The Falkirk FC Thread

[MrDust]

4 hours ago, FFC 1876 said:

Lyle Taylor, Jay Fulton, Murray Wallace, Conor Mcgrandles, Higginbotham were all brought into the first team, developed by Pressley and then all earned the club a transfer fee when sold on. Our academy take a lot of that plaudits but I think Pressley himself done well improving those players. He also signed one of the most loved Falkirk players in Farid due to his contacts in the game. I'm not saying I want Pressley as manager merely stating that if it was to be purely based on ex managers he'd be my choice. Jack Compton was included soley for his worldie again Raith Rovers and on his day he was a good player admittedly like many wingers his day was rare.

Please see attached.

Without the academy and two favours to get Farid and Taylor he is what he is as a manager, a failure. I think I could cope with him being our dof as he is a mouthpiece but never manager again.

A summary of his management, each season that made my eyes bleed overall.

We won't be relegated = relegated 

Finish 3rd with massive budget 

Hands tied behind his back and had a decent half season, losing it post January after losing one player.

2 wins in 13 league games in his final season then away to Coventry 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[LatapyBairn.]

59 minutes ago, Shadwell Dog said:

That's certainly not how Gordon Young explains it that's for sure. Margaret Lang said it was Ross County that gave him a glowing reference.

That’s exactly how it was and yes your right, Ross County did give him a glowing reference.

Edited January 4, 2021 by LatapyBairn.

[Stainrod]

10 minutes ago, Reggie Perrin said:

Prentice, Hughes and Houston also enjoyed success as managers with us before it went wrong.

We need to have our director. Of football in place soon . It’s pretty clear that the current management team like many before them don’t have good enough player identification skills . Player recruitment is critical you could have Pep G coaching hall Miller Todd Mercer Sammon dowds leitch etc and it would make feck all difference. They are just too ordinary I’m afraid . Why on earth don’t we give laverty a chance bringing on Miller with 5 mins to go on Saturday  made me spew up my pie. Fear of taking a chance is not a trait of a winning management team. 

[Andy Dufresne]

11 minutes ago, MrDust said:

Without the academy and two favours to get Farid and Taylor he is what he is as a manager, a failure. I think I could cope with him being our dof as he is a mouthpiece but never manager again.

A summary of his management, each season that made my eyes bleed overall.

We won't be relegated = relegated 

Finish 3rd with massive budget 

Hands tied behind his back and had a decent half season, losing it post January after losing one player.

2 wins in 13 league games in his final season then away to Coventry 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

That was the worse thing he came out with.

[Dawson Park Boy]

1 hour ago, Bantabairn said:

https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/scotland/55534868

Never a doubt

[Shadwell Dog]

1 hour ago, HopeStreetWalker said:

Eddy May should have stayed in charge of the academy. He was offered the job wrongly and it was a no brainer he had to give it a go or it would have been a lifetime wondering what if.

We may well have still had an academy if he had been left in place.

Have a lot of respect for Eddy May great player and academy coach for the club. One of the many hero's that it sadly went wrong in the managers seat.

It's uncanny Prentice, Millar, Hughes, Houston who unfairly will be remembered how it ended for them rather than what they did on the park.

I was talking about Compton when I said 'and he was shite  but agree with you.  George Craig managed not only to feck up the first team and get us relegated but also lost us a very good youth development coach at the same time. Hughes and Houston had far more good times than bad. Both probably hung around a season too long mind you.

[gav-ffc]

1 hour ago, keithgy said:

That was the worse thing he came out with.

If I recall correctly 1 goal in the last 5 games which was a pen.

[Bairnardo]

I was talking about Compton when I said 'and he was shite  but agree with you.  George Craig managed not only to feck up the first team and get us relegated but also lost us a very good youth development coach at the same time. Hughes and Houston had far more good times than bad. Both probably hung around a season too long mind you.

Was quite good to be able to sing NWA songs at the football tho eh

[Gaz]

4 hours ago, HopeStreetWalker said:

Eddy May should have stayed in charge of the academy. He was offered the job wrongly and it was a no brainer he had to give it a go or it would have been a lifetime wondering what if.

We may well have still had an academy if he had been left in place.

Have a lot of respect for Eddy May great player and academy coach for the club. One of the many hero's that it sadly went wrong in the managers seat.

It's uncanny Prentice, Millar, Hughes, Houston who unfairly will be remembered how it ended for them rather than what they did on the park.

If Eddie May had admitted in September that he wasn't cut out for it and stepped back I'd have respect for him.

But no, he blundered on until February and blamed losses on him not praying hard enough to the big man upstairs.

f**k Eddie May.

[Senator Frimpton]

4 hours ago, HopeStreetWalker said:

Have a lot of respect for Eddy May great player and academy coach for the club. One of the many hero's that it sadly went wrong in the managers seat.

Plus he has a massive cock.

I recall he initially turned the job down and was persuaded to accept it, which ought to have rung alarm bells yet, whatever the thinking behind that plan, it was persisted with.

EM being quite a diffident character meant he was clearly uncomfortable as the focus of attention, mediawise at least.

Hindsights great, but of the three Smith ought to have taken charge, whilst mentoring Pressley as assistant and leaving May to do what he did best.

Alex Smiths win ratio must be up there with the greats. Miss you pops x

[Russ]

Ken we’ve been dugshite for years now but seeing someone even consider bringing Pressley back is a fucking horrendous shout. All the talk about him bringing the youngsters through but what choice did he have? He spunked our budget on utter shite in the first season down meaning he had no choice but to play the youth that was there. He’s an utter failure as a manager and should never be back at the club. Mental shout.

Also Jack Compton scored one of the best goals I’ve ever seen live in a friendly against Northwich Victoria but he’s absolutely fucking ganting.

[Believe The Hype]

4 minutes ago, Russ said:

Ken we’ve been dugshite for years now but seeing someone even consider bringing Pressley back is a fucking horrendous shout. All the talk about him bringing the youngsters through but what choice did he have? He spunked our budget on utter shite in the first season down meaning he had no choice but to play the youth that was there. He’s an utter failure as a manager and should never be back at the club. Mental shout.

Also Jack Compton scored one of the best goals I’ve ever seen live in a friendly against Northwich Victoria but he’s absolutely fucking ganting.

Correct. Presley wasn't some sort of maverick that had a light bulb moment to give the youth a chance. He had zero option but to play them, and it just so happened they weren't dug meat. He can stay well clear thank you very much. Next. 

[Hank von Hell]

16 hours ago, LatapyBairn. said:

You do realise it was Hartley himself who put the club in touch with said “super scout” It was the same scout he used to identify Yakubiak , Nelson and Robson in the previous January window, Hartley had a working relationship with Richard Mitchell long before he came to Falkirk. This guy wasn’t “foisted” upon him in fact it was quite the opposite. The final say on who we singed was always with the manager despite the club having employed Mitchell to take an active role with identifying players from the English leagues and academy system. He later then left the club along with the rest of Hartleys coaching staff soon after McKinnon was appointed and decided he wanted his own people in having no use for a full time scout, instead proclaiming he already had a “vast network of contacts” (or words to that effect) south of the border. 

Edi...I mean LatapyBairn - I do understand why you want to shift the narrative away from Campbell & Lang.....however.

Yes of course Hartley had used Mitchell before - he was a scout and an agent  - like most managers Hartley has a network of these guys . What Hartley hadn't done before was sign an entire team of Mitchell's prospects (duffers). 

The Brentford model and the almost total exclusive use of Mitchell was Campbell's idea - part of Project Premiership. Again Hartley has never used such a model before or since..

You also slyly try to imply Mitchell was part of the whole Hartley package and "left the club along with the rest of Hartley's coaching staff" when he was nothing of the sort. Hartley and his staff were bulleted , Mitchell wasn't & stayed and then Ray came in. Mitchell was then eventually terminated several weeks after Hartley had gone. Mitchell was not part of Hartley's staff, the guy was self employed in his own company.     

I'm not defending Hartley, I just want fans to point the finger in the right direction at the real villains. 

[Anthony Fitzgerald]

Ken we’ve been dugshite for years now but seeing someone even consider bringing Pressley back is a fucking horrendous shout. All the talk about him bringing the youngsters through but what choice did he have? He spunked our budget on utter shite in the first season down meaning he had no choice but to play the youth that was there. He’s an utter failure as a manager and should never be back at the club. Mental shout.

Also Jack Compton scored one of the best goals I’ve ever seen live in a friendly against Northwich Victoria but he’s absolutely fucking ganting.

I realise the latest poster that brought it up was just saying it if we had to go for a previous manager but even so, agree it’s a horrendous shout.

You only have to go back to the start of this thread over 10 years ago now to see the impact he was having.

[LatapyBairn.]

2 hours ago, Hank von Hell said:

Edi...I mean LatapyBairn - I do understand why you want to shift the narrative away from Campbell & Lang.....however.

Yes of course Hartley had used Mitchell before - he was a scout and an agent  - like most managers Hartley has a network of these guys . What Hartley hadn't done before was sign an entire team of Mitchell's prospects (duffers). 

The Brentford model and the almost total exclusive use of Mitchell was Campbell's idea - part of Project Premiership. Again Hartley has never used such a model before or since..

You also slyly try to imply Mitchell was part of the whole Hartley package and "left the club along with the rest of Hartley's coaching staff" when he was nothing of the sort. Hartley and his staff were bulleted , Mitchell wasn't & stayed and then Ray came in. Mitchell was then eventually terminated several weeks after Hartley had gone. Mitchell was not part of Hartley's staff, the guy was self employed in his own company.     

I'm not defending Hartley, I just want fans to point the finger in the right direction at the real villains. 

No argument from me who the real villains at the club were, Hartley also being one of them (some people seem to want to give Hartley a pass here) I was merely pointing out the facts, it was Hartley himself who put the club in touch with Mitchell and absolutely no players were signed without Hartley having the final say, no player was “foisted” upon him as some were trying to suggest. Hartley is every bit as responsible for the demise of our club as the former BOD members you mention and thankfully was removed with the other two to follow him out the door soon after.........also the “Edi” patter is chronic by the way. People on here know who I am. 

Edited January 5, 2021 by LatapyBairn.

[AL-FFC]

15 minutes ago, LatapyBairn. said:

No argument from me who the real villains at the club were, Hartley also being one of them (some people seem to want to give Hartley a pass here) I was merely pointing out the facts, it was Hartley himself who put the club in touch with Mitchell and absolutely no players were signed without Hartley having the final say......also the “Edi” patter is chronic by the way. People on here know who I am. 

Just an unfortunate choice of username given the other latapybairn before he was ejected and then popped up with a few usernames since

[Newbornbairn]

Hartley might have been given longer to sort the mess if he hadn't been such a p***k behind the scenes, alienating a lot of people. Think that happened at Dundee and he didn't leave a lot of friends behind at Alloa. 

[Guest Ecosse83]

From my understanding we only intended to sign 4 of the players from down South but Hartley was such a c**t that no players up here wanted to sign so we had to go back for more dross. 

Hartley is a hated wee rat up here!

I remember chatting to one of the players at the time before the season had even started. He said 2 words ‘relegation battle’, the club knew they have fucked up before a ball was kicked in the league which is probably why they panicked and got rid of Hartley after just 3 games.

Edited January 5, 2021 by Ecosse83

[Numbers_One_To_Eleven]

On 10/12/2014 at 17:41, Gaz FFC said:

I want a Killie 97 cup run.

Apparently (unlike the myth) you don't need to beat any big teams to win it

Just had a trawl through the early part of the Houston era to get a feel for what things were like and we were pretty poor at the time for the beginning of his spell. 

Also came across this peach of a post, almost prophetic in our cup season!

So early and late Houston was pretty rancid but man was the middle bit pretty exciting.

Edited January 5, 2021 by Numbers_One_To_Eleven

[60`s bairn]

11 hours ago, Gaz said:

If Eddie May had admitted in September that he wasn't cut out for it and stepped back I'd have respect for him.

But no, he blundered on until February and blamed losses on him not praying hard enough to the big man upstairs.

f**k Eddie May.

My understanding is that he resigned after a 1-3 loss to St Johnstone in Perth in October but the Board persuaded him to carry on.