AGPar

So basically the identikit "Keep things tight for the opening 20/25 minutes and the crowd will start to turn" instruction issued by pretty much every manager the world over to their playing staff prior to an away game against a bigger club. The idea that this is somehow unique to the big, bad, nasty, impatient Falkirk support - as one or two would shamefully like you to believe - is a complete and utter fallacy.

It's not going to be McGlynn. Rightly or wrongly, League One to Premier would be viewed as too big a jump. Although, when you look at some of the frightening names on the usual merry-go-round type list they could probably do worse - Yogi will already have fired his application in. Martindale/Neilson/Dodds the frontrunners apparently.

Encapsulated by his outright mockery of Brighton's choice of De Zerbi as manager because he doesn't know "our league". Basically "Why are they appointing this foreign nobody?" The notion that he had the first idea who Philippe Clement was, let alone any influence in his appointment, is completely laughable, swallowed only by the true lickspittles i.e. McIntyre, Young. An utter anachronism.

Won without remotely hitting any heights. Only rival drops two points at home against bottom of the table Edinburgh. Top of the league and still unbeaten. A truly rage-inducing Saturday.

Dundee United. That was the first approach in October. The rumour at the time - never proven, probably rubbish - was that he was dropped off in Dundee on the way home from Arbroath so that he could hold talks about the job with Thompson. He turned the down job down the following midweek before eventually clearing off to Tannadice the following January a few days after we had murdered the Jambos in the Scottish Cup, a performance (first half) that has never been bettered, and possibly never will be.

Whilst finance undoubtedly plays a significant part in any player's decision to move (or stay) I am not sure Spencer and Lang would have been willing to drop down to League One to play under another manager. I am yet to be totally convinced by McGlynn but, for me, his presence certainly played some part in their coming here. I would not underestimate the importance of players knowing, and having a strong relationship with, the manager they are going to be playing for. For me McGlynn is a big factor in Lang, Spencer and Ross currently being at the club.

We have had as good a start to the league season as anyone could have realistically expected - perhaps even better. Recruitment looks, to date, to be excellent. But Hamilton at home on 7th October will be a true barometer of where we are and where we might be heading. Our record in this type of game has been absolutely pathetic for far, far, far too long - a record that obviously pre-dates McGlynn by a long way but which, last season, he came nowhere close to improving upon. This is an incredibly weak league - Alloa are not as good as last season, QOS mediocre, Cove Rangers poor. Based on what has happened so far, we are not going to be able to rely on other teams taking a lot of points from Hamilton - and vice-versa - making the head-to-heads unquestionably even more vital. We have four opportunities to directly affect Hamilton's result and we simply have to take them, starting a week on Saturday. Until we prove that we have the ability to win the games that really matter, it is perfectly sensible to enjoy what has been on show whilst also retaining a degree of fair degree oi scepticism about how the manager and players - or at least those left over from last season - will perform when the pressure truly comes on top, as it will soon enough. Despite the proclamations of the Give Us the League Now brigade, no-one has proven anyone "wrong" yet.

Aye, you’re right, some fans are desperate for another season of failure, a sixth consecutive year in this league and the financial ramifications that would follow. Utter moron.

Exactly. It's perfectly possible to talk up your own team's abilities and ambitions without disrespecting rival clubs or the league as a whole. But that will never happen at a club now riven with a Zero Expectations culture. The relentless playing down of expectations and "tough, tough, tough league" mantra has clearly been a very deliberate club policy since relegation in 2019, starting with McKinnons "aiming to be top by Christmas" garbage. His now regular references to the spending being done by Hamilton Academical this summer are simply laughable, given the significant budgetary advantages he has been afforded - and squandered - in a series of transfer windows since his appointment last May. A section of the support will, of course, be falling over themselves to lap all of this up, just as they did with his "developing season" bollocks after last season's disgraceful finale. The rest will see straight through these comments for what they truly are - the very early laying of the excuses groundwork in the event that this season turns into yet another disaster. Utterly pathetic stuff.

He cannot have any excuses period. He's received very good financial backing in three transfer windows and complete autonomy to use it as he wishes. It's very much his squad. "Quality over quantity" is this summer's mantra to explain away some glaringly obvious deficiencies still remaining on the playing side. McGlynn has made his bed in terms of recruitment and use of resources. Unfortunately, given the thinness of the squad, and the fact that a continuous injury list seems to be a staple feature of whatever team he is managing, I can see "bare bones" being parroted ad nauseum this season. No-one with an modicum of sense will be listening. Put up or shut up time.

The upside of that particular coin being that he'll also be responsible for winning us a few points this season. I enjoyed watching Agyeman today - at least he is willing to be direct and take his man on. We've had precious few of them over the years. Thought he provided a bit of spark to a largely dull, colourless team. Miller as well when he came on. I'd take one Agyeman over a hundred Gary Olivers. A total plodder. Unfortunately the central midfield options are simply not good enough for a team with title aspirations. Utterly powderpuff. Any half-decent midfield we come up against will run right through us with zero resistance. All too familiar.

Quote me the exact post please where I so much as implied that Dunfermline fans were "angels".

Nothing whatsoever to do with “bad guys”. Everything to do with extreme distaste for a group of so-called supporters revelling in the death of someone most of them would not recognise if you shoved a picture right in front of them. And, on that particular issue, you are correct, my mind is certainly made up.

My take, from personal experience - and plenty on both sides will vehemently disagree, which is fine - is that Falkirk - and I am talking about more than just the supporters here - work themselves into far more of a frenzy about this rivalry than the Pars do. Obviously, their fans view Falkirk as a rival and revel in beating us, but I do not detect anywhere near the same level of intensity and sheer hatred that seems to emanate from our side. Last season was perhaps a microcosm of that. The home game on 5/11 was hyped up to a ridiculous level on social media, whilst Dunfermline appeared much more low-key in their approach and just went about the pretty important business of picking up three points and setting themselves up to cruise to uncontested to the title. I'd extrapolate that contrast across the whole season tbh. Perhaps there's a lesson there. I just missed Leishman as Pars manager, although have seen the footage from that season. Both that era, and Jefferies Falkirk v Paton's Dunfermline were on a whole other level to the pale imitation we have today. There is no comparison. I personally find the whole "hating Fifers" stuff cringeworthy in the extreme and utterly small time. Possibly an age thing, but how I see it.

I'm old enough to remember Norrie McCathie calling out his own supporters - on at least two occasions - for the racist abuse showered on Richie. At a time when Dunfermline v Falkirk was a proper rivalry, not the embarrassing, one-sided cringefest it has become today. Making the chants and the hissing noises even more pathetic. The club should simply state that, the next time this is audible, their singing section is chucked straight in the bin and anyone identified as having participated in it will never set foot in TFS again. A bunch of embarrassing wee fannies and a complete and utter disgrace to the football club. And it's been going on for years, with zero action being taken. Enough.

Airdrie - on a fraction of our budget and with a complete rookie player-management team in charge- managed to escape this league whilst also playing a very decent brand of attacking football. Given the advantages that we hold - or should hold - over every other club in this division, it really should not be beyond us to do the same. Why it has to be an either/or scenario is beyond me. By the end of last season, McGlynn's style of play was neither attractive nor successful. The polar opposite in fact. That's the issue, and why concerns about a continuation of that into this season are perfectly legitimate.

I suspect there are quite a few posters who would be far more questioning of the performance of the manager if he had been appointed by, and was working under, any of the myriad hopeless regimes which preceded the current one. They equate criticism of the manager to mean criticism of those in the boardroom, hence the ultra-defensiveness we now see from one or two who. not so long ago, were amongst the most consistent and vocal critics of all aspects of the club. The change is extremely noticeable.

Top two? We finished in the "top two" last season. That worked out well. His only objective is "top one".

I'd say McGlynn did most of his best work last season, recruitment-wise, in the loan market. Kennedy, Max, I'd probably include Alegria in that, a signing I hated at the time but a player I would take back in an instant. Maybe he can repeat that. He might have to. It's not even July. Does anyone seriously believe that we are not going to make any further additions over the next few weeks? Because, if so, well I'm not sure how that fits in with the "nothing less than promotion" narrative that the club has been pedalling. I'll give McGlynn the benefit of the doubt that he is well aware that the current squad is not good enough and knows exactly what still needs to be done. For all the focus on RB, the glaring lack of any mobility, strength, ability to put in a challenge in midfield every now and then simply has to be rectified. Without that, we are going absolutely nowhere. Our midfield options as they stand will simply not cut it.

Not bad for such a terrible, demanding, impatient, moaning, ungrateful, "fickle" bunch. Not bad at all.

And if the "Burrell downed tools, we're well shot of him" theory carries any weight, it is every bit as straightforward and logical to extend that argument to incorporate another 12 players who we are still paying a wage to and who will be forming a considerable chunk of next season's squad. Which, given the importance of said season, is pretty concerning.

Why is Burrell being singled out for this particular accusation? The whole lot of them had "quite clearly chucked it". Beat Ayr United in a Scottish Cup Q/F on the 14th March, decided that was enough and subsequently blew up what could have been a very productive end to the season in the biggest way possible. In fact, from memory, he (in tandem with Oliver) had a very decent 90 minutes against the runaway league champions on 8/4 and came off the bench to score a last-minute equaliser against the other promoted side one week later. And on that basis alone, he contributed more in the run-in than plenty of the other charlatans and bottlers who offered the square route of f**l all in the final two months but are still hanging around creaming a wage. Yet Burrell is specifically accused of having thrown in the towel. Or this insidious "bad influence in the dressing room" fantasy. Laughable stuff. I would not be n the least bit surprised if he returns to do us some damage next season.

Whilst the business done today looks to be very decent (caveat: said for about the 127th time in the past five years) I still wonder about our central midfield options. Spencer is obviously a good, technical footballer but he's not providing much, if any, of the grit, strength, fight, legs, presence, fight, aggression that we've been sorely lacking in that area for what seems like an eternity. I'd be concerned if he's been signed with the intention of playing in conjunction with McGinn. He should be replacing him in the starting eleven, with McGinn still having a contribution to make, but certainly not as a regular starter. We were far, far too easily bullied (and in the Airdrie debacle, simply run straight through) last season, that's got to change for me. I mentioned Scott Martin last week, not that we'll get him, but that's the type of midfielder I'd love to see complement Spencer. Niang perhaps another one and surely realistic. Lang could be an excellent signing if he can stay fit, which could be an issue. Two years of Brad McKay is really enough for anyone.

I never mentioned their whole squad. Only the recruitment which they have undertaken this summer. I think they’ll be offering more to players than they would have been able to previously, plus, if we were both looking at the same player they’ve got the advantage of Championship football. Right now they seem to be an attractive proposition for a lot of players below Premier League level.

Suspect that Raith are looking in a different market to us tbh. They also have a pretty sizeable squad and don't seem to be exactly short of attacking midfield options. They are building a very impressive squad. Would be surprised if he ended up there. Similar scenario with Agyeman (who I don't mind as a signing for us). They're in a position to pay a fee for, and offer a three-year contract to, Jack Hamilton. Levels.