The Falkirk FC Thread

[FFC 1876]

Just now, ebobsboy said:

I can't see Mercer being with us next season tbh, he's out of contract in the summer, he's also worse than Doyle. If there was a remote possibility of getting Neilson on a permanent deal then that's the sort of signing we should be making IF we go up. Not jobbers like Mercer. 

 

You've been playing football manager too much Neilson's going nowhere.

[ebobsboy]

3 minutes ago, FFC 1876 said:

You've been playing football manager too much Neilson's going nowhere.

Not saying we would get him but that's the type we should be looking at if we want to have aspirations of going up from the championship should we get there. Or at least be asking the question. 

[FFC 1876]

33 minutes ago, MrDust said:

This season's championship has been dug shite, 7 clubs been in positions for promotion play offs. On paper QoS have assembled a team for relegation yet have been one of the form teams over a recent period and Hearts who are well clear are woeful. 

I can't see mass changes if we go up other than bin the dead wood. 

Sammon, Francis, Kelly, Laverty and probably Connolly. I wouldn't be surprised to see one or both Hall and Durnan to survive. 

On our style, we do pass the ball well at times just not that killer pass and the current 4-5-1 / 4-3-3/ 4-1-4-1 is far too rigid defensive to get the 4-3-3. The Arbroath game it seemed looser which surely we should be looking to achieve in the league if this formation continues, sorry but we should've took 4 or 5 on Saturday.

The current formation has shown Keena to have decent work rate but as striker absolute zero. 

 

QOS have brought in the right loans to turn their shambles of a season around. Breen, Maxwell, Mebude and Dickson all on loan from Rangers, 3 of which came in later on in the season when they weren't doing so well. If we go up we need to use the loan market effectively, no use signing players permanently if you can get a better option on loan and usually at a lower cost. We're quite snobby in the way we turn our noses up at loans as 'why are we developing other clubs players' well we don't have an academy anymore so we need to be more savvy with signings. Obviously we need a fair few permanent signings as I'm not saying flood next season's squad with loans but at the same time utilise the loan market early on so we get the right players in on loan. 

Edited March 29, 2021 by FFC 1876

[Guest]

I'm intrigued to see hear what this is about.

Clearly his Board mole telling him

[LatapyBairn.]

Is it one out one in regarding Todd? Are we looking to bring another player in before the deadline? 

[Shadwell Dog]

3 hours ago, NavyBlueArmy1876 said:

The quality of this season's Championship has looked poor tbh. Even guys you'd expect to do ok like McManus who was a stand-out in our league has struggled. Hearts the best of a bad bunch with the other 9 teams looking pretty evenly matched.

As others have said several of our ex players who were deemed not good enough are plying their trade there without a problem. Raith have gone up and have competed towards the top end absolutely fine, presumably with one of the smaller budgets as well.

If we go up I'd be amazed if the majority of the squad isn't retained. Don't get me wrong, I hope we ship out the diddies like Hall, Mercer, Leitch, Francis and Sammon and replace these players with a bit more quality. Dixon and Gomis would probably just become cover as they'd be 35 and 36. The 4 young guys on loan might end up being worth trying to keep depending on what they contribute between now and the end of the season. The rest will be good enough with a few additions.

 

McManus has always struggled for goals in the championship. He's never hit double figures.  Can't say I'm surprised that he's struggled again this season. 

 

Neilson is highly regarded up there and will be going nowhere. No reason that if we got up we couldn't perhaps get him back on loan though.

[gav-ffc]

3 hours ago, FFC 1876 said:

Also interesting that Mcracken never mentioned Mercer when he was asked about injuries in the squad. Does that mean he's also away with Josh Todd or has he just forgotten about him? Would be easy to do right enough.

Just seen Mercer was in the squad against Forfar so no such luck.

Guessing he wasn’t mentioned as he was on the bench Saturday. 

[Homer Thompson]

3 hours ago, FFC 1876 said:

QOS have brought in the right loans to turn their shambles of a season around. Breen, Maxwell, Mebude and Dickson all on loan from Rangers, 3 of which came in later on in the season when they weren't doing so well. If we go up we need to use the loan market effectively, no use signing players permanently if you can get a better option on loan and usually at a lower cost. We're quite snobby in the way we turn our noses up at loans as 'why are we developing other clubs players' well we don't have an academy anymore so we need to be more savvy with signings. Obviously we need a fair few permanent signings as I'm not saying flood next season's squad with loans but at the same time utilise the loan market early on so we get the right players in on loan. 

Well, no not really. Theres no doubt we've used the loan market well this season but the turn-around started at the end of December with a formation change which pushed Shields through the middle.

Maxwell has been outstanding since the start of the season but Breen and Mebude only came into the team late Jan/early Feb. Dickson only joined this month and has played about 110 minutes over two appearances. You missed Jones, whos on loan from Middlesbrough, and arguably had the biggest mid-season impact of the loan signings but even then he didnt make his debut until the beginning of February.

[18BAIRN76]

18 minutes ago, Mr X said:

Well, no not really. Theres no doubt we've used the loan market well this season but the turn-around started at the end of December with a formation change which pushed Shields through the middle.

Maxwell has been outstanding since the start of the season but Breen and Mebude only came into the team late Jan/early Feb. Dickson only joined this month and has played about 110 minutes over two appearances. You missed Jones, whos on loan from Middlesbrough, and arguably had the biggest mid-season impact of the loan signings but even then he didnt make his debut until the beginning of February.

What's the story with Joe McKee, noticed he's hardly played recently. Injured, or just realised he's absolutely pish?

[Homer Thompson]

Just now, 18BAIRN76 said:

What's the story with Joe McKee, noticed he's hardly played recently. Injured, or just realised he's absolutely pish?

Injured.

Started the season ok but the centre of the midfield was a big problem defensively. It looked like we'd found the answer with him and McCabe deep and Pybus in front of them but then McKee got injured and has missed the last 9 games or so.

[NavyBlueArmy1876]

1 hour ago, Shadwell Dog said:

Neilson is highly regarded up there and will be going nowhere. No reason that if we got up we couldn't perhaps get him back on loan though.

I did mean the possibility of getting them back on loan. Assuming they are all under contract and can't see us stumping up a fee for a permanent transfer 

[FFC 1876]

17 minutes ago, Bantabairn said:

From a fellow squad player.....

What was Todders up to...

[MS RR]

The standard of the championship is as bad as I can remember, so if we go up we wouldn't need to be that good to do well. Teams like Morton, Arbroath and Ayr are clubs that definitely shouldn't be able to compete with us if we go up. I still wouldn't want M&M in the championship though. 

[roman_bairn]

We may consider the Championship to be poor now that we are no longer in it. However I think we should remember just how many years we have been trying to get out of it (in an upward direction I mean).
It’s not suddenly degraded significantly overnight now we are no longer there....

[R.R.FC]

The standard in the Championship isn’t great but it is still a decent step up from League One. We’ve had a good season so far but we added 10 new players this season. We were also fortunate in that nearly all McGlynn’s summer signings have contributed massively.

In addition, players like Hendry and Armstrong missed large spells with injury last season but have been key players and available nearly all of this season so the team does have quite a different look to last season’s.

The likes of Declan McManus and Ray Grant are good examples of the step up. Both amongst the best players at this level last season but both have struggled in the Championship. Alloa fans would like to see Grant benched and McManus has only scored 3 goals from open play all season (2 against us, which I am sure he will add to tonight!).

However, Falkirk will clearly add to their squad if they go up and if you get 5/6 good quality additions there is no reason you won’t be competing for the promotion play offs. Whether you have faith in Miller and McCracken to get those signings right is another story, I am not sure what their signing record has been like. 

[Shadwell Dog]

11 minutes ago, R.R.FC said:

The standard in the Championship isn’t great but it is still a decent step up from League One. We’ve had a good season so far but we added 10 new players this season. We were also fortunate in that nearly all McGlynn’s summer signings have contributed massively.

In addition, players like Hendry and Armstrong missed large spells with injury last season but have been key players and available nearly all of this season so the team does have quite a different look to last season’s.

The likes of Declan McManus and Ray Grant are good examples of the step up. Both amongst the best players at this level last season but both have struggled in the Championship. Alloa fans would like to see Grant benched and McManus has only scored 3 goals from open play all season (2 against us, which I am sure he will add to tonight!).

However, Falkirk will clearly add to their squad if they go up and if you get 5/6 good quality additions there is no reason you won’t be competing for the promotion play offs. Whether you have faith in Miller and McCracken to get those signings right is another story, I am not sure what their signing record has been like. 

We tend to play far better against slightly  better sides funnily enough. The fact they open up and there's a bit more time on the ball suits us far more. Over the last two seasons our best performances have been against the likes of Ayr, Hearts and Arbroath.  I reckon we could compete with what we have but will need a number of players to put a real effort in to get into the top half and challenge.

[Shadwell Dog]

14 hours ago, Mr X said:

Well, no not really. Theres no doubt we've used the loan market well this season but the turn-around started at the end of December with a formation change which pushed Shields through the middle.

Maxwell has been outstanding since the start of the season but Breen and Mebude only came into the team late Jan/early Feb. Dickson only joined this month and has played about 110 minutes over two appearances. You missed Jones, whos on loan from Middlesbrough, and arguably had the biggest mid-season impact of the loan signings but even then he didnt make his debut until the beginning of February.

I like the pace and energy the younger loan signings have brought to your side in the few times I've seen them on the TV I've got to say.

[Proudtobeabairn]

2 hours ago, roman_bairn said:

We may consider the Championship to be poor now that we are no longer in it. However I think we should remember just how many years we have been trying to get out of it (in an upward direction I mean).
It’s not suddenly degraded significantly overnight now we are no longer there....

This is an interesting point though for a lot of those seasons  we had Hibs, Rangers, Utd etc and they didn't run away with it as easily as a terrible Hearts team are doing this year.  

On a related point, I do sometimes wonder whether our bias means some past teams and players we've had become better from memory than they actually were in reality.  I started going to games in mid 80s so I'm thinking about guys like Derek McWilliams, Sam McGivern etc who we all remember very fondly but more often than not were in teams competing (but not necessarily winning) the 1st division/championship.  The season we finished 5th in the premier league (under Jeffries) is probably the only time pre Yogi that I remember us not in tier 2 or battling relegation from the premier (despite some of the players we had in those teams).  

Were we just not as good as we think or was the overall standard better back then?  

[BountyBairn]

49 minutes ago, Proudtobeabairn said:

This is an interesting point though for a lot of those seasons  we had Hibs, Rangers, Utd etc and they didn't run away with it as easily as a terrible Hearts team are doing this year.  

On a related point, I do sometimes wonder whether our bias means some past teams and players we've had become better from memory than they actually were in reality.  I started going to games in mid 80s so I'm thinking about guys like Derek McWilliams, Sam McGivern etc who we all remember very fondly but more often than not were in teams competing (but not necessarily winning) the 1st division/championship.  The season we finished 5th in the premier league (under Jeffries) is probably the only time pre Yogi that I remember us not in tier 2 or battling relegation from the premier (despite some of the players we had in those teams).  

Were we just not as good as we think or was the overall standard better back then?  

For me I tend to think back a gloss what was exciting as better quality. 

I think of Sir Bob McShug as a hero as it was exciting. 
same with Farid.

Same with Sibbs

Same to an extent back to the Hagen / Crunchie / Yogi days....

Darren Barr looked like a fucking hero when he played for us. Won me money when he scored in cup final for hertz but don’t recall him doing f**k all to be noticed after he left. 
 

so for me I’d always view those exciting players more fondly even when they were in average teams and we weren’t doing well generally. 

[FFC 1876]

2 hours ago, R.R.FC said:

The standard in the Championship isn’t great but it is still a decent step up from League One. We’ve had a good season so far but we added 10 new players this season. We were also fortunate in that nearly all McGlynn’s summer signings have contributed massively.

In addition, players like Hendry and Armstrong missed large spells with injury last season but have been key players and available nearly all of this season so the team does have quite a different look to last season’s.

The likes of Declan McManus and Ray Grant are good examples of the step up. Both amongst the best players at this level last season but both have struggled in the Championship. Alloa fans would like to see Grant benched and McManus has only scored 3 goals from open play all season (2 against us, which I am sure he will add to tonight!).

However, Falkirk will clearly add to their squad if they go up and if you get 5/6 good quality additions there is no reason you won’t be competing for the promotion play offs. Whether you have faith in Miller and McCracken to get those signings right is another story, I am not sure what their signing record has been like. 

McGlynn's always been good with his loan signings. Jamie Walker and Barrie Mckay are prime examples from the past. Also you have the advantage of having a fuctioning youth set up.