The Falkirk FC Thread

[Guest]

I had a five minute chat with a well known insolvency practitioner this afternoon. I asked him that other than the obvious debt, was there any common thread in every football case he had been involved in.

His answer was absolutely yes, and it was ego. Successful in other aspects of business means they feel doing so in football is almost a given. They have rarely if ever accepted that they have made a mess of things, and always feel aggrieved that no-one wants to build a monument in reverence for their great work.
He reckons that vocal supporters who seek involvement are commonly viewed as a nuisance. He did say that at times, he too found the nuisance opinion valid, but that in some cases, it was quite the opposite.

[Gaz]

Mind that time when Eddie May was a fucking shite manager leading us to relegation and large proportions of our idiotic fans claimed he'd turn it around if he was given enough time?

[kiddy]

5 hours ago, ilostmyself said:

We got £25k for Jimmy Nicholl?! He can't have been at the club for more than a month or two.

 

3 hours ago, gav-ffc said:

Hartleys best signing.

If we'd have got just £25 for the rest of his signings, that would have been grand!

[Guest]

Unfortunately apart from forty minutes away at Raith we’ve been simply third rate.


FTFY

[Guest]

I really don’t know if there is an ending to this craziness that seems to have overwhelmed everything the MSG/BOD touches.

Some of the managerial appointments would appear to be ok, but then something behind the scenes turns all to hell. The only common denominator (other than the MSG) seems to be not that they simply trust the people they hire (that should be a good thing), but that they give them so much latitude, that they can actually wreck the club. George Craig in everything he touched and Hartley’s recruitment policy being the two most glaring cases.
It’s almost as if they give them the job and also the keys to the toy shop to do as they fancy. There just doesn’t seem to be any kind of joined up writing to any of it.

[Reggie Perrin]

The level of ineptitude consistently demonstrated by those in positions of power and influence at the club is really quite astonishing.

Obviously Lex is known to be a world class simpleton but Alexander and Ritchie were highly successful businessmen, have their brains turned to mush in their dotage?

[roman_bairn]

Remember when we were told that by closing the Academy we could sign all of these players on a decent wage and balance the books?

In fact was it not reiterated at an AGM with Margaret Lang at the helm that we were still debt free?

Liars.....

 

[Hank von Hell]

My thoughts & opinions only:

1.  It maybe slightly unfair to castigate the MSG as a whole as they are obviously fractured. Indeed it was stated some members (the Moffets) would not accept MC and vetoed the deal - so for saving us from that nightmare  should be thanked. Obviously the rest of them are barstewards. 
2. As we have no academy and no saleable players any more (CC's Busted Brentford Model), I am hoping the summer gigs will plug the hole in the finances. Unless we have completely dropped our pants to the promoters coz we are desperate. Why else would The Killers come to Falkirk?
3. Still no idea why M&M would leave their jobs for interim positions - give them the jobs(s) until the end of the season. So weird.
4. I am slightly scared by the fact that MC has not taken down his pinned tweet about taking over FFC and has went all quiet. Does he smell blood with our financial position and is hoping to pick up the club for a pound like his fellow charlatans Steve Dale & Craig Whyte (I am sure they are in an evil club somewhere).      
5. EdiBairn's reincarnation is well overdue.

[Guest]

The accounts are a waste of paper. They tell no one anything about how we got into this state as a business. They could have just put out a tweet saying we lost £693 grand last year. If you want any detail you can f**k off. They are an insult to shareholders.

[Bairnardo]

15 minutes ago, Hank von Hell said:

My thoughts & opinions only:

1.  It maybe slightly unfair to castigate the MSG as a whole as they are obviously fractured. Indeed it was stated some members (the Moffets) would not accept MC and vetoed the deal - so for saving us from that nightmare  should be thanked. Obviously the rest of them are barstewards. 
2. As we have no academy and no saleable players any more (CC's Busted Brentford Model), I am hoping the summer gigs will plug the hole in the finances. Unless we have completely dropped our pants to the promoters coz we are desperate. Why else would The Killers come to Falkirk?
3. Still no idea why M&M would leave their jobs for interim positions - give them the jobs(s) until the end of the season. So weird.
4. I am slightly scared by the fact that MC has not taken down his pinned tweet about taking over FFC and has went all quiet. Does he smell blood with our financial position and is hoping to pick up the club for a pound like his fellow charlatans Steve Dale & Craig Whyte (I am sure they are in an evil club somewhere).      
5. EdiBairn's reincarnation is well overdue.

Just to address this one point... MC's twitter is like everything else about the man, a fucking sham. An empty front. He will just make a new one for the next scam. 

[Newbornbairn]

Away from the doom-mongering, Jay Fulton kicked a ball in and scored -

 

 

[Gaz FFC]

7 hours ago, Reggie Perrin said:

The level of ineptitude consistently demonstrated by those in positions of power and influence at the club is really quite astonishing.

Obviously Lex is known to be a world class simpleton but Alexander and Ritchie were highly successful businessmen, have their brains turned to mush in their dotage?

The amount of successful businessmen who turned up at a football club and discovered that this is a more bespoke or Niche market to their horror is astronomical.

I'm no big city businessman but I can tell you for free everything you learned elsewhere is useless to you.

[Shadwell Dog]

1 hour ago, Bantabairn said:

Don’t get why so many people find it difficult to run a football club. Proper management with the correct skill sets and the rest is easily follow. Bewildered that so many get it wrong.

Yeah you would think the basic of balancing the books would be the same in any business including football.

[Dawson Park Boy]

3 hours ago, Back Post Misses said:

The accounts are a waste of paper. They tell no one anything about how we got into this state as a business. They could have just put out a tweet saying we lost £693 grand last year. If you want any detail you can f**k off. They are an insult to shareholders.

I’ve been banging on about this to AT at the last few AGM’s with no great support.

Hopefully, it might change this year!!

[Shadwell Dog]

11 minutes ago, Dawson Park Boy said:

I’ve been banging on about this to AT at the last few AGM’s with no great support.

Hopefully, it might change this year!!

I wonder if he'll be there this year? Has he been told when it is does anyone know. 

[HopeStreetWalker]

37 minutes ago, Shadwell Dog said:

Yeah you would think the basic of balancing the books would be the same in any business including football.

It comes down to good  business management.

You just have to look at what Fergus McCann did at Celtic to see how to do it.

Objective with timeline. Achievable business plan. Correct people for the job in the right positions. KPI's put in place to ensure objective is on schedule.

Action-Review-Revise and back to the start again.

Have quality management in place to ensure standards are kept up and plan for continual improvement.

That is how a successful business is run and you are correct there is no reason a Football Club cannot be run on the same lines.

 

[Shadwell Dog]

27 minutes ago, HopeStreetWalker said:

It comes down to good  business management.

You just have to look at what Fergus McCann did at Celtic to see how to do it.

Objective with timeline. Achievable business plan. Correct people for the job in the right positions. KPI's put in place to ensure objective is on schedule.

Action-Review-Revise and back to the start again.

Have quality management in place to ensure standards are kept up and plan for continual improvement.

That is how a successful business is run and you are correct there is no reason a Football Club cannot be run on the same lines.

 

SO the question is how come Sandy Alexander and Martin Ritchie can own successful own multi milion pound businesses and yet are happy to preside over the shambles that is Falkirk football Club?

Edited November 28, 2019 by Shadwell Dog

[Guest]

SO the question is how come Sandy Alexander and Martin Ritchie can own successful multi milion pound businesses and yet are happy to preside over the shambles that is Falkirk football Club?

I would guess that once their original investment is history, and a few years pass by, their personal interest in the day to day running of the club wanes.

They bring in people to do a specific job, but that job title isn’t nailed down in terms of what they can or cannot do.....so they indulge themselves in decision making that hurts the club further down the line.

For some of the MSG, it’s close to neglect. For some, it’s a lack of time. For some, it’s arrogance. For others, it’s frustration at the neglect, arrogance and lack of commitment of the others.

[HopeStreetWalker]

44 minutes ago, Shadwell Dog said:

SO the question is how come Sandy Alexander and Martin Ritchie can own successful own multi milion pound businesses and yet are happy to preside over the shambles that is Falkirk football Club?

Good question ! Both have track records that show they do have these business disciplines. Suspect they looked upon the club as a plaything and a bit of an ego trip.

It's the only explanation as to where we are.

[Shadwell Dog]

1 minute ago, HopeStreetWalker said:

Good question ! Both have track records that show they do have these business disciplines. Suspect they looked upon the club as a plaything and a bit of an ego trip.

It's the only explanation as to where we are.

I don't know if you can say that for Martin Ritchie. Without the likes of him we wouldn't have a club.  He was there in our darkest hour at a time when Falkirk was as far away from being anyones plaything as it could possibly be.  Just not sure whats gone so wrong since then.