Senator Frimpton

I think our defensive record is more down to the paucity of opposition at this level than our defenders being any particularly great shakes. A decent ball playing cb would bring our midfield more into games and provide a better platform to attack, imo. Someone like Tom Lang at the pars or even Ciaran McKenna would have done ok at this level in this respect I reckon. Agree that Berra would be an unnecessary expense however. Cover at either fb position would be useful also. Assuming longridge and McManus stay on then someone with zip and creativity from midfield should do us ok. A mackem with nothing but surnames perhaps (Not itk just dreaming)

As in cold chisel Jimmy Barnes? Is Jim Duffy's cousin?

A statement about thinking about doing something. Brilliant. Be great if they let someone that knew what they were doing take over. Glad they recognise last season didn't go so well though, I wasn't convinced they were aware we'd been relegated tbh

We were heading to league one regardless of who was in charge. Houston, Hartley and McKinnon have all come in, done varying levels of well and then the arse has collapsed. Surefire systemic failure. Theyve each got pros and cons as coaches of course, but Houston was streets ahead of the other two

I thought Houston was a great manager for us. Yes his recruitment was off more often than not, but his man management and tactical approach was generally excellent. How often did we see a poor first half performance turn dominant in the second under him? His teams never gave up and exuded sheer determination and self belief, in the manner of his own playing mentality. I lost count of the total scenes he was responsible for Where it went wrong for him was his announced decision to step down at the end of his final season, which immediately eroded his authority in the dressing room, and the players confidence crashed. It almost seems unnecessary to point out that it's all been downhill from there. I'm not sure what I really expect from a football clubs bod, but im sure as shit it's not this. You'd like to think you'd never even really be aware of them for the most part. The relationship with the football management would be warm and encouraging in person and prominent and decisive where necessary. Oh and communicative in an engaging sense. The current mob seem aloof, brittle, thin skinned and just downright incapable. For supposed fans of the club they seem strangely determined to take us down in some scorched earth messianic suicide cult 'ma baw' type scenario. Or am I overreacting? Either way can't wait for them to get tbh

Re: McShane, at st mirren he had Stephen McGinn alongside him who as I recall was exactly the up and at 'em vocal type that could play a bit too. We've lacked strong leadership on (and off) the park for too long now. Perhaps due to McKinnons signings reflecting his own moral fibre somewhat. Unless M&M are in position to make changes in the squad come January they're between a rock and a hard place really. All the best lads

Pleased for BSLM and McCracken with a win in their first game in management. Changed the setup and had the team well motivated. Well done boys. Not sure if 352 will work in the league as neither wb crosses convincingly. Dixon's are slow and floaty and Doyle's are just inaccurate. Sheer volume of them got us through last night thanks to poor defending from the rose, especially on Dixon's side. Thought Miller allowed Gomis to play further up the park where he has more influence, could be interesting to see him play as 3rd CB/DM in a 352, which would hopefully hasten the end of Durnan who was fuckin chronic. His pass to noone that went out for a goal kick early on being a good example. Next couple of league games will be a better indicator of where we're at any road. As a side note, who names their child Brown?

Have to agree on comments re Dixon. Yes he had a good game, against poor opposition and in front of the TV cameras, then he's back to his 'the fans are entitled to their opinions but' type comments regarding McKinnon. Maybe you should have turned up for him then 'Dickers'. You fucking drip

SHUTTTTT UPPPPP!!!! Seriously though, how is he still without a club? Sure he's still a bit rough round the edges but the boys a talent. If he does return, there's a potential future Falkirk legend imo. Pleased with Miller/McCracken as guys with an affinity for the club. The Sunderland lads for whatever reason have that too and we could do with more of that about the place as you know they give that x% extra as a result. No chance of a Nelson return for the forseeable, but Tommy Robson and DKD would tear this division a new one. How's the Jak doing these days?

For the right $$$ Ray 'Ray McKinnon' McKinnon will steady your ship

Has he gone yet?

Would take the loss here if it got ray the bullet tbf

Readings a strange one. I saw them a few times in the early 2000s when my brother was living in the area. Impressive stadium, right by the motorway junction. Plus it's a big town, with a huge catchment area (500k +) yet they've never realised this potential. I just don't think it's a football town particularly, and a non football owner who couldn't seem to give it away. As you say over achievement with Steve Coppell possibly created unrealistic expectations

I don't know who Bubbles Guthrie is but I'm just going to say yes. They'll be an upgrade on 'Listen' McKinnon

If BtB are happy reorganise along the lines of a horse militia, declare an independent republic of Westfield and immediately nationalise all privately owned assets controlled by a committee of public safety then I'm all in

There's a bit of chat about this Campbell character on a Sunderland message board. They seem equally nonplussed, some suggestion he's a Michael Knighton, others more of a Craig Whyte type: https://www.readytogo.net/smb/threads/mark-campbell.1480632/ https://www.readytogo.net/smb/threads/dons-talkin-video.1480974/#post-30156530 For a benefit of doubt view, everyone has to start somewhere and he's relatively young at 46 to get into the sports ownership game. As I see it there are 3 ways he can make a return on any investment. Firstly reinstating the academy setup and resultant player sales. Park being a key part of this model. A longer game but naturally sustainable and profitable if done right. Secondly acquiring the club and planning and development rights to the land adjacent to the stadium for leisure/retail facilities to generate non match day income. Potentially very lucrative but requiring significant development capital. He may be gambling on securing third party finance for this model, plus football operations would be very much secondary in this case. Not even necessarily a bad thing but not without risk fair to say. Thirdly, and this is where the parallel with us and Sunderland becomes more apparent, he buys us on the cheap as an underperforming club invests as required and establishes us as competitive in the premiership and sells at a profit. There may be some other angle so horrific I can't even countenance it, but John Park's involvement would suggest the football side is taken seriously (was it not him responsible for that batch of good Hibs players Brown, Fletcher et al that were sold for top dough?) In conclusion therefore, dinno

Cheers. And he's still at the club? People with this attitude should be the focus of ire IMO. Really unacceptable. That's right, no one liked or agreed with it because it was fucking gibberish. I can't speak for anyone else, but continually referring to Lewis Kidd as a 'perfectly adequate fullback' I found a bit of a piss boiler. Top trolling in that respect

That's a very interesting read. Do we know who the major shareholder that described the fans as a "mediocrity" might be? I get that the fan opposition to the msg/board is an evolving process as new shit comes to light and circumstances change and perhaps the season ticket boycott requires a rethink in terms of effectiveness. As my own attendance is progressively rarer than hens teeth, I still won't be renewing until significant change has occurred, which on top of my pledge to the BtB scheme is a fairly significant sum. If were resident in the UK or even in the northern hemisphere more often I'd probably renew and get behind any amount of abuse towards every man jack of them. As it is I'll keep my money in my pocket for now. The thought occurs though that maybe there's another way to break the msg as a block. The individuals within it clearly don't agree much with each other and possibly don't even get along, so why is it even a thing? Their disagreements hamstring effective change, and in fact have caused catastrophic damage (to the detriment of their own share value) and yet they act as voting block to prevent progress. WTF? The club may have been worth 2.4m when we were in the championship and with a highly respected and productive academy. No fuckin chance now. Is a scheme to buy any one or two of them out to break the voting block viable? I'd get behind that too. I'll do the tarring and feathering for free too

Bring him home Ray

Slander is verbal and libel is written, so both in this case. Lewis is a shit footballer with no professional future and he must know it, so the only way out with any dignity for him is to play the victim card. Pretty shabby really, but precedent set by the CEO and board/msg in terms of bullshittery

If football was just about pointing and shouting Paul Paton would be a global icon of the game. As it is his basic skills aren't up to much he's slow and doesn't offer any leadership, mediocre at best. Him thinking he's too good for us is fine by me. See the pars picked up the lad Turner from Stranraer also, felt that's the sort of player we should be after, along with the Paton at stenny. Both good young players with potential that have stood out at L1 level and are looking to step up. By my reckoning we need at least 3 strikers, one winger, 2 cbs (that can cover fb) and both fb/wb positions. Plus a keeper. That 9 players for a bare minimum squad. By the end of next week. Be interesting to see who else comes in, after the bread and circus signing of Tidser and Buchanan

Mary and mungo must be fucking furious tbf Lol

Ouid

Nail on the head there sir. I dare say the club has lacked effective leadership since Campbell Christie stepped down, and what we are left with is a group of individuals of disparate interest, moribund to the point of inactivity. The feeble communication is the perhaps the worst part. If they believed Craig Campbell was such a great guy why didn't they back him publicly til it was too late? If there was concern over the fan buyout proposal why not engage with the wider fanbase and explain why, given the backing that idea was given? It's clear they can't and won't do this, for whatever reason. Also clear that the club is an old pals act and the "customers" are expected to pay up, sit down and shut up shows a fundamental misunderstanding of a typical Falkirk fan. Taking their time to solicit and consider new bids at a time when we have 5 signed players and preseason starts in a couple of weeks is a mindbender as well. I'm done being nice or trying to understand these people. Do the right thing and f**k off Martin, and take your pisswit mates with you. Cheers