Relegation, Yogi and "Society"

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On Saturday 3rd December, approaching the midway point of the season, Raith Rovers sat in joint 4th place in the Scottish Championship, 19 points ahead of bottom-placed St Mirren. At the weekend - following a spectacular collapse which saw the club finish below the Buddies on goal difference - Raith were relegated in the most ignominious of circumstances: in a play-off, on penalties, at home to part-timers Brechin City. It was a curious experience, watching the culmination of this most farcical season play out in a desperate but entirely fitting manner. Surrendering a 3-2 extra time lead - having earlier salvaged a lifeline with a stoppage time equaliser - only to go down via spot-kicks was an appropriate end to a year that witnessed the bizarre appointment of Gary Locke, the loaning of one of our best players to a direct rival, a midfielder playing a whole match in goals, and a small-time attempt to court the "Edinburgh media" through the signing of the once excellent but now has-been, Rudi Skacel.

Stark's Park cut an ugly, pitiful scene on Saturday. At one point the crowd voiced its frustration at yet another misplaced pass; long-time club servant and local boy Iain Davidson responded with a goading hush symbol to the stand. Jean-Yves M'voto, the fans player of the season, made two calamitous defensive errors for the Brechin goals. As their League One fate was sealed, devastated players collapsed in a heap as jeers and cries of dismay emanated from the stands. Individual players badly let down the fans this season, but culpability lies primarily with the two managers - first Locke, then, John "Yogi" Hughes - and the board who appointed them.

A couple of weeks ago, the incoherent tirade of a post-match interview with Hughes went viral. Following a 5-0 drubbing by St Mirren, Yogi tried to deflect from his own shortcomings not only by attacking the players but also lambasting "society", a view which many observers applauded as 'telling it how it is'. He said: “I look at society, compared tae when I was growing up... working class, had tae work for everything I got, it made me humble and those were my building blocks for football and for life. I don’t think society’s like that now. I don’t think they care. When I mention the 'real' Raith Rovers guys, the guys in there will think ‘I’ll probably get another club’."

Was he on to something? Were Yogi's ramblings the exasperated, vexated cry of a proud man who has witnessed the triumph of soulless individualism and materialism at the expense of old-school working class values? Has the legacy of Thatcherism combined with the the forces of globalisation, celebrity culture and social media rooted out any sense of society and commonality, leaving modern-day footballers caring more about their instagram accounts and their trips to Nandos than the fate of the provincial club from which they earn their living? Perhaps the ruddy-faced punter, paying over the odds to stand on the terrace in a fit of seething, helpless rage over the fortunes of 11 men kicking a piece of leather is but another manifestation of this victory of neoliberalism, this crisis of masculinity; a paragon of Jimmy Reid's prophetic "cry of men", alienated and disempowered by the forces which truly determine his destiny.

Then again, maybe Yogi just got his tactics wrong. Maybe the players are just not very good at football. And maybe the fans have always been like that, and always will be.

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