The Falkirk FC Thread

[ShaggerG]

2 hours ago, PedroMoutinho said:

Don’t think you’ve picked it up wrongly. Macfarlane used the examples of Mercer and Leitch to try and argue that they’ve been replaced by better players.

I’m sure his words were ‘Williamson is a much better player than Mercer and Nesbitt is much better than Nesbitt’ or similar. He seemingly had further examples prepared that he didn’t get to.

I did find it quite unprofessional tbh. Will be interesting to see if it makes the recording.

He's a good player but I think that may be his problem! 

[Guest]

26 minutes ago, ShaggerG said:

Aye, that's what I heard too. Maybe my hearing's not as bad as I thought.

When we signed him my first thought was that he would be back-up with another striker (or two) expected. We heard last night that they'd made good offers to Robinson and McManus so that would seem to make sense. Nothing against the lad because I think he's a good player but I don't think they expected to end up with Ruth as our no.9

Yep, the no. 9 shirt was obviously being held back for someone, but I would be astonished if it was intended for Ruth all along. Holt’s chat was interesting. A deliberate tack of self deprecation took the heat off of him. Saying basically he is human, and he gets some of his recruitment decisions wrong. He was delighted to keep talking only about Wilson, and didn’t have to justify any of his other dodgy picks.

That he actually tried to play the “he’s learning his trade, we’re you good at your job when you started out” guff was ridiculous. As mentioned above, he is 23, and getting a two year deal from us wasn’t him coming in as a first year apprentice. It was a ridiculous attempt at trying to justify a horrific signing. Thing is, after saying he got some recruitment wrong, and when possibly the most glaring example of bad recruitment was brought up (Wilson), he then spent ages justifying the signing. Just crazy.

Edited October 20, 2021 by Duncan Freemason

[ShaggerG]

2 hours ago, Duncan Freemason said:

I don’t think BPM can speak for the NB group as a whole. Deans saying that “the NB weren’t reasonable” is hypocrisy 101. Saying that “they pulled out, not us” was a nice and neat way of stating the outcome, but of course, laying out why it ended as it did is a conversation Deans would rather not have out in the open.

Now that is not to say that the NB approach was bang on the money. There were several things in terms of strategy that were less than ideal, but ultimately the Board didn’t want it to happen because Rawlins wasn’t for power sharing in any sort of meaningful way, and you had a BoD that put themselves first.

Gary Deans saying that if he stood down, he would get his life back. Now, I have only ever heard one other guy utter that self same statement. It was Tony Hayward, Head of bp after the Gulf of Mexico disaster. I think he lasted a matter of days.

So why isn’t he prepared to just go get his life back? Is it because he is so selfless and altruistic, that he is driven by the need to devote his life to Falkirk Football Club? Or is it because being Chairman opens other doors to him, and allows other opportunities to come his way? I know what I think, and it’s reinforced by the manner in which he selected his Board…….an interview process that involved Mr Deans, Mr Bateman, and a lawyer whose name escapes me.

Colborn is an interesting one. A member of the original Patron’s Group (who sought to bring around radical change in the club in terms of governance) and who now sits there as one of Deans apostles doing everything he can to maintain the status quo.

For me, getting rid of hired help is neither here nor there. The SD and CEO roles can be kept or erased at any time. The people in those jobs can be kept or removed. It’s not the “easy to do” stuff that will bring about real change. 
 

Its a BoD that feel themselves bullet proof provided they do what Rawlins tells them to do, and provided SA and MR continue to choose the “do nothing” option at each AGM.

 

Aye, I appreciate that but BPM's the only member of the NB that I know so I didn't know who else to ask. I was really just looking for his opinion. I suspect that there may be others on here but I would be guessing. 

[Guest]

1 minute ago, ShaggerG said:

Aye, I appreciate that but BPM's the only member of the NB that I know so I didn't know who else to ask. I was really just looking for his opinion. I suspect that there may be others on here but I would be guessing. 

I know two others, but they aren’t on here.

[Believe The Hype]

17 minutes ago, Duncan Freemason said:

 

That he actually tried to play the “he’s learning his trade, we’re you good at your job when you started out” guff was ridiculous. 

I would have loved a quick retort to this statement along the lines of 'a bit like yourself in this role then Gary' 

[MrDust]

12 hours ago, Tea and Busquets said:

I say we stage an organised protest. One that is fully thought through. How or what this looks like i have no idea. This has long been overdue. 

A boycott of the Alloa game and give them an Alloa type crowd.

Falkirk TV is there for fans to watch, fans can shout at our precious players, management and board to their content without causing hurt feelings

Our players should become a classic Brazil team without the fans....according to the accountant.

4 hours ago, Caractacus Potts said:

 

It’s only when our predicament is really looking perilous that you may get the rest on board. A few wins at the moment then any attempt to remove the board will fall flat on its face. 
 

 

Do you honestly see us winning anytime soon, I'd guess by the time of the Alloa game we will have dropped lower than 5th

1 hour ago, HopeStreetWalker said:

If Falkirk want to know how to recruit players and have their finger on the marketplace.

Then go no further than delve into the clubs own records of how Jeffries & Brown went about their business in identifying players they wanted to sign.

Jeffries and Brown was a different era, how many of our players were in the English market,majority of them Scots who failed, out of favour or at the twilight of their career. The English market is now more of a luxury and tends to be mainly loans of untried youngsters.

I watched my English team last night playing a 4-2-3-1, the main difference between our version was that the emphasis was on attack, the 3 behind the striker attacked, the full backs attacked, the sitting two also attacked and our goalie rolled the ball out to our defenders for 80 odd mins, later to kick with chasing a winner.

I'll be watching Tranmere on Saturday as I enjoyed the game last night and I'm fed up of being an angry mess watching Falkirk(I include our last win in there) The club stinks top to bottom and needs change before we see improvement. The meeting last night will have put a nail in the coffin regarding our team which read to me as fans are c#nts, we tried and failed to sign players, manager learning on the job and the closing statement of we need more time to fuk up the club more and if we haven't totally fuked up this season, something might happen in January..

A boycott versus Alloa should be the start to inflict change tho for some the boycott will be because of last night's meeting.

 

[Kircer bairn]

12 hours ago, superandy_07 said:

Finally got round to my notes, apologies if stuff has already been covered

I have missed stuff out but hopefully be covered by the recording that will follow 

It was uncomfortable but felt it got easier for them after the first 20 mins

• Started with an introduction by Gary Deans

• Gordon Colburn was up next

Talked about his family ties to Falkirk.

Understands that the situation has changed, the club has been on the decline for several years.

Board needs to be held accountable, same with supporters are accountable and some actions by some of them have been not consistent with Falkirk FC values — threats and attacks are not acceptable at all.

Mentioned that supporters need to support the players as players are scared to do things on the pitch(!), big laugh ensues, followed by saying that we’ve lost players due to the supporter behaviour around the club (I thought this may have been youth academy players but might have heard that wrong).

 

• Bit of back and forth between Gary and the floor before moving onto questions 

 

• First question was an absolute belter, very well researched with lots of stats, the main point about the win rate of teams that have won League One and how we’re nowhere near that.

Gary took this on and talked about how recruitment before was a disaster with Lex Miller, Lee Miller and David McCracken dealing with this, coming out of those meetings terrified realising there was no real plan. Also made a comment that it doesn’t make a difference who is chairman. McFarlane also agreed that recruitment has been bad, we need stability, comparing previous players like Mercer and Leitch to Williamson and Nesbit, and that the team needs space and time needed to improve.

 

• First online question (over 60 emails submitted!) - FFC being run like a boys club with the board being filled with nepotism

Gary refutes this completely, responds that there seems to be an undercurrent that the fans want to sack someone, get someone to walk. Why do teams raise their game against us? We have lots of ex-Falkirk players playing against us, because of the revolving door of players and staff. Said the end of last season was the worst moments of his Falkirk supporting life. 

 

• Gary Holt

Clarifying his role - he has zero influence on first team matters (team selection, tactics, subs etc). Quoted stat 65 players have come in the door, 63 have gone out along with 13 non-playing staff coming and going. Not always going to get recruitment right, but we can’t get it right with a constant revolving door. Gary does not sign players alone, he concentrates on shovel work that comes with scouting and dealing with agents etc, Sheerin has final say.

We made an approach for 14 different strikers, including Scott Robinson and Declan McManus (willing to also pay his transfer fee), but were blown out of the water in terms of wages.

 

• Paul Sheerin

Total accountable for the performances so far. Felt the real tension from Saturday's game.

The team needs the support of the fans. Paul is still learning with this being his first full time appointment. He trusts that the team will get it better. We’ve been let down by individual errors and not got the blend right upfront or the back, can’t score goals and can’t keep clean sheets. Sheerin has been more involved in recruitment since he's joined the club.

 

• Phil Rawlings

He felt there wasn’t enough investment behind the scenes. Said that the club was an accident waiting to happen and it did last season. We have the biggest wage bill in the league, including the investment in youth squads.

We need to get promotion, we are going to make it happen the best we can but we need stability, and can't expect to do the same things the club have done in the past.

Asking for patience, mentioned how long it took Stoke and Orlando to get to the top, we are trying our best to get there stating there hasn’t been a concrete plan before. 

 

• Expenditure - questions on the increased costs of board level investment

Commercial income will be down, the loss of Kieran and Totten are a blow. 

The club is in a period of investing in the future.

Right now they are planning to be in Championship next year, if by January that seems unrealistic they shall review.

Small mention of SPFL Club Review, how there could be a danger of criteria for the top league (think back to Brockville), whether that be grass pitch only for example.

Gary was really cagey about part time being an opportunity next year if we don’t go up.

 

• Navy Blue Group 

Colburn stated there was a number quoted but came with conditions - offer started at £500,000 and later on became £600,000, but no formal offer was made. They refused the approach as the offer was non-negotiable, a meeting was setup but was cancelled the day before by the NBG.

Gary said the door is open, someone from the floor shouted “On your terms”.

GD responded with to deliver a document, to invest, you need to discuss it. The investment didn’t fail because of the conditions of Gary walking, you have got to talk about these things, discuss them and be reasonable.

 

• More Sheerin tidbits

Big Ernaldo Krasniqi - still has a lot to learn defensive, was seen as an opportunity to develop a Huddersfield relationship, was also cost effective, works hard and he will get opportunities.

Steven Hetherington - seen as one of our most important players, met with laughs

Felt he needed to give Paddy Martin an opportunity, Paul Dixon he also feels hasn’t been good enough over the past month (Dixon himself agrees).

 

• Gary Deans wrapping up

Knew tonight would be difficult with a lot of frustrations but went better than he expected.

Thanked everyone coming and giving us space to give answers.

They are doing their damndest to get back where the club needs to be.

The fans are vital, proud to be part of the support the club has.

 

Bed time now zzz

Thank you for an objective summation of the event last night 

[Shadwell Dog]

1 hour ago, superandy_07 said:

Danke

I think the person asking the question led with saying that the players that have came in are no better than Mercer or Leitch etc

Holt MacFarlane responded with is Williamson better than Mercer, is Nesbitt better than Leitch, yes they are

Williamson spends all his time on the treatment table and is therefor better than noone. It was highlighted that he'd only played 20 games in about 3 years but that didn't seem to matter to these clowns.

At the end of the day the simple fact is the teams that are successful get the players in the door. It's alright saying I put offers in for 14 strikers but you didn't manage to persuade any of them Falkirk was the place to be and if you can't do that then you shouldn't have any role in our recruitment process.  The top managers and dofs get the job done when it comes to recruitment we on the other hand fail miserably year on year in this area. 

Edited October 20, 2021 by Shadwell Dog

[PedroMoutinho]

19 minutes ago, Shadwell Dog said:

Williamson spends all his time on the treatment table and is therefor better than noone. It was highlighted that he'd only played 20 games in about 3 years but that didn't seem to matter to these clowns.

At the end of the day the simple fact is the teams that are successful get the players in the door. It's alright saying I put offers in for 14 strikers but you didn't manage to persuade any of them Falkirk was the place to be and if you can't do that then you shouldn't have any role in our recruitment process.  The top managers and dofs get the job done when it comes to recruitment we on the other hand fail miserably year on year in this area. 

It shows just how bad the recruitment has been that the the first example used of ‘improvement’ was a player who’s been injured for most of the season!

[Guest]

They effectively invoked Catch 22 as their primary defence. “We need better players to get out of League 1. We can’t attract better players because we are in L1.”

Am I right in thinking (of the Scottish contingent) on the Board, three are accountants, and one does PR at a wee Edinburgh based PR company? On the sidelines, you have club sec Batemen, and “gone but not gone” Andy Thomson still gliding around the Boardroom.

Interestingly ( and I can’t currently verify it), at the 2-2 game at Montrose, not a single member of the Board was present. The club was “represented” by Bateman and Thomson. Deans non attendance was 100% legitimate as he attended a family wedding. Another took in an Old Trafford freebie, and doubtless the rest had their pressing reasons for non attendance.

[PedroMoutinho]

12 minutes ago, Duncan Freemason said:

They effectively invoked Catch 22 as their primary defence. “We need better players to get out of League 1. We can’t attract better players because we are in L1.”

Am I right in thinking (of the Scottish contingent) on the Board, three are accountants, and one does PR at a wee Edinburgh based PR company? On the sidelines, you have club sec Batemen, and “gone but not gone” Andy Thomson still gliding around the Boardroom.

Interestingly ( and I can’t currently verify it), at the 2-2 game at Montrose, not a single member of the Board was present. The club was “represented” by Bateman and Thomson. Deans non attendance was 100% legitimate as he attended a family wedding. Another took in an Old Trafford freebie, and doubtless the rest had their pressing reasons for non attendance.

Gordon Colborn is a management consultant I believe 

[falkirkzombie]

9 minutes ago, Duncan Freemason said:

They effectively invoked Catch 22 as their primary defence. “We need better players to get out of League 1. We can’t attract better players because we are in L1.”

Am I right in thinking (of the Scottish contingent) on the Board, three are accountants, and one does PR at a wee Edinburgh based PR company? On the sidelines, you have club sec Batemen, and “gone but not gone” Andy Thomson still gliding around the Boardroom.

Interestingly ( and I can’t currently verify it), at the 2-2 game at Montrose, not a single member of the Board was present. The club was “represented” by Bateman and Thomson. Deans non attendance was 100% legitimate as he attended a family wedding. Another took in an Old Trafford freebie, and doubtless the rest had their pressing reasons for non attendance.

Lex was their fall guy last night...…."look at the state LM let things get into" funnily enough they never mentioned AT who was working hand in glove with Lex at that time.

[Latapy is god]

So Gordon Colborn was vocal last night about ex players upping their game against us? Yet we played Airdrie on Saturday with no ex players in their team and got pumped 3-0. 

Gary Dean's was vocal about blaming fans for poor performances and it having a negative impact on the players? Yet we finished 5th last season with no fans in the stadium. 

These excuses don't wash I'm afraid.  Take some responsibility ffs and stop blaming everyone else but yourselves. 

Edited October 20, 2021 by Latapy is god

[Shadwell Dog]

2 minutes ago, Latapy is god said:

So Gordon Colborn was vocal last night about ex players upping their game against us? Yet we played Airdrie on Saturday with no ex players in their team and got pumped 3-0. 

Gary Dean's was vocal about blaming fans for poor performances and it having a negative impact on the players? Yet we finished 5th last season with no fans in the stadium. 

These excuses don't wash I'm afraid.  Take some responsibility ffs and stop blaming everyone else but yourselves. 

It was the other way round actually colborne blamed the fans and deans used the exe players excuse.

Sheerin using the Montrose game as an example of recent positive results was another low. His response to someone saying a few years ago we were pumping teams like that 5 or 6 nothing,  was well having been 2 down I was glad of a draw. You couldn't make it up. 

[Bairnardo]

So Gordon Colborn was vocal last night about ex players upping their game against us? Yet we played Airdrie on Saturday with no ex players in their team and got pumped 3-0. 
Gary Dean's was vocal about blaming fans for poor performances and it having a negative impact on the players? Yet we finished 5th last season with no fans in the stadium. 
These excuses don't wash I'm afraid.  Take some responsibility ffs and stop blaming everyone else but yourselves. 

Holt in particular, who had to get 2 points to secure a playoff place with no fans.....

[el Gringo]

So Gordon Colborn was vocal last night about ex players upping their game against us? Yet we played Airdrie on Saturday with no ex players in their team and got pumped 3-0. 

Jay Cantley was on the bench, I assume he was responsible for us upping our game.

[FalkirkBairn2021]

2 hours ago, ShaggerG said:

Aye, that's what I heard too. Maybe my hearing's not as bad as I thought.

When we signed him my first thought was that he would be back-up with another striker (or two) expected. We heard last night that they'd made good offers to Robinson and McManus so that would seem to make sense. Nothing against the lad because I think he's a good player but I don't think they expected to end up with Ruth as our no.9

Surely 'good offers' is debatable. A striker was absolutely priority. They failed to get one and wasted money elsewhere. If the offers had been good enough they'd be here and we might not be mid table.

[Guest]

1 hour ago, falkirkzombie said:

Lex was their fall guy last night...…."look at the state LM let things get into" funnily enough they never mentioned AT who was working hand in glove with Lex at that time.

Of course not. AT still hangs around the Boardroom.

[Blame Me]

Did Jamie Swinney have much input into last nights affairs?

Have read a lot about the main players but his name has been absent and I thought he was involved in the Q&A.

[Shadwell Dog]

12 minutes ago, Blame Me said:

Did Jamie Swinney have much input into last nights affairs?

Have read a lot about the main players but his name has been absent and I thought he was involved in the Q&A.

Talked for 5 mins at the end but that was it.