The Falkirk FC Thread

[Springfield]

5 hours ago, Ranaldo Bairn said:

FFS. Obviously not.

But you simply can't chuck in a bunch of U18/16 players, man. I hope you weren't being serious...

Tongue-in-cheek

[Bairnardo]

5 hours ago, ShaggerG said:

Some folk on here can be wildly unrealistic. From thinking we can just pop down to the shops to get a couple of good midfielders to sacking all of the players because they're not good enough. You really couldn't make some of it up!

Your point about the sacking of all the players is obviously bang on, becasue that was a wild shout from whoever made it, but the way you are painting people who maintain the midfield still being rancid after the window is puzzling to me. Very disingenious to suggest anyone thought "we can just pop down the shops". The concerns raised can pretty much be summarised as, teams waltz through us, and we struggle to get support for the strikers. With that context in mind, we then made Leigh Griffiths our highest paid player in f**k knows how long, and didn't address the issues that would ultimately render the signing of Griffiths a futile and expensive exercise. 

Like calling for the replacement of a failing manager, its not the job of the fan to either identify a better replacement using the gift of foresight (which would be better used elsewhere IMO) or shut up. 

The midfield has killed our season. We all know Liam Craig was close, but failure to land him doesn't give you a "well, you tried" type pass to go and splatter the budget elsewhere without criticism. 

[Bainsfordbairn]

4 hours ago, Burnsythebinman said:

cheers. I only know what my pal has said so second hand info. His boy was 11 and it sounded like about 5 mopnths ago FFC changed the youth setup and CEO swinney took control and said they were going pro-youth and were applying to join elite or development setup. but they were called to a meeting last week and it was shut down as there was no money left in the budget. I remember when FFC were so well know for their youth setup. Pity to see it in this state and for all the youngsters wanting to play.

The U16s and U18s are still in existence but the U12s are indeed coming to an end. 

[Bainsfordbairn]

5 hours ago, latapythelegend said:

There are better kids playing at Sunnyside/Vicky Park/Dawson Park/Gairdoch Park every Saturday and Sunday morning.  

Sorry, but I strongly disagree with this. 

I saw a lot of the U16s and U18s last season and the younger group in particular were excellent. Ian Fergus was very keen for his kids to get publicity so every game was announced on the website. Folk were turning up to watch them and virtually every report I read from fans on the facebook pages were raving about them. 

[MrDust]

2 hours ago, champions said:

Re Rennie, hopefully the BoD see sense and send him packing after the Montrose or cove games, theres no point prolonging this farce any longer. 

Get him out the door early,  at least we and any interested parties will know that the role is available and change is afoot.

I think getting rid then will only make it more difficult to entice new managers and players. 

If Rennie left on his own will, that would help but I can't see our board sacking him, deserves it but for me would do more harm.

 

[FalkirkBairn2021]

6 hours ago, Ranaldo Bairn said:

There's a lot of chat about us going for Wright too, assuming MR disappears in the summer.

He was a shambles at Kilmarnock, in a league they should have cantered to. Sounds familiar...

We did hear also how much of a shambles Rice was at Hamilton and he's pissing this league so far at Alloa.

I'd bite your hand off for Tommy Wright. Almost forgotten what it was like to have an actual manager not a Project Support Analyst.

[Guest Ecosse83]

4 minutes ago, MrDust said:

I think getting rid then will only make it more difficult to entice new managers and players. 

If Rennie left on his own will, that would help but I can't see our board sacking him, deserves it but for me would do more harm.

 

We simply can’t risk keeping him, he’s been absolutely useless so far! 
 

Personally I don’t think he will even want to stay anyway, the stress of the job hasn’t been kind on him and looks shattered compared to when he first joined! 

[Andy Dufresne]

Will Vaulks playing for Wales tonight,great to see him doing well.

[MrDust]

22 minutes ago, Ecosse83 said:

We simply can’t risk keeping him, he’s been absolutely useless so far! 
 

Personally I don’t think he will even want to stay anyway, the stress of the job hasn’t been kind on him and looks shattered compared to when he first joined! 

We are not going anywhere in the league, large percent of the fans have either gave up or questioning if they are going or not and a new broom at the helm now won't change that unless it was Stainrod

If we did sack Rennie, managers or new players would look for a McKay(3yr contract) for security. We already have handed out more 2yr contracts than we normally do because of our state last season, it's got worse.

I'm hoping when it becomes mathematically impossible to reach the play offs (top one) Rennie will throw in the towel.

 

 

[ebobsboy]

It's just too much of a risk to keep him imo. Fans already have voiced their opinions. He's done nothing to merit being kept, brought in seven players in the January window and we have gotten worse. Reward him for failure  which it will be if he gets another shot at it would you even trust him to get it right when he clearly looks like a rabbit in the headlights already and it's a massive season for us next year when finances will be stretched. You just cannot take that chance. He has failed to address the glaring deficiencies in midfield yet saw fit to give a striker circa £1500 a week knowing (or you'd hope he knew) he wasn't going to get service. 

[ShaggerG]

1 hour ago, Bairnardo said:

Your point about the sacking of all the players is obviously bang on, becasue that was a wild shout from whoever made it, but the way you are painting people who maintain the midfield still being rancid after the window is puzzling to me. Very disingenious to suggest anyone thought "we can just pop down the shops". The concerns raised can pretty much be summarised as, teams waltz through us, and we struggle to get support for the strikers. With that context in mind, we then made Leigh Griffiths our highest paid player in f**k knows how long, and didn't address the issues that would ultimately render the signing of Griffiths a futile and expensive exercise. 

Like calling for the replacement of a failing manager, its not the job of the fan to either identify a better replacement using the gift of foresight (which would be better used elsewhere IMO) or shut up. 

The midfield has killed our season. We all know Liam Craig was close, but failure to land him doesn't give you a "well, you tried" type pass to go and splatter the budget elsewhere without criticism. 

I'm not in anyway suggesting that Rennie shouldn't be criticised for splashing the cash on Griffiths whilst not being able to address the obvious midfield failings. He shouldn't have done it IMO and I said so at the time. (Although we did still need to bring in a striker having lost Keena).

The point I'm (apparently very poorly) trying to make is that some fans do seem to suggest that it would be an easy thing to fix the midfield and indeed that Rennie didn't bother his arse trying to do it. Hence my rather obvious tongue in cheek remark about 'popping to the shops'. The posts I'm referring to never seem to acknowledge that it's not an easy fix. I wish to f**k it was.

 

[Bairnardo]

7 minutes ago, ShaggerG said:

I'm not in anyway suggesting that Rennie shouldn't be criticised for splashing the cash on Griffiths whilst not being able to address the obvious midfield failings. He shouldn't have done it IMO and I said so at the time. (Although we did still need to bring in a striker having lost Keena).

The point I'm (apparently very poorly) trying to make is that some fans do seem to suggest that it would be an easy thing to fix the midfield and indeed that Rennie didn't bother his arse trying to do it. Hence my rather obvious tongue in cheek remark about 'popping to the shops'. The posts I'm referring to never seem to acknowledge that it's not an easy fix. I wish to f**k it was.

 

Making the point that the January window isn't easy is fair enough. Its common knowledge. But it should be possible to improve any area of the pitch when it is utterly fucking dire, and you have sufficient budget to sign multiple players including one on 1500 snaps a week AND a loan market to utilise. And yeah I know 5 subs made that harder etc, but theres no other word to describe the failure to improve the midfield than....  A failure, and for that, someone is to blame

[Guest]

It’s not clear what factors the BoD will choose to look at wrt Rennie’s time at the club. He is undoubtedly a smart guy, but we have seen nothing that says “manager/head coach” in Scotland. To keep him on, there has to be something more convincing than a leap of faith (I would hope).

We now know that in half a season, he has achieved essentially nothing……that’s a harsh assessment, but it’s not an overly critical one. It’s the way it has rolled out in front of all of us.

Personally, I can’t buy into “without him, we would go down or finish 7th or 8th” just as I can’t buy into “if he had been with us from the start of the season, we’d have won the league or definitely be top four”.

The 6-2 against Dumbarton, and (weirdly) the 3-2 defeat to Airdrie are actually both high points for me. Dowds does the biz v the former, and in the latter, there was a moment’s excitement that a style of play was emerging that we could all get behind…….but it has never been seen again from that day to this, and the USP of rapid turnaround in performances has just not happened.

The Leigh Griffiths signing……….why? When you have such a poor midfield that disappears defensively, and mostly fails to turn up in support of the attack, what was the point? My analogy? If the drive shaft to the rear wheels in your car fails, putting in a bigger engine up front won’t fix anything.

Edited March 29, 2022 by Duncan Freemason

[ShaggerG]

3 minutes ago, Bairnardo said:

Making the point that the January window isn't easy is fair enough. Its common knowledge. But it should be possible to improve any area of the pitch when it is utterly fucking dire, and you have sufficient budget to sign multiple players including one on 1500 snaps a week AND a loan market to utilise. And yeah I know 5 subs made that harder etc, but theres no other word to describe the failure to improve the midfield than....  A failure, and for that, someone is to blame

I'm not saying anything different.

[ShaggerG]

5 minutes ago, Duncan Freemason said:

It’s not clear what factors the BoD will choose to look at wrt Rennie’s time at the club. He is undoubtedly a smart guy, but we have seen nothing that says “manager/head coach” in Scotland. To keep him on, there has to be something more convincing than a leap of faith (I would hope).

We now know that in half a season, he has achieved essentially nothing……that’s a harsh assessment, but it’s not an overly critical one. It’s the way it has rolled out in front of all of us.

Personally, I can’t buy into “without him, we would go down or finish 7th or 8th” just as I can’t buy into “if he had been with us from the start of the season, we’d have won the league or definitely be top four”.

Funny thing about Rennie's tenure (so far), he's brought in 7 players, if including Dowds, and I would say that 4 of them, Mills, Watson, Kabia and Dowds have generally been our 'better' performers when they've played. Even Jacobs, who hasn't looked completely fit at any point, has probably been slightly better than the likes of Miller and Hetherington.

Conversely guys like Dixon and Nesbitt have turned to shit. Even Telfer's form has suffered a bit, although that's maybe to be expected given what he's got alongside him?

The whole feel of his time with us just feels really weird to me. 

[Its not only a game]

1 hour ago, FalkirkBairn2021 said:

We did hear also how much of a shambles Rice was at Hamilton and he's pissing this league so far at Alloa.

I'd bite your hand off for Tommy Wright. Almost forgotten what it was like to have an actual manager not a Project Support Analyst.

Tommy Wright! Behave. Listen to what the Killie fans say. Had the best players and biggest budget  in the championship and they were going no where until McInnes arrived!

[ShaggerG]

8 minutes ago, Its not only a game said:

Tommy Wright! Behave. Listen to what the Killie fans say. Had the best players and biggest budget  in the championship and they were going no where until McInnes arrived!

The thing about Wright is that he's managed two Scottish teams, one that he did very well at and the other where he bombed. Other than that it's been teams in Ireland so he's not completely proved himself IMO. He's not getting any younger either so I'm not sure that he would even want to get involved with our basket case!

[Shadwell Dog]

48 minutes ago, Bairnardo said:

Making the point that the January window isn't easy is fair enough. Its common knowledge. But it should be possible to improve any area of the pitch when it is utterly fucking dire, and you have sufficient budget to sign multiple players including one on 1500 snaps a week AND a loan market to utilise. And yeah I know 5 subs made that harder etc, but theres no other word to describe the failure to improve the midfield than....  A failure, and for that, someone is to blame

The fact that he couldn't source better players than the awful miller and hetherington and has even  preferred playing a young untried midfielder to the one midfielder he did sign is frankly ludicrous. 

[Reggie Perrin]

15 minutes ago, Shadwell Dog said:

The fact that he couldn't source better players than the awful miller and hetherington and has even  preferred playing a young untried midfielder to the one midfielder he did sign is frankly ludicrous. 

Jacobs has been injured.

[Shadwell Dog]

13 minutes ago, Reggie Perrin said:

Jacobs has been injured.

He was stuck on the bench that day.