After having their first division title chances dashed, the big fear for Raith fans is they are to experience more pain as this group of players who have achieved so much is broken up.
“I think a lot of people in the team showed that they could play at a high level.
“Whether we can challenge again next year depends on how severe the cuts are. I do not know a lot about that side of things as that’s the manager’s job.
“If we lose two or three of our bigger players and do not replace them with others of a similar stature it would be tough to challenge for promotion again.
“It would be quite sad if we could not keep the team together as we have progressed this year and would like to kick on but if people have to move, then they have to move.
“Dunfermline is a big gate to Raith Rovers. You are looking at two full houses and talking about a hundred-odd grand.”
Queens’ McMenamin was one of the players who found himself out of work when Dundee went into administration and he admitted that he will probably need to find another club again.
Like Raith, QoS are looking to make “significant cuts” after their board revealed they suffered a six-figure loss for the season.
McMenamin said, “My agent is in talks with a couple of teams. I would love to stay with Queens, but the way things are going, it does not look as if that will happen.”
Dunfermline winning the first division title race is a double whammy for the Kirkcaldy side not only have they missed out on promotion to their arch-rivals, the loss of two home matches against the Pars next season means there is a six-figure hole in their operating budget.
Manager John McGlynn warned there will need to be deep cuts which could ensure that the fans’ hopes of promotion to the SPL will remain just a dream.
“We have worked with a tight squad this season, like a lot of teams,” he said.
“But Dunfermline managed to go out in January and bring a few players in and they have had a better final quarter of the season than us.
“We have only picked up nine points, compared to 20 in the first quarter.
“If someone had told us at the start of the season we would finish second, we would have thought that was a great achievement but it does not feel like that at the moment.
“Raith Rovers Football Club are in a really bad situation now as we have lost the two games at home to Dunfermline, which is a lot of money.
“We will have to cut, and the only place to do that is the salaries and the players. “There are going to be big cuts here. It is inevitable. A lot of football clubs are suffering the same way.”
Dunfermline’s win in Greenock rendered the result of Rovers’ match against Queen of the South academic but the home players were unable to go out on a high, losing to a stoppage-time goal which was initially credited to Colin McMenamin but was later given to sub Steven Degnan.
Rovers’ John Baird had a great chance in the first half to take the lead but his shot was saved and his follow-up hit the crossbar.Baird’s successBaird, who received the supporters’ club player of the year award on Saturday night, has been a big success story for Rovers since he signed for them last summer, but he admitted this may be the high-water mark as far as this set of players are concerned.
“We are obviously disappointed that we have not been able to take it to the last game,” he said. “But I think this group of players have achieved a lot this season.
“At the moment, we are all gutted but I think when we have a bit of time to look back on it, and how we have done this year compared to last, it is great credit to the players and management.
“I knew I was signing for a club that was progressing but I did not realise the progression would be so quick.
“We were still in with a great chance of winning the league with three games to go.
“The people of Kirkcaldy are proud of their team this year you just had to see the thousands who went through to support us last week in Dunfermline.
“People may say that we fell at the last hurdle and you can see where they are coming from but we probably should not have been in a position to win the league in the first place.
Continued…