The Courier & Advertiser (Fife Edition)
McGlynn took Rovers return with eyes open
Boss well aware he will not be able to splash the cash in his second spell at Stark’s Park
Raith Rovers boss John McGlynn was well aware of the financial realities at the club when he agreed to take over for the second time as manager – knowing there was no one on hand to wave a magic monetary wand.
The 56-year-old took the reins at Stark’s Park once more last month as the successor to Barry Smith.
The club were honest and up front with him during the interview process that they could not afford to splash the cash on the playing budget.
McGlynn said he was nevertheless excited by the plans put in place by John Sim, the majority shareholder in the football club and Stark’s Park Properties, the company which owns the stadium.
Sim has already overseen the laying down of a £700,000 state-of-the-art plastic pitch at the ground and there are other projects in the pipeline.
McGlynn said: “I think the club laid their cards on the table. Mr Sim has plans for projects here like the Railway Stand.
“His first project was to put down the synthetic pitch and in the long-term that will pay off.
“He went about putting it down in the right way. He has put it down and has paid extra money for the green pellets rather than the black ones.
“That’s one of the projects he has done and ticked the box.
“There are others that come with it and that’s a long-term plan which is very positive and very good.
“Hopefully we will be here to see that develop and see it happening.”
The manager acknowledged that despite the financial restraints at the club it is up to him to produce a team capable of playing winning, attractive football that hopefully will see a boost in numbers coming through the turnstiles.
McGlynn added: “There are positives, as well as the fact that we don’t have a lot of money and are financially struggling.
“But then, what’s new at the Rovers? It is the same every season.
“I appreciate the fans who spend their hard-earned money to come along and support the team.
“But if we could get another 100 or
200 coming along...
“It is my job to produce a product and they will have their opinions if that product is good enough or not.
“We are all tied in with X-amount of a budget.
“You can only spend that X-amount trying to get the best players you can and that’s what we will try to do.
“We will work extremely hard to produce the best football we can.
“But with the greatest of respect we are not Manchester City and we don’t have a Sheikh Mansour – we have Mr Sim, he is not Sheikh Mansour so we are not going to have £55 million full-backs.
“You get what you pay for and we will do the best with what we have got.”
We will work extremely hard to produce the best football we can. But with the greatest of respect we are not Manchester City and we don’t have a Sheikh Mansour – we have a Mr Sim. JOHN MCGLYNN