The Falkirk FC Thread

[mozam76]

36 minutes ago, Shadwell Dog said:

He certainly wasn't hamstrung. How many other managers have we had able to spend 1500 quid a week plus  on one player during any transfer window recently?  He chose a striker when most of us I think would've rather had that money used in midfield or defence. You can't tell me that for that kind of money we couldn't have enticed a decent commanding centrehalf to come but it and again it's only my opinion but seems to me we were he'll bent on spending that money on a striker all window with the management team turning to Griffith's once they'd missed out on goodwillie.

I've often wondered this, but did he have a choice re Griffiths? Could it be that the money was available for him and him only?  

[Shadwell Dog]

43 minutes ago, Blame Me said:

Miller said at the outset that the team lacked goals and I surmise that the strategy once AT-S and Watson arrived they could coach a cohesive unit and with Griffiths availability and our dearth of options (Wilson, Ompreon and wantaway Keena) it probably seemed like good business.

I'd hazard they are ruing not getting more in the middle of the park.

Who and was out-of-contract?

Didn't have to be out of contract that kind of cash would get you a very decent loan signing.  I'd much rather rely on dowds and kabia to get us goals than Watson, ATS, Mackay etc to keep them out.

Edited March 17, 2022 by Shadwell Dog

[Shadwell Dog]

19 minutes ago, mozam76 said:

I've often wondered this, but did he have a choice re Griffiths? Could it be that the money was available for him and him only?  

I would think not as they would've used that cash for goodwillie. I'd hope that money isn't being handed over by fans groups with a caveat that it has to be spent on a certain player or type of player. That will get you nowhere.

[Guest]

For me, the most important milestone now is what happens when we mathematically cannot be promoted or relegated. I would think that point may well reached with two or three games to go.

At that point, we should see one of two things……either R&M call it quits, or there’s some very clear messaging in terms of playing staff………be they contracted or not. 
From the meeting on Monday, one of the big omissions seems to have been the bond not having been paid for overseas player signings. It was financially a very small cost, and for whatever reason, the old Board/company secretary chose not to do it. No surprise there then.

It may well have been central to R&Ms plans, which then forced them to look closer to home once it became apparent that yet another simple piece of paperwork hadn’t been completed.

The elephant in the room is still not having managed to improve things in any meaningful way, and in terms of stats, we have now fallen below Sheerin’s numbers.  Sheerin started well and then fell away. Can managers start badly and then improve massively? Of course they can……it has happened many times.

Thing is, it’s damn near impossible to predict which way things will go.

[Guest Caractacus Potts]

1 hour ago, Blame Me said:

He's going to get a full pre-season and the benefit of any structural changes that are taking place behind the scenes.

Whether it's our SD taking the fall or he was stealing a wage we went into January in the worst circumstances possible and it was called out at the time. We'd either binned the plan or as has been revealed - there was no plan!

Rennie's January, in hindsight, was poor but I have to accept he was hamstrung and not many could make a purse from our pigs ears. The football has been dire but even he can't legislate for the individual disasters that players have week-on-week. 

As for the interviews I reckon he's trying to keep morale up as there will be many who know they're playing for their futures and yes, some who just aren't good enough but throwing them under a bus isn't going to help. 

I'd give him another 6-month deal rather than have us both commit to longer terms.

It just feels like a lot of revisionism. Give him time, wait till he brings his own players in and now it’s all the old manager and boards fault. I’m not saying there isn’t truth to that last part but he was brought in to turn around the team, not to initiate a long term strategy. If that was the case then he would have received a longer contract. 

Again though, let’s remind what was  said at the time of his arrival…

‘The Board was particularly impressed by Martin’s proven ability to rapidly improve his team’s performances, which has been a consistent theme throughout his career.’

Rennie- ‘The timing was perfect and it has allowed me to travel here and take stock of the situation at the club and how I can help rapidly get the team back on track,”

Rennie- ‘We have a good squad of players and on the training pitch I have already seen that. The guys we have here are good enough and can improve further – they just need belief and confidence and it is my job to instil that.’

Rennie- ‘I know this squad can do much more than they are doing at the moment, even looking back to the start of the season the level of performance was really strong and we need to get back to that level of confidence.”

I know folk will say but what else could he have said, however he didn’t have to say any of that. So confident was he in his abilities to turn it around though. I admire that but he is now hoisted by his petard as he’s simply not delivered on what he aimed to achieve. Now it’s all someone else’s fault. 

Edited March 17, 2022 by Caractacus Potts

[Shadwell Dog]

20 minutes ago, Caractacus Potts said:

It just feels like a lot of revisionism. Give him time, wait till he brings his own players in and now it’s all the old manager and boards fault. I’m not saying there isn’t truth to that last part but he was brought in to turn around the team, not to initiate a long term strategy. If that was the case then he would have received a longer contract. 

Again though, let’s remind what was  said at the time of his arrival…

‘The Board was particularly impressed by Martin’s proven ability to rapidly improve his team’s performances, which has been a consistent theme throughout his career.’

Rennie- ‘The timing was perfect and it has allowed me to travel here and take stock of the situation at the club and how I can help rapidly get the team back on track,”

Rennie- ‘We have a good squad of players and on the training pitch I have already seen that. The guys we have here are good enough and can improve further – they just need belief and confidence and it is my job to instil that.’

Rennie- ‘I know this squad can do much more than they are doing at the moment, even looking back to the start of the season the level of performance was really strong and we need to get back to that level of confidence.”

I know folk will say but what else could he have said, however he didn’t have to say any of that. So confident was he in his abilities to turn it around though. I admire that but he is now hoisted by his petard as he’s simply not delivered on what he aimed to achieve. Now it’s all someone else’s fault. 

 A couple of months later and he's now telling us the players aren't good enough and still have zero confidence. What the hell are we paying him for?

[Springfield]

26 minutes ago, Duncan Freemason said:

For me, the most important milestone now is what happens when we mathematically cannot be promoted or relegated. I would think that point may well reached with two or three games to go.

At that point, we should see one of two things……either R&M call it quits, or there’s some very clear messaging in terms of playing staff………be they contracted or not. 
From the meeting on Monday, one of the big omissions seems to have been the bond not having been paid for overseas player signings. It was financially a very small cost, and for whatever reason, the old Board/company secretary chose not to do it. No surprise there then.

It may well have been central to R&Ms plans, which then forced them to look closer to home once it became apparent that yet another simple piece of paperwork hadn’t been completed.

The elephant in the room is still not having managed to improve things in any meaningful way, and in terms of stats, we have now fallen below Sheerin’s numbers.  Sheerin started well and then fell away. Can managers start badly and then improve massively? Of course they can……it has happened many times.

Thing is, it’s damn near impossible to predict which way things will go.

First two paragraphs nailed it. The Club will need to make critical decisions that will either bring the club back from the brink or see us drift into oblivion. The fans will back the club if the BOD start getting rid of the utter dross currently in the club.

[champions]

1 hour ago, Duncan Freemason said:

For me, the most important milestone now is what happens when we mathematically cannot be promoted or relegated. I would think that point may well reached with two or three games to go.

At that point, we should see one of two things……either R&M call it quits, or there’s some very clear messaging in terms of playing staff………be they contracted or not. 
From the meeting on Monday, one of the big omissions seems to have been the bond not having been paid for overseas player signings. It was financially a very small cost, and for whatever reason, the old Board/company secretary chose not to do it. No surprise there then.

It may well have been central to R&Ms plans, which then forced them to look closer to home once it became apparent that yet another simple piece of paperwork hadn’t been completed.

The elephant in the room is still not having managed to improve things in any meaningful way, and in terms of stats, we have now fallen below Sheerin’s numbers.  Sheerin started well and then fell away. Can managers start badly and then improve massively? Of course they can……it has happened many times.

Thing is, it’s damn near impossible to predict which way things will go.

I honestly dont see any case for the defence. 3 months on and we're still a disorganised mess, the last 3 home games where we were lucky to draw with peterhead, sneaked a win against EF and pumped by airdrie is enough evidence for anyone to know he's not the man to take us forward.

Should also be remembered that QP have only won 3 games in that time yet are still 6 points ahead of us.

Edited March 17, 2022 by champions
Amendment

[champions]

5 hours ago, Trump said:

Controversial suggestion alert.

John McGlynn out of contract in the summer. You’d imagine if Raith were going to keep him, they’d have gave him a new contract by now.

Would be much better than Rennie from a footballing perspective, would the club/fans be okay with him after the DG disaster?

I'd prefer murray over mcglynn due to his age, but if murray wasnt available I'd be more than happy with mcglynn. He certainly ticks all the boxes

Mcglynn hasn't committed any crimes, he made an error of judgement which he'll learn from. It's no big deal.

[Springfield]

Would imagine that McGlynn is currently/continuing/trying to navigate his way of crawling back with the inner circles of sponsors etc after the now infamous interview. He’s in with the bricks, but he certainly knows how to build a decent first eleven, on a side note Connolly appears suddenly to be injury free after two seasons claiming to be injured with us. 

[AGPar]

2 hours ago, Blame Me said:

I'd give him another 6-month deal rather than have us both commit to longer terms.

Those in the boardroom either have the confidence in Rennie to take us out of this league (at the right end) next season, in which case they need to back their judgement with a minimum of a one-year contract. Or they don't, and we part company at the end of the season. Another six month contract would just smack of indecision and not really being sure either way. Like the signing of Griffiths on big wages for a few months work, it would also be a complete contradiction of this "long-term" narrative that the manager is now promoting at every opportunity.

[AL-FFC]

1 hour ago, Shadwell Dog said:

 A couple of months later and he's now telling us the players aren't good enough and still have zero confidence. What the hell are we paying him for?

You can only manage people so much and have so much faith in them before you realise your fighting a losing cause in this case Holts dross.

We brought in 6 and we had a squad of 23 is small numbers when you consider we have more shit than good players and for those that are at the club why should they give a shite they go out they play a game of football they get paid either way if they win they get a wee bonus if they dont its no skin of their nose as its the manager that takes the flak.

[Shadwell Dog]

9 minutes ago, AL-FFC said:

You can only manage people so much and have so much faith in them before you realise your fighting a losing cause in this case Holts dross.

We brought in 6 and we had a squad of 23 is small numbers when you consider we have more shit than good players and for those that are at the club why should they give a shite they go out they play a game of football they get paid either way if they win they get a wee bonus if they dont its no skin of their nose as its the manager that takes the flak.

He brought in 6 that have made little or no difference when 3 players could've made a massive difference if of the right type. If he'd sorted the spine of the side out we'd still be pushing for a playoff spot instead of sinking without trace. A physical organiser at the back, leader in the middle and you could say we got the striker in but that's looking more and more like an expensive error given the mess in the midfield and defence.

 

[AL-FFC]

59 minutes ago, Shadwell Dog said:

He brought in 6 that have made little or no difference when 3 players could've made a massive difference if of the right type. If he'd sorted the spine of the side out we'd still be pushing for a playoff spot instead of sinking without trace. A physical organiser at the back, leader in the middle and you could say we got the striker in but that's looking more and more like an expensive error given the mess in the midfield and defence.

 

The defence needs sorted its been a problem the thing is its the liabilities we have had in defence Durnan to name but one then Hall (fortunately both gone) Telfer goes missing too often and just isnt a battler. Most jobs with a bit of coaching you can get manpower to perform, i just think on this one he underestimated how bad the dross we have are.

for what they left us with players i sincerely hope Hol;t and Sheerins next sh*te is a hedgehog and it comes out backwards, the old BoD didnt help matters much in that dept either appointing one of them and actually thinking he knew wtf he was doing as a DoF wtf were the 2-3 positions they could play as they seem to struggle with one.

[gav-ffc]

On 16/03/2022 at 12:58, MrDust said:

Listening to a Dick Campbell interview and he said that Falkirk couldn't answer the phone regarding Anton Dowds, that said he also said that it was said at a Q&A that Dowds wouldn't play for us again. I can't recall that being said although the words may have suggested that.

A good listen, a bit Leishmanesque at times but he talks about the simple things of shape and organisation being what he instills into all his team's from day one, which is for me what we have lacked under Rennie. We go into Rennie's 14th game with no idea of formation or selection. 

 

What interview was this?

[Shadwell Dog]

29 minutes ago, AL-FFC said:

The defence needs sorted its been a problem the thing is its the liabilities we have had in defence Durnan to name but one then Hall (fortunately both gone) Telfer goes missing too often and just isnt a battler. Most jobs with a bit of coaching you can get manpower to perform, i just think on this one he underestimated how bad the dross we have are.

for what they left us with players i sincerely hope Hol;t and Sheerins next sh*te is a hedgehog and it comes out backwards, the old BoD didnt help matters much in that dept either appointing one of them and actually thinking he knew wtf he was doing as a DoF wtf were the 2-3 positions they could play as they seem to struggle with one.

I'm sure if we had a yogi Hughes type at the back our defence would improve drastically.  Players that won't put up with others around them not pulling their weight and keep their fellow defenders on their toes at all times. Currently we have a full set of defenders that have enough to worry about with ther own game never mind anyone elses.

[HopeStreetWalker]

3 hours ago, Springfield said:

First two paragraphs nailed it. The Club will need to make critical decisions that will either bring the club back from the brink or see us drift into oblivion. The fans will back the club if the BOD start getting rid of the utter dross currently in the club.

Got a feeling of Deva Ju reliving the mid 70's.

Collective club shrug of the shoulders with a 'This is our lot with no more ambition than to survive and if that means part time football so be it'

If we are as skint as is suspected we can look forward to players training 2 - 3 times a week and part time staff employed at home games. Saw it then and its uncanny how similar the situation is.

[Guest Caractacus Potts]

What the club needs is someone to step up to the plate and be chairman and if not then find a good candidate who is willing. 

We desperately need leadership and that starts at the top.

[Guest]

6 hours ago, Springfield said:

Would imagine that McGlynn is currently/continuing/trying to navigate his way of crawling back with the inner circles of sponsors etc after the now infamous interview. He’s in with the bricks, but he certainly knows how to build a decent first eleven, on a side note Connolly appears suddenly to be injury free after two seasons claiming to be injured with us. 

Just remember his time at both Livingston and Hearts. He is not a wise sage of a manager. He has presided over his fair share of messes too. All he has actually achieved is getting RR out of L1 in a far from convincing manner, and has them 5th in the Championship.

His career is hardly inspiring.

[Guest]

3 hours ago, HopeStreetWalker said:

Got a feeling of Deva Ju reliving the mid 70's.

Collective club shrug of the shoulders with a 'This is our lot with no more ambition than to survive and if that means part time football so be it'

If we are as skint as is suspected we can look forward to players training 2 - 3 times a week and part time staff employed at home games. Saw it then and its uncanny how similar the situation is.

On Monday, I am pretty sure Nigel Serafini spoke for the Board when he said (and I paraphrase) that the club weren’t actively looking at any model other than full time. It struck me at being at odds with Rennie when asked that traditionally FT teams tend to dominate PT teams in the last 20 minutes, but we did not see that. Rennie said FFC players are fully fit, but PT players are fit too.

So if there is no skill or fitness advantage why be FT? Rennie said that many PT players earned more purely from football than some (some of our?) FT players. That then muddied the waters for me, as it kind of bluntly pointed towards the better PT players are more expensive than (some of) the FT players.

It kind of sounded like (if you take it to it’s obvious conclusion) that we could have a better squad by signing quality PT players, but it would cost more than running with lower grade FT players (as we do now).