The Falkirk FC Thread

[LatapyBairn.]

1 hour ago, ShaggerG said:

Fantastic idea. Could get Crunchie to do the crossbar challenge while he's out there!

Price of the season ticket would be worth it for this alone, just to see the wee legend on the park kicking a ball again! Even if it was the cross bar challenge. 

Edited October 6, 2022 by LatapyBairn.

[Guest Brockvillenomore]

34 minutes ago, Skyline Drifter said:

Ah Google, that bastion of football finance! Are you seriously taking your financial advice from Google? You started posting by criticising others for not knowing what they were talking about in football finance and you're googling things? You've moved the goalposts anyway. Nobody said soft loans were all that unusual, particularly at the very biggest clubs (you know, the sort Google will be referring to). We were talking about bankrolling a large six figure budget deficit by calling on fans to fund it through a donation membership scheme AFTER you've already committed to it. If you don't think that's unusual you're limiting your sample to Hearts, Motherwell, St Mirren and Morton! (yes I know there will be others, but it's sure as hell not a normal or remotely sustainable business model).

FYI and context. The shares being sold were ratified at an EGM nearly two years ago.
 

The club had 1,000 pledges that would see the investment pretty much sorted in 18 months.  The club were also anticipating a further £250k investment from the Rawlins that didn’t materialise. 

It may have escaped your attention the last couple of years have been somewhat “unusual”.  

 

Edited October 6, 2022 by Brockvillenomore

[RC55 FFC]

25 minutes ago, 18BAIRN76 said:

Apologies if this has been posted already, and Ken it’s probs peanuts, but any idea how much you actually get for a cup game on Alba? 

I believe their is no extra fee for a televised match in this comp. 

[ShaggerG]

37 minutes ago, StuartA said:

Hi Shagger (feels like I’m talking to myself…)

Do you mean the club or FSS site? I suppose both makes sense. We have tried to get the message out far-and-wide but it’s clear it hasn’t reached everyone.

Aye, sorry, I meant the club site.

[FFC 1876]

34 minutes ago, Dawson Park Boy said:

Who is Ken?

Childish if you ask me.

[LatapyBairn.]

1 hour ago, Skyline Drifter said:

Ah Google, that bastion of football finance! Are you seriously taking your financial advice from Google? You started posting by criticising others for not knowing what they were talking about in football finance and you're googling things? You've moved the goalposts anyway. Nobody said soft loans were all that unusual, particularly at the very biggest clubs (you know, the sort Google will be referring to). We were talking about bankrolling a large six figure budget deficit by calling on fans to fund it through a donation membership scheme AFTER you've already committed to it. If you don't think that's unusual you're limiting your sample to Hearts, Motherwell, St Mirren and Morton! (yes I know there will be others, but it's sure as hell not a normal or remotely sustainable business model).

There’s a bit of a difference between “donation” as you’ve put it and purchasing shares in the club. I donated money in 1997 when the club was in dire straits, in this instance my direct debt to the Falkirk Supporters Society is something completely different, the society along with the patrons group will eventually own 51% of the club effectively safeguarding the club from unscrupulous opportunist individuals we’ve seen over the years and giving us fans a proper voice. To say that the model isn’t sustainable is quite obviously untrue when you look at clubs of similar size thriving under fan ownership, Motherwell and St Mirren being the obvious examples and Hearts to a larger extent. Morton are now also majority fan owned I believe and although not flush with cash are on a far more stable footing than they were previously, there are far more examples of successful fan owned and run clubs than there are examples of unsuccessful ones.

Edited October 6, 2022 by LatapyBairn.

[Springfield]

There’s various sales and marketing techniques that the representatives and club should be implementing, and agree with some posters saying that many fans are still not fully aware of the FSS and the current financials.

ST renewal - come absolutely clean and tell the fans how it is……. Get rid of the early bird and increase the STs for around £50 (ie £25 early bird + £25 increase) would bring in an immediate £100K based on 2000 fans.

This is only a broad example of how the club could generate cash. Absolutely sure there would be fans upset, yes we’re living in times of increased costs, but as said TELL THE FANS the truth and no bullshit / begging / arse licking / blackmail it might just work. 

[Brockers61]

18 minutes ago, RC55 FFC said:

I believe their is no extra fee for a televised match in this comp. 

In that case would the club not be best to leave the match to 10/11th Dec as scheduled? I'd imagine a Thursday night game would draw a smaller crowd and a corresponding drop in hospitality income etc. Only upside of a Thursday evening match on TV would appear to be the national exposure that televising the game would give the club.   

[bairn88]

6 minutes ago, Brockers61 said:

In that case would the club not be best to leave the match to 10/11th Dec as scheduled? I'd imagine a Thursday night game would draw a smaller crowd and a corresponding drop in hospitality income etc. Only upside of a Thursday evening match on TV would appear to be the national exposure that televising the game would give the club.   

Very much doubt we can say no. 

[Grangemouth Bairn]

59 minutes ago, Dawson Park Boy said:

Who is Ken?

 

[RC55 FFC]

9 minutes ago, Brockers61 said:

In that case would the club not be best to leave the match to 10/11th Dec as scheduled? I'd imagine a Thursday night game would draw a smaller crowd and a corresponding drop in hospitality income etc. Only upside of a Thursday evening match on TV would appear to be the national exposure that televising the game would give the club.   

It’s no doubt in the cup rules you can’t say no 

[ShaggerG]

39 minutes ago, LatapyBairn. said:

Price of the season ticket would be worth it for this alone, just to see the wee legend on the park kicking a ball again! Even if it was the cross bar challenge. 

In the unlikely event of Latapy and Stainrod being available we could have a legends half time crossbar or beat the goalie challenge. Crunchie, McWilliams, McGivern, Baptie, Geordie Watson, etc, etc.

I'm getting all excited!

[StuartA]

On 05/10/2022 at 16:05, Scott said:

I finally signed up to FSS the other night after watching the Falkirk Daft podcast. There's a number of reasons why it's taken me so long to join such as going through a house move (waiting to see where I'd be financially), not really knowing enough of what's involved (slightly confused at all the different groups/legs of the stool/pledges etc etc) and perhaps being too lazy to look it all up (and seeing its not all that complicated at all).

The point I'm trying to make is perhaps the reason why the sign up numbers arent as high as we'd like is due to the message not getting out there to a broader audience of our fan base. I've got a lot of friends who are Bairns (in their 30s and 40s) but not all of them are totally aware of the FSS, whats involved and how simple it actually is. They're not all that active on social media and don't get to as many games as we used to but still very much have the club at heart.

I hope it doesn't come across as having a go, far from it as the guys involved are doing a great job but what I can remember of other teams pushing for fan ownership was there was a lot of publicity but it feels like our push seems kind of 'stop-start' in that we will hear updates from time to time resulting in small boosts to member numbers (the most recent of which gave me the bum booting to finally join).

Does anyone think that we'd have more success if we had more of a 'face'? Such as flags,advertising,badges,leaflets etc with the simple message along the lines of 'OWN OUR CLUB' with an identifiable logo that everyone will recognise and know when they see it what it means. 

I fear the noise from the latest message put out asking for more members will fizzle out again very soon and result in another going out in a month or so resulting in another very modest increase. It seems to me that even though we have a latent support of 5000, the message will only be reaching a small percentage of those and even then, its perhaps not entirely clear how straightforward it is.

I reckon a more visible, prolonged presence getting the message out there over multiple streams (newspaper, online, banners at games etc) could let more fans know we have a movement ongoing. I appreciate this is all easier said than done as would be very hard work, time consuming and costly but I feel the struggle we have getting more numbers is due to the message not being visible enough, if that makes sense.

 

I was quite grateful for this message as I thought it hit a few nails on the head. It has been difficult to persuade larger numbers to sign up, though I still don’t think we’re doing shockingly within the context we’re operating.  

We have done lots of comms: our own website and social media with posts reaching 3k+ regularly; hundreds of leaflets distributed at games, including hospitality, shop, Brockville Bar and elsewhere; mass emails to our lists and via the club; several Herald articles; Falkirk Daft podcast; newsletters; articles in each programme; several live events for members and non-members; talking at Biz club and other events; a stall in the main stand, and more. 

We’re obviously giving it more of a push this month, thus the competition and more comms that’s yet to come.  But it’s fair to say that a challenge is a simple one: resources.  We all have day jobs and there are fewer than a dozen of us, so there’ll always be a bandwidth issue. And leaflets, badges, banners and other paraphernalia all cost money.

A few of the guys have been dishing-out leaflets at each home game. I haven’t as I’ve missed a few games and, if I’m honest, I like getting pished with my pals on matchdays instead. But we’re heeding your advice about visibility and will do a big push at the Alloa and Kelty games, so would be really grateful if anyone could give half an hour of their time to help get leaflets in hands before each match. 

DM me or write to subscriptions@falkirksupporters.org if you’re up for giving us a hand leafleting these games - I’ll buy you a pint!

[Bairn in Exile]

Re: some of the recent posts, maybe the club could get some sort of legends match organised to raise funds? Perhaps an 80s team v 90s team or 90s v 2000s? A tenner a skull to get in, the cash going to a good cause. I am sure that some of our past favourites would give of their time gladly to help the club. I am also certain that a lot of fans would turn up to watch one of these. It would be great to see the likes of Crunchie, Russell, Gunner, Big Crawf, Super Sam or God back in the Navy Blue!

Edited for an afterthought.

Edited October 7, 2022 by Bairn in Exile

[Guest Back Post Misses]

3 hours ago, Bairn in Exile said:

Re: some of the recent posts, maybe the club could get some sort of legends match organised to raise funds? Perhaps an 80s team v 90s team or 90s v 2000s? A tenner a skull to get in, the cash going to a good cause. I am sure that some of our past favourites would give of their time gladly to help the club. I am also certain that a lot of fans would turn up to watch one of these. It would be great to see the likes of Crunchie, Russell, Gunner, Big Crawf, Super Sam or God back in the Navy Blue!

Edited for an afterthought.

Maybe he would donate his fee from the night he is having ..,……. aye right ! 

[Guest Back Post Misses]

11 hours ago, RC55 FFC said:

I believe their is no extra fee for a televised match in this comp. 

Not sure that is correct 

[RC55 FFC]

1 hour ago, Back Post Misses said:

Not sure that is correct 

Jamie Swinney, sadly, confirmed it was right on Twitter last night. The BBC cash goes into the overall competition pot he said.  

[Shodwall cat]

21 hours ago, ShaggerG said:

How do you know this?

Kenny J was certainly very vocal in wanting the msg influence in the club removed. 

[Shodwall cat]

2 hours ago, RC55 FFC said:

Jamie Swinney, sadly, confirmed it was right on Twitter last night. The BBC cash goes into the overall competition pot he said.  

Which is extremely unfair as it's only the clubs that are getting shown live that can be adversely affected crowd wise by the fact it's on TV.

[Shodwall cat]

12 hours ago, StuartA said:

I was quite grateful for this message as I thought it hit a few nails on the head. It has been difficult to persuade larger numbers to sign up, though I still don’t think we’re doing shockingly within the context we’re operating.  

We have done lots of comms: our own website and social media with posts reaching 3k+ regularly; hundreds of leaflets distributed at games, including hospitality, shop, Brockville Bar and elsewhere; mass emails to our lists and via the club; several Herald articles; Falkirk Daft podcast; newsletters; articles in each programme; several live events for members and non-members; talking at Biz club and other events; a stall in the main stand, and more. 

We’re obviously giving it more of a push this month, thus the competition and more comms that’s yet to come.  But it’s fair to say that a challenge is a simple one: resources.  We all have day jobs and there are fewer than a dozen of us, so there’ll always be a bandwidth issue. And leaflets, badges, banners and other paraphernalia all cost money.

A few of the guys have been dishing-out leaflets at each home game. I haven’t as I’ve missed a few games and, if I’m honest, I like getting pished with my pals on matchdays instead. But we’re heeding your advice about visibility and will do a big push at the Alloa and Kelty games, so would be really grateful if anyone could give half an hour of their time to help get leaflets in hands before each match. 

DM me or write to subscriptions@falkirksupporters.org if you’re up for giving us a hand leafleting these games - I’ll buy you a pint!

What's the latest with the new  fss fans rep it's been quite a while now since Douglas resigned unfortunately. Are we anywhere near getting a replacement?