The Falkirk FC Thread

[Gollum]

28 minutes ago, bairn88 said:

I’d argue there’s only one of us not being “objective” here and that isn’t me. Recruitment for the first team bang average. If that isn’t his job, and his job is solely to start up a development squad at U18/15 level, the fans deserve to know that. 

Nesbitt and McGuffie have shown more in 2 games than the luxury signings Tidser and co ever did. I'm not asking to build Holt a statue, but if he gives the gaffer a squad that can win games, he's done more to put the right people in the right place than any of his predecessors in 5-6 years. Has he justified a 50k wage in terms of creative signing? Nope, but I couldn't give less of a shit if the trio of Holt, Fergus and Sheerin get us out of this. And since none of them have been in the job longer than 7 months, I struggle to believe people can be so harsh.

[Gollum]

30 minutes ago, Marshmallo said:

The improvement we have seen so far this year has been in style of play, confidence on the ball, proper set pieces routines and fluidity in positions within the formation. That's all the head coach, nothing to do with the DoF or whatever Holt's title is.

And then my conclusion would be that Holt has done enough to have a squad and Sheerin is doing well with it. Rather than Holt has f*cked everything and Sheerin is the Messiah keeping it glued together. I'm not expecting anyone to hail Holt, I just want everyone to keep putting things in place until we can judge them properly. Everything has fallen to shit for multiple seasons in a row, so I'd hope we can at least back off a little when the early signs are positive.

[Proudtobeabairn]

If you'e being very generous to Holt you'd say in 7 months we've restarted 2 x development teams and employed a whole new backroom team (including Sheerin and Grainger who Holt would have been involved in identifying/interviewing) with what seems at this point much improvement on previous years.  

Signings by Holt pre Sheerin have by and large been good for this league based on what we've seen so far too.  

Negatives are his attitude and bizarre comments when taking over from M&M and on the meet the board Zoom meeting.  He'd argue neither are what he was brought in to do. 

Personally I'm not convinced by him but looking at the facts to date, its hard to completely write off his involvement in the good things that seem to be happening when he effectively runs the football dept.  

Edited August 12, 2021 by Proudtobeabairn

[FFC 1876]

I always said I didn't think Holt was the right man for the role but I'd give him this transfer window to obviously prove that assumption wrong. We've signed the below 15 players so far with hopefully another couple to come in. It's early stages but the majority of them look to be improvements on what we had last year with the exception of Wilson and Holt clearly being a favour to his old man. Resigning Ben Hall was a mistake given he's always liable to a clanger and the fact we've not yet signed a starting striker is a worry but on the whole I don't think we're too far off a good squad capable of competiting for the league title. 
 

Especially helps that Sheerin seems to have an idea what he's doing as that has translated into our performances on the park. The football has been night and day compared to what we've had to put up with the last few years and even as Marshmallo said the fact we've clearly been working on different set piece routines in training is a massive positive. 

Just the final few pieces of the squad to improve then we'll be set up for a very promising looking season. 
 

Goalkeeper 
Paddy Martin 
Luke Holt - loaned out to Gretna 

Defenders
Ryan Williamson 
Brad Mckay 
Leon McCann
Cammy Williamson
Mackenzie Lemon

Midfielders
Steven Hetherington
Aidan Nesbitt
Craig Mcguffie
Seb Ross
Ben Weekes
Ernaldo Krasniqi - On loan from Huddersfield till January 2022

Strikers
Jaime Wilson
Samuel Ompreon

[Guest]

13 minutes ago, Gollum said:

Nesbitt and McGuffie have shown more in 2 games than the luxury signings Tidser and co ever did. I'm not asking to build Holt a statue, but if he gives the gaffer a squad that can win games, he's done more to put the right people in the right place than any of his predecessors in 5-6 years. Has he justified a 50k wage in terms of creative signing? Nope, but I couldn't give less of a shit if the trio of Holt, Fergus and Sheerin get us out of this. And since none of them have been in the job longer than 7 months, I struggle to believe people can be so harsh.

Holt, Fergus and Sheerin are not a trio. Holt made that perfectly clear when he said that three development lads who had “shown up well in training” were “offered up to Paul Sheerin” by him and Fergus. Holt clearly and deliberately put distance between himself and Sheerin. Why? Simple really. If it doesn’t go well, that distance means that results have nowt to do with him.

If it goes well, just watch Holt and Deans shuffle closer to Sheerin and Grainger to make sure they get a bit of the limelight.

[Gollum]

13 minutes ago, Duncan Freemason said:

Holt, Fergus and Sheerin are not a trio. Holt made that perfectly clear when he said that three development lads who had “shown up well in training” were “offered up to Paul Sheerin” by him and Fergus. Holt clearly and deliberately put distance between himself and Sheerin. Why? Simple really. If it doesn’t go well, that distance means that results have nowt to do with him.

If it goes well, just watch Holt and Deans shuffle closer to Sheerin and Grainger to make sure they get a bit of the limelight.

So in other words, Holt and Fergus brought in youngsters and gave Sheerin final choice? Sounds like a decent process.

[Bairn in Exile]

27 minutes ago, FFC 1876 said:

 

I don't think we're too far off a good squad capable of competiting for the league title. 
 

 

This is what worries me, our fanbase has been conditioned to accepting mediocrity and it appears that we are now happy to be merely competing for the League 1 title. When Hearts went down to the Championship do you think that they or their fans were content to just compete for the title? I can't accept anything other than the Falkirk squad being clear favourites to win the title.

Edited August 12, 2021 by Bairn in Exile

[Bigbrbairn]

Since time began fans need a bogey man. This year's hit list-
Dean's
Holt
Hall
Miller
Wilson
Always needed and it takes something really special to get you off the list

[FFC 1876]

14 minutes ago, Bairn in Exile said:

This is what worries me, our fanbase has been conditioned to accepting mediocrity and it appears that we are now happy to be merely competing for the League 1 title. When Hearts went down to the Championship do you think that they or their fans were content to just compete for the title? I can't accept anything other than the Falkirk squad being clear favourites to win the title.

We finished 5th last season and have money ball Cove & Queens Park to compete with this year. Everyone here obviously expects us to be favourites and hopes we romp the league but actually competing as a starting point will do me as opposed to what we've had to witness the last two years.

It's not accepting mediocrity it's accepting where we are as a club right now as opposed to kidding ourselves year in year out that the league will be tied up by Christmas.

Edited August 12, 2021 by FFC 1876

[Bairn in Exile]

14 minutes ago, FFC 1876 said:

We finished 5th last season and have money ball Cove & Queens Park to compete with this year. Everyone here obviously expects us to be favourites and hopes we romp the league but actually competing as a starting point will do me as opposed to what we've had to witness the last two years.

It's not accepting mediocrity it's accepting where we are as a club right now as opposed to kidding ourselves year in year out that the league will be tied up by Christmas.

On the league prediction thread I have predicted that we will finish in 4th place so I have been conditioned to accept reality / mediocrity as much as the next fan. I'm pissed off but that is where I see us now, sadly.

[Rocco]

49 minutes ago, Duncan Freemason said:

Holt, Fergus and Sheerin are not a trio. Holt made that perfectly clear when he said that three development lads who had “shown up well in training” were “offered up to Paul Sheerin” by him and Fergus. Holt clearly and deliberately put distance between himself and Sheerin. Why? Simple really. If it doesn’t go well, that distance means that results have nowt to do with him.

If it goes well, just watch Holt and Deans shuffle closer to Sheerin and Grainger to make sure they get a bit of the limelight.

f**k me! I’m no Holt fan but this is just outrageous. He’s done exactly what he should do by giving the manager the final say on players for his squad. So if he forced the players into the squad against Sheerin’s wishes, would that have been better?

[Bigbrbairn]

We finished 5th last season and have money ball Cove & Queens Park to compete with this year. Everyone here obviously expects us to be favourites and hopes we romp the league but actually competing as a starting point will do me as opposed to what we've had to witness the last two years.
It's not accepting mediocrity it's accepting where we are as a club right now as opposed to kidding ourselves year in year out that the league will be tied up by Christmas.

Christmas?
If the league is not tied up by Guy Fawkes there will be fireworks!

[ShaggerG]

1 hour ago, Bigbrbairn said:

Christmas?
If the league is not tied up by Guy Fawkes there will be fireworks!

I'll be spooked if it's not done by Halloween!

[Bigbrbairn]

I'll be spooked if it's not done by Halloween!

Only if we score plenty of ghouls

[HopeStreetWalker]

1 hour ago, Bairn in Exile said:

This is what worries me, our fanbase has been conditioned to accepting mediocrity and it appears that we are now happy to be merely competing for the League 1 title. When Hearts went down to the Championship do you think that they or their fans were content to just compete for the title? I can't accept anything other than the Falkirk squad being clear favourites to win the title.

This is the best start we have had to a season for ages accept it and encourage the team. It must be a downer for the players to read some of these posts.

[Shadwell Dog]

4 hours ago, Reggie Perrin said:

The referee wasn’t great last night.

Ref last night was completely out her depth.  To not even book the guy that brought down Keena when he was right through was ludicrous and the penalty was a laughable decision. Hopefully won't see her at TFS again in a while.

[gav-ffc]

1 hour ago, Bigbrbairn said:

Since time began fans need a bogey man. This year's hit list-
Dean's
Holt
Hall
Miller
Wilson
Always needed and it takes something really special to get you off the list

Don’t forget Alston.

[Guest]

1 hour ago, Rocco said:

f**k me! I’m no Holt fan but this is just outrageous. He’s done exactly what he should do by giving the manager the final say on players for his squad. So if he forced the players into the squad against Sheerin’s wishes, would that have been better?

You are completely missing the point of a very specifically worded public statement. You have missed it completely.

[Guest]

2 hours ago, Gollum said:

So in other words, Holt and Fergus brought in youngsters and gave Sheerin final choice? Sounds like a decent process.

No “other words”. The wording was deliberate. If it doesn’t work out, it’s Sheerin’s fault. If you don’t grasp that, then Holt will be delighted.

[MrDust]

7 hours ago, FFC 1876 said:

He signed a 3 year deal with a Dundee United team who had just finished 4th in the Premiership and were in the Europa league qualifying. He then turned up overweight to his first preseason what other conclusion would you draw from that other than in his mind he'd made it and let himself go that summer?

Does anyone sign for Utd and think they've made it ?

A schoolboy signing with youthful exuberance may lead to them thinking they have made it but not even Andy Robertson, Barry Douglas or Aidan Connolly signing from Queens Park would've made them feel they've made it. 

Millar simply let himself go, perhaps some truth in the rumours that he was a poor trainer but signing for UTD was only 3yrs money guaranteed for him and not that he felt he'd made it without kicking a ball.