'New state-of-the-art Stark's Park pitch suits our passing style', says Raith Rovers star

McMullan and his Raith mates played their final season on the previous plastic surface at Stark’s Park – which was around a decade old – last term when the club finished fifth in the league to miss the promotion play-offs. It is understood that squad members were glad to see the back of an old pitch labelled bumpy and uneven, which has been dug up and replaced by the much smoother surface for 2026-2027.

And former Celtic, Dundee United, Dundee and Derry City winger McMullan, 30, told the Fife Free Press: “I think the old pitch had been down about 10 years.

"Playing on the wing last year you didn't know how the ball was going to bounce on the pitch, how it was going to move.

"Rubbish was probably the word to describe it!

"The new pitch makes a huge difference. You can feel the difference with just the way the ball rolls in it.

"Certainly personally I feel it is helping me and hopefully it can help us throughout the year.

"This one plays a wee bit truer. The ball rolls across it better and that can only help. It definitely suits our passing style under Dougie Imrie."

When asked about the positive impact which former Greenock Morton gaffer Imrie has had down Kirkcaldy way since first being installed last November, McMullan – who spent the last three months of the 2025-’26 campaign out injured with a torn meniscus knee injury – said: “He knows what he wants. He's very demanding of the players.

"It's up to us to produce what he's after. He's right behind us, you can feel it from the side of the pitch. He's kicking every ball and whatnot.

"It's just about us going out there and implicating what he's asking for.

"The manager wants more numbers, more goals, more assists from me this season. That was something I agreed with.

"I needed to add more stuff after not scoring last year. Usually I would make up for that in the assists but that wasn't really there either last year. Hopefully I can kick my season on.”