End of an era as Raith Rovers announce departure of long serving midfielder
The end of an era was announced on Tuesday as Raith Rovers revealed that long serving midfielder Ross Matthews has left the club at the end of his contract.
The 30-year-old, Raith’s 12th highest appearance-maker of all time on 376 matches for the Kirkcaldy outfit, is keen to continue his playing career elsewhere and it remains to be seen where his next port of call is.
But Matthews revealed in a recent Fife Free Press interview that he had been preparing early for what his working environment would look like after hanging up his boots.
The player, who made his Raith first team debut in a 3-0 loss at Livingston way back on December 28, 2013, told us in March: "Coaching and management in football after playing is probably not something that I've ever thought deeply about.
"But I'm probably naive to say no, because I've played with plenty of players that have said that throughout their career and then they've gone on into coaching and management. So just now I'm not too sure what I want to go into.
"Myself and a few of the guys were at a recent PFA Careers Day, so we were there kind of looking at different careers, what we'd want to do after football.
“Hopefully I’ve still got a few years left of football before having to go into a different line of work.
"But it's definitely something that I need to think of. I'm doing an online uni course in business management and marketing. My current year will finish similar to the end of the football season. And then I've got one more year left until I have my degree.”
Raith posted on Matthews’ departure: “A player who always gave 100% for the badge, Ross departs as a true Raith legend.”