The Falkirk FC Thread

[Bainsfordbairn]

12 minutes ago, Amarillo Bairn said:

I'm taking this to mean, Sibbald and Simon Murray were in yesterday doing their medicals and Bainsfordbairn is going in tomorrow to do the photos of them in the new kits!
Am I close?

Nope. If anyone was in for a medical they would have signed and then been snapped immediately afterwards so that the story could be released ASAP before it got leaked. It's very rare for the club to sit on news of signings if all the paperwork is concluded. 

[FFC 1876]

6 minutes ago, Bainsfordbairn said:

Nope. If anyone was in for a medical they would have signed and then been snapped immediately afterwards so that the story could be released ASAP before it got leaked. It's very rare for the club to sit on news of signings if all the paperwork is concluded. 

Can't have folk leaking out information like how fast as f**k Alex Harris is.

[Springfield]

7 minutes ago, Bainsfordbairn said:

Nope. If anyone was in for a medical they would have signed and then been snapped immediately afterwards so that the story could be released ASAP before it got leaked. It's very rare for the club to sit on news of signings if all the paperwork is concluded. 

Assuming you’ve signed NDA ?

[Jackie Myles]

3 hours ago, Grangemouth Bairn said:

Did they actually write off £7.2m worth of debt ?

Thats the debt they had when they went into admin the first time. A miniscule amount per pound would've been paid back and they were then allowed to continue in the top flight with no.penalty whatsoever despite being in admin for 15 months.  Second time not sure what the total debt was but to keep going wlc had to write off the 300k they owed in rent or they would've been liquidated.

[Sortmeout]

On 09/06/2022 at 16:33, FFC 1876 said:

PJ Morrison, Henderson and McGinn are excellent signings at this level. Remember McGinn's just went and won the league with Killie whilst having to also carry Blair Alston on his shoulders every game.

In terms of overall performances I would say McGinn and Alston pretty close last season. Alston’s goals probably just shading it for him in terms of who had the better season.

[Reggie Perrin]

1 hour ago, Sortmeout said:

In terms of overall performances I would say McGinn and Alston pretty close last season. Alston’s goals probably just shading it for him in terms of who had the better season.

Anyone writing off Blair Alston after his pretty ineffective second spell with us should remember that he was surrounded by utter, utter shite.

[Springfield]

15 minutes ago, Reggie Perrin said:

Anyone writing off Blair Alston after his pretty ineffective second spell with us should remember that he was surrounded by utter, utter shite.

Like Telfer should had been above the shite 

[Guest]

7 hours ago, ATLIS said:

Conspiracy FC's biggest fan here  We're virtually debt free now, despite operating at zero running loss since being in League 1. Either way our ST sales are up 49% on this time last year, so maybe the community is finally buying back into the club now that we're being run the right way. 

[FFC 1876]

26 minutes ago, Reggie Perrin said:

Anyone writing off Blair Alston after his pretty ineffective second spell with us should remember that he was surrounded by utter, utter shite.

He was also a large contribution to the utter, utter shite.

[Rovers_Lad]

1 hour ago, Jackie Myles said:

Thats the debt they had when they went into admin the first time. A miniscule amount per pound would've been paid back and they were then allowed to continue in the top flight with no.penalty whatsoever despite being in admin for 15 months.  Second time not sure what the total debt was but to keep going wlc had to write off the 300k they owed in rent or they would've been liquidated.

Think the second time around there debt was about 1 mill with over 300k owed to the council who took them to court

[Guest]

18 minutes ago, Long Suffering Bairn said:

I am considering using a VPN for the first time to be able to watch live streams of Falkirk TV as I cannot get to games.  Anyone any experience with doing this?   My conscience would be bothering me as I know it is not "allowed", but it would be the only way for me to watch games, rather than stuck with 5 minute highlights on Youtube.

ExpressVPN. Aye, more expensive, but aye, also very good. The free ones can be a bit clunky, and for streaming, they can be utterly useless.

[Kevin James Left Knee]

The FSS Newsletter has now been sent to all - if it is not in your email account (check spam) by tomorrow let me know,.

[Jackie Myles]

19 minutes ago, Rovers_Lad said:

Think the second time around there debt was about 1 mill with over 300k owed to the council who took them to court

Took them to court, forced them into admin and then wrote the whole debt off.

[tamthebam]

7 hours ago, Jackie Myles said:

Easy to be debt free when you keep being allowed to write it off in huge amounts . 7.2 million the first time was quite remarkable and 300k was a huge amount to just write off when councils need all the penny's they can get. God knows how much you must have avoided paying back  people since your inception having gone through is it only 2 administrations or 3 I can never remember. Be still lucky if season tickets pass a thousand and considering Livingston has a pop of  over 55k it's bloody awful.

Nothing to do with FFC (btw good user name- enjoyed seeing Jackie Myles when he played for Dunbar United towards the end of his career) but the first bankruptcy was under the less than skilled leadership of Bill "Blobby" Hunter. According to an insider Bill f*cked up building a second stand at Almondvale, which was no surprise to us Thistle fans. 

One of Blobby's directors, ex Thistle manager John Bain, actually came up to us at a Spartans v Edinburgh City game at the time and said "looks like you boys were right". You won't read that in the history Bain later wrote though.

Blobby himself went on to be a "stadium advisor" to East Fife which is why they play at a one stand shitehole I suppose. He then was a director at Morton when the hated Hugh Scott was owner.

Having effectively won his battle and moved the club to Livingston many years later Blobby published an autobiography (tbh Topsy and Tim is a more intellectual read) and was still repeating the lie that he got death threats from the Thistle fans. That is the measure of the man.

[Guest]

54 minutes ago, tamthebam said:

Nothing to do with FFC (btw good user name- enjoyed seeing Jackie Myles when he played for Dunbar United towards the end of his career) but the first bankruptcy was under the less than skilled leadership of Bill "Blobby" Hunter. According to an insider Bill f*cked up building a second stand at Almondvale, which was no surprise to us Thistle fans. 

One of Blobby's directors, ex Thistle manager John Bain, actually came up to us at a Spartans v Edinburgh City game at the time and said "looks like you boys were right". You won't read that in the history Bain later wrote though.

Blobby himself went on to be a "stadium advisor" to East Fife which is why they play at a one stand shitehole I suppose. He then was a director at Morton when the hated Hugh Scott was owner.

Having effectively won his battle and moved the club to Livingston many years later Blobby published an autobiography (tbh Topsy and Tim is a more intellectual read) and was still repeating the lie that he got death threats from the Thistle fans. That is the measure of the man.

Thing is, there wasn’t an administrative process back in 1994/95, but in terms of that being the genesis of the first massive debt avoidance play, then it was certainly that.

The fist admin was the first time any club used deliberate debt accrual as a business tool. The fact that they were allowed to continue to field a team that was way beyond their means was a blight on Scottish football. This effectively allowed a team to “win” the Scottish League Cup by fielding a side that they couldn’t feasibly afford……and all with no penalty whatsoever. A disgraceful time.

In between, there was the much rumoured scam of the proposed sale of the stadium to the “club” at well below market value so that they could then sell it on to a commercial enterprise for a massive profit that could then be shared as appropriate. Apparently a couple of key figures in the public sector got cold feet when their local friendly political figure got thrown in the nick.

So they rumbled on to admin 2, and then close to admin 3 then persons unknown got Martindale in there for reasons unknown, and now he is the kingpin who cannot be sacked regardless of fortunes on the park. I think lots of people have a good idea of why that is……apart from their supporters that is who still try to convince themselves and others that everything is above board. I think following that mob gives you a great deal of practice in learning to look the other way.

[HopeStreetWalker]

11 hours ago, Amarillo Bairn said:

I'm taking this to mean, Sibbald and Simon Murray were in yesterday doing their medicals and Bainsfordbairn is going in tomorrow to do the photos of them in the new kits!
Am I close?

What is commendable by the new board is the way they have gone about their business regarding signings rightly keeping things confidential 

The days of some arsehole on the board giving blow by blow account of what's going on are in the past.

Therefore Clubs and Individuals the club are involved with can have confidence that they are dealing with a club and management that operate to the highest standards. That can only be good for our image and the standard of player that is enticed to sign for the club.

Long may it continue.

[roman_bairn]

What is commendable by the new board is the way they have gone about their business regarding signings rightly keeping things confidential 
The days of some arsehole on the board giving blow by blow account of what's going on are in the past.
Therefore Clubs and Individuals the club are involved with can have confidence that they are dealing with a club and management that operate to the highest standards. That can only be good for our image and the standard of player that is enticed to sign for the club.
Long may it continue.

I agree with aspects of this ‘highest standards’, but I think it’s a bit blinkered overall. There have been mistakes made and still are in my opinion.
As for the leaks, they are certainly not as pronounced as previous but the names of a couple of signings have been leaked, although I am not sure it’s possible to always be so scrupulous that it can be avoided sometimes…

[18BAIRN76]

12 hours ago, Reggie Perrin said:

Anyone writing off Blair Alston after his pretty ineffective second spell with us should remember that he was surrounded by utter, utter shite.

Not disagreeing with this at all, but what pissed me off was the fact he totally threw the towel in by the end of the season. I previously thought highly of Alston, and that really dented my opinion of him.

Edited June 13, 2022 by 18BAIRN76

[Newbornbairn]

14 hours ago, Bainsfordbairn said:

Nope. If anyone was in for a medical they would have signed and then been snapped immediately afterwards so that the story could be released ASAP before it got leaked. It's very rare for the club to sit on news of signings if all the paperwork is concluded. 

So what you're saying is Sibbald is signing, just paperwork to be done?

[Jackie Myles]

1 hour ago, roman_bairn said:

I agree with aspects of this ‘highest standards’, but I think it’s a bit blinkered overall. There have been mistakes made and still are in my opinion.
As for the leaks, they are certainly not as pronounced as previous but the names of a couple of signings have been leaked, although I am not sure it’s possible to always be so scrupulous that it can be avoided sometimes…

You've always got two sides to it too. Whilst we can try to keep it water tight on our side you can't prevent the players side letting the cat put the bag.