The Falkirk FC Thread

[Marshmallo]

St Johnstone have also benefitted massively from Rangers/Hearts/Hibs being basket cases for a long period of time during St Johnstone's most successful period. That's not a criticism btw but they have timed their better teams well. 

[Bairney The Dinosaur]

I know quite a few St Johnstone fans and incredibly all of them dislike their board.

[latapythelegend]

1 hour ago, FalkirkBairn2021 said:

I don't think Houston was a poor manager. He was just unlucky that he was competing against Hibs and Rangers who should have been nowhere near the Championship. 

For me the main failure was appointing Eddie May and  not investing enough when we were in the top division.  Its actually quite hard to be relegated.  Hamilton have been up for ages. St Johnstone likewise. We tried to do things on the cheap and we've never been back. 

We blew a ridiculous amount of cash on Lee Bullen, Jackie McNamara, Burton O'Brien, Neil McCann and Steve Lovell trying to reach the "next level". There was certainly no lack of investment. Yogi set us on the downward spiral (after being very successful since coming up) and this was then compounded by George Craig shoehorning Eddie May into the role. It has been downhill ever since.

[Grangemouth Bairn]

57 minutes ago, Marshmallo said:

St Johnstone have also benefitted massively from Rangers/Hearts/Hibs being basket cases for a long period of time during St Johnstone's most successful period. That's not a criticism btw but they have timed their better teams well. 

Tbf Hearts and Hibs haven’t won the top league title since the 50’s which is shocking for clubs from our capital and 2nd biggest city by a considerable distance so you could argue they’ve been in decline a lot longer than during St J’s successful period.

[Numbers_One_To_Eleven]

17 minutes ago, latapythelegend said:

We blew a ridiculous amount of cash on Lee Bullen, Jackie McNamara, Burton O'Brien, Neil McCann and Steve Lovell trying to reach the "next level". There was certainly no lack of investment. Yogi set us on the downward spiral (after being very successful since coming up) and this was then compounded by George Craig shoehorning Eddie May into the role. It has been downhill ever since.

Pretty much the exact same point I made. It was strange Hughes went against the formula that was working well for him. 
 

Holts claim about “they’re young boys at the coal face” doesn’t carry much water when you consider we had young boys making a good fist of it in the SPL, with a mix experience too.

[TheScarf]

St Johnstone's income from McDiarmid Park getting used for non-football events is wild.  They can keep their best players on, offering them improved deals, which makes them very consistent, ergo successful.  It's a snowball effect, in the good way.

[Another The Other Chairman]

All 3G pitches must pass a comprehensive test carried out by an SFA approved contractor. 
The test is done annually and covers bounce, roll, blade length, infill depth etc. etc.  Perhaps Falkirk could afford it but most clubs in Scotland would think twice about spending £175-£200K ?? on a new pitch when the existing one meets required standards

 

 

[Gaz]

2 hours ago, Numbers_One_To_Eleven said:

It started earlier than appointing May. Results went downhill from Gretna 2-0 (the worst top flight team ever) in Jan 08’ then signing Dad’s Army to move to “the next level” that summer.

While Hughes' last season was indeed dreadful - staying up thanks to Higdon's backside and a cup run papering over some huge cracks - at least he'd built up some credit in the bank.

Even after that terrible season we would still have been a really attractive job. Upcoming European football, youth academy, first-class training facilities, established top-flight club. Had we advertised the job instead of going down the cheap route we'd have had some excellent applicants.

[Gaz]

Houston wasn't a poor manager. He did a very good job for his. His recruitment was what let him down.

Hartley was a very good appointment (at the time) and a very good manager for his first season with us. Apart from going absolutely insane over a three-month period during the summer with us he's been a massive success everywhere else he's been.

[Shadwell Dog]

11 hours ago, Rufus said:

They are not the same surface. I have played on both and the Rovers surface is sharper blade with medium risk of grazing / cutting. The Falkirk surface has softer blade with no rubber filling. The Falkirk surface it was a Dutch system that at the time only Falkirk and Arsenal (training pitch) layed.

Certainly the Raith groundsmen said their pitch was the same as ours as it was the best one around at the time although also one of the most expensive. I mind watching an interview with him regarding it when they had just got it. Obviously it's a lot newer than ours so will not be much comparison these days.

Edited April 26, 2021 by Shadwell Dog

[Numbers_One_To_Eleven]

31 minutes ago, Gaz said:

While Hughes' last season was indeed dreadful - staying up thanks to Higdon's backside and a cup run papering over some huge cracks - at least he'd built up some credit in the bank.

Even after that terrible season we would still have been a really attractive job. Upcoming European football, youth academy, first-class training facilities, established top-flight club. Had we advertised the job instead of going down the cheap route we'd have had some excellent applicants.

Yeah I totally agree with the “having credit in the bank” comment, I think that counts for a lot with football fans generally. 
 

Like Jefferies and McCall though, things ended on a very sour note though. Wouldn’t it be nice, for once, a managerial tenure with us didn’t end in either results falling off a cliff or acrimony.

[Shadwell Dog]

The major issue with changing to grass is training facilities.  The foundation pitch will get used 7 days a week and no manager worth his salt will want his players training permanently on one surface and playing predominantly on another anyway. It's a non starter unless Rawlins wants to build as a new training complex.

[Shadwell Dog]

14 hours ago, Hampden Diehard said:

QP have lost four players to non-tackle injuries since we started playing at the Falkirk Stadium. Have you noticed a similarly high level of injuries when playing there?

We've had far more serious injuries on grass since we layed the astro than we've ever had on it. This season.is the first I can remember us having a lot of injuries but that's more down to the number of games etc with covid rather than anything else.

[Ranaldo Bairn]

9 minutes ago, Shadwell Dog said:

We've had far more serious injuries on grass since we layed the astro than we've ever had on it. This season.is the first I can remember us having a lot of injuries but that's more down to the number of games etc with covid rather than anything else.

Yep.

Only 2 non contact serious injuries I can recall were Joe McKee for Morton and David Mitchell for us, neither of which were the fault of the astro.

[HopeStreetWalker]

2 minutes ago, Shadwell Dog said:

The major issue with changing to grass is training facilities.  The foundation pitch will get used 7 days a week and no manager worth his salt will want his players training permanently on one surface and playing predominantly on another anyway. It's a non starter unless Rawlins wants to build as a new training complex.

At the time it was installed a good % of cost was the permanent groundwork and underlay. So the next generation surface laid on top should be a lot cheaper.

So a grass pitch will be dearer as that subsurface would have to be dug up and replaced even before the turf is laid.

FFC are now an artificial turf football club.

Would prefer grass as am sure the majority of fans would but we are where we are.

 

[Ranaldo Bairn]

Would prefer Barclays-style grass, but not the disgusting ploughed field we had, so I am happy to stick with the astro.

[Donathan]

Any ITKs know of likely return dates for our injured players with the playoffs starting in under 2 weeks? I think if we roll out the following XI we’d genuinely have a shot of beating Cove and a championship side


Mutch

Hall - Durnan - Dixon

Neilson - Miller - Telfer - Kelly

Morrison

Keena - Sammon

Subs: Cantley, McClelland, Mercer, Gomis, Alston, Dowds, Fotheringham, Connolly, Laverty

[PedroMoutinho]

2 hours ago, Gaz said:

Houston wasn't a poor manager. He did a very good job for his. His recruitment was what let him down.

Hartley was a very good appointment (at the time) and a very good manager for his first season with us. Apart from going absolutely insane over a three-month period during the summer with us he's been a massive success everywhere else he's been.

Hartley did a decent enough job in his first season but it was hardly earth shattering.

He inherited an average squad in eighth place and finished the season in 8th place. He was also helped by the dire Brechin team that couldn’t win a game.

[matthew1876]

29 minutes ago, Donathan said:

Any ITKs know of likely return dates for our injured players with the playoffs starting in under 2 weeks? I think if we roll out the following XI we’d genuinely have a shot of beating Cove and a championship side


Mutch

Hall - Durnan - Dixon

Neilson - Miller - Telfer - Kelly

Morrison

Keena - Sammon

Subs: Cantley, McClelland, Mercer, Gomis, Alston, Dowds, Fotheringham, Connolly, Laverty

No chance of 2 up top with Holt in charge. 

[FFC 1876]

34 minutes ago, Donathan said:

Any ITKs know of likely return dates for our injured players with the playoffs starting in under 2 weeks? I think if we roll out the following XI we’d genuinely have a shot of beating Cove and a championship side


Mutch

Hall - Durnan - Dixon

Neilson - Miller - Telfer - Kelly

Morrison

Keena - Sammon

Subs: Cantley, McClelland, Mercer, Gomis, Alston, Dowds, Fotheringham, Connolly, Laverty

 

5 minutes ago, matthew1876 said:

No chance of 2 up top with Holt in charge. 

And there's no chance all of those players will be back fit, by the sounds of things we'll be lucky if one of them's back. That's just going off how they've talked about the injuries.