Opportunity. The word is uttered four times by Raith Rovers technical director John Potter during one answer.
After recruitment took up much of his time in the early stages of his new role at Stark’s Park, Potter has more recently had time to focus on other areas.
One of these has been youth development, though with no reserve team and no youth academy, he is having to think out of the box.
What the Kirkcaldy club do have is the Raith Rovers Community Club – development sides banded together by their year of birth, rather than the more traditional under-18s and so on.
“We’ve not got an academy, we’ve got a community club, which is still an avenue for players.” Potter tells Courier Sport.
“I’ve been getting involved with [their equivalent of] the under-18s, the under-16s. I’ve been getting involved with them on Tuesday and Thursday nights, weekends.
“I’ve been having meetings with the coaches about our plans going forward and what we want to do.
“The big word is give these players an ‘opportunity’.
“In time, we can look at things that I can do to help the coaches, to help some of the players that are there. But it’s an opportunity for these guys.”
Promising early signs
Meetings have been held with coaches and Potter attends training and matches where possible.
And, in an early sign that the club is being true to its word, some were given a chance in a recent bounce match versus Hearts.
“We’ve concentrated specifically on the 18s and 16s,” he said.
The boys after another great performance, wearing their John Smart and Son sponsored Red kit pic.twitter.com/JYSeIcRJmU
— Raith Rovers CC 2008 (@RaithRoversCC08) August 26, 2023
“I know a lot of the coaches and most of the players now, I try to get to as many training sessions and games as I can.
“We had a bounce game last week against Hearts and we had five of them involved, playing with Lewis Vaughan, Sam Stanton and Shaun Byrne.
“We’ve not got an academy as such, but there’s an avenue there that I can try and make it the best we can. We’re well under way with that.
“We’ve spoken to some of the older players and said: ‘There’s an opportunity here to be a young player at Raith Rovers’.”
Potter’s passion
This, along with recruitment and co-ordinating other areas of the football department, has kept Potter busy since he left Kelty Hearts in the summer.
But it is passion that drives him, another word that comes up frequently in his answers.
“Early on, I was heavily involved in academy football. It’s something I’ve now got my hands into here,” he adds.
“It’s another part of the job that I did early on in my time at Dunfermline, but it’s something that I’ve always been interested in and always enjoyed.
“That’s something I’m quite passionate about, something that I’ve been brought in here to do – to give young players an opportunity.
“Hopefully we can find one or two players to come and play.”
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