The Falkirk FC Thread

[Stainrod]

Dawson Park Boy. The YouGov poll just released advised that 74% of those polled in Scotland did not thrust the newspaper.

I tried thrusting the newspaper this morning and was disappointed. No wonder 74% don’t do it. I’ll stick to the wife for now !

[Reggie Perrin]

This was the w****r that we were all being asked to feel sorry for after the racist abuse incident that never was. Indeed the whinging p***k carried on about how low he felt about the incident.
One of the worst players and biggest wasters ever to play for the club, and I wish him all the best in his ongoing pursuit of failure.....

He can’t pursue what he already has.

[60`s bairn]

18 hours ago, HopeStreetWalker said:

But what an atmosphere. Been in most stands in Scottish Football but Brockville was a class apart as the most intimidating stand in Scotland.

The guys in the enclosure banging the wire grating at the opposition dressing room and the cat calling through it. The run out to the park just an arm reach away. The drumming of the feet was like a train coming toward you and one voice could be heard all over the park. Walking the gauntlet in and out the park for the opposition players and FFC directors sometimes. Taunting the opposition managers bench non stop for 90 minutes.

You had to experience it to get a true reflection of how it felt. Sadly it will be a memory that in time that will be lost for good.

If they do build the 4th stand thy could do a lot worse than replicate it in modern materials

Bags Section B. Row H. Seat 53.

 

I was 12 when my dad got me my first season ticket. I ended up sitting next to an old guy who used to lean on his walking stick and hurl abuse in every direction. Then he`d dip into his bag of toffees and offer everybody one... come to think about it, I`m probably not far off his age now. One of the first things that impressed me was the "Brockville stamp". The sound of all those feet clattering on the wooden floor was very intimidating and certainly couldn`t be replicated now on the concrete.

Yes, there`s a lot to miss about the old place. It`ll be a sad day when there`s no-one left to remember it. I sat in that seat for around 25 years and finally gave up my season to go down to the terracing and pick my games during Dave Clark`s reign. Regretted it ever since.

I bags Section B. Row I .seat 24. 

[HopeStreetWalker]

1 hour ago, 60`s bairn said:

I was 12 when my dad got me my first season ticket. I ended up sitting next to an old guy who used to lean on his walking stick and hurl abuse in every direction. Then he`d dip into his bag of toffees and offer everybody one... come to think about it, I`m probably not far off his age now. One of the first things that impressed me was the "Brockville stamp". The sound of all those feet clattering on the wooden floor was very intimidating and certainly couldn`t be replicated now on the concrete.

Yes, there`s a lot to miss about the old place. It`ll be a sad day when there`s no-one left to remember it. I sat in that seat for around 25 years and finally gave up my season to go down to the terracing and pick my games during Dave Clark`s reign. Regretted it ever since.

I bags Section B. Row I .seat 24. 

The 'Brockville stamp' was never replicated elsewhere. The void below reverberated the noise while the roof amplified it. There were a group of about 20 odd that used to go the benches above the away dressing room and starting the stamp about 20 minutes before kick to put the opposition team talk off and be generally annoying.

 

[Ranaldo Bairn]

A couple of years ago I did a run down of FFC's top 50 post-WWII goalscorers. It was gratifyingly well received. You'll be shocked to know there have been literally no changes to the 50 since (barring Lee Miller nabbing 1 goal while staying in 8th place).

I have used a portion of my time on lockdown to get my stats in order and am locked and loaded with a top 100 post-WWII appearance makers if anyone's interested?

I won't be doing any more than very basic pen pics for the legendary gentlemen so would be encouraging comments and reminiscing from your good selves.

Ye interested?

 

[NUMBER 7]

39 minutes ago, Ranaldo Bairn said:

A couple of years ago I did a run down of FFC's top 50 post-WWII goalscorers. It was gratifyingly well received. You'll be shocked to know there have been literally no changes to the 50 since (barring Lee Miller nabbing 1 goal while staying in 8th place).

I have used a portion of my time on lockdown to get my stats in order and am locked and loaded with a top 100 post-WWII appearance makers if anyone's interested?

I won't be doing any more than very basic pen pics for the legendary gentlemen so would be encouraging comments and reminiscing from your good selves.

Ye interested?

 

Crack on, sounds good

[BudBairn]

But what an atmosphere. Been in most stands in Scottish Football but Brockville was a class apart as the most intimidating stand in Scotland.
The guys in the enclosure banging the wire grating at the opposition dressing room and the cat calling through it. The run out to the park just an arm reach away. The drumming of the feet was like a train coming toward you and one voice could be heard all over the park. Walking the gauntlet in and out the park for the opposition players and FFC directors sometimes. Taunting the opposition managers bench non stop for 90 minutes.
You had to experience it to get a true reflection of how it felt. Sadly it will be a memory that in time that will be lost for good.
If they do build the 4th stand thy could do a lot worse than replicate it in modern materials
Bags Section B. Row H. Seat 53.
 

I’ve still got another 60 years left in me, I hope! I managed 14 years at Brockville.

Won’t be forgotten any time soon.

[Guest]

Sad thing about Brockville had we invested in it over the years we would not be stuck in the soulless white elephant cash drain we are now co-habiting

[Guest]

Yep. Wishful thinking, but a cantilever roof conversion on the main stand, roofs on the Hope Street and Watson Street ends, and a new corrugated tin roof for the enclosure, some bench seats and job done.......well not quite. Some toilets would have been nice. Probably given a capacity of 6000 or so, and a ground that was very much our own, and an atmosphere that precious few grounds could equal.....probably Tynecastle being the only one that comes to mind.

[kiddy]

Yep. Wishful thinking, but a cantilever roof conversion on the main stand, roofs on the Hope Street and Watson Street ends, and a new corrugated tin roof for the enclosure, some bench seats and job done.......well not quite. Some toilets would have been nice. Probably given a capacity of 6000 or so, and a ground that was very much our own, and an atmosphere that precious few grounds could equal.....probably Tynecastle being the only one that comes to mind.

6k wouldn't have been enough for about the first 7 years of SPL & would still have been denied top division entry, the couple of times they were refused.

[AL-FFC]

Remember one of the ideas going around for redeveloping Brockville was to turn the stadium to allow for expansion and for a second tier to be added, then there was the relocate to Stirling Road in Camelon with the outline plan for 2000 houses until they discovered there was still a methane build up there. 

[HopeStreetWalker]

2 hours ago, Duncan Freemason said:

Yep. Wishful thinking, but a cantilever roof conversion on the main stand, roofs on the Hope Street and Watson Street ends, and a new corrugated tin roof for the enclosure, some bench seats and job done.......well not quite. Some toilets would have been nice. Probably given a capacity of 6000 or so, and a ground that was very much our own, and an atmosphere that precious few grounds could equal.....probably Tynecastle being the only one that comes to mind.

It's all conjecture and what might have been and hindsight is a great thing. We did not have the funding to modernise Brockville and we have discussed this in the forum in the past - it was all a matter of money !

The money that has been spent by the club every season on just renting - leasing that soulless barn of a stadium. Could have gone a long way to finance staged redevelopment.

New main stand roof at Brockville you mention would not have been enough for the safety certification requirements that was coming in. The high % of wood in the structure would have required everything inside the walls to be replaced. So the best option would have been to clear the site and build a stand with a similar atmosphere. If that had been done then the plans shown in the RB Buffet would have been the way to go. As I remember it ( and would love to see the drawings again ) this was what I saw.

New main stand moved back into the incinerator land. Moving the pitch away from Watson Street. The extra space would have made the stand there deeper finishing at the gable end of the Meeks Road house. Then steps up from Watson Street to access the turnstiles. There would have been a children and disabled facility to the left using the room next to the house gable end. 2 stands behind the goals and the roofs on all the stands would have been joined. With the exception of the children / disabled area which had its own roof respecting the Meeks Road hose residents.

It looked superb and most certainly would have had the atmosphere of Brockville which is sadly missed by many.

Oh  well ! it was not to be.

 

[NUMBER 7]

Hypothetically, If you could get your hands on Firs Park, ok one end might have no capacity. What capacity could it be created into between stands and properly constructed terracing ?  How much would it cost to develop it into a decent stadium ?  

 

[Guest]

Wasn’t it the case that had we stayed at Brockville, it would the country’s oldest continuous use football ground, and possibly the oldest in the world. That might all be mince, but I’m sure it was quoted as being factual around 2002.

[Long Suffering Bairn]

The recent post on the Falkirk FC facebook page about the Jan 1977 8-0 defeat to Dundee brought back an old memory I had buried.  I was there that day, in the stand for a change.  Probably the worst game in my lifetime.  I remember the sarcastic cheers for the goals from some of the Brockville crowd when Dundee got over 5.   It could have been 12 or more but Dundee stopped trying in the end.  

So although we are bad right now, bear in mind some of us older fans who have seen much worse.

Edited April 27, 2020 by Long Suffering Bairn

[ShaggerG]

8 minutes ago, Long Suffering Bairn said:

The recent post on the Falkirk FC facebook page about the Jan 1977 8-0 defeat to Dundee brought back an old memory I had buried.  I was there that day, in the stand for a change.  Probably the worst game in my lifetime.  I remember the sarcastic cheers for the goals from some of the Brockville crowd when Dundeee got over 5.   It could have been 12 or more but Dundee stopped trying in the end.  

So although we are bad right now, bear in mind some of us older fans who have seen much worse.

I remember standing on the terrace at that game and shouting 'awe naw, we've nae chance noo' when we brought Tommy Traynor on at 6-0 down!

[NUMBER 7]

39 minutes ago, ShaggerG said:

I remember standing on the terrace at that game and shouting 'awe naw, we've nae chance noo' when we brought Tommy Traynor on at 6-0 down!

That was truly the worst game I’ve ever seen Falkirk play, we were totally outplayed.  In those seasons you played teams 3 times some 2 home 1 away and vice versa, Falkirk had lost earlier in the season 6-1 at home and 2-0 at Dundee. Prior to this match George Miller was quoted as saying whatever happens tomorrow we won’t lose 6-1, we lost 8-0  Eric Sinclair a local we should have signed ran riot. Donaldson, Ford, Philip, Caldwell and Johnston; Strachan, Hoggan, Pirie, Sinclair, Purdie and Hutchinson. They still didn’t get promoted, strange game.

[ShaggerG]

49 minutes ago, NUMBER 7 said:

That was truly the worst game I’ve ever seen Falkirk play, we were totally outplayed.  In those seasons you played teams 3 times some 2 home 1 away and vice versa, Falkirk had lost earlier in the season 6-1 at home and 2-0 at Dundee. Prior to this match George Miller was quoted as saying whatever happens tomorrow we won’t lose 6-1, we lost 8-0  Eric Sinclair a local we should have signed ran riot. Donaldson, Ford, Philip, Caldwell and Johnston; Strachan, Hoggan, Pirie, Sinclair, Purdie and Hutchinson. They still didn’t get promoted, strange game.

3 ex Bairns in their team too!

[Long Suffering Bairn]

Anyone remember Bobby McKell, our biggest keeper ever (sideways)?   Even though he was not a small number of stone over weight, he could throw himself about and made some great diving saves.  At least that's what I remember, it could be rosy coloured memories.  It was 40 years ago now I think.

[Ranaldo Bairn]

The Big Countdown of Post WWII Falkirk FC Players

As one post of encouragement literally flooded in, let's do this.

I straight up want to acknowledge http://www.bettermeddle.org.uk/ as the premium source of Bairns info, and somewhere I have delved deeply over the years.

I only did the Top 50 goalscorers in 2018, so you may be interested to know the top 100 goes all the way down to Scott Arfield, Kevin Drinkell and Peter Hetherston among others, all on 16 goals.

OK here we go. Please add your thoughts, comments and memories on these heroic fellows as we go. You'll be able to guess many of the top ones as we go but don't spoil the surprise! I've discounted the Stirlingshire Cup, as it's not a proper tournament (don't @ me)

101-99 - 116 Appearances

Here we have our first 3 stalwarts. In reverse alphabetical order we have:

Alex McCrae: Inside forward, made his debut at the tail end of 52/53. Fond of a goal. Notched regularly until getting the boot as the team struggled early on in 56/57. 43 goals. Later managed the team from 1960-65, fairly unsuccessfully.

Davie Campbell: an inside forward with an eye for goal. Made his debut and scored in a 6-0 pumping of Dundee Utd in 1951. Played with us until 1956. 34 Goals.

Stuart Burgess: chiselled of jaw, sturdy of frame, deadly from the spot, I thought he was the absolute business as a lad. Centre half, 1987-90. 23 goals. Saltcoats. Cheating Jambo ratbags in League Cup.

Edited April 27, 2020 by Ranaldo Bairn