The Falkirk FC Thread

[latapythelegend]

9 minutes ago, bairn88 said:

I'll happily "preach my morals" all day regarding the raping of a woman. 

That is all fine and well. I'm sure any decent human would but FFS the response has been over the top over a fucking tabloid article and a line from a board statement which could be open to any number of interpretations. 

If he does sign, crack on, vent your anger out and do whatever you feel is necessary to show your disapproval bit it has all been a bit premature. 

[Raith Against The Machine]

1 minute ago, Back Post Misses said:

How many fans do you believe will turn their back on the club? 

Is it worth losing even one fan to the cause of a rapist? 

[Hughsie]

3 minutes ago, Back Post Misses said:

How many fans do you believe will turn their back on the club? 

At least 1.

[Shadwell Dog]

We've now got two guys in charge that should have loads of contacts so it would be a bit concerning if the only striker we can come up with is goodwillie that we're linked with in every transfer window anyway.

[AndyDD]

3 minutes ago, Shadwell Dog said:

Declan Gallacher destroyed a boys life by assaulting him with a baseball bat but was getting cheered on recently by full houses at Hampden. Unfortunately football has very little morals when it comes to players especially when they have value. Few players seem to have trouble finding clubs despite their previous offences.  Boy McGowan at Dundee has been found guilty of assaulting a police officer at least three times but still never got punted .  It's certainly not a sport that can be held up as an example of good moral values that's for sure. Far from it.

Nope.

Declan Gallagher has never played for Scotland in front of a full house Hampden. Ever. 

[Rizzo]

Just now, Shadwell Dog said:

We've now got two guys in charge that should have loads of contacts so it would be a bit concerning if the only striker we can come up with is goodwillie that we're linked with in every transfer window anyway.

Jesus I find myself hoping to God that Shadwell Dog is on the money here. 

DG to stay at Clyde please.

[Shadwell Dog]

Just now, AndyDD said:

Nope.

Declan Gallagher has never played for Scotland in front of a full house Hampden. Ever. 

Well he's played for Scotland and had a good few Scotland fans cheering him on despite his past behaviour and jail sentence.

[FalkirkBairn2021]

Just now, JagsCG said:

Just an outside observation - Falkirk will do exactly what it seems Raith might have did (and probably other clubs in the recent past when linked with Goodwillie) see the masses of negative fan reaction and conclude the signing is not worth the hassle, which would be the correct decision (although clubs shouldn’t be contemplating it in the first place). The rapist will continue playing and weirdly being worshiped at Clyde til he retires imo. 

The only natural move he'd have from Clyde would be Livingston 

[JagsCG]

Just an outside observation - Falkirk will do exactly what it seems Raith might have did (and probably other clubs in the recent past when linked with Goodwillie) see the masses of negative fan reaction and conclude the signing is not worth the hassle, which would be the correct decision (although clubs shouldn’t be contemplating it in the first place). The rapist will continue playing and weirdly being worshiped at Clyde til he retires imo. 

Edited January 5, 2022 by JagsCG

[Shadwell Dog]

Just now, FalkirkBairn2021 said:

The only natural move he'd have from Clyde would be Livingston 

Or Morton or Motherwell. 

[Kircer bairn]

36 minutes ago, FalkirkBairn2021 said:

It's not entirely irrelevant. 

There's many fans who wouldn't attend games if he signs. And that could be for what...3 years. So are you going to continue to pay FSS monthly if you can't/won't attend games. Maybe, but it's  harder for people to justify I think.

Without wishing to be controversial here but wondering how posters on this thread can substantiate the assertion that lots/many/majority of our fan base are going to withdraw their support over this potential signing 

[JagsCG]

3 minutes ago, FalkirkBairn2021 said:

The only natural move he'd have from Clyde would be Livingston 

They might be seen as a ‘redemption club’ but I doubt even they’d touch him. He doesn’t seem to get much backlash from Clyde fans these days (if any), I’d argue if he went to most other clubs now he’d be abused by his own fans as well as the opposition. 

Edited January 5, 2022 by JagsCG

[AndyDD]

2 minutes ago, Shadwell Dog said:

Well he's played for Scotland and had a good few Scotland fans cheering him on despite his past behaviour and jail sentence.

He has indeed played for Scotland. 

He hasn't ever played for Scotland in front of a full Hampden, never mind recently, despite your claim to the contrary. You were wrong. 

[ICTChris]

6 minutes ago, latapythelegend said:

Well that opens up another hypothetic question.

Where do you draw the line regarding players with convictions? Leigh Griffiths recently had strong allegations pointed at him and has run ins with police in the past. 

Alan Lithgow is/was on the sex offenders register yet quietly goes about his footballing career. Is his previous demeanors acceptable?

Livingstons manager has done jail time for drugs offences yet is roundly accepted in Scottish football. 

BTW, I don't agree with signing Goodwillie. I just think plenty folk are jumping the gun way to quickly to preach their morals over somehting they may never even happen. 

Lithgow was convicted of serious offences and it no doubt had a bearing on his release from Hearts.  Lithgow plead guilty and completed his punishment and, as far as we know, has lead a blameless life since.  

Martindale was again convicted of serious offences, he plead guilty and by all accounts has separated himself from crime since than - more than 15 years ago.  Not only has he served his sentence, he has paid back his proceeds of crime order fully.  He has worked his way up in football and shown himself to be of good character.

Griffiths has been convicted several times of minor criminal offences receiving fines.  They cast doubt on his character, he's clearly got a few attitude problems, but I don't think they would meet the test of stopping someone playing football for a living.

Goodwillie was found responsible for one of the most serious offences you can be - rape is second only to murder in terms of it's seriousness.  People get sentenced to life in prison for rape.  He also hasn't accepted any responsibility for it, he has repeatedly denied the facts of the case as established by the court.  

So Lithgow and Martindale - both convicted of serious offences but have accepted it, served punishments and shown themselves not to be bad characters.  Griffiths, probably a bad character but only been convicted of lower level crimes that probably wouldn't be a bar to someone getting a professional football contacts (although the racist chanting at another player is probably borderline, I think if that happened today it would be taken a lot more seriously than it was).

Goodwillie - found responsible for the most serious offence of any of those people and has accepted no responsiblity for it.  

I totally understand why clubs would want to sign him from a footballing standpoint - I'm no expert but he's probably the best striker playing at the lower two levels of Scottish football, clubs like Falkirk and Raith won't have a better chance to get a player like him.  But from a moral standpoint I think he's beyond the pale.  I would be raging if Caley signed him or tried to.

[roman_bairn]

He has indeed played for Scotland. 
He hasn't ever played for Scotland in front of a full Hampden, never mind recently, despite your claim to the contrary. You were wrong. 

Do you honestly think anyone on here cares?
Completely missing the point.

[Hughsie]

3 minutes ago, Kircer bairn said:

Without wishing to be controversial here but wondering how posters on this thread can substantiate the assertion that lots/many/majority of our fan base are going to withdraw their support over this potential signing 

I don’t think many will. Sadly.

[18BAIRN76]

The folk humming and hawing over this are just as bad btw. To me this isn't a grey area where someone can hold one point of view and another person another. He is at Clyde for a reason. No one else has signed him, despite his footballing pedigree, for a fucking reason. No club that signs a rapist will be a club of mine.

Reading the COYB page is almost enough to make you pack it in as well, with a mixture of fucking spice boys and flabby da's engaging in making the whole thing seem like a laugh, even discussing what chants they'd make for him. I don't actually consider myself touchy about most things but ffs, you just hope that none of them ever has someone close to them who experiences what Goodwillie did to that woman. As has been said on many occasions by many people, it's a steadfast reminder (if you ever needed any) that a depressingly large section of our support are incredibly dense.

To those saying its hysteria, what else are we supposed to do? As I've said before, it may be media talk, but we can't let the club know we don't want him AFTER we've signed him for f**k sake. It doesn't need an official club statement; someone from the Herald could interview Rennie. "Do you have any intention of signing him?" "No." That could be it. It isn't rocket science. I've emailed the club and hope many do the same. I hope it doesn't happen because it would permanently tarnish my feelings for a club I've supported since I was a kid.

[AndyDD]

1 minute ago, roman_bairn said:

Do you honestly think anyone on here cares?
Completely missing the point.

If the guy is going to continue to play down the dereliction of moral duty by trying to engage in naff whataboutery, he could at least try and be accurate when he does so, rather than making up a load of old cobblers. 

[TheGoon]

When you’re having to double check with sponsors to double check they wouldn’t boycott you for signing someone, it probably isn’t a signing you should be making.

[knee jerk reaction]

Just checking that some on here do realise a lot of the posts on Facebook are guys on the wind up. One or two are on all the time engaging in terminally unfunny posts trying to get a reaction (and unfortunately usually getting one)