Raith Rovers have blamed the ”uncertainty” surrounding the future of Scottish football and the nation’s wider economic problems as they announced they will switch to a mixture of part-time and full-time players next season.
The Stark’s Park outfit narrowly avoided the disaster of relegation from the First Division this season, just 12 months after John McGlynn’s side had come close to pipping Fife rivals Dunfermline to promotion to the SPL.
The Kirkcaldy club’s successful survival bid came against the backdrop of poor attendances and financial hardship throughout the leagues and with the ongoing saga of Rangers’ future deflecting attention away from how best to structure the game north of the border.
With little hope of a cash boost in the near future, Raith’s board have decided to go down the route of employing part-time players to augment a full-time core and have refused to rule out going completely part-time in the future.
Some big-name departures are now expected as McGlynn revamps his squad for next term.
Director Turnbull Hutton said: ”You can’t sustain football on crowds of less than 2,000. It does not matter who you are, it’s financially impossible. So, it was an easy call to make, financially.
”The reason we are going with a mix of full-time and part-time is we have players on two-year contracts who are still under contract for next season. Is it a forerunner to going all part-time? Who knows?
”If your catchment area, like ourselves, is one of high unemployment and very little disposable income, it does not matter if you have Lionel Messi on the pitch you will struggle to make ends meet.
”How long have the powers that be been talking about getting more revenue into the First Division for clubs who are ambitious enough to try and get into the SPL? But yet still nothing has come of it. It’s a joke.”
Hutton added: ”I’m normally a sympathetic, caring, loving individual but all that goes out the window when people talk to me about the SPL.
”A decision needs to be made on the way forward for Scottish football and the fans need to be listened to because they are the ones that matter most and they are the ones who are turning their backs on the game.
”I spoke to John McGlynn months ago about where we were being driven financially. It’s not a question of wanting to be there, it’s a question of we are where we are.
”He has been involved in discussions since the turn of the year and he is very understanding about the club’s situation.”