Raith Rovers: fans' chief Gordon Adamson welcomes ambitious plans of new owners

Kirkcaldy-born Gordon Adamson, 68, listened to the consortium members at a Stark’s Park meeting addressing fans’ forum members on Thursday night – organised by fans’ director Dorothy Wilson – as the new owners prepared to replace outgoing supremo John Sim.

"I’m very enthusiastic because I think that going forward the new owners have very big plans for the club on and off the park,” Raith Rovers Football Supporters Club chairman Adamson, a Rovers supporter for 50 years who was fans’ director on the Raith board from 2016 to 2018, told the Fife Free Press.

"I know how hard it is when you’re a director of a football club. Everybody tends to pull in different directions.

"But these guys are all going for the same goal, maybe in slightly different ways but everything seems to overlap, dovetail and fit together.

"I don’t know any history of the two guys from Kelty but what you’ve got to say is that they took a club in the lower leagues of Scottish football, brought them up through the pyramid and put Kelty on the map.

"Hopefully they’ll do the same at Raith Rovers. Of the other guys, one is a local lad who is a Raith supporter.

"The other two, Steven and Alan, are involved at the club just now and the new gentleman Colin Smart is coming in.

"So they’ve all got their own expertise in various areas whereas before on the board it was a bit of a mismatch.

"And that’s no disrespect to previous board members because they all did their best and they all had the good of the club at heart.

"But I think what they’ve got now is youth on their side and that’s what we need with more forward thinking ideas.

"Which can only be beneficial to the club and hopefully to Kirkcaldy and the surrounding districts. Obviously we would like to have a playing squad that’s going to push us up the league.

"I know that’s not going to happen overnight.

“But we need to look at that.

"We also need to look at having a youth academy of some sort. Youth is the way forward.

"And I would like to see a safe standing area at Stark’s Park to improve the atmosphere in the stadium.”

With 14 Raith players out of contract – including loan signings – on May 31, Adamson reckons this could be a summer of big changes in personnel at Stark’s Park.

He added: “Hand on heart I think this could be a transfer window with a massive amount of players going out and coming in, which initially could cause a bit of unrest.

"Obviously the players will then have to gel together, realise how each other play, work together. I think they’ll be big changes.

"Change for change’s sake, I never agree with it. Change for improvement and betterment, I’m always behind it.

"I think we could do with a striker a la Brian Graham. When he played with Raith Rovers he was the target man.

"Obviously Ally Graham – no relation to Brian Graham – was similar.

"I think we need a target man. Scott Brown has been a tremendous leader on the park, so I certainly wouldn’t change anything there.

"Maybe we could also stiffen up the centre of the defence.”

Adamson, who was Stark’s Park match day stadium announcer between 1999 and 2019, is a Raith season ticket holder who also goes to as many away games as he can. He also travels to see English outfit Burnley of whom he is also a fan.