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The Falkirk FC Thread


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10 hours ago, JulioBairn said:

What is the story with Gow? He seemed to be announced in this role and then we’ve heard f**k all. Is he a paid employee of the club? Has he just wormed his way in to boost his takeover bid? Are his croanies bad news?

That's what I can't get a grip on either. I notice though that in the AGM info Gary Deans states that Gow along with the management team will outline their future plans for the club.  Seems strange to me.

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5 minutes ago, Shadwell Dog said:

That's what I can't get a grip on either. I notice though that in the AGM info Gary Deans states that Gow along with the management team will outline their future plans for the club.  Seems strange to me.

The last owners of the club I truly trusted were Moffat and Allen.

The rest at the back of my mind was what is their motive for being here.

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2 hours ago, Marshmallo said:

If a company isn't making any money then shares in it aren't worth a great deal.

We have to be blunt regarding FFC. Since the club sold Brockville it has no assets to borrow against. We have a share in the stadium company and the playing surface ( we don't own the land it sits on ) The stadium issue was debated to death a few months ago so lets not re run it.

So any of these outside investors will be wanting a return on their investment which can only by a % of the profits. Don't have a problem with that just tell the fans what % it is.

If it's done right as with Fergus McCann at Celtic would that not be good !

Edited by HopeStreetWalker
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1 hour ago, HopeStreetWalker said:

We have to be blunt regarding FFC. Since the club sold Brockville it has no assets to borrow against. We have a share in the stadium company and the playing surface ( we don't own the land it sits on ) The stadium issue was debated to death a few months ago so lets not re run it.

So any of these outside investors will be wanting a return on their investment which can only by a % of the profits. Don't have a problem with that just tell the fans what % it is.

If it's done right as with Fergus McCann at Celtic would that not be good !

McCann took Celtic on when they were hours from bankruptcy... did he actually say what % he was wanting? 

If they were looking at a purely financial return then they'd just buy shares with absolutely no hassle elsewhere. 

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2 hours ago, HopeStreetWalker said:

We have to be blunt regarding FFC. Since the club sold Brockville it has no assets to borrow against. We have a share in the stadium company and the playing surface ( we don't own the land it sits on ) The stadium issue was debated to death a few months ago so lets not re run it.

So any of these outside investors will be wanting a return on their investment which can only by a % of the profits. Don't have a problem with that just tell the fans what % it is.

If it's done right as with Fergus McCann at Celtic would that not be good !

I don't think we have a share in the stadium company. We have a share in the stadium along with the stadium company which is owned solely by the council.

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31 minutes ago, Bula Bairn said:

McCann took Celtic on when they were hours from bankruptcy... did he actually say what % he was wanting? 

If they were looking at a purely financial return then they'd just buy shares with absolutely no hassle elsewhere. 

Maybe a Celtic Fan on P&B can give the low down on this.

From what I gathered he stated that he would.

Clear the clubs debts. Rebuilt the stadium. Put in sound financial management practices. Leave after ? so many years ( think it was 8 years ) with his stake and a set amount of money.

Despised at the time but my goodness he did the right thing ! 

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10 minutes ago, Shadwell Dog said:

I don't think we have a share in the stadium company. We have a share in the stadium along with the stadium company which is owned solely by the council.

Looking at the Stadium company website and Company Check companies. The Stadium is fully owned by the Community Stadium Company. FFC have a stake in that company through the joint venture in building it.

The only thing FFC own at the stadium is the playing surface and as posted the stadium company owns the land it sits on.

 

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50 minutes ago, HopeStreetWalker said:

Looking at the Stadium company website and Company Check companies. The Stadium is fully owned by the Community Stadium Company. FFC have a stake in that company through the joint venture in building it.

The only thing FFC own at the stadium is the playing surface and as posted the stadium company owns the land it sits on.

 

The club own part of the west stand, all of the north stand and the pitch. The north stand was a separate development the club had to fund fully by itself after the stadium was already opened in order to meet promotion criteria when we won the league. The south stand is owned by Sandy Alexander who is the clubs largest shareholder. 

Edited by LatapyBairn.
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54 minutes ago, HopeStreetWalker said:

Looking at the Stadium company website and Company Check companies. The Stadium is fully owned by the Community Stadium Company. FFC have a stake in that company through the joint venture in building it.

The only thing FFC own at the stadium is the playing surface and as posted the stadium company owns the land it sits on.

 

I don't think we do at all.

Taken directly from the website

 

The Falkirk Community Stadium is operated and managed by Falkirk Community Stadium Ltd (FCSL), a wholly owned subsidiary of Falkirk Council.

We don't have any stake in fcsl but share ownership of the stadium with it. 

                            Stadium

           Falkirkfc.               FCSL

We own the seats in the West stand, the pitch, the north stand and rent the fourth stand off SA.  We also own the area where any east stand would be built. FCSL owns the rest.

Edited by Shadwell Dog
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9 minutes ago, Shadwell Dog said:

I don't think we do at all.

Taken directly from the website

 

The Falkirk Community Stadium is operated and managed by Falkirk Community Stadium Ltd (FCSL), a wholly owned subsidiary of Falkirk Council.

We don't have any stake in fcsl but share ownership of the stadium with it. 

                            Stadium

           Falkirkfc.               FCSL

We own the seats in the West stand, the pitch, the north stand and rent the fourth stand off SA.  We also own the area where any east stand would be built. FCSL owns the rest.

This is an accurate breakdown of the stadium ownership I believe . Although I’m told the club also own the ground story including the changing rooms of the west stand. 

Edited by LatapyBairn.
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32 minutes ago, Shadwell Dog said:

I don't think we do at all.

Taken directly from the website

 

The Falkirk Community Stadium is operated and managed by Falkirk Community Stadium Ltd (FCSL), a wholly owned subsidiary of Falkirk Council.

We don't have any stake in fcsl but share ownership of the stadium with it. 

                            Stadium

           Falkirkfc.               FCSL

We own the seats in the West stand, the pitch, the north stand and rent the fourth stand off SA.  We also own the area where any east stand would be built. FCSL owns the rest.

Cannot find anything from The Council, Stadium Company, FFC that states that. Can you advise your reference / source ? help appreciated.

Let's not fall out about this again ! It's in indictment on the lack of clarity from all stakeholders that this situation is not clear to all concerned.

But in the end of the day whatever the assets we have in the stadium they are as near worthless as they are only worth as much as somebody is willing to pay.

The only buyer is not interested !

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The physical assets don’t matter as we couldn’t sell them anyway.  That’s a good thing as it puts off one type of speculator at least.  
 

We are unfortunately in the midst of a battle for the club’s future which could reverberate every bit as much in the coming decades as post 1998.  If Gow and his collaborators get their way, Rawlins will be scared off and fans told to stuff it.  I can only see that former agent Gow would use the club as an ego trip and a plaything, and his alleged backer would make a similarly big f’k-up as he did at Livingston. 
 

We need to focus on hunting Gow and his cabal so they are so toxic that no-one with the remotest bit of interest or affection for Falkirk would touch him with Jim Leishman’s boaby. But we also need to work with those who had other, unconnected objections to the resolutions so we don’t miss any obvious fixes. 
 

If this fails, the club will be a laughing stock, and that blame sits at the feet of Gow, those behind him, and the three major shareholders who he managed to bewitch. 

6 minutes ago, HopeStreetWalker said:

Cannot find anything from The Council, Stadium Company, FFC that states that. Can you advise your reference / source ? help appreciated.

Let's not fall out about this again ! It's in indictment on the lack of clarity from all stakeholders that this situation is not clear to all concerned.

But in the end of the day whatever the assets we have in the stadium they are as near worthless as they are only worth as much as somebody is willing to pay.

The only buyer is not interested !

 

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50 minutes ago, HopeStreetWalker said:

Cannot find anything from The Council, Stadium Company, FFC that states that. Can you advise your reference / source ? help appreciated.

Let's not fall out about this again ! It's in indictment on the lack of clarity from all stakeholders that this situation is not clear to all concerned.

But in the end of the day whatever the assets we have in the stadium they are as near worthless as they are only worth as much as somebody is willing to pay.

The only buyer is not interested !

Originally there was a stadium group that was joint owned by Falkirk FC and Falkirk council but that was all changed a few years back and the ownership was seperated out.

Edited by Shadwell Dog
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Mark Campbell was after the stadium, I spoke to him at length at the first (I think) 'meet and greet' session and it was obvious that he was naïve to think he could get the stadium for nothing from Falkirk Council. He said FC owed FFC £7M and he would write that off if they handed over their stake, stating it was 'a very good deal' in his own words. Falkirk Council would never sell and probably never will sell their stake in the stadium. I don't know if there is a clause in the original deal (like PFI), that Falkirk will eventually own the stadium albeit at an over inflated price but I would doubt that very much. I believe that this type of arrangement protects the stadium in times where FFC might go into administration and nobody gets a stadium or the land where it sits, on the cheap.

Phil Rawlins would appear to be after a stake in the club for a miniscule amount of money (26% I seem to have read on here or elsewhere, can't remember) and looking at the money being banded around with MC, it looks like 26% would cost you around £75k. They are putting in 6 figure sum, which probably is money for a player(s) and some new capital reserve. I'm guessing they are looking to sell when FFC get into the SPL and get a three or 4 fold increase (or indeed more) on their original investment. This isn't unrealistic to get us back into the top league as a few years of decent on the field management should get us there. This seems a very similar model to what he did at both Stoke and Orlando.

After listening to the podcast, they never gave much away about the reasons for choosing Falkirk over the other 2 unknown Scottish clubs (interesting to see who they would be) but I think there is caution to be had where the main reason is 'We went to Scotland on holiday' is stated numerous times. Granted there is more information on PR available on the net and the only negative is his personal life in which I have no interest in at all. I would point out that 5 or 6 investors were involved in the Orlando team and they each put in substantial amounts of money but it did not clearly state how much PR put in.

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I am not a shareholder, but I see Thursday as a fork in the road that cannot be overestimated.    I am nervously awaiting the outcome, more so than any game.  One way lies  the start of much needed change and the possibility of a brighter future for the club and the other way, as far as I am concerned, leads potentially to the death of the club down the road due to self interest ahead of love of the club.  A bit dramatic I know.   Please, please let sense prevail.

If the Rawlings' are blocked that will send a message far and wide that we are not open to investment other than a complete take over by whatever shady consortium.  I know the couple's intererest is primarily a medium term financial one, but it is so mild and benign compared with any Gow led mob.

Gow and his cronies OUT, the Rawlings' and their like IN.

Edited by Long Suffering Bairn
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Just to be clear so I don't cock this up, I'm voting for the resolutions given I want the potential involvement and investment from Rawlins? 

Completely forgot I was a (very small) shareholder and realised yesterday that my stuff had been going to my parents house. Can easily get my vote in before 7pm for all the good it might do.

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12 minutes ago, Rizzo said:

Just to be clear so I don't cock this up, I'm voting for the resolutions given I want the potential involvement and investment from Rawlins? 

Completely forgot I was a (very small) shareholder and realised yesterday that my stuff had been going to my parents house. Can easily get my vote in before 7pm for all the good it might do.

Yes, vote FOR the resolutions and I’m sure the deadline was 6pm 

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Just to be clear so I don't cock this up, I'm voting for the resolutions given I want the potential involvement and investment from Rawlins? 
Completely forgot I was a (very small) shareholder and realised yesterday that my stuff had been going to my parents house. Can easily get my vote in before 7pm for all the good it might do.

The more small shareholders like ourselves lodge a vote, the more the board need to take notice.
I’d say do what you need to to get it in.
You either put x in the FOR resolution box or leave blank to give Gary Deans the right to decide.
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