The Falkirk FC Thread

[Shodwall cat]

10 minutes ago, Caractacus Potts said:

Fair enough but think if you also said at the start of the season that McGlynn wouldn’t pose a title challenge and not lay a glove on Dunfermline then there would be a lot of derision from others. Getting to a Scottish Cup Semi is an achievement but the run draw was extremely forgiving. As Pedro said, M&M got us to a quarter final too so doesn’t always tell the full story. 

Difference in cash between a quarter and semi is night and day though. Getting to the semi final was a massive boost for the finances. 

Dunfermline were always going to be favourites I'm not sure that having finished a country mile behind last year's winners cove that we could really expect to close that gap in one season to be honest. A win against Peterhead and we're 23 points better off than last season which is pretty good going.

[Guest]

McGlynns recruitment in the main has been decent for this level. However he has not addressed the defence properly IMO. Three of the four yesterday were Holt signings. Ok Rowe was injured but the goals lost yesterday had all the hallmarks of Sheerin/Rennie. 
For the playoffs he has to get his best and most effective players on the pitch.

Hopefully Rowe’s injury clears up.

I would get back to 4-2-3-1.
Not fussy what keeper plays

Rowe Donaldson Henderson McCann/McKie

Max Mcginn

Morrison Nesbitt Kennedy

Oliver

Burrell as the impact off the bench.  

[Guest Caractacus Potts]

1 minute ago, Shodwall cat said:

Difference in cash between a quarter and semi is night and day though. Getting to the semi final was a massive boost for the finances. 

Dunfermline were always going to be favourites I'm not sure that having finished a country mile behind last year's winners cove that we could really expect to close that gap in one season to be honest. A win against Peterhead and we're 23 points better off than last season which is pretty good going.

Not denying that but finance and performance are entirely different matters. Celtic, Hearts and Rangers put an end to M&M’s cup runs so can’t blame them for not getting further and more cash as a result. Had they had a similar draw to McGlynn then it’s every bit conceivable they could have reached the semi final too. 
 

I wouldn’t have put Dunfermline as firm favourites and I’m sure if I was to look at the chat prior to the start of the season then very little would have accepted playing second fiddle to them. 

[Blame Me]

2 minutes ago, Caractacus Potts said:

Am I not right to think Jordan Allan was one of the top scorers in the league when we signed him yet we’ve barely given him a chance nor made a system to suit him best. 

Perhaps too good to pass up in January but difficult to change formation to suit and sometimes that happens. 

Maybe Allan hasn't stepped up as management thought he might. 

So many factors at play as to why it's not happened for him but as said I wouldn't discount any or them next season.

Different levels of course but Rashford couldn't kick his own ar*e last year and has been a standout this year.

[Shodwall cat]

12 minutes ago, Caractacus Potts said:

Not denying that but finance and performance are entirely different matters. Celtic, Hearts and Rangers put an end to M&M’s cup runs so can’t blame them for not getting further and more cash as a result. Had they had a similar draw to McGlynn then it’s every bit conceivable they could have reached the semi final too. 
 

I wouldn’t have put Dunfermline as firm favourites and I’m sure if I was to look at the chat prior to the start of the season then very little would have accepted playing second fiddle to them. 

I said at the start of the season that progress and a playoff spot was the main aim giving where we were at that point.  Dunfermline have just been an unnecessary distraction. Would some people have bothered so much about it if it had been queen of the south ahead of us? Plus would Dunfermline have made such a noise  of winning league one if they hadn't beaten us this season?Mcpake has done well but he's also had a basis of players to work with from last season and hasn't needed the huge influx of players we've had.  Some of those Dunfermline players were just needing managed right . Having a striker like wighton makes a big difference too.  Hes a lot better than league one.  Your best chance of going back up is always that first year down. It's the closest we've got too.

[Tea and Busquets]

1 hour ago, Shodwall cat said:

We've had succession of shite managers that have seen us go from bad to worse on a never ending downward trajectory. We now have a manager that has finally managed to get us moving in the right direction and people want him sacked.  It's not just a simple case of one season and everything is alright again.  Feck even guardiola won absolutely nothing in his first season at man city . You need to give managers time to build sides and a culture at any club . Majority on here said progress was the important thing to see this season and we've seen enough of that surely.  We've had to  bring in around 14 players this season which is way more than you want to be seeing churning through a squad. The more you sign the more won't work out but I think in the grand scheme of things mcglynns done pretty well. Whatever happens we will have a good basis to build on next season. This season has certainly been the first I've enjoyed in a good while and hopefully still more to come.

 

Finally, a bit of sense on here. 

[Tea and Busquets]

36 minutes ago, Back Post Misses said:

McGlynns recruitment in the main has been decent for this level. However he has not addressed the defence properly IMO. Three of the four yesterday were Holt signings. Ok Rowe was injured but the goals lost yesterday had all the hallmarks of Sheerin/Rennie. 
For the playoffs he has to get his best and most effective players on the pitch.

Hopefully Rowe’s injury clears up.

I would get back to 4-2-3-1.
Not fussy what keeper plays

Rowe Donaldson Henderson McCann/McKie

Max Mcginn

Morrison Nesbitt Kennedy

Oliver

Burrell as the impact off the bench.  

The diamond worked well over at Alloa last week. Just wondering if he might go back to that. Playing the 4-3-3 or 4-2-3-1, recent results have been 3-0 loss to ICT, 2-1 loss to FC Edinburgh and 2-2 draw with Airdrie. With the diamond it’s been 4-1 win v Alloa, 2-1 win v Montrose and 2-2 with Dunfermline.

[Guest Caractacus Potts]

29 minutes ago, Blame Me said:

Perhaps too good to pass up in January but difficult to change formation to suit and sometimes that happens. 

Maybe Allan hasn't stepped up as management thought he might. 

So many factors at play as to why it's not happened for him but as said I wouldn't discount any or them next season.

Different levels of course but Rashford couldn't kick his own ar*e last year and has been a standout this year.

That is maybe a factor in training that we aren’t aware of but as far as time on the pitch is concerned then Allan has only started 2 games for us and they were months apart. He was regular starter for Clyde and scored 6 goals in his previous 8 appearances. Doesn’t feel like has ever been given a fair chance to be judged for his contributions on the pitch or in a system that suits him best. 

Know what you mean about it being an opportunity too good to miss but by the same token that is because he was scoring goals.

Just feel like we can’t argue about not having a striker when we take one of the leagues top scorers and fail to use him properly. 

[Shodwall cat]

Can sometimes take players a bit to adapt to full time training it's difficult to say why he hasn't played much. Him being unavailable for the cup tie has perhaps influenced mcglynns thinking.  Hopefully he will come on more after a full pre season.

[unused sub]

2 hours ago, Bairn winner said:

Am I missing something here, isn't it the problem of changing manager's so often that has caused the past shit shows.

I think the past shit shows were caused by poor boards appointing poor managers. 

 

[Guest]

I get a bit uneasy with the number of players brought in versus McPake having a solid base for this season as a reason for our lack of a proper challenge.

That McGlynn brought in 17(?) players across the season being held aloft as why it was more difficult for McGlynn is great to use as a double headed coin. Had the BoD not pushed out the boat for him, and allowed him to bring in only seven or eight players, then that too would immediately have been held aloft as to why it was so difficult for McGlynn.

Last season is a spectacularly low place by which to define success. There can’t be many managers/coaches in the game who couldn’t have done what McGlynn has done given (what I consider to be) massive backing by the Board.

Of course he gets his run at the play offs. We just have to hope that he can finally get round to actually winning one. If we fail to go up via the play offs, I think he will be given another season, but his track record of success isn’t really encouraging.
He can no longer point to “small squad” or “shoestring budget” as reasons for failure, that’s for sure.

[FalkirkBairn2021]

1 hour ago, Blame Me said:

Interesting that some of our most successful teams in recent times have played this style.

Yogis team was often derided for the "tippy-tappy pish" IIRC.

Pressleys kids overachieved realistically but had a Farid or Lyle Taylor and Houston's was a fine side and were easy on-the-eye when compared to the route one guff we've enjoyed a few seasons ago. 

Our only downfall is the transition and often we're not quick enough to catch the opposition out which is where ICT succeeded yesterday although I personally didn't think they were great.

I think Hughes' side played further up the park though. And had Latapy or at least Mark Kerr.

I have no problem with a Spain style tiki taka approach but it can't be 20 yards from goal and involve dross centre halves continually.

[18BAIRN76]

It’s painfully obvious to point out, but with all the talk about stats and records etc - ultimately, our season hinges on the play-offs. If we end the season by getting promoted, the losses against Dunfermline, the 53% win rate in League One, the inconsistency against the Kelty’s and Clyde’s of the world etc are completely forgotten. The ultimate aim of the season will have been achieved and it will rightly go down as a successful season.

Lose in the play-offs and the questions will undoubtedly come and the season will have undeniably been a disaster. Hard to overstate how big the next few weeks are.

Edited April 30, 2023 by 18BAIRN76

[Shodwall cat]

22 minutes ago, Duncan Freemason said:

I get a bit uneasy with the number of players brought in versus McPake having a solid base for this season as a reason for our lack of a proper challenge.

That McGlynn brought in 17(?) players across the season being held aloft as why it was more difficult for McGlynn is great to use as a double headed coin. Had the BoD not pushed out the boat for him, and allowed him to bring in only seven or eight players, then that too would immediately have been held aloft as to why it was so difficult for McGlynn.

Last season is a spectacularly low place by which to define success. There can’t be many managers/coaches in the game who couldn’t have done what McGlynn has done given (what I consider to be) massive backing by the Board.

Of course he gets his run at the play offs. We just have to hope that he can finally get round to actually winning one. If we fail to go up via the play offs, I think he will be given another season, but his track record of success isn’t really encouraging.
He can no longer point to “small squad” or “shoestring budget” as reasons for failure, that’s for sure.

From the outside it certainly would look to me as if Mcpake had more  more players he could build a side around than mcglynn did .  Chalmers, wighton, breen, comrie, Edwards, todd and mccann are certainly a lot better than most of the dross mcglynn was left with from last season.  You've got a spine of a side there including a striker that will get you goals.  We had a pile of shite .

[Shodwall cat]

5 minutes ago, 18BAIRN76 said:

It’s painfully obvious to point out, but with all the talk about stats and records etc - ultimately, our season hinges on the play-offs. If we end the season by getting promoted, the losses against Dunfermline, the 53% win rate in League One, the inconsistency against the Kelty’s and Clyde’s of the world etc are completely forgotten. The ultimate aim of the season will have been achieved and it will rightly go down as a successful season.

Lose in the play-offs and the questions will undoubtedly come and the season will have undeniably been a disaster. Hard to overstate how big the next few weeks are.

Hardly a disaster. As was mentioned previously the majority on here seemed happy enough to see progress and the playoffs this season. That's been achieved with the added bonus of a Scottish cup semi.  A disaster is coming 6th 33 points off the winners.

Edited April 30, 2023 by Shodwall cat

[18BAIRN76]

Just now, Shodwall cat said:

Hardly a disaster. As was mentioned previously the majority on here seemed happy enough to see progress and the playoffs this season. That's been achieved with the added bonus of a Scottish cup semi.  A disaster is coming 6th 3£ points off the winners.

In my opinion, any season Falkirk don’t win promotion out of the third tier is a disaster - doesn’t matter if we finish 2nd or 6th, to be honest.

[Bairnardo]

2 minutes ago, 18BAIRN76 said:

In my opinion, any season Falkirk don’t win promotion out of the third tier is a disaster - doesn’t matter if we finish 2nd or 6th, to be honest.

But thats based on nothing but assumption of what we are somehow entitled to. If you are judging objectively you have to judge it based on what McGlynn came in to. 

[Guest Caractacus Potts]

29 minutes ago, Shodwall cat said:

I said at the start of the season that progress and a playoff spot was the main aim giving where we were at that point.  Dunfermline have just been an unnecessary distraction. Would some people have bothered so much about it if it had been queen of the south ahead of us? Plus would Dunfermline have made such a noise  of winning league one if they hadn't beaten us this season?Mcpake has done well but he's also had a basis of players to work with from last season and hasn't needed the huge influx of players we've had.  Some of those Dunfermline players were just needing managed right . Having a striker like wighton makes a big difference too.  Hes a lot better than league one.  Your best chance of going back up is always that first year down. It's the closest we've got too.

That’s fair but I think as the season has panned out I would have expected more from McGlynn. Recruitment has been his best attribute but even then he’s left a lot of his own players on the bench. It’s an easy decision not to get rid of McGlynn but I’m not certain it will be the right one. 

[Shodwall cat]

21 minutes ago, FalkirkBairn2021 said:

I think Hughes' side played further up the park though. And had Latapy or at least Mark Kerr.

I have no problem with a Spain style tiki taka approach but it can't be 20 yards from goal and involve dross centre halves continually.

Hughes's side was fine playing it when latapy was in full flow. As soon as the heavy pitches came in though and then when he left we just resorted to the side to side pish.

[18BAIRN76]

16 minutes ago, Bairnardo said:

But thats based on nothing but assumption of what we are somehow entitled to. If you are judging objectively you have to judge it based on what McGlynn came in to. 

I don’t think that’s entirely fair. I certainly don’t think we’re ‘entitled’ to anything - we finished 6th in League One last season entirely on merit, because we were a shambles.

I think McGlynn has done a decent job - he inherited us at an incredibly low ebb and has undoubtedly improved us considerably. He was a very sensible appointment; a competent football manager to replace the charlatans that came before him. But while he inherited a squad largely weighed down with some muck, I still think it was a squad that underachieved by finishing 6th, mismanaged by the aforementioned clowns. He’s improved on that incredibly low ebb, which I think fits in the minimum of what he was brought in to do. He’s still managing Falkirk in League One, and with that comes expectations. He’s still had one of the biggest budgets in what is a majority part-time league and has brought in a number of his own players over the course of the season. He himself came in and said that the goal of the season is promotion; either through winning the league or the play-offs. 
 

I think it’s incumbent on us as fans to get behind the team going into these play-off matches; I don’t think we have anything to fear and if we play the way we can and as we’ve shown throughout the season, there’s no reason we can’t make this season a massive success. I really hope that’s what happens. But I would question the mentality of any Falkirk fan prepared to label a season in League One where we don’t go up as a ‘success’, purely due to being it ‘better’ than a 147-year nadir of 6th.

Edited April 30, 2023 by 18BAIRN76