The Falkirk FC Thread

[HopeStreetWalker]

On 29/05/2021 at 14:42, Caractacus Potts said:

I’m not sure what their intentions are but I’m not ok with either particularly buying the stand or land. The council have had us hamstrung for years and the South Stand payments aren’t great for us either. 
 

If they buy the South Stand for a cut price then that’s not good news particularly since it would have been fans money that paid it off. 

The part share of the stadium is the only asset the club has. As you said its near worthless due to the council. The only way the Rawlins will increase the value is to buy out the other stakeholders in the stadium. Since that's the council it stands to reason they will want the surrounding land in the package. Not this year maybe not next year. They will sit on their money let the value of FFC drop further and buy out at the bottom of the market.

Its the way the Yanks do business. This sports agency they own being their income stream is nonsense - it always was. Its a front to keep the gullible - gullible. As will be proved with the signings coming in next few weeks the Rawlins will have no input.

[Guest Caractacus Potts]

23 minutes ago, Peter LaFleur said:

As a fan who has zero connections to the board or to the fans group and little interest in board matters in general I’ve found this place absolutely poisonous to read the past few weeks. Complete shit show reflecting perfectly what’s on the park. 
For me, there’s a few new posters on here that aren’t doing the fans group any favours with what’s becoming almost cult like behaviour. It’s better to just give the board the rope and they’ll do the rest. 

I’ll be waiting until the Q&A for some tough questions to be asked to the board as to why this never went through before forming a judgement. I believe that is only fair. Rawlins is literally just in the door and for them to make any money out of the club we NEED to be successful on the park. This possibly is a small line on his investment accounts and he won’t give a f**k but to say that for certain is pure assumption which is totally unfair.

I long for the day that the board room rambling isn’t a topic due to the success on the park. Hopefully throughout the next month we see positive signings and restrictions continue to ease which will see us back in grounds for the league cup games. I can’t wait to be back for a pre-match lager before get behind the navy blue. An away day to Cove venting years of frustration out at Hartley whilst seeing double blitzed.

I’m sure this post will get hounded with people roaring for change but until I hear on record from both sides I’m not getting excited over 5/6 users on Pie and Bovril. I’m not pro Deans and posted previously I don’t feel he is the right man for the club and should have walked at the end of the season.

TLDR: COYB.

The Q and A should be interesting. The board definitely have a lot to answer for. 
 

I’m not sure if I’m one of those new posters you referred to(certainly not a part of the fan group anyway) but I think it’s good that some of these issues have been shared. Don’t know what else you would expect them to do? 
 

P.S you only joined 3 months ago!  

Edited May 30, 2021 by Caractacus Potts

[Guest Caractacus Potts]

7 minutes ago, HopeStreetWalker said:

The part share of the stadium is the only asset the club has. As you said its near worthless due to the council. The only way the Rawlins will increase the value is to buy out the other stakeholders in the stadium. Since that's the council it stands to reason they will want the surrounding land in the package. Not this year maybe not next year. They will sit on their money let the value of FFC drop further and buy out at the bottom of the market.

Its the way the Yanks do business. This sports agency they own being their income stream is nonsense - it always was. Its a front to keep the gullible - gullible. As will be proved with the signings coming in next few weeks the Rawlins will have no input.

As I said either way isn’t good for me and as you say the signings mentioned so far certainly don’t seem to marry up to the agency fee theory. 
 

 

[Shadwell Dog]

29 minutes ago, HopeStreetWalker said:

The part share of the stadium is the only asset the club has. As you said its near worthless due to the council. The only way the Rawlins will increase the value is to buy out the other stakeholders in the stadium. Since that's the council it stands to reason they will want the surrounding land in the package. Not this year maybe not next year. They will sit on their money let the value of FFC drop further and buy out at the bottom of the market.

Its the way the Yanks do business. This sports agency they own being their income stream is nonsense - it always was. Its a front to keep the gullible - gullible. As will be proved with the signings coming in next few weeks the Rawlins will have no input.

We don't even have a part share in the stadium. We have a long term lease on all the football areas but we don't own any of it.

[MrDust]

3 hours ago, RandomGuy. said:

We've taken in ~£1.7m in fees in the last 6/7 years, I'm sure.

Got ~£1.2m for May by the end, then ~£500k for O'Halloran, then last January got ~£50k for Matty Kennedy who was free to leave 6 months later.

Currently looking like we'll get £1.5m+ for two youth products in Kerr and McCann too.

1.7M taking the low 6yr is under £300,000 a year, we were as good as doing that with our academy. 

No one in England will pay over the odds for Scottish talent. The McGinn fee wasn't close to what Hibs would've got if they were in the English championship, they have had their fingers burnt so many times.

 

[RandomGuy.]

4 minutes ago, MrDust said:

1.7M taking the low 6yr is under £300,000 a year, we were as good as doing that with our academy. 

No one in England will pay over the odds for Scottish talent. The McGinn fee wasn't close to what Hibs would've got if they were in the English championship, they have had their fingers burnt so many times.

Be interesting to see what money Hibs can get for Doig/Nisbet. By all accounts Brexit has pushed up the price of UK players but not obviously seen it in the wild yet.

Benefit of an academy, that you never see mentioned, is the money it saves you. We've got 7/8 players in our squad from the academy. That's money you save on transfer fees/signing on fees/agent fees, and they're also apparently cheaper in terms of wages.

[HonestAl]

33 minutes ago, RandomGuy. said:

Benefit of an academy, that you never see mentioned, is the money it saves you. We've got 7/8 players in our squad from the academy. That's money you save on transfer fees/signing on fees/agent fees, and they're also apparently cheaper in terms of wages.

I’m sure it’s with genuine intention, but expect short shrift on this (Falkirk) forum when extolling merits of a Club Academy....

[Guest]

5 hours ago, Newbornbairn said:

Just a thought - could it be they see the naming rights for the South Stand as a sponsorship opportunity they can potentially sell every year, hence why they don't want to sell it to one group (us) in a one-off deal? 

Owning a business I would prefer my company name associated with both Crunchie and the club. The Kevin McAllister stand sponsored by ........... is more attractive to me that the ......... stand. 
Red Herring IMO

Edited May 30, 2021 by Back Post Misses

[Guest]

34 minutes ago, HonestAl said:

I’m sure it’s with genuine intention, but expect short shrift on this (Falkirk) forum when extolling merits of a Club Academy....

Most Falkirk fans were not pleased ours was closed 

[HonestAl]

24 minutes ago, Back Post Misses said:

Most Falkirk fans were not pleased ours was closed 

Yeah, and the last thing we need reminding of....

[Stainrod]

3 hours ago, Caractacus Potts said:

As I said either way isn’t good for me and as you say the signings mentioned so far certainly don’t seem to marry up to the agency fee theory. 
 

 

The agency plan is not for now - we need to be top championship / premiership to put prospects in the shop window Generally nobody from England shops in league 1 . We need to get there by getting the best jobbers on the park from the available pool . Although I did hear that a formal link to another club is on the cards - At least this might allow us to get in enough talent on loan to help boost our chances 

[Stainrod]

6 hours ago, RandomGuy. said:

We've taken in ~£1.7m in fees in the last 6/7 years, I'm sure.

Got ~£1.2m for May by the end, then ~£500k for O'Halloran, then last January got ~£50k for Matty Kennedy who was free to leave 6 months later.

Currently looking like we'll get £1.5m+ for two youth products in Kerr and McCann too.

The attraction is not what the club can make it’s the  % of agency fees that can be banked over their future career that is the target 

[Andy Dufresne]

6 and 12 years ago today we lost cup finals 

[Guest]

3 minutes ago, keithgy said:

6 and 12 years ago today we lost cup finals 

Just what we needed. Cheering up 

[BountyBairn]

4 hours ago, Peter LaFleur said:

As a fan who has zero connections to the board or to the fans group and little interest in board matters in general I’ve found this place absolutely poisonous to read over the past few weeks. Complete shit show reflecting perfectly what’s on the park. 
For me, there’s a few new posters on here that aren’t doing the fans group any favours with what’s becoming almost cult like behaviour. It’s better to just give the board the rope and they’ll do the rest. 

I’ll be waiting until the Q&A for some tough questions to be asked of the board as to why this never went through before forming a judgement. I believe that is only fair. Rawlins is literally just in the door and for them to make any money from the club we NEED to be successful on the park. This possibly is a small line on their investment portfolio and he won’t give a f**k but to say that for certain is pure assumption which is totally unfair.

I long for the day that the board room rambling isn’t a topic due to the success on the park. Hopefully throughout the next month we see positive signings and restrictions continue to ease which will see us back in grounds for the league cup games. I can’t wait to be back for a pre-match lager before get behind the navy blue. An away day to Cove venting years of frustration out at Hartley whilst seeing double blitzed.

I’m sure this post will get hounded with people roaring for change but until I hear on record from both sides I’m not getting excited over 5/6 users on Pie and Bovril. I’m not pro Deans and posted previously I don’t feel he is the right man for the club and should have walked at the end of the season.

TLDR: COYB.

This

[Grangemouth Bairn]

28 minutes ago, keithgy said:

6 and 12 years ago today we lost cup finals 

 

[Bainsfordbairn]

On 29/05/2021 at 13:26, Back Post Misses said:

Your great with the nicknames.

first corzo and now I’m Spock - love it 

I've no idea why but for some reason your reaction stuck in my head for years afterwards. You genuinely looked astounded, hence why it maybe sprung to mind when I was typing up a response to illustrate my lack of interest in boardroom stuff. As I'm a child of the sixties Spock seemed an appropriate analogy. 

Though Seven of nine would make for a more appealing avatar image . 

 

[Guest]

12 hours ago, Caractacus Potts said:

If this plan is correct then £600k won’t fall in to Falkirk’s bank account as they will take the bulk of any transfer fee. Falkirk take the risk, pay the wages and the Rawlins take the reward in return for only a £300k investment? I’d happily have chipped in with others for that kind of deal. 

Not sure where it will leave us either. These schemes certainly didn’t turn out well for Airdrie and Raith when it was implemented by Steve Archibald and Claude Anelka.

 Also if they are bringing superstars from their own agency then what is the point in Gary Holt and why are the only signings mentioned so far, lower league jobbers?

If their contacts are so great too then why are we even appointing people like Sheerin and Holt. Surely there are much more exciting people available? 

If you think this through, the story about bringing in up and coming hotshots from the States or wherever never rang true for a couple of compelling reasons. If they aren’t kids, and are arriving as oven ready footballers, they will already be owned, and not by an agency...they will already be signed. Now, post Brexit, Euro kids face exactly the same issue as American kids........work permits. Sure, you can get round this with suitable proof of them being current or ex internationalists.......with those credentials, yes you can get a work permit, but with that comes the Catch 22.......yes, Falkirk will be granted work permits for non U.K. nationals, but Falkirk would hardly appear on the radar of any international player.

If that was the game, they’d have been far better buying into a French or Dutch or Danish club with a far bigger market place than England. Just too many things post Brexit that make that particular master plan the impossible dream......but us football supporters are suckers for choosing a beautiful lie over an ugly truth.

 

[Guest Caractacus Potts]

32 minutes ago, Duncan Freemason said:

If you think this through, the story about bringing in up and coming hotshots from the States or wherever never rang true for a couple of compelling reasons. If they aren’t kids, and are arriving as oven ready footballers, they will already be owned, and not by an agency...they will already be signed. Now, post Brexit, Euro kids face exactly the same issue as American kids........work permits. Sure, you can get round this with suitable proof of them being current or ex internationalists.......with those credentials, yes you can get a work permit, but with that comes the Catch 22.......yes, Falkirk will be granted work permits for non U.K. nationals, but Falkirk would hardly appear on the radar of any international player.

If that was the game, they’d have been far better buying into a French or Dutch or Danish club with a far bigger market place than England. Just too many things post Brexit that make that particular master plan the impossible dream......but us football supporters are suckers for choosing a beautiful lie over an ugly truth.

 

That’s a fair point. God knows what their intentions are then. The more I read, the more concerned I am getting about the Rawlins involvement. 
 

His background is in sales. Sales people have a good knack of bullshitting people. Is he the real deal or just built a career taking credit for others endeavours? His ex wife seems to still be involved with Orlando City and read a couple of posts suggesting he was pushed out.
 

Some big questions needing answered about exactly what these guys are bringing to the table as the months they’ve been in the job have been pretty disastrous.

Edited May 30, 2021 by Caractacus Potts

[Reggie Perrin]

2 hours ago, Caractacus Potts said:

That’s a fair point. God knows what their intentions are then. The more I read, the more concerned I am getting about the Rawlins involvement. 
 

His background is in sales. Sales people have a good knack of bullshitting people. Is he the real deal or just built a career taking credit for others endeavours? His ex wife seems to still be involved with Orlando City and read a couple of posts suggesting he was pushed out.
 

Some big questions needing answered about exactly what these guys are bringing to the table as the months they’ve been in the job have been pretty disastrous.

Just summarised the last 30 years of my career...

...seriously that is a grotesque misrepresentation of a damned difficult profession but I have a nasty feeling that in this instance it may be all too accurate.

Edited May 31, 2021 by Reggie Perrin