You team's most 'successful' position.

[billyg]

4 hours ago, ShaggerG said:

No match thread for us this week so trying to plug the gap a bit.

Was thinking there about positions we need to strengthen next season (decided it was almost all of them) and it occurred to me that we've been very fortunate in the LB position over the years. From Tiger McGlaughlin when I first started (my favourite, but I admit that's affected by a big slice of nostalgia) we've had loads of very good left backs: Tommy McQueen, Jamie McQuilken, Hagi, Dean Holden, Steven Kingsley, Luke Leahy and now it seems that Tommy Robson could join the list! Even those that weren't just quite as good have still been competent; the likes of Jim Cameron, Tommy O'Hara etc and players like George Millar, George Gibson and Jim Shirra occasionally filled in there and did a good job. Obviously we've seen some pish as well though.

When comparing that to the other side of the park, I don't think we've had anywhere near as many good RB's. Stuart Kennedy, who was one of the first modern wing backs and won some caps was the best that I've seen. Andy Nicol and Andy Lawrie were decent as well and there will be an (ever dwindling) number of older fans who remember Alex Parker who, by all accounts, was one of the best players that we've ever had?

We've obviously had loads of excellent players in other positions, Stainrod, Crunchie and Latapy being the most obvious but it does appear that we're good at finding LB's.

So what position would you say your club's been good at filling over the years?

 

I remember you brought Tiger McLaughlin back for a 2nd spell , that was at the time that we were motoring under Fergie with ex Falkirk (freed) youngster Alex Beckett at LB , he went on to make over 250 appearances and was a regular in a team that finished a close 3rd behind Aberdeen and Celtic

[ShaggerG]

22 minutes ago, Swordfishtrombone said:

I'd always have Gordon Marshall in the list of excellent Falkirk keepers though I may be biased because he gave me a signed pair of his gloves when I was a nipper. One of the worst I remember is the guy Jeffries signed from the juniors at short notice to play in the premier league, Willie Lamont, I think.

That is the exhaustive list of Yogi's goalies, Glennon was a funny one he made a couple of mistakes, a last minute f**k up against Hearts being notable but his performance away to Dunfermline remains the best I've witnessed by a Falkirk goalie, he was unbeatable that day and it seems to have been a personal disagreement with Yogi that saw him cast out rather than his form.

Marshall was a good keeper however I wouldn't have him as high up as the others I mentioned. Similar to you with Marshall, my favourite was Ally Donaldson but, as I mentioned before with wee Tiger, there's a lot of nostalgia involved in that.

Was Billy Lamont not the son of our former manager of the same name, or am I talking pish?

[CITY1974]

Goalie s and strikers for us
GOALIES : Derek Neilson , Davie Lawrie, Ray Allan, Scott Thomson, Stuart Garden, Bobby Geddes, Craig Nelson, Graham Smith ,Derek Souter... All very able keepers
STRIKERS : Pinky Campbell , Ken Eadie, Sandy Ross , Paul Ritchie , Scott Thompson , Ian Russell , Gary Twigg ,Ralphy Brand , Ian Patterson, Gordon Lees, Rory Mcallistar , Andy Jackson , Chris Templeman .Stevie Hampshire.
All scored loads of goals I ve probably missed a few decent wing men of theirs too.

[Swordfishtrombone]

11 minutes ago, ShaggerG said:

Marshall was a good keeper however I wouldn't have him as high up as the others I mentioned. Similar to you with Marshall, my favourite was Ally Donaldson but, as I mentioned before with wee Tiger, there's a lot of nostalgia involved in that.

Was Billy Lamont not the son of our former manager of the same name, or am I talking pish?

I'm not sure if he was, he may have been a local guy, I think he followed the well trodden Falkirk goalkeeper route of going to the Shire after Falkirk and played for Linlithgow Rose too I remember seeing him in a junior cup final for them.

My Gordon Marshall love is probably mostly nostalgia and him being the goalie in the league winning season. As a kid I went to a 'Gordon Marshall goalkeeper training day for the Falkirk junior bairns' on the astroturf beside Brockville and got trained by Marshall, Gordon McDougall and Stephen Hutchison. With that pedigree of coaching it's mystifying that I didn't become a top class goalie.

[Skyline Drifter]

4 hours ago, Coventry Saint said:

Players whose names begin with M and who play in midfield, obviously. McLean, McGinn, McGinn, Mallan, McAllister, Morgan, Magennis.

All left us for bigger clubs, or are probably going to in the case of Magennis. Seems statistically unlikely, to say the least.

And McShane!

[Monkey Tennis]

5 hours ago, Skyline Drifter said:

As much as I personally thought Cammy Bell did fine with us, I dont think too many at the time would have described him as "inspired". Better than Halliwell was as good as it got generally.

Take the point on left backs though Joe was a bit of a one season wonder who did nothing anywhere else (possibly as a result of his off field shenanigans).

I actually think I would say striker is where we have excelled. In my time I have seen three of the very best all time for us in Dobbie, Lyle and Andy Thomson. We had Nicky Clark match a 80 year old scoring record. Sean O'Connor was a terrific forward if not a massive goalscorer by numbers. Gavin Reilly is one of the best at this level. So was Iain Russell even if he didnt play as an out and out striker that often. Even Derek Holmes was top scorer in the league for most of his first season with us although his second was a huge let down.

Yes, when chronicled that way, we probably have been relatively spoiled up front in recent years.

What did become of Joe McAlpine by the way?  He was very young when with us and he did well.  I remember him getting done for drink driving when we won the Challenge Cup in 2002 though, which is presumably what you're alluding to.  Did he go to Airdrie, or have I once more made that up?

[ShaggerG]

2 hours ago, billyg said:

I remember you brought Tiger McLaughlin back for a 2nd spell , that was at the time that we were motoring under Fergie with ex Falkirk (freed) youngster Alex Beckett at LB , he went on to make over 250 appearances and was a regular in a team that finished a close 3rd behind Aberdeen and Celtic

I thought Beckett was a decent player in the few games that he played for us.

Tiger played mainly as a sweeper in his second spell IIRC.

[Skyline Drifter]

1 hour ago, Monkey Tennis said:

Yes, when chronicled that way, we probably have been relatively spoiled up front in recent years.

What did become of Joe McAlpine by the way?  He was very young when with us and he did well.  I remember him getting done for drink driving when we won the Challenge Cup in 2002 though, which is presumably what you're alluding to.  Did he go to Airdrie, or have I once more made that up?

Er no. I was referring to him going on to spend 6 months or so as a guest of Her Majesty for his part in a hit and run motoring offence I think. Dont recall if he played for Airdrie. He certainly had a spell at Stenhousemuir under Des McKeown after getting out of prison.

Edited to add a link.

Scotsman

[The DA]

Third.  Maybe fourth.

[Monkey Tennis]

1 minute ago, Skyline Drifter said:

Er no. I was referring to him going on to spend 18 months or so as a guest of Her Majesty for his part in a hit and run motoring offence I think. Dont recall if he played for Airdrie. He certainly had a spell at Stenhousemuir under Des McKeown after getting out of prison.

Christ, didn't know that.

When did that happen?  Where did he go from us?  Was he known to be a bit wild?

Does everyone know this, except me?

 

[Skyline Drifter]

Just now, Monkey Tennis said:

Christ, didn't know that.

When did that happen?  Where did he go from us?  Was he known to be a bit wild?

Does everyone know this, except me?

 

I added a link. Sentence was shorter than I remembered and have edited the post.

Yes he was well know to mix in some "dubious" circles. And I would imagine most Queens fans of the era were well aware of it. Not sure how it passed you by.

[Ranaldo Bairn]

4 hours ago, Swordfishtrombone said:

I'd always have Gordon Marshall in the list of excellent Falkirk keepers though I may be biased because he gave me a signed pair of his gloves when I was a nipper. One of the worst I remember is the guy Jeffries signed from the juniors at short notice to play in the premier league, Willie Lamont, I think.

That is the exhaustive list of Yogi's goalies, Glennon was a funny one he made a couple of mistakes, a last minute f**k up against Hearts being notable but his performance away to Dunfermline remains the best I've witnessed by a Falkirk goalie, he was unbeatable that day and it seems to have been a personal disagreement with Yogi that saw him cast out rather than his form.

Not quite exhaustive: Mark Howard slipped under you boys' radar.

[ShaggerG]

41 minutes ago, Ranaldo Bairn said:

Not quite exhaustive: Mark Howard slipped under you boys' radar.

Oh aye, forgot about him. I'd add him to the shite list too although I think he went on to have a pretty decent career after he left us.

[Swordfishtrombone]

I'd forgotten all about him, that is well remembered. 

[D.A.F.C]

8 hours ago, Coventry Saint said:

Players whose names begin with M and who play in midfield, obviously. McLean, McGinn, McGinn, Mallan, McAllister, Morgan, Magennis.

All left us for bigger clubs, or are probably going to in the case of Magennis. Seems statistically unlikely, to say the least.

I get confused between them all. It seems like you've had the same good young midfielder for over a decade now.

[Demented Zebra]

Have been to Europe watching my team. 4 times France , Holland , Sweden. Belgium none friendly not bad for a wee team from Paisley Town. 

[ShaggerG]

42 minutes ago, Demented Zebra said:

Have been to Europe watching my team. 4 times France , Holland , Sweden. Belgium none friendly not bad for a wee team from Paisley Town. 

What's that got to do with this?

[MrDust]

11 hours ago, ShaggerG said:

No match thread for us this week so trying to plug the gap a bit.

Was thinking there about positions we need to strengthen next season (decided it was almost all of them) and it occurred to me that we've been very fortunate in the LB position over the years. From Tiger McGlaughlin when I first started (my favourite, but I admit that's affected by a big slice of nostalgia) we've had loads of very good left backs: Tommy McQueen, Jamie McQuilken, Hagi, Dean Holden, Steven Kingsley, Luke Leahy and now it seems that Tommy Robson could join the list! Even those that weren't just quite as good have still been competent; the likes of Jim Cameron, Tommy O'Hara etc and players like George Millar, George Gibson and Jim Shirra occasionally filled in there and did a good job. Obviously we've seen some pish as well though.

When comparing that to the other side of the park, I don't think we've had anywhere near as many good RB's. Stuart Kennedy, who was one of the first modern wing backs and won some caps was the best that I've seen. Andy Nicol and Andy Lawrie were decent as well and there will be an (ever dwindling) number of older fans who remember Alex Parker who, by all accounts, was one of the best players that we've ever had?

We've obviously had loads of excellent players in other positions, Stainrod, Crunchie and Latapy being the most obvious but it does appear that we're good at finding LB's.

So what position would you say your club's been good at filling over the years?

 

We werent so fortunate at the start of this season for a left back !!!

Id have put down centre halves as a position we tend to have been covered well in....or am I just thinking nostalgic with the 80s 90s

The likes of Gary Gillespie, Brian Brown, Brian Irvine, Brian Martin, Roddy Manley, Bryan Purdie , Gary Smith , Cedric Uras, Kevin James, John Hughes, Jamie McGowan,  Gerrard Afjes, Den Bieman, Davie Weir.

I always used to think we never ever got strikers who got 20+ goals, youd see the likes or Airdrie, Clydebank as such all have strikers who scored 20+ goals, sometimes two strikers who did it whereas we struggled in that department.

I think our first promotion to the top league post reconstruction we had Willie McGuire and Jimmy Gilmour as our top goalscorers but not passing 20.

[Swordfishtrombone]

17 minutes ago, MrDust said:

We werent so fortunate at the start of this season for a left back !!!

Id have put down centre halves as a position we tend to have been covered well in....or am I just thinking nostalgic with the 80s 90s

The likes of Gary Gillespie, Brian Brown, Brian Irvine, Brian Martin, Roddy Manley, Bryan Purdie , Gary Smith , Cedric Uras, Kevin James, John Hughes, Jamie McGowan,  Gerrard Afjes, Den Bieman, Davie Weir.

I always used to think we never ever got strikers who got 20+ goals, youd see the likes or Airdrie, Clydebank as such all have strikers who scored 20+ goals, sometimes two strikers who did it whereas we struggled in that department.

I think our first promotion to the top league post reconstruction we had Willie McGuire and Jimmy Gilmour as our top goalscorers but not passing 20.

That is  true. I'm fairly certain that when I first started watching.Falkirk Stuart Burgess was top scorer one season because he took penalties.  At the time Gerry McCoy was seen as the last proper goalscorer for  Falkirk before his disastrous second spell. 

[HoBNob]

While not necessarily good, I think Dunfermline tend to have more wingman than most in the lower leagues, we love a good, or average sandancing winger.