The Falkirk FC Thread

[Hank von Hell]

47 minutes ago, Harry Kinnear said:

1 hour ago, Back Post Misses said:

Kettlewell 100% hit the nail on the head on sportsound last night. Heart and soul of the club was ripped out when we shut the academy

Agree with this, the minute the academy shut we lost a large part of our link with the community. Out of all the stupid things the board have done for me this is the worst. Any new regime that comes in has to set up an academy of some description.

And we also lost our identity .....what we were know for and were proud of.

"Renowned youth producers Falkirk" as the Sunday Mail put it

[Hank von Hell]

10 minutes ago, Rudolph Hucker said:

......."the absolute hell hole that is Greenock".......       Dearie me. 

You really are hurting, mate, aren't you?  And you're not even officially down yet........

I saw the word "broken" used the other day and thought "that's a bit strong". As the week goes on, though, it's looking more and more accurate in some cases. 

No not hurting mate, just sharing my observations . I've been to Greenock and it's a hell hole , I refuse to believe anyone can have a good day out there.

Gourock is nice though  

[Hank von Hell]

1 hour ago, Back Post Misses said:

Kettlewell 100% hit the nail on the head on sportsound last night. Heart and soul of the club was ripped out when we shut the academy

It was a good debate actually and Kettlewell spoke well,  he was genuinely shocked we binned it. What is this "Progressive" version of Project Brave he spoke about which is below the Elite and still receives funding? Surely we could have adjusted the structure of our academy to suit, no? 

[Rudolph Hucker]

9 minutes ago, Hank von Hell said:

No not hurting mate, just sharing my observations . I've been to Greenock and it's a hell hole , I refuse to believe anyone can have a good day out there.

Gourock is nice though  

you're in a hole, mate, it's best to stop digging. May as well, you'll be dropping further anyway come Saturday. 

[Hank von Hell]

1 hour ago, Back Post Misses said:

Kettlewell 100% hit the nail on the head on sportsound last night. Heart and soul of the club was ripped out when we shut the academy

Houstie was very interesting too.

He seemed to be saying it was all Campbell's idea.

He stated when he was there Margaret Lang was "very,very keen on Project Brave" and pursued Elite status vigorously.  Then "a new CEO came in and looked at the costs" , next thing he's diverting all the academy cash to our Busted Brentford Model.

He also said Ritchie & Co were fully behind the academy when he joined us as manager and he was shocked they wiped the whole thing.

Sounds like Mr Power Point has persuaded the non football bunch of Lang, Ritchie et al that his  way was the way forward (backwards in reality).   

     

[Bairnardo]

Am only good at 3 things. Fighting, screwing and posting on football forums.

Iv already done 2 of those things today. Who wants to help me out with the third?

[Hank von Hell]

4 minutes ago, Rudolph Hucker said:

you're in a hole, mate, it's best to stop digging. May as well, you'll be dropping further anyway come Saturday. 

I'm confused .....I was talking about me and my personal opinion on Greenock (it's a hell hole) . I think you  were talking about me hurting -which was a fair assumption . I said I wasn't really.

Now you are going on about me being in a hole and to stop digging? 

That's all a bit random mate, are you ok? 

[Rudolph Hucker]

34 minutes ago, Hank von Hell said:

I'm confused .....I was talking about me and my personal opinion on Greenock (it's a hell hole) . I think you  were talking about me hurting -which was a fair assumption . I said I wasn't really.

Now you are going on about me being in a hole and to stop digging? 

That's all a bit random mate, are you ok? 

The east end of Greenock ain't the best, but it's never a "hell hole". And most of what's west of Patrick Street and west of the cemetery is lovely.

Hole's getting deep, mate going by the amount of stuff whooshing way over your head. I'm worried that come Sunday morning you might be found drifting bum-upwards down the Forth....... 

[Hank von Hell]

5 minutes ago, Rudolph Hucker said:

The east end of Greenock ain't the best, but it's never a "hell hole". And most of what's west of Patrick Street and west of the cemetery is lovely.

Hole's getting deep, mate going by the amount of stuff whooshing way over your head. I'm worried that come Sunday morning you might be found drifting bum-upwards down the Forth....... 

What's whooshing over my head mate.........oh wait you had jumped over to Falkirk  FC in terms of hole digging in reference to relegation?

But wait again.....now you are back to me only and that hole again.......unless you mean the whole of Falkirk  & Falkirk FC drifting bum up down the Forth?

You are all over the place mate.

Who exactly is in this hole you go on about , is it a real hole and does it connect to the Forth or just a metaphorical hole?      

[Hank von Hell]

12 minutes ago, Rudolph Hucker said:

The east end of Greenock ain't the best, but it's never a "hell hole". And most of what's west of Patrick Street and west of the cemetery is lovely.

 

The cemetery is definitely the best place to be if you are from Greenock   

[Jason King]

Anyone claiming that Greenock isnt a "hell hole" is trying way too hard.

[ScottishZizou]

Pretty gutted to see Falkirk probably fall in to league 1. 

I usually hate the narrative of continually piling in to boards and managers and acting as if you could do a better job but this is one of those rare exceptions. 

The mismanagement from board level and Hartley in particular as a manager seems bafflingly poor. To the extent you genuinely could imagine you and your mates handling it all better. The “strategy” has just been so poorly thought out. Disband the academy which was giving you a good chance of promotion and then spunk money on signing more players than any other team in the country.  Possibly I just don’t understand the economics very well but surely their wage bill must be through the roof right now.  After watching you beat Ayr a few weeks ago I was actually convinced you’d end up alright.

Life goes on and I’m sure you will bounce back ASAP but I can imagine you guys who dedicate so much time/resource following the club  for them to just seem so directionless or misdirected must make you want to hit your head against a wall.

It’s probably been covered earlier in the thread but if anyone has the figures for how much savings closing the academy has brought about I’d be appreciative as I’m curious.  

[Guest]

On 29/04/2019 at 23:18, realmadrid said:

Alex Smith should have just stayed at the Probus club as a member. 

I love anyone who is dismissive of old people simply because they feel safe and cocooned by the knowledge that it’s a “thing”  they will avoid through a blend of healthy eating and BBC4.

You clearly never ever had a football conversation with a 70 year old Alex Smith. Given your appreciation of all things youthful, he would have made any opinions you offered up to be those of a gauche seven year old (and been a gentleman in doing so).

[Guest]

10 minutes ago, ScottishZizou said:

Pretty gutted to see Falkirk probably fall in to league 1. 

I usually hate the narrative of continually piling in to boards and managers and acting as if you could do a better job but this is one of those rare exceptions. 

The mismanagement from board level and Hartley in particular as a manager seems bafflingly poor. To the extent you genuinely could imagine you and your mates handling it all better. The “strategy” has just been so poorly thought out. Disband the academy which was giving you a good chance of promotion and then spunk money on signing more players than any other team in the country.  Possibly I just don’t understand the economics very well but surely their wage bill must be through the roof right now.  After watching you beat Ayr a few weeks ago I was actually convinced you’d end up alright.

Life goes on and I’m sure you will bounce back ASAP but I can imagine you guys who dedicate so much time/resource following the club  for them to just seem so directionless or misdirected must make you want to hit your head against a wall.

It’s probably been covered earlier in the thread but if anyone has the figures for how much savings closing the academy has brought about I’d be appreciative as I’m curious.  

Well, some of us just have to console ourselves with the fact that no system or process could have made any difference, our club’s structure has shown that no room for improvement exists, and what we have is an inevitable outcome that will happen to everyone. I am still struggling with that belief system tbh.

[realmadrid]

30 minutes ago, Duncan Freemason said:

I love anyone who is dismissive of old people simply because they feel safe and cocooned by the knowledge that it’s a “thing”  they will avoid through a blend of healthy eating and BBC4.

You clearly never ever had a football conversation with a 70 year old Alex Smith. Given your appreciation of all things youthful, he would have made any opinions you offered up to be those of a gauche seven year old (and been a gentleman in doing so).

Nothing to do with age, more to do with football view s and the results of the teams he has had an involvement with, Since his Clyde team of 92-93 have any of them had any level of success

Last met him at the league cup tie last season, yes a Gentleman but would I want him involved in my team, no. Guess we are all entitled to our views

What role have the club given Alex Totten, I bet he could motivate your players before the weekend

[realmadrid]

32 minutes ago, Duncan Freemason said:

Well, some of us just have to console ourselves with the fact that no system or process could have made any difference, our club’s structure has shown that no room for improvement exists, and what we have is an inevitable outcome that will happen to everyone. I am still struggling with that belief system tbh.

Surely this season will prove to the board they need to go back to the system that was almost working before, The Houston teams came so close to getting back to the Premiership.

[Fae_the_'briggs]

2 hours ago, Bairnardo said:

Am only good at 3 things. Fighting, screwing and posting on football forums.

Iv already done 2 of those things today. Who wants to help me out with the third?

Mrs.  B says she beats you easily at the first thing  because your utterly useless at the second thing because you spend too much time doing the third thing. 

[Rudolph Hucker]

1 hour ago, Hank von Hell said:

What's whooshing over my head mate.........oh wait you had jumped over to Falkirk  FC in terms of hole digging in reference to relegation?

But wait again.....now you are back to me only and that hole again.......unless you mean the whole of Falkirk  & Falkirk FC drifting bum up down the Forth?

You are all over the place mate.

Who exactly is in this hole you go on about , is it a real hole and does it connect to the Forth or just a metaphorical hole?      

^^^   well and truly broken. Sad.

[Dindeleux]

Falkirk fans have absolutely lost it.

Delicious.

[Guest Ecosse83]

Not convinced losing the academy is a big deal, when exactly did it last produce players worthy of getting in the first team or even on the fringes of the first team? 

The problem and poor managerial appointments (obviously in hindsight) and poor player recruitment (Captain obvious I know). 

If we had a good manager with the budget that Hartley had we would have a good team on the park. A properly scouted signing or 2 from English academies isn't a bad idea when we have a settled team already, signing a whole new team obviously isn't the way to do it though!