Bainsfordbairn

Last year there were five friendlies and only two of them were open to fans (Killie & Stranraer). Games against Ayr, Dundee Utd and Aberdeen were all closed-door. The previous year Irvine Meadow, Stirling Uni and Hearts were all closed-door. I wouldn't be surprised if something similar happened this year, though we'll probably get details next week once the manager and his staff return.

If you're going (or playing) feel free to come over and say hi, as Ben at the Foundation asked if I'd cover the match. I'll be there. Would be nice to see a Falkirk team win something. Quite a nice wee ground. Was there last season with the girls as it was home to United Glasgow who were in our league.

I think the kit had just arrived on the day MacIver was signed, so the girls in the shop put had together a few items for him to wear. It might have been pushing it asking him to model the entire range on the day he came in. Presumably the next signings will be asked to model a few items too. On the day the players return there'll obviously be shots of both them and the coaching staff fully kitted out. And before anyone asks, I have no idea when the next signing will be. My guess would be sometime next week after the management return from holiday.

I'd expected them to bat several eyelids, and it would probably raise some doubts in their mind about his football judgement. However, as long at it was within budget I wouldn't want or expect any board to interfere. Otherwise, how far do you go? Should they have prevented Martin Rennie signing Finlay Malcolm last April when he left a fortnight later? Should a previous board have prevented Houston signing Balatoni at the end of August when they sacked him three weeks later? Unless there are financial or moral reasons for saying no, boards should not be involved in football decisions. I'd say the furthest they should go is to put a limit on the lengths of contract which can be offered.

Cheers. I was thinking of players. It was announced as one year to begin with and neither side have commented as to whether it was extended or expired. (at least not that I've seen). BAIRNS ANNOUNCE CRUNCHY CARROTS AS NEW FRONT OF SHIRT PARTNER! - Falkirk Football Club (falkirkfc.co.uk)

CC?

I believe our players picked the training gear. Whether that was solely the design or they also got to choose the colour scheme I don't know, though my guess would be design only. It wouldn't go down too well if for example most of our players were Celtic fans and they chose green and white. Or Hearts fans with maroon, or even worse black and white stripes.

I haven't seen them in the flesh yet. I have a provisional date for the photocall and a release date somewhere around when the players come back on the 17th. Was always intended to be out mid-June. Hopefully this year they're stored under lock and key where some random with a mobile phone can't get a pic of them in the box.

Under Puma there only seemed to be a limited number of templates available so you could often look at strips across the UK and basically see different coloured versions of our kit. A quick look at the kit builder thing on the O Neills website shows over 30 shorts sleeve jersey designs alone, never mind the option of making bespoke ones. Or the possibilities if you wanted to use an academy, training or warmup jersey as the basis for your kit instead. For those reasons I would be astonished f our kits resembled the Ayr Utd one.

One of them is actually a warmup top, which is something we've never had before. I think it's the one with the various triangles if I mind right.

I don't think I'll get in trouble for this as it's only commenting on timings rather than juicy stuff, but I'll put it up anyway. It might stop some of the "sign some c*nt" twitter posts which will appear as a reply any time the club posts things in the coming days. I was in the office after MacIver signed his deal. The gaffer came in, gave his quotes on the signing to the media officer and then said to both of us that the next couple of weeks would be likely be quiet. Offers have been made, but there's plenty of time before the window closes and so players are considering their options. At least if they're half-decent and have options available with several clubs interested in them. For that reason I think most or our transfer activity will take place later rather than earlier. If you think back to last season, the likes of Yeats, Kennedy, Alegria, Burell and Lawal only signed after competitive games had began. Going back further the likes of Rudden & McManus were the same. I suspect the same will prove true this year, so it may be a while before we hear of the next signings. Or I suppose an agent could pick up the phone in the next hour and say "we accept your offer". Time will tell, There is nothing imminent that I know of.

There is a doll of Sammy The Tammy kicking around the office somewhere. I think it was sent to us from East End Park as a bit of banter after they won the league. I really, really wanted to ask Humza if he would do this with it. Would have made for a much better image than using a ball.

It's true. Let's leave it at that other than agreeing with Robocop that if anyone knows the details please let the club do the talking at the appropriate time. Sometimes other parties and involved and there are embargoes as to when news can be released.

How do you know the money goes to the council? The council own everything upstairs, but we get free use of it on a matchday. (source a director on a podcast) I have no idea if the same applies to the carpark but if does then the £85 is a revenue-earner for FFC which costs us nothing. In fact now that I think about it a bit more, I doubt the council are involved. Otherwise there would surely be charges to park there during the week instead of one day a fortnight.

Do you remember when we were relegated to League One? One of the pivotal moments that sent us down came at Palmerston. We were winning the game and had we done so we'd have climbed out of the relegation zone and gone above QOTS for the first time all season. We ending up drawing, because of what I thought was a blatant dive by Lyndon Dykes. Lyndon Dykes, who scored 10 goals in 86 appearances for QOTS. Roughly one goal in 9 games A far worse record than MacIver scoring 6 goals in 30 for Alloa, or one goal every 5 games. I think you'ld agree that Dykes has done pretty well for himself since then. Would you care to guess how old he was when scored that goal? Six months short of 24. Dykes managed to improve to be more than good enough. I'm willing to give MacIver the chance to do the same. Maybe you should too.