The Falkirk FC Thread

[Bainsfordbairn]

18 minutes ago, Nedelko said:

Any idea what the delay might be in offering him a deal?

I think the obvious answer is finance.

I do have a wee bit of sympathy for the board here. As fans, we want more players, better players, and the proven duds shipped out so we can bring in quality to replace them. And we want it every single window every single season.

And if it costs more than we can afford and we make a loss, then not only does someone have to cover that cost out their own pocket, but the financial consequences may be highlighted in a powerpoint presentation in bold red figures with a minus beside them, as we saw at the EGM yesterday.

I'm not defending the current owners - in fact I'm very keen to see as an absolute minimum that their voting power is broken up, and I'd like a lot more than that - but they're kind of caught between a rock and a hard place at the moment. I have an amount of sympathy for them.

Albeit the solution is very much in their own hands.

[CPBAIRN]

50 minutes ago, Falkirk Till_ I Die said:

Bullshit

Small Squad could make it harder but won't stop us winning the league

Dixon, Buchanan, Telfer and McManus are injured. Sammon and Gomis are suspended. 

Now pick your team...

[Grangemouth Bairn]

1 hour ago, Falkirk Till_ I Die said:

Bullshit

Small Squad could make it harder but won't stop us winning the league

Do you believe this ? Really ?

[bud1876]

I think the obvious answer is finance.
I do have a wee bit of sympathy for the board here. As fans, we want more players, better players, and the proven duds shipped out so we can bring in quality to replace them. And we want it every single window every single season.
And if it costs more than we can afford and we make a loss, then not only does someone have to cover that cost out their own pocket, but the financial consequences may be highlighted in a powerpoint presentation in bold red figures with a minus beside them, as we saw at the EGM yesterday.
I'm not defending the current owners - in fact I'm very keen to see as an absolute minimum that their voting power is broken up, and I'd like a lot more than that - but they're kind of caught between a rock and a hard place at the moment. I have an amount of sympathy for them.
Albeit the solution is very much in their own hands.

I dont have an ounce of sympathy for them.
They got us here... so its up to them.
Maybe Superfan could give us an interest free loan ... payable over... say 50 years.
Just another thought that crossed my mind.... maybe you will know... maybe not.
Didnt we spend a few thousand ( 10s rather than 1s ) on " investigating " a safe standing area?

[Reggie Perrin]

We could always promote a couple of academy players to fill the gaps...

[bud1876]

Bullshit
Small Squad could make it harder but won't stop us winning the league

Oh it well could stop us.... dont underestimate the teams in this league,... part time or not, those players will be trying just that bit extra against us.
Take a couple of suspensions , couple of injuries ( inevitable )... and we will struggle.

[GeordieBairn]

Thought I seen someone say you could play trialists in League 1, if that counts for anything and a player is that desperate for a game.

[Nedelko]

I think the obvious answer is finance.
I do have a wee bit of sympathy for the board here. As fans, we want more players, better players, and the proven duds shipped out so we can bring in quality to replace them. And we want it every single window every single season.
And if it costs more than we can afford and we make a loss, then not only does someone have to cover that cost out their own pocket, but the financial consequences may be highlighted in a powerpoint presentation in bold red figures with a minus beside them, as we saw at the EGM yesterday.
I'm not defending the current owners - in fact I'm very keen to see as an absolute minimum that their voting power is broken up, and I'd like a lot more than that - but they're kind of caught between a rock and a hard place at the moment. I have an amount of sympathy for them.
Albeit the solution is very much in their own hands.

If the budget has gone on what we have (with perhaps a slight cushion for one other) then agree that's McKinnon's call and not the board. Do think we'll be hard pushed even with one more addition in the door, as evidenced by how short we are on numbers already, but let's see how things play out over the next couple of weeks before we go into full panic mode. As things stand, we have a squad that should, just about, win the league.

More to your point, I'd say that the board have actually handled the playing budget quite well this summer, it's just everything else they've failed at that ultimately led to us getting here. That's why I struggle to feel sympathy towards them - especially while they cling onto a post in which it has been made clear they're not wanted.

Can't really dispute or add to anything else you've said, though, other than that it's far too well-measured a take for these parts.

[Grangemouth Bairn]

16 minutes ago, bud1876 said:

Oh it well could stop us.... dont underestimate the teams in this league,... part time or not, those players will be trying just that bit extra against us.
Take a couple of suspensions , couple of injuries ( inevitable )... and we will struggle.

Exactly. We need a bigger squad.

[Reggie Perrin]

Thought I seen someone say you could play trialists in League 1, if that counts for anything and a player is that desperate for a game.

Reduced to scrambling about looking for players desperate for a game to enable us to put a team on the park.
Sad, sad times.

[Andreas Kelevra]

If we must have a small squad, then crocks shouldn’t even be considered so Denny and Toshney shouldn’t even be looked at. Without a youth team we need about 22 players. 

[Bairn in Exile]

1 hour ago, Grangemouth Bairn said:

Exactly. We need a bigger squad.

I thought that we could get a way with an 18 man squad but from what I've seen today, with a couple of injuries and a suspension, then having just 18 isn't going to cut it. However, when all is said and done I think the main obstacle to us getting automatic promotion could be Death Ray and his overly cautious approach. We had a great chance to stay up last year but McKinnon insisted on playing for draws and that ultimately had us relegated. If we start to see him have the team play like that when we are away from home in League 1 he has to go.

[JulioBairn]

2 hours ago, CPBAIRN said:

Dixon, Buchanan, Telfer and McManus are injured. Sammon and Gomis are suspended. 

Now pick your team...

I can’t recall any season when 6 of the starting 11 are missing at the same time. Can you remind me of anytime this has happened?

Would be pretty unlucky for it to happen this year. 

[Bairn in Exile]

17 minutes ago, JulioBairn said:

I can’t recall any season when 6 of the starting 11 are missing at the same time. Can you remind me of anytime this has happened?

Would be pretty unlucky for it to happen this year. 

The days of having a "starting 11" are gone, it is a squad game now, horses for courses and picking a team to suit. Which just highlights that I was naive in thinking an 18 man squad would suffice.

[Dunning1874]

11 hours ago, GaryDoug said:

Oh, but they do. They rated him a ton, until he signed for us and he suddenly became bang average and they didn't care. 

 

Weirdos inbound in 3..2.

This is complete bollocks, though.

Any Morton fan who claims they didn’t rate Michael Tidser or Denny Jonhstone is obviously at it and/or blinded by bitterness now they’re Falkirk players. People saying they didn’t rate Telfer is entirely consistent with views of him when he was a Morton player.

He had a few excellent games in the run-in, one of them against Falkirk, but for much of the season was anonymous, which is why despite not having any long-term injuries over the season he started less than two thirds of our games. His performances didn’t merit a place in the team every week and he sat on the bench for a third of the season as a result.

There’s obviously a debate to be had about whether him being below par for most of the season was an accurate reflection of his ability rather than a consequence of being managed by a moron. Any player can be hindered by a dud manager, but some players still overcame that to make a consistent positive contribution - Telfer wasn’t one of them.

While the jury is out on whether he’s good enough to perform consistently in the Championship, I still fully expect him to tear League One to shreds.

[RandomGuy.]

Falkirk fans - Let's starve the club of season ticket money!

Falkirk fans - Whys the budget not there to sign anymore players!

Its almost as if your club spunked its load on big wage players early on, expecting a similar income solely on home gates since away crowds will be tiny, and are now being forced to cut back because the home crowds wont be big enough.

[Guest]

If the budget has gone on what we have (with perhaps a slight cushion for one other) then agree that's McKinnon's call and not the board. Do think we'll be hard pushed even with one more addition in the door, as evidenced by how short we are on numbers already, but let's see how things play out over the next couple of weeks before we go into full panic mode. As things stand, we have a squad that should, just about, win the league.

 

More to your point, I'd say that the board have actually handled the playing budget quite well this summer, it's just everything else they've failed at that ultimately led to us getting here. That's why I struggle to feel sympathy towards them - especially while they cling onto a post in which it has been made clear they're not wanted.

 

Can't really dispute or add to anything else you've said, though, other than that it's far too well-measured a take for these parts.

 

 

No one can have sympathy with them simply because they said they would cover any shortfall until new owners come in. So this 18 man squad is of their making. McKinnon via that expression knows it is too few. Yet again another incorrect board strategy.

 

And if I read one more fan say they its the stay away fans fault and at the same time ignore the waste of £1.3m on last year's budget and £140k on the McKinnon hiring shambles I am going to lose it.

 

One thing from the EGM I haven't seen anywhere reported was they didn't ask to see McKinnons contract before speaking to him they took the word of the agent. Of course that was CC and ML's fault as AT and LM never got told anything [emoji15]

[Bairnardo]

Falkirk fans - Let's starve the club of season ticket money!
Falkirk fans - Whys the budget not there to sign anymore players!
Its almost as if your club spunked its load on big wage players early on, expecting a similar income solely on home gates since away crowds will be tiny, and are now being forced to cut back because the home crowds wont be big enough.

Yep. Well based on this post, I am just going to go and have a big bowl of cereal then renew my season ticket so that people who run a football club, supposedly in its best interest as fans, will sanction cover for left back.

Cheers for the perspective m9.

[RandomGuy.]

Just now, Bairnardo said:

Yep. Well based on this post, I am just going to go and have a big bowl of cereal then renew my season ticket so that people who run a football club, supposedly in its best interest as fans, will sanction cover for left back.

Cheers for the perspective m9.

Just pointing out how daft boycotts can be, tbh. Your man BPM seems to have been pushing for it, solely so he can point out the fact your board claimed they would cover up the difference if anything like this happened.

Sounds like someone with the club at heart...

[Bairnardo]

Just pointing out how daft boycotts can be, tbh. Your man BPM seems to have been pushing for it, solely so he can point out the fact your board claimed they would cover up the difference if anything like this happened.
Sounds like someone with the club at heart...

BPM like myself and many other posters on this thread are part of a group of fans that collectively pledged to put in 800k of our own money, only requiring the board/MSG to stay true to their word and let it happen.

The board, for their part, have deliberately attacked fans on numerous occassions as well as blocking the above cash injection. Fans have responded by trying to force change in the business side of the club.

The MSG have said they are not going anywhere, have requested that we trust them and the fact that they are fans and love the club.

So why should we not expect these people to act in the best interests of the club in securing adequate squad cover for the league campaign? Why are you blaming football fans for not renewing when the same fans have been told thanks but we dont requide your money in order to secure the best interests of the club?