Raith Rovers: New CEO Andrew Barrowman hails ‘huge potential’ at Stark's Park club

Barrowman is part of the new board along with fellow ex-Kelty Hearts director Dean Mckenzie (Rovers’ general manager), local businessmen Colin Smart and Ruari Kilgour, existing chairman Steven MacDonald and football operations manager Allan Halliday.

“I think there’s huge potential here,” Barrowman told the Fife Free Press. “I think there’s a good solid fanbase there that needs reignited.

"It’s a stadium that’s got a feel to it as well.

"I think when you come here as a player, as a fan or an opposition I think it has got a really nostalgic feel to it.

"The old stand brings some challenges but I think if we can harbour that old, proper traditional football ground spirit then I think it will go a long way towards helping us what we’re trying to achieve."

Although youngsters Adam Masson and Kieran Mitchell this week agreed new deals to stay at Raith until the end of next season, 12 players – including loan signings – still face going out of contract on May 31 and Barrowman acknowledged that it will be a busy summer of ins and outs as the new board tries to build of squad capable of getting into the Championship’s top four next season.

"There will be changes,” he said. “There’s obviously a lot of players out of contract.

"I think we want to finish higher than seventh like we did this year but it’s not easy.

"As measured investors we keep saying there’s not a big bag of money that we’re going to start suddenly paying a striker over the odds.

"But we’ve got a competitive budget that we can go and really challenge towards the top end of the table. That’s the aim.

"We want a competitive, robust squad that’s going to challenge.”

Rovers’ aspirations in the 2022-23 Championship campaign were hit by several injuries to key players, meaning that on more than one occasion they were unable to fill their substitutes’ bench with the full quota of players.

But ex-owner Sim told us that there was another mitigating factor in the shortage of available players, as well as going on to explain what his future role will Raith will be.

"Part of the manager’s strategy was that he put players out on loan,” Sim said.

"So we had enough in the squad, it’s just they couldn’t play for us and that needs to be thought through going forward, but then they want to play.

"I’ll probably be more involved (with Raith) than I have been over the last 15 years, because then I’ve been in full-time employment, I’ve been travelling the world.

"I will not be taking a leadership role but I didn’t take a leadership role before.

"Basically I’m here to do as little or as much as Dean and Andrew want me to do.

"It’s the first time we’ve had an ownership team like this in the 18 years I’ve been involved.”