Raith Rovers chief urges fans to back newly launched Club 1883

Barrowman told RaithTV: "We as new owners are committed to building this club.

"The money (from Club 1883) goes into two critical areas of the football club, football operations and stadium development.

"The stadium continues to cost us money. An example of that is the recent game against Dundee United.

"We all were thrilled to see an attendance of 6808 people. But there were probably seats that were damaged or not able to be sat on which could have cost us £8000, that’s the harsh reality of it.

"Things like that will come under that stadium development.

"We are committed to driving the standards in terms of what people are watching out on the pitch and also what they are experiencing when they come to Stark’s Park on a match day and outwith match days.”

Barrowman said that pledging monthly donations to Club 1883 would provide fans with an opportunity to stand alongside the Rovers board and help them build something all Rovers followers could be really proud of.

"It’s not a plea for funds to operate the business,” he added. “It really is about building something for the future. Every penny contributed will go into the growth strategy of the club. Football operations and stadium development, things that fans actually tangibly can see, touch and feel.

"That’s what you’ll be contributing. It’s a call to arms, it’s an ask to come alongside us and help us.

“It’s something we’re really excited about.

"There has been a lot of work done on it, particularly by Ruaridh Kilgour (fellow Raith board member). It’s been his baby for a long time.

"He’s been stressing about it but he’s also been enjoying the process to get it to where it is today.

"It was something we wanted to bring in as soon as we came into the club. But we thought we would wait and pick the right time, make sure it was set up properly and we’d done enough analysis on what it might look like or the best possible version we could make it.

"So we’re at that point and hence the launch in the last few days.”

Barrowman said that much of the early work undertaken at Raith by the new board was focused on creating an elite environment for players, with upgraded dressing rooms, training, gym and catering facilities helping improve standards and enticing new players to join.

He added: “We want to develop people at this club and players are no different.

"Whether they’re young, old, it doesn’t matter. We want to bring players into this club and make them better."

Club 1883 memberships are available for £20 a month for Gold and Gold (International) subscriptions and £12 a month for Standard. Join at https://app.fanbaseclub.com/Fan/Memberships?clubId=83

Raith fans registering before November 1 could win Lewis Vaughan’s match-worn shirt from the recent Dundee United match, personally signed by Lewis himself.