Raith Rovers boss John McGlynn looking forward to next season in the Championship

Raith boss John McGlynn (Pic by Fife Photo Agency)Raith boss John McGlynn (Pic by Fife Photo Agency)
Raith boss John McGlynn (Pic by Fife Photo Agency) | walter_ neilson
Raith Rovers manager John McGlynn said he was “delighted” that his side were finally named League One champions.

After much confusion the SPFL finally confirmed on Wednesday evening that current Championship, League One and League Two tables would finish as they stood before play was stopped due to coronavirus.

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Partick Thistle and Stranraer have been relegated from the Championship and League One respectively.

McGlynn said: “It’s not the way we wanted to win the league.

“We obviously set out to play 36 games at the start of the season  and we wanted to do that.

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“We’ve obviously had a very good season and I think we’ve played some great, exciting football.

“We’ve brought through some young players, we got to a cup final and we were very confident we could go on to finish the job.
“We were top of the table for 22 out of 28 games. I think that speaks volumes for the mentality of the players.”

McGlynn said that the title win was a tribute to all those who helped the club over the course of the season.

“I’m delighted for all of them,” he said.

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“The backroom staff, the fans for all the support they’ve given us this season home and away, the directors and all the volunteers that work at the club.

“There’s also the office staff, the sponsors who have helped throughout the season, everyone who contributed to the player fund and obviously everyone who has donated to the crowdfunding appeal.

“There’s a lot of thanks to a lot of people who have worked very hard.”

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With the title finally resolved McGlynn said he was excited about the year ahead.
“I’m looking forward to next season in the Championship. That’s what I came back to do and chuffed to have done so.

“There’s the four derbies which will hopefully bring big crowds.
“From a personal note I’m absolutely delighted. It was a big gamble to leave the job I had but I wanted to take this club back up.”

Chairman Bill Clark said he was relived to have the matter of promotion settled but added he had sympathy with the sides who could be relegated.

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“We’re very happy we’ve been named as the winners and also there’s some relief that it’s all gone through eventually and there’s been an agreement between all the clubs.

“To get 80 per cent voting in favour is a good thing given where we were at a few days ago with people falling out with each other.

”It’s a good result for Scottish Football I think.”

Bill said he was happy to see a task force on league reconstruction headed by Hearts chairman Ann Budge and Les Gray, already in place.

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“Hopefully because the SPFL are moving very quickly to talk about league reconstruction, they’ve already named two people to head up that, it shows they have a willingness to do something and maybe the teams that are thinking about a legal challenge will back off.

”I hope so.
“We’re angling for promotion but no relegation. That’s what we’re trying to do. And we’re also trying to get the teams who finished in second place in the leagues promoted with us.

”We do not want to cause any harm to the likes of Stranraer and we think it would be fair to Falkirk if they went up into the Championship with us.

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“If you think about what that league would look like next season, depending what happens with the reconstruction, you’d have ourselves, Falkirk, Dundee and Dunfermline. 

“It could be a very good league indeed.”

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