The Falkirk FC Thread

[Bainsfordbairn]

17 minutes ago, latapythelegend said:

They are up against dross.

So were Hearts dross when they beat them last year? And Fife Academy when they took four off them? And an SYFA select when they did the same to them? Or Celtic when a 17s team lost only 2-1 to them in the cup a month ago? 

You can only beat what's in front of you. I'd agree the standard of opposition they face in the league isn't great, but that doesn't mean there aren't good players in our teams. 

 

[latapythelegend]

5 minutes ago, Bainsfordbairn said:

So were Hearts dross when they beat them last year? And Fife Academy when they took four off them? And an SYFA select when they did the same to them? Or Celtic when a 17s team lost only 2-1 to them in the cup a month ago? 

You can only beat what's in front of you. I'd agree the standard of opposition they face in the league isn't great, but that doesn't mean there aren't good players in our teams. 

 

Out of curiosity,  is there a website with the league tables for these youth leagues? I had a look and can't find anything. 

[Bainsfordbairn]

1 minute ago, latapythelegend said:

Out of curiosity,  is there a website with the league tables for these youth leagues? I had a look and can't find anything. 

I've no idea. All I know is they play under Club Academy Scotland so there ought to be something somewhere. 

The league FFC are in has us up against Alloa, Stirling, QOS, Montrose and Elgin.

I think the league you can play in is determined by the number of teams / staff / facilities you have but I'm by no means an expert. I just turn up and watch them. 

[JulioBairn]

28 minutes ago, latapythelegend said:

Out of curiosity,  is there a website with the league tables for these youth leagues? I had a look and can't find anything. 

As it’s classed as development football, they don’t play for points and league tables aren’t published. It’s designed to prioritise development over winning. 

[Donathan]

16 hours ago, NavyBlueArmy1876 said:

That doesn't really surprise me tbh and sums up the quality of this league. A defensive partnership of Gregor Buchanan, Mark Durnan and an 85 stone Cammy Bell were actually adequate at this level.

Dixon, McKay, Hall, ATS, Mutch, Miller etc should be utterly ashamed of the piss poor goals they have conceded week after week through basic, basic errors that wouldn't be tolerated at under 15s level.

I know we haven't been good enough going forward but the defending has been a complete and utter clownshow all the way through the season. When you've conceded 22 goals more than 3rd place Montrose what chance do you have? 

 

Which is testament to how pish this level is.

 

And we’ve finished no better than 5th in it.

 

Twice in a row.

 

Let that sink in. 

 

 

[Guest]

Only the Mount Florida Schools Select stand between us and a strong fifth place finish. Hopefully they aren’t all High School lads, and they throw in a couple of decent prospects from Primary 7.

[Shadwell Dog]

We're currently in division 3 of youth development basically. The top teams play at the elite level then there's the level we were at before and then there is us at the moment.  If these boys are that good surely it should be left to the new manager to decide whether he promotes then into his first team squad or not. Problem is with some dross hanging about there isn't a lot of space left to gamble on youngsters unfortunately.

[1876 ffc]

1 hour ago, Duncan Freemason said:

Only the Mount Florida Schools Select stand between us and a strong fifth place finish. Hopefully they aren’t all High School lads, and they throw in a couple of decent prospects from Primary 7.

So is youth development off the agenda moving forward?

I really hope not.

[Shadwell Dog]

6 hours ago, gav-ffc said:

Wouldn’t be against Murray as manager but I don’t think he’d get the time needed to build a team like he has at Airdrie.

He didn't take long at Airdrie. They were 3rd in his first full season then second last season and beaten in the playoff final and now second again. Some folk seem to think Airdrie were nowhere the last two seasons and have suddenly become decent over night.

[latapythelegend]

2 hours ago, JulioBairn said:

As it’s classed as development football, they don’t play for points and league tables aren’t published. It’s designed to prioritise development over winning. 

Christ, what a way to completely destroy the competitive nature of players.

[latapythelegend]

14 minutes ago, 1876 ffc said:

So is youth development off the agenda moving forward?

I really hope not.

It can't be a priority in our current situation.

[Blame Me]

9 hours ago, PedroMoutinho said:

Telfer will be playing at a higher level next season Imo, unlike most of the squad.

... Aye - In the stands above the pitch on current form! Was woeful yesterday 

[Alan Duncan]

On 21/04/2022 at 15:10, Duncan Freemason said:

The less nefarious version was that CD were happy enough to cease sponsorship, but wouldn’t leave the club high and dry. After a few years of stepping in to fill the void, Clarke ePOS appeared on the scene. How much they were prepared to pay compared to CD I do not know. Nor do I know if the end of CDs time was amicable or not……I can only hope.

Carrie Rawlins did indeed make a declaration that she was going to rule the commercial roost. Again, I have no idea if she spoke to CD or not. We might never know. 
What looks increasingly likely is that Clarke ePOS will disappear soon. No evidence of business, empty office, chip shop correspondence address, sponsors of Livingston, no accounts have ever been submitted. None of that should fill anyone with confidence. Shirt sales tend to always have the sponsor on the front. I guess the new ones won’t go on sale until a new shirt sponsor is found.

High Clarke (Clark Epos) is well know in Airdrie and Ayr and everywhere else where he has conned money from other companies and employees. He has a trail of failed businesses behind him and has no social morals. I know nothing about football but I wouldn't get your hopes up about having a successful relationship with Clark Epos, you will just end up yet another "victim". 

[Blame Me]

2 hours ago, Bainsfordbairn said:

So were Hearts dross when they beat them last year? And Fife Academy when they took four off them? And an SYFA select when they did the same to them? Or Celtic when a 17s team lost only 2-1 to them in the cup a month ago? 

You can only beat what's in front of you. I'd agree the standard of opposition they face in the league isn't great, but that doesn't mean there aren't good players in our teams. 

 

Aye. A lot of posters think our leagues full of dross teams, the youth teams opposition are dross and the players we we've moved on are dross. 

The minimum we should expect is to compete in whatever competition we play, which hasn't been the case in recent memory but it does seem like the expectation levels have become completely unrealistic hence perhaps why we seem to be stuck in this spiral of loathing playing/coaching staff past and present and future. 

[Hartleys18/19Army]

9 hours ago, PedroMoutinho said:

Telfer will be playing at a higher level next season Imo, unlike most of the squad.

Telfer has been part of the problem for several years now. How anyone can rate him for the odd half decent performance or a couple of strike's from the edge of the box is beyond me. 

Get him binned with the rest of the losers. Couldn't care less if he plays at higher level, on the whole he's been poor for us. 

Cheerio.

Edited April 24, 2022 by Hartleys18/19Army

[Springfield]

33 minutes ago, Blame Me said:

... Aye - In the stands above the pitch on current form! Was woeful yesterday 

Add - whole Fckn season, like the rest of the charlatans.

[Harry Kinnear]

There is not one single player in our entire squad who can walk away from this season with any sort of credit, the entire lot of them have been ganting.

[Diamonds are Forever]

1 hour ago, Shadwell Dog said:

He didn't take long at Airdrie. They were 3rd in his first full season then second last season and beaten in the playoff final and now second again. Some folk seem to think Airdrie were nowhere the last two seasons and have suddenly become decent over night.

 

While that is true, in some respects this is the first season he's been able to build a team. The previous season he was working under/with a Director of Football and with the club bringing in random players that he clearly didn't want, most of whom weren't good enough and were not players you need to get out of League 1. This is the first season he's had total control of the signings, there are still guys here from previous seasons like Fordyce and Gallagher but it's not been some 3 year project, it was 2 and half years of making do with what he was being given, and then this season where he has put a side together. The key is that this season he wasn't lumbered with guys on contracts that he didn't want, every player here is a player he signed. Sounds like at Falkirk that isn't the case and it might take some time to clear out unwanted players.

[Hughsie]

1 hour ago, Blame Me said:

Aye. A lot of posters think our leagues full of dross teams, the youth teams opposition are dross and the players we we've moved on are dross. 

The minimum we should expect is to compete in whatever competition we play, which hasn't been the case in recent memory but it does seem like the expectation levels have become completely unrealistic hence perhaps why we seem to be stuck in this spiral of loathing playing/coaching staff past and present and future. 

You can’t seriously be suggesting that Falkirk fans have got unrealistic expectations?

If we allow this club to think that just competing in League One is acceptable then we’d be as well as locking the gates.

[Mr November]

4 minutes ago, Diamonds are Forever said:

 

While that is true, in some respects this is the first season he's been able to build a team. The previous season he was working under/with a Director of Football and with the club bringing in random players that he clearly didn't want, most of whom weren't good enough and were not players you need to get out of League 1. This is the first season he's had total control of the signings, there are still guys here from previous seasons like Fordyce and Gallagher but it's not been some 3 year project, it was 2 and half years of making do with what he was being given, and then this season where he has put a side together. The key is that this season he wasn't lumbered with guys on contracts that he didn't want, every player here is a player he signed. Sounds like at Falkirk that isn't the case and it might take some time to clear out unwanted players.

I posted in this thread recently that Murray struggled a bit in his first season with us with a team that was entirely not his signings. He made us hard to beat but the football was awful and we seemed to lose a ridiculous number of home games 1-0. Based on his time at Airdrie, I feel like when he trusts his players, particularly the midfield (Turner, Easton, McCabe, Frizzell etc), he lets them play very expansively but otherwise tends to set up pretty defensively to try and keep things tight. I can’t imagine similar form or style of play going down very well at Falkirk if he was lumbered with the likes of Jaime Wilson and Brad McKay for his first season. I suppose he was quite clear about wanting rid of plenty of Airdrie players who were under contract in his first summer but it’s perhaps easier to shift part-time players like Scott Robertson and Ryan Conroy than guys on their last full-time contract.