The Falkirk FC Thread

[FalkirkBairn2021]

Absolutely disgusting communication. What are these clowns up to?

[Grangemouth Bairn]

I’m more saddened than angered by this tbh. My entire family are/were all Falkirk through and through. My great-grandfather, Papa, dad, uncles, brother, cousins and my sons. Attending games regularly since before WW2. For them to come out with this pish is insulting not just to 90% of our fans but also to anyone who has ever supported our club. 
 

They are lucky to have such a loyal bunch of supporters who back the team through thick and mainly thin. The last few years have been awful but we’ve stuck on in there. 
 

This makes them no better than the old board in their treatment of us and they can f**k right off. 
 

As lots of you have said despicable timing when there are people who are really struggling financially. 
 

Just when McGlynn and the boys had given us something to smile about too.

Self righteous Arseholes.

Edited September 29, 2022 by Grangemouth Bairn

[Shabba]

If the tone of the email was along the lines of “we are really struggling now, we need help or the consequences are x, y and z” it would have had a far more receptive audience. The on field performances have given us all hope that better times are coming. There’s no need to make it so passive aggressive and suggesting that you aren’t a real fan unless you’re a patron or FSS member is just wild. I think they need to remember the majority of people have no interest anything other than watching a game on a Saturday

[Dunning1874]

That's appalling stuff.

Every fan organisation tries to increase their membership, they have a responsibility to do so, but there are so many ways they can do it without being tone deaf. You could even still directly reference percentages relative to season ticket holders or average attendances without directly insulting everyone who hasn't joined. That kind of emotional blackmail can only be counter productive and make people less likely to join.

[FalkirkBairn2021]

It reads as pure Tory. This is the kind of w**k the Daily Fail churns out.

'Millionaires are paying more than you in tax.. How's that fair? Can't you peasants take on a 4th job to start pulling your weight?'

It's completely irrelevant whether 10 fans have paid 20 quid or 200 grand each. How dare they imply families worried if they can pay a mortgage and a fuel bill aren't giving enough to an entertainment industry. 

Irresponsible tone deaf Truss-esque gibberish.

[gav-ffc]

50 minutes ago, roman_bairn said:

Is it an option for supporters to contribute less that £10 per month? Say £5 for example?
If we are not flexible enough to allow people to pay what they can afford then we have no reason to complain about a lack of members imo…..

Agreed on this having more options is what is needed, perhaps under16s at a couple quid a month, also perhaps a monthly raffle prize for members along the lines of B4L and I know people will say that’s taking money out the club each month but long term you’ll probably get more members.

[18BAIRN76]

54 minutes ago, roman_bairn said:

Is it an option for supporters to contribute less that £10 per month? Say £5 for example?
If we are not flexible enough to allow people to pay what they can afford then we have no reason to complain about a lack of members imo…..

Spot on. I along with many, many others have suggested a £5 starting rate more than once and have been met with 'it's something we're looking at' every single time it comes up.

[Rugster]

18 minutes ago, Dunning1874 said:

That's appalling stuff.

Every fan organisation tries to increase their membership, they have a responsibility to do so, but there are so many ways they can do it without being tone deaf. You could even still directly reference percentages relative to season ticket holders or average attendances without directly insulting everyone who hasn't joined. That kind of emotional blackmail can only be counter productive and make people less likely to join.

Just to be clear, and this actually makes it worse, it wasn’t written by the fans organisation it was written by the Falkirk board. 

[LatapyBairn.]

I actually quite like the brutal honesty of it, it certainly doesn’t offend me. There is no point in sugar coating things and to be honest I do agree the FSS numbers are pretty poor for a club our size, I’d like to think fans who can afford to do a bit more will. Do we want want to be a fan owned club or not? The model seems to be working well at other clubs of similar size so surely we can step up as a group and buy the shareholding that’s been made available to us, the idea that the club could sell of those unsold shares not to the fans but to another Mark Campbell type or even a Lex Miller type crook actually makes my blood run cold. We’d literally be back to square one from an ownership perspective, MSG mark 2! 

Edited September 29, 2022 by LatapyBairn.

[Zbairn]

4 minutes ago, LatapyBairn. said:

I actually quite like the brutal honesty of it, it certainly doesn’t offend me. There is no point in sugar coating things and to be honest I do agree the FSS numbers are pretty poor for a club our size, I’d like to think fans who can afford to do a bit more will. Do we want want to be a fan owned club or not? The model seems to be working well at other clubs of similar size so surely we can step up as a group and buy the shareholding that’s been made available to us, the idea that the club could sell of those unsold shares not to the fans but to another Mark Campbell type or even a Lex Miller type crook actually makes my blood run cold. 

Don’t think this is why there is so much negative comment.
It’s not the intended message folk are getting angry about, it’s the tone and way it was delivered.

[Guest]

1 minute ago, LatapyBairn. said:

I actually quite like the brutal honesty of it, it certainly doesn’t offend me. There is no point in sugar coating things and to be honest I do agree the FSS numbers are pretty poor for a club our size, I’d like to think fans who can afford to do a bit more will. Do want want to be a fan owned club or not? The model seems to be working well at other clubs of similar size so surely we can step up as a group and buy the shareholding that’s been made available, the idea that the club could sell of those unsold shares out of desperation to another Mark Campbell type or even a Lex Miller type crook actually makes my blood run cold. 

I don’t mind us being direct but the wording of the 10% / 90% bit IMO is not well worded and as has already been demonstrated is divisive. 
The rest of what you say I agree with. Fans either want fan ownership or they don’t. They have the ideal opportunity as it is. They either take up the chance by the end of October or they have take a smaller part moving forward as the club clearly needs investment. 

[Grangemouth Bairn]

8 minutes ago, Back Post Misses said:

I don’t mind us being direct but the wording of the 10% / 90% bit IMO is not well worded and as has already been demonstrated is divisive. 
The rest of what you say I agree with. Fans either want fan ownership or they don’t. They have the ideal opportunity as it is. They either take up the chance by the end of October or they have take a smaller part moving forward as the club clearly needs investment. 

It’s unprecedented times for the majority of people as everyone’s disposable income has been stretched to the limit. The majority of our fans want fan ownership however the majority of fans also cannot afford it or have other, more pressing priorities just now.

This statement is from OUR board to OUR fans. It’s an absolutely appalling statement to have issued.

If a member of our board has gone rogue and written this it’s bad enough but if this has been proof read by other people and still issued it’s bloody criminal.

[Shabba]

Did the Navy Blue group put 600k in or is that still a possibility?

[LatapyBairn.]

10 minutes ago, Shabba said:

Did the Navy Blue group put 600k in or is that still a possibility?

Most of the people involved with the NB group have already invested as patrons now. Not sure how much more they’d want or be able to afford to invest again as a group, some may well invest further but I doubt to the level the club needs. 

Edited September 29, 2022 by LatapyBairn.

[Springfield]

Just now, Shabba said:

Did the Navy Blue group put 600k in or is that still a possibility?

Question I asked earlier, surely after the tanking the previous BOD got for many things including the NB investment ?

[Guest]

6 minutes ago, Grangemouth Bairn said:

It’s unprecedented times for the majority of people as everyone’s disposable income has been stretched to the limit. The majority of our fans want fan ownership however the majority of fans also cannot afford it or have other, more pressing priorities just now.

This statement is from OUR board to OUR fans. It’s an absolutely appalling statement to have issued.

If a member of our board has gone rogue and written this it’s bad enough but if this has been proof read by other people and still issued it’s bloody criminal.

It had all the Board members name on it. 
I only really have an issue with the one paragraph which I have already mentioned, the rest I can’t see an issue with. 
The Board have a job to do. They have to ensure the club has enough cash to keep the doors open. The fans either want fan ownership or they don’t - as you say some can’t afford it to contribute more. 
IMO it could have had the same impact by saying we need the FSS to raise X per Month to make Fan ownership work. That would have thrown it back to the fans and not pointed the finger at those who can’t be bothered, those who don’t agree and those who can’t afford. 

[Dawson Park Boy]

I think we can all agree that it was badly worded but everyone makes mistakes.

Im prepared to let it go but I think they need to be a lot more honest with the fans.

How bad really is it?

What are the consequences of the Auditors not signing the Accounts off.

Will it affect us with the football authorities?

Will it demoralise the staff?

When is the AGM?

Brutal honesty is what’s needed and, yes, I’m sure the fan base will rally to the cause.

[Shabba]

They obviously feel it’s now desperation stage for money. It just could have been worded without the need for the good guy/w**k divide

[PedroMoutinho]

Tbh it rarely ends well when any business starts attacking its customers or blaming them for not purchasing its product.

How that totally tone deaf email presumably got past a whole board of directors is beyond me. Accusing supporters who’ve continued to back the club in huge numbers frankly well beyond what it deserved of ‘sitting back’ is particularly offensive.

Clearly the number of FSS sign ups has been disappointing (through absolutely no fault of the guys involved) but to me you’ve got to look at what can be done to make it more attractive rather than trying to emotionally blackmail people.

Imo there should be a £5 a month option, particularly in these difficult times. There should also be a ‘share save’ option allowing people to purchase shares in their own name and get something more tangible for their investment.

There also needs to be a greater platform for FSS members who are not patrons to be involved in decision- making.

There seems to be a suggestion now from some BoD outriders that the plan is to effectively sideline the FSS and concentrate even greater control in the hands of the patrons, which would be totally the wrong approach Imo.

Edited September 29, 2022 by PedroMoutinho

[Grangemouth Bairn]

4 minutes ago, Back Post Misses said:

It had all the Board members name on it. 
I only really have an issue with the one paragraph which I have already mentioned, the rest I can’t see an issue with. 
The Board have a job to do. They have to ensure the club has enough cash to keep the doors open. The fans either want fan ownership or they don’t - as you say some can’t afford it to contribute more. 
IMO it could have had the same impact by saying we need the FSS to raise X per Month to make Fan ownership work. That would have thrown it back to the fans and not pointed the finger at those who can’t be bothered, those who don’t agree and those who can’t afford. 

The reaction has certainly proved they have a real disconnect with the fans which is a shame as things were starting to look really positive on the pitch.

There is massive economic uncertainty in the UK just now. People either don’t have the money or due to the uncertainty won’t risk increasing their outgoings on what they don’t deem as a necessity. People are worried and rightly so.

The board have totally mis-read the room here.