Hank von Hell

I'm interested to know why Mars FC would be playing home matches on the moon? Stadium redevelopment?

Yeah I did , and that's my preference. Build a bridge, get over it.

Where did I say I wanted exclusively academy players? Thought it would be obvious to most that we need a mix of youth & experience, so i didn't state that ,but just for your benefit - we need a mix of youth and experience, and maybe one day that youth element will contain some home-grown players. I certainly hope so.

Agree, there's no doubt like most other clubs we have to use the loan market, but you are at the mercy of the owning club to take players back from you in the window causing all sorts of disruption. And loan players very rarely stay longer than one season so they are never players to build a team around. I think most now agree the preference is to bring in our own academy players and it will take time for this to filter through. The legacy of Craig Campbell lives on at our club.

Where would Latapy fit into that though? Asking for a friend lol

Well yes, when you are deliberately quoting stats to prove effectiveness to the team. Otherwise, why stop with Latapy , compare Morrison's stats to Messi in the World Cup and say look Morrison has more assists. I understand it's about "impact to the club" and I'd be astounded at anyone agreeing Morrison has a bigger impact than Latapy. My issue with this has always been you comparing Latapy's stats to Morrison's, I don't think I read that wrong, you did do that didn't you? It's just daft when RL was playing against defenders worth millions (for an underdog team in that league) and Morrison is playing against, in many cases, part time defenders when he is clearly one of the better players in his league - you can't use goals and assists in this scenario. And on a faceless football forum trust me I'm not worried about losing face.

That happens a lot, so probably

Why compare him with players from a different era playing at a much higher standard then? It's nonsense.

How did I take Latapy's name out of context (I could have said similar about Sibbs to be honest)? In fact it was me that added context by highlighting the different standards and leagues. You left out any circumstances or standards with your comparison and only now are you saying "it's all relative" - you should have said that the first time as it absolutely is. I've nothing against Morrison and think he should stay by the way.

Just ridiculous to compare Latapy's stats in the SPL (why is it just the SPL matches?) playing against the best in country at a time when the Bigot Brothers were spending millions on players, to Callum Morrison playing in the shittest league we've probably played in. My daughter got 22 goals and 15 assists last season in the Gold Coast U16 Girls League, should I be giving John McGlynn a call? Or should the Holy Trinity be extended to a quartet to include Morrison?

If MC makes his Twitter public again and idiot fans start calling him Boss and sending pics of club crest haircuts be worried. If he tries to palm off Keane tickets be very afraid. He's got 2 coffee vans now and has just sold Trump Tower so he's pretty flush.

Griffiths was nowhere near the A League. He was playing at some very low level whilst on holiday in Western Australia, I'd never heard of the club and the footage I saw it was like he was playing in a public park.

He won't need much factor 50 in Victoria, tell him to pack a brolly and not to throw away his big jaekit. PS - NPL is not a good level.

I never said they were mutually exclusive, nor 100% successful. Of course, we should be open to both options but personally speaking I'd rather see homegrown star players like we once produced. And that will take time, a lot of time......so let's hope the recruitment is better than it has been as we will be solely sourcing players from others for a while yet.

So if it's to be another season in L1 next year what will sustainable look like? Part time? Or pushing the boat out to get up, more 2 yr contracts to attract better players etc? Another gap? Tough task ahead for those who stood up for the rest of us. If we do go up investment in the squad will certainly be needed and such is the history of our club and fanbase we will have ambitions of going up again. IMO completely fan owned is not for us at present whilst we try to get back to the top league. The slow take up on FSS subs adds to my worry, and there is only so many times you can go to Patreons for more money. Far better to keep the likes of MR & SA on board just in case along with a strong fans voice. Part owned by the fans is fine for now, we won't be a sustainable club until we reach the promised land once more. Hopefully by then we will be selling our academy developed players again for big money plus future add-ons (sustainable) and be the number one large concert venue in Scotland. Essentially where we were before the fools in charge (at the time) messed up badly.

Hmm....pretty sure we had just lost the Cup Final and played Rangers off the park, and qualified for Europe after 3 seasons in the SPFL when he left. I'm not having the Dad's Army accusation that get's trotted out , we are only really talking about 5 players (unless you want to include Latapy in your damnation, still our best player but fits into your Dads Army), I'd say the right mix of experience was needed in a top level squad. Not sure who was negotiating the contracts at that time but they would have to be sanctioned by the BOD. We still had some great players in that last Yogi squad - Aajjes, Riera , Mallo , Lovell, Cregg & Holden. All Yogi signings. No, Craig forced through the appointment of his buddy May who didn't want it, signings were absolutely honking, he had no presence in the dressing room or the bench, could not change a game, tried to resign and Craig persuaded him to stay (twice) and then when he did go it was practically all over. Can't blame Yogi for any of that.

What a squad, oozes class and great depth. Actually quite sad looking at it now, quite a few heroes in there - exact opposite of our wilderness years down in Div 3. Our downfall from there to the Championship was definitely on the man on the far left. Our further descent into oblivion was for sure on Craig Campbell along with the baggage (lies, accusations, legal action & massive cock ups)

If you ever re-watch the 2013 Falkirk Hibs semi and listen to the commentary, or read any newspapers at the time, they were absolutely singing our praises on youth development, our academy success and outstanding young players in the first team. I remember feeling very proud of our club , no less than SEVEN promoted academy players were in our actual starting line up - and on merit. We were the envy of many clubs for our academy, I agree we had that reputation in the game which IMO would have held up. Same was probably said about our 2015 Cup Final squad, I watched it in a pub in Sydney and couldn't hear the commentary, but we had seven ex academy players in the full squad. We absolutely blew it...........and I'm not talking about the matches. Craig Campbell had a vision, bin the academy (at Xmas), cash saved to spend on his Brentford Model and in came your Dennon Lewis, TOE, Dan Turner, Froxy etc and the club had a new direction and identity. I wasn't too proud then - in fact I don't think I'd hated our squad more. The dismal merry go round of jobbers followed replacing the junk we'd bought the window before almost entirely each time and we get to where we are now. Out of cash with zero value in the squad. Oh for a young Sibbald, Murdoch, Fulton, Kingsley, McGrandles, Duffie breaking thru now and the young fans singing "he's one of our own". Houstie said on BBC Radio Scotland that Margaret Lang was very pro our academy, " until that new CEO came in" Campbell's the biggest mistake in our history, he ripped out the soul of the club.

A squad of 25 seems very high for a League One club, there are some EPL clubs that don't have that many. That must be 8 or 9 Falkirk players sitting in the stand or walking round Tescos every Saturday afternoon, - can't be good for club morale?

Not sure why light blue ever became a thing. There's for sure a move by big clubs in England to bring out particularly 3rd kits that are groundbreaking (tasteless) to court the yoof, the Asian and the American markets. We need to stick to our traditional colours but I'd include yellow as one of those due to the recent(ish) history and results associated with that colour. When I think of light blue all I can recall is our brief embarrassment in Europe.

A top coach/manager gets the best out of & improves average players. For example Bielsa at Leeds took a team that finished 14th in the Championship, won it by a good distance, and finished 9th in EPL all with the same players he inherited. Kalvin Philips was on his way out of Leeds when Bielsa arrived, now he plays for Man Citeh and England. Not comparing McGlynn to Bielsa, and not saying JM isn't a good coach but it's all relative - and I'd hoped he'd have done better with some of these players that were here when he came.

28 Million a year. Source : Margaret Lang

I drove from my house on the Gold Coast to Sydney a few months ago , took me just over 11 hours. Drove back the next morning and took me a mere 10 and a half hours (had the foot down). 5 hours is nothing.

Just to add to the fascinating debate: "In the space of 46 days, Leeds played 15 fixtures, an average of three per week". https://www.wsc.co.uk/stories/how-a-fixture-and-injury-pile-up-saw-leeds-finish-1969-70-empty-handed/

So basically what he was doing for us before just with a little playing thrown in.