The Falkirk FC Thread

[HopeStreetWalker]

3 minutes ago, Russ said:

 

Exactly this.

This comes up every now and then on here always from other supporters but it was completely the right time for Houston to go. We were fucking awful that last season and genuinely could’ve went down in the play offs if he didn’t get sacked. Hartley came in and when he gutted the squad in January done a great job between then and the end of the season before a catastrophic summer.

Just because we’ve fucked up in many ways since Houston was binned doesn’t mean we we were wrong to do so.

 

Maybe so but the point I was making was that a manager that did so well for us. Got a fraction to spend on a squad needing rebuilt. Harris and McKee was all he could afford. While Hartley and McKinnon blew a fortune on players that are not up to it.

We will never know, but Houston reserves to be remembered for the good times he gave us as a player and a manager. That fair !

 

[Russ]

Maybe so but the point I was making was that a manager that did so well for us. Got a fraction to spend on a squad needing rebuilt. Harris and McKee was all he could afford. While Hartley and McKinnon blew a fortune on players that are not up to it.
We will never know, but Houston reserves to be remembered for the good times he gave us as a player and a manager. That fair !
 

I was too young to remember him as a player but I was a big fan of him until that final season when it was clear he’s lost the dressing room and it was time to go.

I’m not sure how true it is that’s all he could afford. On the whole his recruitment for us wasn’t great and similar to McKinnon in the summer a lot of lazy signings, getting John Rankin to replace Will Vaulks in particular was stinking. But in his final transfer window for us he signed Rory Loy (on what was presumably our highest wage at that point), David Mitchell, Alex Harris, Robbie Mutch, Jordan McGhee and Conrad Balatoni. Some hits but mainly misses there but the squad already had a load of players not up to it that he had brought in previously likes of Gasparotto, Craigen, Kidd, McKee etc...

[Newbornbairn]

If we've learned one thing out of this it's surely that nothing but shite comes out of Greenock

[Rugster]

4 hours ago, Fitbafollower said:

Yes and the support decided to sack Houston

o believed Falkirk were only a couple of players away from going up

 

that squad had some great games and results 

Just because the last two appointments have turned into abominations does not automatically mean the decision to sack Houston was wrong. He was done. 

[HopeStreetWalker]

1 hour ago, Russ said:

 

I was too young to remember him as a player but I was a big fan of him until that final season when it was clear he’s lost the dressing room and it was time to go.

I’m not sure how true it is that’s all he could afford. On the whole his recruitment for us wasn’t great and similar to McKinnon in the summer a lot of lazy signings, getting John Rankin to replace Will Vaulks in particular was stinking. But in his final transfer window for us he signed Rory Loy (on what was presumably our highest wage at that point), David Mitchell, Alex Harris, Robbie Mutch, Jordan McGhee and Conrad Balatoni. Some hits but mainly misses there but the squad already had a load of players not up to it that he had brought in previously likes of Gasparotto, Craigen, Kidd, McKee etc...

 

Fair point on how it ended for Houston.

Just a comment on him as a player. He tried, goodness me he tried every game and every minute of it he tried and never became a passenger. When he had a stinker which all players do. He tried all the harder and often got worse because of it.

How many players can you say when they got substituted because of how they were playing got a standing ovation, because he never hid and at least the fans knew he had played for the jersey.

Not a bad epitaph !

 

[Anthony Fitzgerald]

Hindsight management is indeed an easy thing. After the cup final it was a team that had to be rebuilt. McDonald was going. Duffie and Grant crocked. McCracken coming to the end of his career. Alston , Sibbald and Vaulks were on other teams shopping list and due a crack at a higher level. Loy getting a payday at Dundee.
Houston did not get the funds for the rebuild and we got McKee and Baird the rest is history. If Housty had got the money that Hartley and McKinnon pissed against a wall is one of these what if's !
Still got a lot of time for Houston. Great player that tried even when he was having a stinker. Took us to play offs against richer clubs and a cup final to top it all.
Would like to think the fans will remember that rather than the sad end to a good servant to the club.

The cup final team finished 5th, and some individuals were nowhere near good enough (David Smith, anyone?)

As Marsh has said, the season after was much better, and that was because of players like Baird and managing to play greater than the some of their parts.

If anything the cup final glossed over a fairly average league campaign.

That’s not to put Houston down, he did very well for us overall, but his time had ran its course and it was right for him to go when he did. Catastrophic mismanagement after that has been the main issue as to where we are now.

[Senator Frimpton]

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

[squeekybairn]

6 hours ago, AGPar said:

Complete, total, utter drivel. I must have missed the supporters taking over the club in 2017.

Houston's time had run its course. He should have been away the morning after we bottled it against McKinnon's bang average Utd in the play-offs. And if we were only "a couple of players away from going up" it's a pity he chose to make these players the rancid Harris and Loy.

Sacking Houston is not the reason for the abysmal state we are in, it's the fact that every decision made by the clowns in charge since has been an unmitigated disaster.

at least we were in the play offs back then........oh, and in a higher division. Say what you want about the guy, perhaps his signings weren't the greatest, but by god did we play attractive, competitive, attacking football. Houston's reign was the last time I felt entertained watching our team. Going toe to toe with rangers, hearts, hibs and coming away with results seems so so distant now. Perhaps if we'd kept houston and got rid of the puppet masters instead we would still be playing those types of games. 

[Hank von Hell]

6 hours ago, Russ said:

 

I was too young to remember him as a player but I was a big fan of him until that final season when it was clear he’s lost the dressing room and it was time to go.

I’m not sure how true it is that’s all he could afford. On the whole his recruitment for us wasn’t great and similar to McKinnon in the summer a lot of lazy signings, getting John Rankin to replace Will Vaulks in particular was stinking. But in his final transfer window for us he signed Rory Loy (on what was presumably our highest wage at that point), David Mitchell, Alex Harris, Robbie Mutch, Jordan McGhee and Conrad Balatoni. Some hits but mainly misses there but the squad already had a load of players not up to it that he had brought in previously likes of Gasparotto, Craigen, Kidd, McKee etc...

 

Absolutely brutal treatment of a club legend (as a player & manager) by some fans and the players.

The sad fact that Houston had not built up enough credit with some of the fans ,and the useless BOD, to have one bad season astounds me.

And this "lost the dressing room" cliché basically means the players have decided to down tools - an all too common thing in football and ,it seems, at our club in recent years. 

[Stainrod]

Absolutely brutal treatment of a club legend (as a player & manager) by some fans and the players.
The sad fact that Houston had not built up enough credit with some of the fans ,and the useless BOD, to have one bad season astounds me.
And this "lost the dressing room" cliché basically means the players have decided to down tools - an all too common thing in football and ,it seems, at our club in recent years. 

Houston got progressively worse as his recruitment was terrible . He inherited a decent squad and got them playing but as we lost players he was completely useless at recruitment of new blood.
For that reason he had to go Hood recruitment is vital at our level. Admittedly the board didn’t back him as they did Hartley but that was a separate problem . All our recent managers have failed as the board has let them down . The board must go full stop .Otherwise we are heading to oblivion

[gav-ffc]

Just clocked that the Edge is playing along side the one and only Dennon Lewis at Wealdstone.

[Rugster]

1 minute ago, gav-ffc said:

Just clocked that the Edge is playing along side the one and only Dennon Lewis at Wealdstone.

[Guest]

You want some ?

[Shadwell Dog]

5 hours ago, Stainrod said:

Houston got progressively worse as his recruitment was terrible . He inherited a decent squad and got them playing but as we lost players he was completely useless at recruitment of new blood.
For that reason he had to go Hood recruitment is vital at our level. Admittedly the board didn’t back him as they did Hartley but that was a separate problem . All our recent managers have failed as the board has let them down . The board must go full stop .Otherwise we are heading to oblivion

He was great at getting the best out of other peoples signings but his own recruitment was utter drivel in the main. Alex Harris , Taylor Morgan, Alec Cooper, David Smith. Tudur Jones, Rory Boulding,Kevin mccann,Ryan Sinnamon,fraser aird, john rankin, were the worst of the dross he signed whilst there was also a number of players who never got better than utterly mediocre. You could count the decent signings on one hand and it didnt need to be a fifers hand at that.  Loved him as a player and he did a good job the first 3 seasons but he left at the right time or we simply would have been in league one a year earlier.  No wins in 7 and no sign of it getting any better even though we had the second biggest buget in the league at the time.  Hartley came in and punted players out and brought in some decent replacements on a cost neutral basis and we stayed up comfortably.  The problems started then but if we had kept Houston we would have been in league one at that point.

[Shadwell Dog]

1 hour ago, gav-ffc said:

Just clocked that the Edge is playing along side the one and only Dennon Lewis at Wealdstone.

I would've kept him before Durnan any day. The edge that is of course.

[MrDust]

6 hours ago, Stainrod said:

Houston got progressively worse as his recruitment was terrible . He inherited a decent squad and got them playing but as we lost players he was completely useless at recruitment of new blood.
For that reason he had to go Hood recruitment is vital at our level. Admittedly the board didn’t back him as they did Hartley but that was a separate problem . All our recent managers have failed as the board has let them down . The board must go full stop .Otherwise we are heading to oblivion

I think we had 6 centre halves or so in the squad when Houston left the building but it was the left back area that was screwing us. The recruitment was mainly poor from Houston added with an academy that was bypassed cost him his job, lost the changing room or recruited badly ?

I'd go with no left back and Loy not delivering cost him, he wasn't backed like Hartley or McKinnon but bar Taylor Morgan his recruitment was always in his backyard.

The board haven't let down our recent managers either, they have backed Hartley and McKinnon to the hilt so much so they have crippled us financially. The decision making is where the problem lies.

20 minutes ago, Shadwell Dog said:

Hartley came in and punted players out and brought in some decent replacements on a cost neutral basis and we stayed up comfortably.  The problems started then but if we had kept Houston we would have been in league one at that point.

Cost neutral basis ?

No chance that was the case, the board have zipped you up at the back.

I wouldn't class confirming our safety with two games to as comfortable with horrible form we were on with many backing us not to get a win or point in our last 5 games, nevermind taking till the last game in December to get a win under Hartley. The McKinnon factor has made Hartley less a c#nt it seems.

I personally don't think we would e been in league one under Houston but it's yer auntie had baws scenario. 

[Shadwell Dog]

9 minutes ago, MrDust said:

I think we had 6 centre halves or so in the squad when Houston left the building but it was the left back area that was screwing us. The recruitment was mainly poor from Houston added with an academy that was bypassed cost him his job, lost the changing room or recruited badly ?

I'd go with no left back and Loy not delivering cost him, he wasn't backed like Hartley or McKinnon but bar Taylor Morgan his recruitment was always in his backyard.

The board haven't let down our recent managers either, they have backed Hartley and McKinnon to the hilt so much so they have crippled us financially. The decision making is where the problem lies.

Cost neutral basis ?

No chance that was the case, the board have zipped you up at the back.

I wouldn't class confirming our safety with two games to as comfortable with horrible form we were on with many backing us not to get a win or point in our last 5 games, nevermind taking till the last game in December to get a win under Hartley. The McKinnon factor has made Hartley less a c#nt it seems.

I personally don't think we would e been in league one under Houston but it's yer auntie had baws scenario. 

Houston had the second biggest budget in the league and yet had us bottom.  Hartley brought in 7 players and emptied about 12 so the cost neutral idea isnt as pie in the sky as you would think.

[Senator Frimpton]

59 minutes ago, Shadwell Dog said:

Hartley came in and punted players out and brought in some decent replacements on a cost neutral basis and we stayed up comfortably.  The problems started then but if we had kept Houston we would have been in league one at that point.

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

[MrDust]

33 minutes ago, Shadwell Dog said:

Houston had the second biggest budget in the league and yet had us bottom.  Hartley brought in 7 players and emptied about 12 so the cost neutral idea isnt as pie in the sky as you would think.

All after 7 games, I dunno where you are getting the 12 punted figures from but we paid some of the players to go and got players in without paying them ?

Kerr, Muirhead, Miller, Gasparotto, Austin, Craigen, Hippolyte

[Etherglider]

And this "lost the dressing room" cliché basically means the players have decided to down tools.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Good point well made.