2 to Celtic in a Scottish Cup semi-final at Hampden watched by a crowd of 84,640 – the largest gate for a Raith match.
1962/63 - Disastrous season for Raith. The club finished bottom of the First Division conceding 118 goals in 34 games.
1967/68 – Striker Gordon Wallace becomes the first player outwith the Old Firm to be voted Player of the Year. He scored 27 goals in 34 matches.
1987 – Rovers sneak out of the 2nd Division with a 4-1 win against Stranraer while Ayr lose to Stirling on the last day of the season.
1992/93 – Rovers surprisingly run away with the 1st Division title to start the most successful period in the club’s history. Dalziel (33) and Brewster (22) rack up 55 goals to become the most successful strike pairing in Rovers modern era.
1994/95 – Win the League Cup (Coca-Cola Cup) by beating Celtic 6-5 on penalties after a 2-2 draw at Ibrox. Go on to win the 1st Division title again, despite being well off the pace at Christmas due to the exertions in the League Cup.
1995/96 - Raith play their first competitive matches in Europe. After putting out both the Faroese and Icelandic champions in the first two rounds the club finally succumb to eventual UEFA Cup winners Bayern Munich although not before leading 1-0 at half time in the Olympiastadion in the 2nd leg. This is also one of the best ever seasons in regard to league position, Raith finish 6th in the Premier League.
2004/05 - 10 years on from winning the Coca Cola Cup, Claude Anelka, brother of famous French striker Nicolas, buys a majority share in the club and appoints himself manager.
2005/06 - Raith Rovers finish 7th in the 2nd Division. A season of very mediocre football with the only high note being the local takeover of the club.
[edit] Players and Managers
Alex James – Played from 1922 to 1925 before heading to Preston North End F.C. then Arsenal F.C.. Became one of the outstanding players of his generation winning countless trophies and captaining Arsenal.
Dave Morris – Rovers most capped Scottish player – 6 caps in the mid 20’s.
Marvin Andrews - God-fearing Trinidad and Tobago international re-signed from Rangers in 2006 on a 3 year deal.
Bert Herdman – Legendary Manager from 1945 to 1961 containing some of the clubs most successful seasons and a sustained period in the top flight.
Willie Penman – Rovers top scorer with 151 league and cup goals, 50 more during WWII and 10 others in friendlies.
Andy Young – Made 621 appearances from 1945 until 1960.
Andy Leigh – 487 appearances from 1948 to 1963 before running the club’s Development Association and then becoming groundsman until 1994.
Willie McNaught – 657 appearances between 1941 and 1961 - still a record for any Rovers player. Capped 5 times for Scotland.
Johnny Urquhart – Served as a player, director and president over five decades from 1950’s.
Jim Baxter – Signed in 1958 and become one of the legendary Scottish players of the post-war era.
Donald Urquhart – 1971 to 1985 – 497 appearances.
Gordon Dalziel – Record league goalscorer with 154 in the 80’s and 90’s, returning as manager in 2004-2006.
Shaun Dennis - 1998 to 2004 - Over 400 appearances in 3 different spells.
Colin Cameron - Colin 'Mickey' Cameron is a Scottish internationalist who started his career with Raith Rovers and was part of the Coca Cola Cup winning team in 1995. Signed by Hearts
Frank Connor – Manager from 1986 to 1990 – took the club from depths of the 2nd Division to a solid 1st Division spot.
Jimmy Nicholl – Manager and player (until ‘94) from 1990 to 1995 which contained two 1st Division titles, the historic League Cup victory and Rovers only foray into European competition.
Claude Anelka - Manager of Raith for the first half of the 2004/05 season. Under Anelka, Raith's reputation and integrity as a club was seriously compromised as they had a simply humiliating season.
Craig Levein - Appointed manager on 5 September 2006 on a non contract basis, left on 30 October 2006 to become manager at Dundee United to replace Craig Brewster.
[edit] Club records
Notable games
Record attendance: 31,306 vs Hearts, 7.2.1953
Record victory: 10-1 vs Coldstream, Scottish Cup, 1954
Record defeat: 2-11 vs Greenock Morton, Division 2, 1936
Goal-scoring
League goalscoring record: Norman Heywood 1937/38, 42 goals
Most league goals (individual): Gordon Dalziel, 154 (1987-1994)
Most goals in a league season (team): 142, 1937-38 (British Record)
Miscellaneous
Most capped player: David Morris, 6 caps for Scotland
Highest transfer fee paid: £225k for Paul Harvey (from Airdrie, July 1996)
Highest transfer fee received: £900k for Steve McAnespie (to Bolton Wanderers, September 1995)
[edit] Honours
- Scottish League Cup Winners (Coca Cola Cup): 1994/95
- Scottish League Cup Runners-Up: 1948/49
- Scottish Cup Runners-Up: 1912/13
- First Division Champions: 1992/93, 1994/95
- Second Division Champions: 1907/08, 1909/10, 1937/38, 1948/49, 2002/03
- Second Division Runners-Up: 1926/27, 1966/67, 1975/76, 1977/78, 1986/87
[edit] Current Squad
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[edit] External links
- Official site (requires registration for some sections)
- Rovers MAD
- BBC Sport homepage for club
- Statistics site
