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39 minutes ago, AGPar said:

Really? That being the case, I'm utterly mystified as to why we are grubbing about in the third tier, winless against any full-time team in more than a year and a half whilst Kilmarnock are on their 28th consecutive season in the Premier League, St Johnstone their 12th, Hamilton Academical their 7th. Or looking up at the likes of Alloa Athletic and Arbroath whilst our management team condition us that a point against Partick Thistleor Raith Rovers is now the height of our ambitions.  It's almost, almost as though this "massive fan base" you're forever banging on about actually counts for the square route of f**k all when you're run by the biggest bunch of clowns and incompetents to have inhabited a boardroom for well over a decade. 

Yes that is totally our issue! We are a club that should be in the SPL because we have the fanbase which generates a lot of money, definitely enough money to do well in the SPL. The key issue is we are worse than badly run, Falkirk's board is a complete disgrace and have grossly miss-managed the club. 

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4 hours ago, Numbers_One_To_Eleven said:

Clubs do bounce back from bad appointments, we do like to dwell on bad appointments. Presley wasn’t great but hardly a disaster and hamstrung by the league system of only one automatic promotion, won by clubs that were able to blitz the league. Holt was pretty good in his year.  Houston was good but fell a bit short. I know Hartley and MacKinnon were poor but Hartley did sort out Houston’s mess to an extent in his first season and MacKinnon was sorting out Hartley mess before inexplicably playing it safe and sharply going downhill. I reiterate, they are still poor but things were sorted out pretty quickly by the club. The single worst thing to happen to this club since Prem relegation was Hartleys pre-season, that’s what really set us back! My main point is I do feel, as fans overall, we have a part to play in the downturn. If we can find an excuse or a justification or a moan, then we will grab it quickly and with both hands!!

Pressley was awful. His attempt to keep us in the top flight was a complete disaster.  We only needed one win against the dross of the league to stay up and he didn't even manage that. To cap it all the clowns in charge then reward his failure with a new contract. With the biggest budget in the league pished down the drain on crap signings and keeping on dross like finnigan we come a distant third to Dunfermline and suffer the embarrassment of playing them as champions on the last day of the season. His failure sees the club nearly go bust again and cuts required amounting to.1 million pounds. Now if he couldn't get us near promotion.on a decent budget he was never going to get us anywhere near it on a slashed one and lo and behold he didn't have us challenging during any of his seasons in charge. Thankfully he sloped off to Coventry and was a failure there and everywhere he's been at since.

Edited by Shadwell Dog
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For all that has been said over the last few pages, I find the (deceivingly large) number of Falkirk fans who have grown to accept not only mediocrity, but abject failure, as excusable and 'the norm' by far the most depressing part of where we are at the moment.

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59 minutes ago, Shadwell Dog said:

Pressley was awful. His attempt to keep us in the top flight was a complete disaster.  We only needed one win against the dross of the league to stay up and he didn't even manage that. To cap it all the clowns in charge then reward his failure with a new contract. With the biggest budget in the league pished down the drain on crap signings and keeping on dross like finnigan we come a distant third to Dunfermline and suffer the embarrassment of playing them as champions on the last day of the season. His failure sees the club nearly go bust again and cuts required amounting to.1 million pounds. Now if he couldn't get us near promotion.on a decent budget he was never going to get us anywhere near it on a slashed one and lo and behold he didn't have us challenging during any of his seasons in charge. Thankfully he sloped off to Coventry and was a failure there and everywhere he's been at since.

We had a serious chance of going back up under Pressley in 2011/12. The way I remember it is after losing the Semi League Cup final v Celtic, and knocking Rangers out earlier, we sold Murray Wallace and Kallum Higginbotham and Mark Millar went in a huff for not getting a transfer too, and the rest of the season was like a decision had been made not to bother trying. Very weird. My memory's getting a bit vague though, I thought Ryan Flynn was around too, but he'd gone. P.S. He didn't blow anything like the budget Yogi did in his final season, just about bankrupting the club and leaving us with a thrown together group of players for Vaduz.

Edited by welshbairn
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4 hours ago, Numbers_One_To_Eleven said:

🙌. Even the stadium is an example of it!

Also, can you not go back further after the Scottish Cup win and the ensuing relegation then mediocre 60s??

Cunningham era was then I  can truly say FFC were on the up. Brilliant football, fearing nobody. Seeing off the old firm, Hibs, Hearts, Aberdeen and everybody shiting themselves when we played them. FFS ! we had Alex Ferguson as assistant manager. Who had Andy Gray primed to sign for us but got knocked back by the board from signing him and getting the managers job. It was all there ! ahead of Jim McLean's Dundee United who we humped 5 - 3. Cunningham could have moved onto the board. Alex Ferguson as manager with young players breaking through like Stewart Kennedy, Alex Beckett* Stewart Wheatley, John Kennedy, Colin Fowler, John Young* Dougie Somner, Tommy McLeod, Ian Harley, John McCabe. * these 2 starred for Fergies St Mirren side.  Was all there ! primed and ready to go and we blew it ! oh did we blow it.

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1 hour ago, AL-FFC said:

Keena back for Saturday. Miller hinting there might be one or two going out with one or two coming in with the January transfer window

Great news this. Obviously nowhere near fit enough to start, but even having him on the bench should be a bit of a boost. Ideal scenario is that we are 2 or 3 up and cruising on 70 and we can give him the last 20 (or more likely we are chasing a goal and chucking him on to try and get it) But either way, I get the feeling his fitness could be vital to where we end up this season. Will be delighted to see him back, long overdue.

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6 hours ago, ShaggerG said:

And neither you should, considering it was 0-0 home draw against Partick Thistle!

The problem you have here is that there's a system of promotion and relegation. Assuming (it's a big assumption) that the season is played to a conclusion, it's highly likely that Hearts will be back up with a fair chance of a Dundee or a Dunfermline joining them. We'll also have a Hamilton, Ross County or maybe even a St Johnstone coming down. If we manage to get promoted we're very likely to be one of the 'biggest' clubs in the Championship who, with the right direction, should be able to compete with whichever teams we're up against. It's hardly a stretch to suggest that we could get promoted again from that situation.

The reason that clubs the size of ourselves and PT are where we are is down to mismanagement of the previous BODs and disastrous managerial appointments. The irony is that, even with all the recent shit we've had to put up with, the fan base is as strong as it has been for years and we're definitely a bigger club than we were when we left Brockville. If we manage to get success on the park I can only see the club getting stronger and don't see any reason why we can't compete with the likes of Motherwell & Kilmarnock in the long term.

I agree we need to target being top six in the premier in 4 or 5 years time . That is a reasonable target given our fan base , stadium etc. I listened to Gary Deans interview and there no doubt he is the right type to take the club forward -it seems like his plans are achievable with the right structure in place - Gary also seems very capable of running the club and we should all be thankful for his efforts in donating his time to the cause. 
My  only concern ( and it’s a big one ) is  that the plan leans heavily on the Rawlings support and maybe even more cash from them  to be incoming !  -I just can’t get my head around why the Rawlings have “invested “in the first place ?  Falkirk football club is very unlikely to ever make much profit and even if it did we would not be likely to pay a dividend. Our board has enough accountants on board to understand that investing in a provincial Scottish football club is just about the worst investment conceivable. 
Fans including myself will buy shares for emotional reasons  not financial - this 40 p per share is just bullshit.  The shares are worth zip and our purchase will be akin to a charitable donation. Personally I don’t mind that but dressing FFC up as a worthy investment is dangerous, Just ask the hearts fans or most other provincial club fans who have “invested” in their hereos! and bought into a share issue  only to find there is no market for their investment or that the price is 25% of what they paid . So my question is why are the Rawlings on board  especially given their desire to remain minority shareholders .I’d be delighted if they are just   bonkers and/ or  are in it for the ego trip  and want to give us cash for the fun of it but the concept that our shares will increase in value if and when we get to the premier league is again bullshit. Most likely we might continue to break even but it’s just as likely we will overspend just like the last time or languish  in the bottom 6 . I hope they have so much cash that a few hundred grand donation will simply make their holidays more interesting but it simply doesn’t make sense - When something seems to good to be true it probably is. 

We all want progression and to be entertained for our £20 on a Saturday afternoon  but not at any price . Let’s hope my conclusion that they are bonkers is correct and that we all enjoy a great few years heading towards the premier league  and that 2021 is the first of many great campaigns on the up but if anyone can enlighten me as to what the Rawlings likely intentions actually are then I’ll sleep easier at night. Happy new year do Bairns everywhere! 
 

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The Launderers have now sold two players for seven figure sums. They have a core support of around 700 with of course, an alternate revenue stream, but even so, one player for a million, and another for two million. Hamilton have achieved a seven figure sale too.

Could it be us? Yes if course it could, and without entering gangster world. We just need to operate properly, and maybe that’s what Rawlins sees.....an academy? Yes, but one that truly does deliver on its prime aim. Or how about being the first to identify and move for talent elsewhere? Livingston didn’t “develop” either of their seven figure players. They had them assessed, brought in as cheaply as possible, and sold as quickly as possible. Falkirk? We just dither around at the fringes, happy to pay the bills and survive season after season, and occasionally provide a Crunchie or a Latapy or a Stainrod once a decade.

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35 minutes ago, MS RR said:

That guy isn't a Falkirk fan, he's on the windup. 

Nope, you’re wrong. I am a Falkirk fan. I was coming across as completely unambitious too much but my point was, this whole thing of belonging in the SPL is a long shot, a yo-yo club or scraping survival is I think our best bet.

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14 minutes ago, Numbers_One_To_Eleven said:

Nope, you’re wrong. I am a Falkirk fan. I was coming across as completely unambitious too much but my point was, this whole thing of belonging in the SPL is a long shot, a yo-yo club or scraping survival is I think our best bet.

Yes that's the perspective of a bitter fan from one of the tin-pot teams in Scotland. Like it or not, our fans have a reasonable and justifiable expectation to be an SPL team. If we're a yoyo team going from SPL to Championship frequently then that would be acceptable tbh. I'm afraid trying to argue that we should be happy to stay up in the championship is laughable. Let's remember, we hadn't dropped down into the 3rd tier of Scottish football for over 50 years when we were relegated in 2019. I imagine whoever you support drop in and out of the 3rd tier quite often. 

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1 hour ago, Stainrod said:

I agree we need to target being top six in the premier in 4 or 5 years time . That is a reasonable target given our fan base , stadium etc. I listened to Gary Deans interview and there no doubt he is the right type to take the club forward -it seems like his plans are achievable with the right structure in place - Gary also seems very capable of running the club and we should all be thankful for his efforts in donating his time to the cause. 
My  only concern ( and it’s a big one ) is  that the plan leans heavily on the Rawlings support and maybe even more cash from them  to be incoming !  -I just can’t get my head around why the Rawlings have “invested “in the first place ?  Falkirk football club is very unlikely to ever make much profit and even if it did we would not be likely to pay a dividend. Our board has enough accountants on board to understand that investing in a provincial Scottish football club is just about the worst investment conceivable. 
Fans including myself will buy shares for emotional reasons  not financial - this 40 p per share is just bullshit.  The shares are worth zip and our purchase will be akin to a charitable donation. Personally I don’t mind that but dressing FFC up as a worthy investment is dangerous, Just ask the hearts fans or most other provincial club fans who have “invested” in their hereos! and bought into a share issue  only to find there is no market for their investment or that the price is 25% of what they paid . So my question is why are the Rawlings on board  especially given their desire to remain minority shareholders .I’d be delighted if they are just   bonkers and/ or  are in it for the ego trip  and want to give us cash for the fun of it but the concept that our shares will increase in value if and when we get to the premier league is again bullshit. Most likely we might continue to break even but it’s just as likely we will overspend just like the last time or languish  in the bottom 6 . I hope they have so much cash that a few hundred grand donation will simply make their holidays more interesting but it simply doesn’t make sense - When something seems to good to be true it probably is. 

We all want progression and to be entertained for our £20 on a Saturday afternoon  but not at any price . Let’s hope my conclusion that they are bonkers is correct and that we all enjoy a great few years heading towards the premier league  and that 2021 is the first of many great campaigns on the up but if anyone can enlighten me as to what the Rawlings likely intentions actually are then I’ll sleep easier at night. Happy new year do Bairns everywhere! 
 

The positives compared to absolute imposter that we almost got landed with eighteen months ago are that the Rawlings are genuinely minted and have a successful track record in football.

Is it too much to hope that they just want to spend a relatively insignificant amount of their cash on their new hobby Falkirk FC.

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The positives compared to absolute imposter that we almost got landed with eighteen months ago are that the Rawlings are genuinely minted and have a successful track record in football.
Is it too much to hope that they just want to spend a relatively insignificant amount of their cash on their new hobby Falkirk FC.

Of course it’s not. However given that we could so easily have ended up with such an individual in charge I think it’s fair to ask questions of what’s in it for them.
Don’t get me wrong, I’m delighted to have them on board, but business people usually have an agenda - good or bad - and I’d be very keen to hear what their intended plans are.
No doubt we will find out soon.
I think 2021 is panning out to be a very interesting year for FFC one way or another...
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I think the Rawlins' like what they do and will get a kick out of helping Falkirk and seeing us improve. However, they are business people so they'll definitely have an agenda which, I feel, will probably involve developing the land around the stadium.

Once we have a 5 star hotel and leisure complex their share value will rocket, they'll sell up and move on to the next sleeping giant (or dwarf if you're that #1-11 character).

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46 minutes ago, ShaggerG said:

I think the Rawlins' like what they do and will get a kick out of helping Falkirk and seeing us improve. However, they are business people so they'll definitely have an agenda which, I feel, will probably involve developing the land around the stadium.

Once we have a 5 star hotel and leisure complex their share value will rocket, they'll sell up and move on to the next sleeping giant (or dwarf if you're that #1-11 character).

I believe they spoke to Dunfermline and Ayr United as well as us but opted for us.

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3 hours ago, MS RR said:

Yes that's the perspective of a bitter fan from one of the tin-pot teams in Scotland. Like it or not, our fans have a reasonable and justifiable expectation to be an SPL team. If we're a yoyo team going from SPL to Championship frequently then that would be acceptable tbh. I'm afraid trying to argue that we should be happy to stay up in the championship is laughable. Let's remember, we hadn't dropped down into the 3rd tier of Scottish football for over 50 years when we were relegated in 2019. I imagine whoever you support drop in and out of the 3rd tier quite often. 

3 hours ago, MS RR said:

Yes that's the perspective of a bitter fan from one of the tin-pot teams in Scotland. Like it or not, our fans have a reasonable and justifiable expectation to be an SPL team. If we're a yoyo team going from SPL to Championship frequently then that would be acceptable tbh. I'm afraid trying to argue that we should be happy to stay up in the championship is laughable. Let's remember, we hadn't dropped down into the 3rd tier of Scottish football for over 50 years when we were relegated in 2019. I imagine whoever you support drop in and out of the 3rd tier quite often. 

Okay, you’ve got me, I’m a bitter, non-Falkirk fan.

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15 hours ago, welshbairn said:

We had a serious chance of going back up under Pressley in 2011/12. The way I remember it is after losing the Semi League Cup final v Celtic, and knocking Rangers out earlier, we sold Murray Wallace and Kallum Higginbotham and Mark Millar went in a huff for not getting a transfer too, and the rest of the season was like a decision had been made not to bother trying. Very weird. My memory's getting a bit vague though, I thought Ryan Flynn was around too, but he'd gone. P.S. He didn't blow anything like the budget Yogi did in his final season, just about bankrupting the club and leaving us with a thrown together group of players for Vaduz.

We were 27 points behind Ross county that season. We never got anywhere near a chance at promotion.  In fact I don't think Pressley even got us into 2nd in any of his seasons in charge.  An appointment of the likes of Alex Neil back then would've seen us giving it a real shot no matter the tighter budget but no we appoint a complete loser.in Pressley.

At johnstone should be who we are trying to emulate as much as Hamilton. A well run club who contunually appoint one decent young manager after another and recruit well after selling on players for decent sums. Always there or there about when it comes to top 6 and the odd good cup run thrown in. All done on home crowds half the size of ours. It can be done you just need the right people in charge.

 

Edited by Shadwell Dog
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14 hours ago, HopeStreetWalker said:

Cunningham era was then I  can truly say FFC were on the up. Brilliant football, fearing nobody. Seeing off the old firm, Hibs, Hearts, Aberdeen and everybody shiting themselves when we played them. FFS ! we had Alex Ferguson as assistant manager. Who had Andy Gray primed to sign for us but got knocked back by the board from signing him and getting the managers job. It was all there ! ahead of Jim McLean's Dundee United who we humped 5 - 3. Cunningham could have moved onto the board. Alex Ferguson as manager with young players breaking through like Stewart Kennedy, Alex Beckett* Stewart Wheatley, John Kennedy, Colin Fowler, John Young* Dougie Somner, Tommy McLeod, Ian Harley, John McCabe. * these 2 starred for Fergies St Mirren side.  Was all there ! primed and ready to go and we blew it ! oh did we blow it.

**David McCabe

Not only these younger players coming through, but a stable core supplied by the likes of Gibson, Hoggan, Setterington, Tom Young. Frankly, we are light years from that now.

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