The Falkirk FC Thread

[PedroMoutinho]

3 minutes ago, Jimmy1876 said:

The target was £250,000 raised by FSS from October over around 8 months. With an average of £12 per month membership which it was at the time that would need a total of 2604 members. 

I believe there was discussion around the same time of reducing the minimum subscription to £5, which would have required higher overall numbers.

In any event, both numbers are absolute non starters so I hope they were not budgeted for.

[Jimmy1876]

5 minutes ago, Springfield said:

Said previously, the fans wether those financially or the regular supporters who would walk on this ice for the club, have had there fill with how the club have fallen, will support in far greater numbers, once we see a half decent football team every Saturday and a BOD that merits that kind of support.

I get that this is a common and completely understandable opinion but this is my main reason for feeling so strongly about fan ownership. Because the fans get to vote for two places on the board and can rightly vote people in or out when necessary which has a big impact. Likewise fan ownership gives a steady, reliable income to the club that can be used for the playing budget. If we don't get the numbers then we don't get those things. In the right numbers fan ownership could contribute to the solution to both of those things. 

[bairn88]

I don’t think the FSS membership is disappointing. The scheme is mere months old. Having been involved with other similar schemes at amateur sports clubs (50/50 clubs etc), it takes years to build these up.
Ideally you want a load of people getting a tenner taken out of their account every month and basically not noticing - that takes time, and to me we are well on track. If in 5 years we’re only at 1000 I’d be a tad disappointed.

That’s why I was pretty angry with the shouts of “it’s failed, we’ll have to pursue a different avenue” 

Edited December 2, 2022 by bairn88

[Reggie Perrin]

4 hours ago, PedroMoutinho said:

If the rumours are correct, no attempt was made to shift them as Mcglynn thought it would damage squad harmony.

Is there no end to the drivel that you are prepared to post?

[NUMBER 7]

4 hours ago, PedroMoutinho said:

If the rumours are correct, no attempt was made to shift them as Mcglynn thought it would damage squad harmony.

If you managed any Championship, League 1 or League 2 side would you sign any of them, or take them on loan ?  We are unfortunately saddled with them until they are out of contract. You couldn’t give them away in a raffle. 

You would have been lucky if any club would have been prepared to pay 30% of their Falkirk wages.

[LatapyBairn.]

44 minutes ago, bairn88 said:

I don’t think the FSS membership is disappointing. The scheme is mere months old. Having been involved with other similar schemes at amateur sports clubs (50/50 clubs etc), it takes years to build these up.
Ideally you want a load of people getting a tenner taken out of their account every month and basically not noticing - that takes time, and to me we are well on track. If in 5 years we’re only at 1000 I’d be a tad disappointed.

That’s why I was pretty angry with the shouts of “it’s failed, we’ll have to pursue a different avenue” 

I agree, I think the numbers so far have been ok and the society is being well ran by good people however the numbers could be better when comparing to other clubs of similar size. I do think with time and effort we will get closer to the 2000 figure I think a club of our size should be looking at for a credible fan ownership/supporter society, the need for quick cash has frustrated some fans who have been trying to push the FSS. I’m sure given time it will grow organically to the levels needed it would just be nice if we could get there quickly for the clubs sake! 

Edited December 2, 2022 by LatapyBairn.

[NUMBER 7]

Just noticed my second year subscription to FSS came out the bank this week, so hopefully be the same for more annual contributors around this time and the contributions will be higher next month. FSS need to make sure the annual contributors keep contributing given the initial two year commitment has ended. 

Edited December 2, 2022 by NUMBER 7

[Bairnardo]

And of those clubs to which you refer, at least two of them would have long since been counting home attendances in the low three figure bracket if their support had had to put up with a fraction of the garbage served up on the park and the never ending horrendous mismanagement off it that we have had inflicted upon us. The continued backing of the Falkirk support for more than a decade of this nonsense has been absolutely ridiculous really. In that context , comparisons with other clubs, especially some of those you are probably thinking of, are completely redundant. There is no comparison.

Yeah, something to think about when any questions about fans putting their money into club comes up....

[Bairney The Dinosaur]

Probably is about time for another FSS drive actually. 

[Guest]

The FSS governship is not standing still, and were recently the guests of Foundation of Hearts at Tynecastle for discussions with both the FoH Board and Anne Budge.

FoH have been established since before the the Hearts financial meltdown and were of course, a key part of their resurrection (and their new stand). They put £120k a month into the club…..just incredible.

They are easily “best in class”, and are now open to helping FSS on an ongoing basis. While we could never match FoH in terms of cash raised, when you scale everything down to FFC numbers, it has shown that there is still significant opportunities for FSS to grow. Even reaching 10% of the FoH numbers is a great stretch target for FSS. FoH have 9,000 members (give or take).

[Bairnschild]

9 hours ago, Bairn in Exile said:

I live on the other side of the world and I know that the club is in dire straits so I’ve signed up to the FSS. How the f*ck can fans who live and work in the Falkirk area not know that we’re up shit creek without a paddle? What will it take for them to commit a decent wedge in reasonable numbers; a front page advert/plea in the Falkirk Herald? McGlynn, Smith and the Board standing in the centre circle at half time pleading their case for more help from the fans? We pride ourselves on being the best and most loyal of fans – our current situation and lack of support from the fan base suggests otherwise.

Re: the 600+ fans who have signed up to the FSS, and without knowing their personal financial situations, if everyone of us pledged £500 to some sort of fighting fund, that would make a big £300k dent in our £400k black hole.

I’ll pony up a monkey, anybody else? (if the missus finds out she’ll go fecking Tonto but what the hell).

And before anyone has a go, I’m not trying to be some sort of “I’m a better fan than you”, I’m only trying to help my club. And anyway, my 500 quid would be chickenfeed compared to what some P&B posters have done previously for the club.

I hope enjoy your life on the other side of the world. You certainly are not better. There are loads of us locally who do lots for the club, travel home and away, breath FFC. You enjoy your Melbourne fc or whoever you go to watch. A true Falkirk supporter will travel to Wick for an early Scottish Cup game, or Peterhead on a cold Tuesday night. Don't embarrass yourself by saying what is real supporters should do. Send over £25k to the club and you'll be close to my ten year expenditure supporting the club and every other supporter who travels home and away.

You my friend are a stayaway fan, and not a supporter

 

 

[Bairn in Exile]

2 hours ago, Bairnschild said:

I hope enjoy your life on the other side of the world. You certainly are not better. There are loads of us locally who do lots for the club, travel home and away, breath FFC. You enjoy your Melbourne fc or whoever you go to watch. A true Falkirk supporter will travel to Wick for an early Scottish Cup game, or Peterhead on a cold Tuesday night. Don't embarrass yourself by saying what is real supporters should do. Send over £25k to the club and you'll be close to my ten year expenditure supporting the club and every other supporter who travels home and away.

You my friend are a stayaway fan, and not a supporter

 

 

I started watching Falkirk in 1969, just as I started high school. My pocket money and money I earned from my paper round took me to watch the Bairns, home and away, whenever I could afford it. I even managed to talk my parents into letting me miss school to go down to Coventry for the Texaco Cup game.

Once I left school and started working I continued to follow the Bairns all over Scotland, car sharing with friends, midweek games up in Aberdeen etc. I was once able to boast that I had been to every ground in Scotland but with some clubs getting new stadiums and the likes of Annan coming into the league it means that I can no longer make that claim.

My job took me down south in the late 80s but I still traveled up regularly, either on my own or with some of my new friends, both home and away. Games against the likes of Motherwell, Hamilton, the Arse Cheeks and the Edinburgh clubs were actually easier for me to visit than Brockville. So, I continued to follow the Bairns in person for the next 20 years until another job took me overseas in 2009.

So, for 40 years, from 1969 to 2009 I’ve watch my club in the flesh as much as possible, the Scottish Cup Finals in 1997 and 2009, all the Challenge Cup Finals etc. Whenever I am home on holiday I always take in a game or 3, home and away.

Don’t you dare lecture me on my lack of support for the club, your 10 years of support is f*ck all.

Pr*ck!

Edited December 3, 2022 by Bairn in Exile

[LauriestonBairn]

2 hours ago, Bairn in Exile said:

I started watching Falkirk in 1969, just as I started high school. My pocket money and money I earned from my paper round took me to watch the Bairns, home and away, whenever I could afford it. I even managed to talk my parents into letting me miss school to go down to Coventry for the Texaco Cup game.

Once I left school and started working I continued to follow the Bairns all over Scotland, car sharing with friends, midweek games up in Aberdeen etc. I was once able to boast that I had been to every ground in Scotland but with some clubs getting new stadiums and the likes of Annan coming into the league it means that I can no longer make that claim.

My job took me down south in the late 80s but I still traveled up regularly, either on my own or with some of my new friends, both home and away. Games against the likes of Motherwell, Hamilton, the Arse Cheeks and the Edinburgh clubs were actually easier for me to visit than Brockville. So, I continued to follow the Bairns in person for the next 20 years until another job took me overseas in 2009.

So, for 40 years, from 1969 to 2009 I’ve watch my club in the flesh as much as possible, the Scottish Cup Finals in 1997 and 2009, all the Challenge Cup Finals etc. Whenever I am home on holiday I always take in a game or 3, home and away.

Don’t you dare lecture me on my lack of support for the club, your 10 years of support is f*ck all.

Pr*ck!

I thought his comment was tongue in cheek initially. 

 

If not, then that is a wild take.

[Believe The Hype]

12 hours ago, PedroMoutinho said:

If the rumours are correct, no attempt was made to shift them as Mcglynn thought it would damage squad harmony.

Yet he was quite happy to let telfer, who had just won player of the year, go as his contract was up, but thought na I will keep Ross, Wilson, hetherington as those guys play such a big part in squad harmony..... Pish

Also all of this 'im a bigger fan than you' bollocks is cringe. None of us should have to seek validation in supporting our team.

[Bairnardo]

Correct. Anyone wanting to dole out lectures on what makes a good fan is having an absolute laugh.

[Dunning1874]

10 hours ago, RandomGuy. said:

Is there any genuine chance you lot end up part time/hybrid if you fail to get promoted this season?

Feels unlikely any club can sustain 3/4 years of full time football outwith the top 2 tiers due to the prize money/gates involved.

That's the thing, on the face of it there's no reason Falkirk shouldn't be able to pay decent full-time wages, even accounting for years of receiving considerably less prize money than other full-time sides: the larger income at the gate should more than bridge that gap. The only reason a club averaging 3000+ can't break even in League One is through choice, gross incompetence or both.

There's often a logic given to full-time teams in League One that losses are inevitable and just getting over the line to promotion one year will fix it all with increased prize money, but this also ignores that building a credible promotion winning League One squad shouldn't need top end Championship/lower end Premiership wages to be thrown around. Obviously Falkirk could actually afford to pay more than several Championship clubs within their means, but regardless of which board, managers or Directors of Football are to blame they've  somehow managed to launch such stupid money around to run at a substantial loss without even a playoff place to show for it.

To some extent you can see how a club ends up in that position, as convincing players with Championship offers to drop to League One is pretty much always going to require a financial incentive. If you're Aidan Nesbitt or Stephen McGinn and you have a couple of Championship contracts on the table, it's going to take a significantly better offer financially to convince you to drop to League One instead. There's one of the problems: some of the players they've gone and paid a premium for to beat Championship sides to signings are mediocrities anyway. If you're throwing good Championship money around - which to some extent Falkirk could afford to do - in League One the players getting it need to be tearing the league apart, and too many of them haven't.

Then there's the other kind of player where they're just spending more money than they need to for the sake of it. Craig McGuffie gets released by Morton and has no full-time clubs other than Falkirk interested. This isn't a McGinn or Nesbitt scenario where a good offer is needed to make League One more appealing, no one in the Championship wants him and Falkirk are his last chance saloon in full-time football. He gets an increase on what he was earning in the Championship anyway, money which either didn't need to be spent or could have been used to attract a higher calibre of player that Championship clubs actually want. It's hardly on the same level as Rangers telling Kevin Kyle to name his price, but it's still needless, reckless spending.

Any club getting those crowds could break even and sustain full-time football, just not full-time wages that are higher than some Premiership clubs as they do now. Whether being full-time rather than hybrid is actually a model which attracts the best squad possible when you'd also have the financial clout to cherry pick the best part-timers is another issue.

[Sergeant Wilson]

2 hours ago, Bairnardo said:

Correct. Anyone wanting to dole out lectures on what makes a good fan is having an absolute laugh.

It's been discussed before. Obviously, these days you can support from abroad, by streaming, making donations, buying stuff and investing.

But they still weighed up the options and moved away, choosing not to go to games. That's not wrong, but it is a choice made in freewill.

[Bairnardo]

It's been discussed before. Obviously, these days you can support from abroad, by streaming, making donations, buying stuff and investing.
But they still weighed up the options and moved away, choosing not to go to games. That's not wrong, but it is a choice made in freewill.

With respect sarge.... Haven't you got people to bait in Ukranian War thread?

[Sergeant Wilson]

2 minutes ago, Bairnardo said:

8 minutes ago, Sergeant Wilson said:

It's been discussed before. Obviously, these days you can support from abroad, by streaming, making donations, buying stuff and investing.
But they still weighed up the options and moved away, choosing not to go to games. That's not wrong, but it is a choice made in freewill.

With respect sarge.... Haven't you got people to bait in Ukranian War thread?

I start at 9.00.

[welshbairn]

Ponies up monkeys, jumpers for goalposts, marvellous!