The Falkirk FC Thread

[Shadwell Dog]

20 minutes ago, HopeStreetWalker said:

Its all very well identifying players its persuading them to sign that will be the problem.

There is no promotion this season and our ambitions are no higher than avoiding the playoffs. If they are of the quality required there will be better deals elsewhere.

 

We're only 5 points off 4th that to me isnt unsurmountable if Rennie has what it takes to get things moving in the right direction.  Then if the sides running on a bit of form there's no reason you couldn't get past a Morton or Dunfermline the way they are playing.  However, to do that things need to change quickly. We cannot have any more performances like that today . Improvement is needed now as yesterday it got worse just when I felt we couldn't get worse.

How the feck did Brad Mackay ever play 40 times for hearts 30 of them in the top flight  and 142 times for Inverness 28 of those in the top flight?  The guy is a complete disaster every time he sets foot on the pitch and I reckon would struggle to look decent with van dijk beside him. He's only 28 too so should be at the peak of his career. How in god's name did he make do many apps at a higher level? 

[Shadwell Dog]

23 minutes ago, Duncan Freemason said:

I have no knowledge of who it is likely to be, but any of the new Board would in terms of credibility, be light years ahead of Deans.

If I had to pick one person from the current Board, then I would reckon that David White would best fit the bill in terms of age, temperament and respect. Given that he is one of the two “short term” FSS appointments, if he were to be elected as Chairman, that might raise a bit of complexity as he would have to seek re-election as an FSS Board member in Spring 22.

Was it not going to be someone neutral at some point or was that only when the old bod had representatives on it?

[Guest]

15 minutes ago, HopeStreetWalker said:

In Peter Taylors book about working with Brian Clough the correct template was laid out on how to do it.

Clough lays out what he wants Peter Taylor gets a shortlist drawn up and they both work out the system to get the best out of the various options then they go for the one they want giving the example of Dave McKay.

Its simple the management team select the player they want convince him they want to come and for how long leaving the bean counters to do the cheque signing.

Jeffreys and Brown as far as I know did something similar.

 

Sorry to plug this again, but Jefferies and Brown say how you have to sign your own players as manager and would travel up and down the country to see them play first. They also managed to get deals over the table by selling the club and the challenge to them despite having less money to offer. 
 

 

[AL-FFC]

Although no one really wanted him as manager i would defintely take him as SD:

https://www.dailyrecord.co.uk/sport/brian-rice-believes-should-vehicle-25781455

[Guest]

While the Head Coach can claim to have “the final say”, it doesn’t really mean much if the DoF is the one identifying potential signings. If it’s a case of Hobson’s choice where many (or even all) of the candidates are below the required standard, and the Head Coach rejects all of them, then there is a very real problem.

On the other hand, the Head Coach might well be running out of time, and gives the go ahead for a signing or three despite concerns as to their suitability, then the DoF is a happy camper because it was the Head Coach who signed them, not him.

Our current model has Holt plus the analytics/stats inputs to give an insight as to who is suitable……..and clearly, there is something flawed in that model too.

16 minutes ago, Shadwell Dog said:

Was it not going to be someone neutral at some point or was that only when the old bod had representatives on it?

I really don’t know, but the “independent” bit was I think, predicated on the Chairman being neither in the Rawlins Camp, or the New Board members camp.

Given that we now do not have a split Board, then perhaps the “independent Chairperson” is no longer required.

Of course, a case could be made that the new Chairperson could be independent by being neither a Patron or a FSS representative. Who knows….

[FalkirkBairn2021]

20 minutes ago, Van_damage said:

Sorry to plug this again, but Jefferies and Brown say how you have to sign your own players as manager and would travel up and down the country to see them play first. They also managed to get deals over the table by selling the club and the challenge to them despite having less money to offer. 
 

 

Correct. Jefferies and Brown both did stupid miles driving to England midweeks to watch reserve football. We got several of our best players from them going to watch someone else and seeing the guy they signed instead- I'm sure Neil Duffy was just such an example. Possibly Cadette too. 

That's by far the best way to build a squad. There's no fucking way Holt travels beyond his patio to watch a player. 

It's hard work but it's not that complicated to sign much much better than the fucking shite that's in this squad.

[Bairn in Exile]

22 minutes ago, AL-FFC said:

Although no one really wanted him as manager i would defintely take him as SD:

https://www.dailyrecord.co.uk/sport/brian-rice-believes-should-vehicle-25781455

 

1 minute ago, FalkirkBairn2021 said:

Correct. Jefferies and Brown both did stupid miles driving to England midweeks to watch reserve football. We got several of our best players from them going to watch someone else and seeing the guy they signed instead- I'm sure Neil Duffy was just such an example. Possibly Cadette too. 

That's by far the best way to build a squad. There's no fucking way Holt travels beyond his patio to watch a player. 

It's hard work but it's not that complicated to sign much much better than the fucking shite that's in this squad.

Harking back to his time working alongside Yogi, at least we know that Rice would be prepared to jump in his car to look at a player instead of just relying on Corzo's stats, he might be worth a chance as SD. He couldn't possibly be worse than the present incumbent.

[Shadwell Dog]

30 minutes ago, Duncan Freemason said:

While the Head Coach can claim to have “the final say”, it doesn’t really mean much if the DoF is the one identifying potential signings. If it’s a case of Hobson’s choice where many (or even all) of the candidates are below the required standard, and the Head Coach rejects all of them, then there is a very real problem.

On the other hand, the Head Coach might well be running out of time, and gives the go ahead for a signing or three despite concerns as to their suitability, then the DoF is a happy camper because it was the Head Coach who signed them, not him.

Our current model has Holt plus the analytics/stats inputs to give an insight as to who is suitable……..and clearly, there is something flawed in that model too.

I really don’t know, but the “independent” bit was I think, predicated on the Chairman being neither in the Rawlins Camp, or the New Board members camp.

Given that we now do not have a split Board, then perhaps the “independent Chairperson” is no longer required.

Of course, a case could be made that the new Chairperson could be independent by being neither a Patron or a FSS representative. Who knows….

Rennie stated that the system was already in place rather unenthusiastically I must say. To me he's talking about this ridiculous player profile pish which has been an utter disaster so far.  If we are only signing players that match this fecking player profile and we've seen what pile of shite that's produced so far then you can forget us signing anyone of the quality required.  The player profile system should've been punted into row z and we should be going back to the traditional way of finding players. Basically good old fashioned hard work.

Edited December 27, 2021 by Shadwell Dog

[Reggie Perrin]

24 minutes ago, Bairn in Exile said:

 

Harking back to his time working alongside Yogi, at least we know that Rice would be prepared to jump in his car to look at a player instead of just relying on Corzo's stats, he might be worth a chance as SD. He couldn't possibly be worse than the present incumbent.

Make the SD role redundant and if it is felt to be necessary to have someone like Rice looking at players then make him Chief Scout.

[Bairn in Exile]

1 minute ago, Reggie Perrin said:

Make the SD role redundant and if it is felt to be necessary to have someone like Rice looking at players then make him Chief Scout.

You won't get any arguments from me on that!

[60`s bairn]

2 hours ago, steveffc said:

All good saying Rennie and before him Sheerin, have final say on signings it's that clown Holt that is scouting players for them to choose from,,, if that is all Rennie has to choose from in January does he stick or twist thinking they can't be any worse surely, and we all know how that ends up with Holt drawing up the shortlist!
 

That`s the part that`s been worrying me. I`d like to think Rennie and Miller will have players in mind that they have sourced. Anything Holt comes up with will be added to that for them to accept or reject accordingly.

[BountyBairn]

3 hours ago, Fawkirk Wull said:

Either Holts contract is totally water tight & could cost the club a considerable  amount of money to terminate or the new board are happy @ what he does behind the scenes

 

Just make the role Redundant if we want rid - it’s very simple. I can recommend a good professional to the club to help do this correctly if they need it. Pro Bono as well. 

[Bairn in Exile]

7 minutes ago, BountyBairn said:

Just make the role Redundant if we want rid - it’s very simple. I can recommend a good professional to the club to help do this correctly if they need it. Pro Bono as well. 

I hope he's good, because as far as our centre backs and strikers go, I Still Haven't Found What I'm Looking For.

I'll get ma coat. 

[Guest]

The bit I am really struggling with is this……..I have been a supporter for well over 50 years, and I have seen worse individual players than what we have now, but perhaps not so many at the club at the same time.

I am however, struggling to come up with a worse team than this. The selective but simple stat from our last three games of 0 points, scoring 1 goal and conceding 11 goals in the 3rd tier is brutally bad, and as someone else mentioned, it points to a squad that doesn’t have the right mix of abilities to perform in any kind of set up. 
I won’t go too forensic on MR’s post match interview, but clearly he is now under no illusions about the scale of the problem he is facing.

 How Gary Holt can explain away his part in assembling the current squad is a story worth hearing too.

[Harry Kinnear]

I’m coming up to the nearly 50 years mark of watching Falkirk and this is definitely the worst squad. The thing that strikes me about how bad we are is there is not one player I would be upset about leaving. We have had crap squads in the past but there has always been a gem or a couple of decent players mixed amongst them, this is not the case with this lot.

This could be the name created for a collective of shite football players going forward. Feck me that is a “Holt” of a team we have here.

Edited December 27, 2021 by Harry Kinnear

[Springfield]

Someone mentioned Sibbald in an earlier post, the reality is that he wouldn’t touch us with a barge pole. 

There’s not one single player in this squad anywhere near Sibbald and until we start identifying “Sibbald” type players were heading for the fourth league in Scotland.

[falkirkthebigclub]

19 minutes ago, Harry Kinnear said:

This could be the name created for a collective of shite football players going forward. Feck me that is a “Holt” of a team we have here.

We could introduce levels to this scale of footballing shitness (in no particular order): a Mitch; a Holt &, in honour of our Fife friends, a Peter.

There must be a reason for this ever-decreasing availability of actual footballers, perhaps the increasing financial dominance of the English leagues?

We're left with a pool of 'talent' who can't control the ball, can't read a game, can't kick the ball accurately but go to the gym every day & look the part.

[Guest FFC1965]

Falkirk have now equalled their lowest position in my time following them (29th which equals our finishing position in the dismal 1977/78 season).  Its an all time low even for this oldie Bairns fan.    

At least in 77/78 we had some hope initially - we fell away from a strong start (2 pts for a win in those days but equivalent to 29pts from our first 12 according to bettermeddle).

Wont rehash the "worst team Ive seen" message but given the facts support the All Time Low assessment they must be up there. 

Start of season Id have taken a promotion playoff, given that the club cant afford a whole new team in Jan (or even close season - see below) Id take a mid table 5th - 8th finish. 

I hope to never see McKay, Hall or Ompreon in a navy blue jersey again.   Others like Nesbitt, Ross, Miller Keena and even Morrison are fortunate only in that they aren't among the very poorest dross.   

Looking ahead to next season there are 7 players contracted beyond 31.05.2022

McKay, McCann & Morrison (all May 24) & Hetherington, R Williamson, McGuffie & Ross (May 23) 

If Holt was instrumental in recruiting these duds the expedient thing to do is to decide that his role is redundant part company and move on.   I see no issue with player recruitment being the responsibility of the 1st team coach with input from a scout / scouts as required with the club CEO fixing the contracts and managing the budget.      

f**k me we are in a mess.   

 

 

[Russ]

Agree with the post a few above, Lemon gets worse every time he plays. Paddy Martin is no where near the level of Robbie Mutch. For the second goal yesterday the boy could only put it one place and he still couldn’t save it. Mutch may have dropped off but he’s still streets ahead of Martin. 

Aye I’m not sure if Telfer and the Stenny boys were trolling us in the summer but Martin has been very poor. Think he’s kind of went under the radar a bit considering how appalling the rest of the team have been but he’s nowhere near good enough. As soon as Mutch is fit again need to be right back in.

[HopeStreetWalker]

3 hours ago, JulioBairn said:

Given the fact that McGuffie is utter shite then surely we just shoehorn him onto the bench. 

Not sure what we do with Morrison. I don’t think he’s a striker either but his delivery from wide is awful. At least through the middle he’d give us some kind of goal threat
 

Morrison got punted from Hearts because of the poor delivery. Thinking was if there is no end product what's the point. Opposition teams will and have game planned to make sure that weakness is exploited.