The Falkirk FC Thread

[Otis Blue]

3 hours ago, Shodwall cat said:

There is absolutely no chance in hell we'd beat Celtic or Rangers in the final so we can forget winning it this season. Next Saturday gives us a decent chance of getting to the final but it will be the first time I've gone thinking we really do not have one single chance in hell of winning it.

Yeah, know how it feels.  That said, I think you'd have some outside chance if it was the Govan mob you faced, but not the Parkhead mob (they'd be a step too far).  They'd also need to have an off day obviously.

In 2008 we faced the Govan lot just days after they'd played Zenit St Petersburg at the UEFA cup final in Manchester, so that wasn't exactly a weak side they had then.  We were handicapped by having no games (and losing match fitness) for a few weeks prior to the game (whilst the staunch side were moaning about being forced to play too many games too quickly - bloody shame).  Because of this we started far too slowly and were 2-0 down by HT, but rallied second half to pull it back to 2-2 before Chris (f-ing) Boyd scored the winner.  The point was though that once we levelled they were clearly rattled and didn't look too clever for a while - alas we couldn't capitalise on it.  So you need some (a lot of) luck, and you need them to not be on it, and you need them not to be called Sellick ... but you just never know.

I think 2008 was the year there was no sponsor for the Big Cup, which was a bummer, so no doubt we missed out on some extra cash there.  We were also in the First Division then (now the Championship) and tbf we did have a decent side back then.

[Skyline Drifter]

1 hour ago, TxRover said:

Queen of the South in ‘09 perhaps?

08. And no we didnt. We lost to Nordsjaelland in the 2nd preliminary round. I think they then lost to  Kharkiv or someone and didnt get group stage either. Though they did reach Champions League group stages a couple of years later.

[Guest FFC1965]

1 hour ago, Otis Blue said:

Yeah, know how it feels.  That said, I think you'd have some outside chance if it was the Govan mob you faced, but not the Parkhead mob (they'd be a step too far).  They'd also need to have an off day obviously.

In 2008 we faced the Govan lot just days after they'd played Zenit St Petersburg at the UEFA cup final in Manchester, so that wasn't exactly a weak side they had then.  We were handicapped by having no games (and losing match fitness) for a few weeks prior to the game (whilst the staunch side were moaning about being forced to play too many games too quickly - bloody shame).  Because of this we started far too slowly and were 2-0 down by HT, but rallied second half to pull it back to 2-2 before Chris (f-ing) Boyd scored the winner.  The point was though that once we levelled they were clearly rattled and didn't look too clever for a while - alas we couldn't capitalise on it.  So you need some (a lot of) luck, and you need them to not be on it, and you need them not to be called Sellick ... but you just never know.

I think 2008 was the year there was no sponsor for the Big Cup, which was a bummer, so no doubt we missed out on some extra cash there.  We were also in the First Division then (now the Championship) and tbf we did have a decent side back then.

Your team - like us in 2009 - was handicapped in the cup final chiefly by the fact that the Govan mob were stuffed full of players on EBTs - players they could not afford ergo they cheated.  

Our respective clubs were denied a once in a lifetime chance at a trophy by a tax dodge.  Both had a credible chance of victory had the opposition had a team that reflected their true means at the time.  

[CallumPar]

5 hours ago, TheScarf said:

Didn't Dunfermline basically keep their squad who got relegated from the Championship last year? 

No. I’ve seen this claim a few times now and it’s just not true. We have, at most, 4/5 regulars from last season that are still with us. One of them is O’Hara, who has barely played this year. We’ve used 20 players in the league this season:

Regulars last season - Comrie, Edwards, Chalmers, O’Hara, arguably Todd - but he was RB ahead of Comrie towards the end, so can’t both be deemed first team/regulars.

In and out of team last season - McCann.

Sub/backup last season - Todorov, Allan, Mehmet, MacDonald (loaned out), Wighton (loaned out), Breen

New/loan signings - Benedictus, Hamilton, Mochrie, Fisher, Mahon, KRH, McGowan, Otoo.

First team players that we lost in the summer - Stolarczyk, Donaldson, Ambrose, Thomas, Polworth, Lawless, Dow, Pybus, Dorrans. All of these guys were ahead of this season’s players in the pecking order.

[Shodwall cat]

2 hours ago, Caractacus Potts said:

How do you know this? Ayr had a reporter turnover of £1.2m up to June 2022 which I’m pretty sure was lower than ours and we already know John McGlynn was handed an extra £150k on top of his existing budget which still presented a £400k loss despite a projected increase of £600k on income. 

Ayr are being bankrolled quite handily these days .Lot of investment in the team and stadium. They'll have a considerably bigger budget than us.

Edited April 19, 2023 by Shodwall cat

[Monkey Tennis]

2 hours ago, Skyline Drifter said:

If by up for a fight I'll pull you up for posting something I disagree with then have at it. Did we come into that game in something that could be perceived as great form? No. With the benefit of hindsight as being used by the Falkirk fan here though it's not unreasonable to say we were midway through an excellent run of form being as it was game 3 of what was ultimately a 6 game run.

How do you know it was ultimately a 6 game run?

Despite Saturday's mauling, if we win our remaining three matches (we won't) then the run will be much longer.

[Hughsie]

52 minutes ago, CallumPar said:

No. I’ve seen this claim a few times now and it’s just not true. We have, at most, 4/5 regulars from last season that are still with us. One of them is O’Hara, who has barely played this year. We’ve used 20 players in the league this season:

Regulars last season - Comrie, Edwards, Chalmers, O’Hara, arguably Todd - but he was RB ahead of Comrie towards the end, so can’t both be deemed first team/regulars.

In and out of team last season - McCann.

Sub/backup last season - Todorov, Allan, Mehmet, MacDonald (loaned out), Wighton (loaned out), Breen

New/loan signings - Benedictus, Hamilton, Mochrie, Fisher, Mahon, KRH, McGowan, Otoo.

First team players that we lost in the summer - Stolarczyk, Donaldson, Ambrose, Thomas, Polworth, Lawless, Dow, Pybus, Dorrans. All of these guys were ahead of this season’s players in the pecking order.

The last paragraph probably summing up nicely why you went down last season.

[Guest]

47 minutes ago, Shodwall cat said:

Ayr are being bankrolled quite handily these days .Lot of investment in the team and stadium. They'll have a considerably bigger budget than us.

I am not sure about Ayr having a considerably bigger budget than us. It’s been said before that we are paying Championship wages in L1, and that would not surprise me in the slightest. If their payroll is bigger than ours, I would think it’s by single percentages.

[CallumPar]

19 minutes ago, Hughsie said:

The last paragraph probably summing up nicely why you went down last season.

It absolutely does. Our squad was horrendously mismanaged last season. Both Grant and Hughes were terrible. Every week, match threads were full of opposition fans saying our squad was too good to go down and we’d come good. Then we’d turn up to the game and play with Matty Todd at RB, Ambrose and Donaldson at CB, Polworth and Lawless looking totally disinterested in midfield and we’d get beat without putting up a fight.

[Guest Caractacus Potts]

1 hour ago, Shodwall cat said:

Ayr are being bankrolled quite handily these days .Lot of investment in the team and stadium. They'll have a considerably bigger budget than us.

If they are being bankrolled then their turnover would surely be higher. They can’t just put in money and keep it from the accounts. 

[unused sub]

Does anyone know what the difference is prize money wise between finishing 2nd or 3rd in league 1 this season.

Tried googling it but couldn't find anything outside of SPL. 

[51 Bairn]

16 minutes ago, unused sub said:

Does anyone know what the difference is prize money wise between finishing 2nd or 3rd in league 1 this season.

Tried googling it but couldn't find anything outside of SPL. 

I wouldn’t be surprised if it was £2.50 and a twix more for the 2nd place team over 3rd place.

[grumpyoldman]

1 hour ago, Caractacus Potts said:

If they are being bankrolled then their turnover would surely be higher. They can’t just put in money and keep it from the accounts. 

If they are being bankrolled by way of share purchases or loans it wouldn’t increase turnover 

[bairn88]

Anyone know how long it takes Laura in shop to reply to email? Can’t get through on phone, been 2 days by email. (Not a complaint btw )

Edited April 19, 2023 by bairn88

[gav-ffc]

1 hour ago, unused sub said:

Does anyone know what the difference is prize money wise between finishing 2nd or 3rd in league 1 this season.

Tried googling it but couldn't find anything outside of SPL. 

A couple of grand.

[Ranaldo Bairn]

This was it in 2020. About 7.5k difference. 

Incidentally, how fucking HORRENDOUS was that division. Much higher standard this season.

[Guest Caractacus Potts]

9 hours ago, grumpyoldman said:

If they are being bankrolled by way of share purchases or loans it wouldn’t increase turnover 

Looking at their accounts it seems there was no share purchases and can’t see any large loans mentioned although admittedly no expert. 

[RC55 FFC]

10 hours ago, bairn88 said:

Anyone know how long it takes Laura in shop to reply to email? Can’t get through on phone, been 2 days by email. (Not a complaint btw )

Usually pretty quick. Maybe on hols? Check your junk folder for an OOO. 

[CallumPar]

11 hours ago, Ranaldo Bairn said:

This was it in 2020. About 7.5k difference. 

Incidentally, how fucking HORRENDOUS was that division. Much higher standard this season.

Where did you find that? SPFL website from 2019 has very different figures:

https://spfl.co.uk/news/spfl-prize-pot-reaches-25m

Think your figures maybe include TV/sponsorship money being significantly reduced or something during covid? Think prize pot is now c. £30m. So assuming same split (don’t think any changes have been voted for) prize money will be roughly:

1st - £150k
2nd - £129k
3rd - £105k
4th - £102k

[Ranaldo Bairn]

7 minutes ago, CallumPar said:

Where did you find that? SPFL website from 2019 has very different figures:

https://spfl.co.uk/news/spfl-prize-pot-reaches-25m

Think your figures maybe include TV/sponsorship money being significantly reduced or something during covid? Think prize pot is now c. £30m. So assuming same split (don’t think any changes have been voted for) prize money will be roughly:

1st - £150k
2nd - £129k
3rd - £105k
4th - £102k

Honestly can't remember - as you can see it was at 0023 and I was about 93% asleep!

I did a google search and I think it was on a Record article from back then. I couldn't find an article with this year's figures. Yours will probably be pretty close, I imagine.