The Falkirk FC Thread

[Dawson Park Boy]

40 minutes ago, Caractacus Potts said:

Yeh I can appreciate that issue but asking specifically to anyone from the FSS as voting rights were cited as being the main issue for not introducing a £5 fee.

Clubs with similar fanbases(who have the £5 option) have hundreds of more members so the suggestion there is we are missing a trick and if there is no more for extra money then see no reason why £5 fees shouldn’t have a vote. 

The difference in PayPal fees is a bit of a moot point though if a £5 option increases the number of subscriptions. Overall though another platform should be explored as PayPal fees can be quite high when dealing with small donations. 

I pay by standing order.

No cost to FSS.

[Believe The Hype]

5 hours ago, Duncan Freemason said:

I will just go with the first bit. Paying £10 a month to buy the vote that someone who can’t afford £10 to buy a vote is in every essence, you making my argument for me. You cannot escape the principle.

Ceding more votes to someone paying £100 a month isn’t anything to do with worthiness. It’s reflects their contribution to the group, and I ask again, is the person who does that very thing, and is assigned 10 votes, a threat to the other 529 votes out there?

 

And what if someone decides they can afford £5300 a month and 'buys' 530 votes all for themself, overpowering everyone. I cant believe it came to this ridiculous hypothetical example but here we are. 

The dontation to the FSS is exactly that, the fact you get a vote is a bi product in my opinion. 

Banging my head against a brick wall with a couple of you. 

[d , mcarthur]

Well said bigbri bairn

[Zbairn]

With respect to the FSS and voting rights, its all pretty moot, the more folk sign up. 

Having 10 votes if you stick in £100 a month will effectively make no real difference to any final voting result, unless you form an internal group within the group and proxy your votes together (all very highly unlikely, including someone sticking £100 a month).

Therefore it kind of makes sense for ease, just to have a one man one vote system.

As mentioned above, most folk buy into it because of an emotional tie, not because they want a huge say in the running of the club.  

 

 

[Guest Caractacus Potts]

1 minute ago, Dawson Park Boy said:

I pay by standing order.

No cost to FSS.

Didn’t realise that was an option. Maybe something else to be marketed as changing to Standing Order could earn more money for the FSS. 

[Guest Caractacus Potts]

24 minutes ago, Believe The Hype said:

And what if someone decides they can afford £5300 a month and 'buys' 530 votes all for themself, overpowering everyone. I cant believe it came to this ridiculous hypothetical example but here we are. 

The dontation to the FSS is exactly that, the fact you get a vote is a bi product in my opinion. 

Banging my head against a brick wall with a couple of you. 

If I’m one then in principle I think it should be one vote, however alternatively if more votes gained more money then it equally wouldn’t bother me.

If the only reason someone would pay an extra £100/month is to gain more votes then give them to that person. The last election we didn’t even have a vote as only one person stood in for it. 

What I’m trying to understand is why it is an issue for the FSS when there are no votes for extra money. 

Edited October 5, 2022 by Caractacus Potts

[Dawson Park Boy]

Just now, Caractacus Potts said:

Didn’t realise that was an option. Maybe something else to be marketed as changing to Standing Order could earn more money for the FSS. 

Absolutely.

Ive stated it on here many times.

All contributors to BfL were on s/o which made it totally cost free plus the bank waived their charges.

[Believe The Hype]

10 minutes ago, Caractacus Potts said:

If I’m one then I principle I think it should be one vote, however alternatively if more votes gained more money then it equally wouldn’t bother me.

If the only reason someone would pay an extra £100/month is to gain more votes then give them to that person. The last election we didn’t even have a vote as only one person stood in for it. 

What I’m trying to understand is why it is an issue for the FSS when there are no votes for extra money. 

I think it should always be one vote from the minimum required to join, currently £10, if dropped to £5 I still agree they should be given a vote, I was just trying to highlight the logic and thinking behind why they may not have opened that up, I understand it but don't necessarily agree. 

Re the votes, I wasn't even thinking about the election, it was more on issues facing the club that the FSS can take to the board. If someone had all those extra votes and was desperate for DG to join (for example) this could have tipped the opinion figure in favour of the move based on one person's opinion, yet the result woukd still have to be presented to the board as the will of the FSS members. That doesn't sit right. 

[RC55 FFC]

18 minutes ago, Dawson Park Boy said:

Absolutely.

Ive stated it on here many times.

All contributors to BfL were on s/o which made it totally cost free plus the bank waived their charges.

Standing orders are always free as it is set up by the individual rather than the organisation but is definitely an option open to anyone . 

[Scott]

I finally signed up to FSS the other night after watching the Falkirk Daft podcast. There's a number of reasons why it's taken me so long to join such as going through a house move (waiting to see where I'd be financially), not really knowing enough of what's involved (slightly confused at all the different groups/legs of the stool/pledges etc etc) and perhaps being too lazy to look it all up (and seeing its not all that complicated at all).

The point I'm trying to make is perhaps the reason why the sign up numbers arent as high as we'd like is due to the message not getting out there to a broader audience of our fan base. I've got a lot of friends who are Bairns (in their 30s and 40s) but not all of them are totally aware of the FSS, whats involved and how simple it actually is. They're not all that active on social media and don't get to as many games as we used to but still very much have the club at heart.

I hope it doesn't come across as having a go, far from it as the guys involved are doing a great job but what I can remember of other teams pushing for fan ownership was there was a lot of publicity but it feels like our push seems kind of 'stop-start' in that we will hear updates from time to time resulting in small boosts to member numbers (the most recent of which gave me the bum booting to finally join).

Does anyone think that we'd have more success if we had more of a 'face'? Such as flags,advertising,badges,leaflets etc with the simple message along the lines of 'OWN OUR CLUB' with an identifiable logo that everyone will recognise and know when they see it what it means. 

I fear the noise from the latest message put out asking for more members will fizzle out again very soon and result in another going out in a month or so resulting in another very modest increase. It seems to me that even though we have a latent support of 5000, the message will only be reaching a small percentage of those and even then, its perhaps not entirely clear how straightforward it is.

I reckon a more visible, prolonged presence getting the message out there over multiple streams (newspaper, online, banners at games etc) could let more fans know we have a movement ongoing. I appreciate this is all easier said than done as would be very hard work, time consuming and costly but I feel the struggle we have getting more numbers is due to the message not being visible enough, if that makes sense.

 

[Guest Back Post Misses]

2 hours ago, Grangemouth Bairn said:

So what’s the total and who has the correct MI ? It seems like loads of people have an opinion on what the impact has been and they all differ.

It’s maybe just a personal thing but it’d be good to hear the actual impact the statement has had volume wise.

 

I agree. I would prefer they reported it in cash and share terms than members though. Much more important 

Edited October 5, 2022 by Back Post Misses

[RC55 FFC]

I could be coming into a topic at the arse end (as haven’t read all of the posts) but currently whether someone pays £10 or £30 a month, they only have the 1 voice/opinion/vote in terms of FSS. 

[gav-ffc]

1 subscription 1 vote is the only way to do it. Will be looking to pay by standing order from now on too.

[Bigbri Bairn]

1 subscription 1 vote is the only way to do it. Will be looking to pay by standing order from now on too.

If it was any other way voting wise i would like another way to donate to the club. one vote for all

[StuartA]

Just to be clear - FSS membership is one member, one vote.  It’s on the website.  There are no plans to change that. 
 

And anyone can join by Standing Order too. It’s also on our website and we’ve been leafleting home games much of the season with an SO mandate. We’ll be asking for volunteers to help leaflet the Alloa and Kelty games so we can get them in more people’s hands. 

[vikingTON]

8 hours ago, NavyBlueArmy1876 said:

A quick gander of the Airdrie and Dunfermline threads and both bemoaning a lack of depth in their squads.

If the extra £400k invested in the team this season gets us out of this good forsaken league when injuries and suspensions inevitably kick in for everyone it will be money very well spent imo. 

It's not an investment if you don't actually have the money in the first place. 

[Guest Back Post Misses]

1 hour ago, virginton said:

It's not an investment if you don't actually have the money in the first place. 

Being a Morton fan you will know all about being skint. 

[Guest Back Post Misses]

2 hours ago, Scott said:

I finally signed up to FSS the other night after watching the Falkirk Daft podcast. There's a number of reasons why it's taken me so long to join such as going through a house move (waiting to see where I'd be financially), not really knowing enough of what's involved (slightly confused at all the different groups/legs of the stool/pledges etc etc) and perhaps being too lazy to look it all up (and seeing its not all that complicated at all).

The point I'm trying to make is perhaps the reason why the sign up numbers arent as high as we'd like is due to the message not getting out there to a broader audience of our fan base. I've got a lot of friends who are Bairns (in their 30s and 40s) but not all of them are totally aware of the FSS, whats involved and how simple it actually is. They're not all that active on social media and don't get to as many games as we used to but still very much have the club at heart.

I hope it doesn't come across as having a go, far from it as the guys involved are doing a great job but what I can remember of other teams pushing for fan ownership was there was a lot of publicity but it feels like our push seems kind of 'stop-start' in that we will hear updates from time to time resulting in small boosts to member numbers (the most recent of which gave me the bum booting to finally join).

Does anyone think that we'd have more success if we had more of a 'face'? Such as flags,advertising,badges,leaflets etc with the simple message along the lines of 'OWN OUR CLUB' with an identifiable logo that everyone will recognise and know when they see it what it means. 

I fear the noise from the latest message put out asking for more members will fizzle out again very soon and result in another going out in a month or so resulting in another very modest increase. It seems to me that even though we have a latent support of 5000, the message will only be reaching a small percentage of those and even then, its perhaps not entirely clear how straightforward it is.

I reckon a more visible, prolonged presence getting the message out there over multiple streams (newspaper, online, banners at games etc) could let more fans know we have a movement ongoing. I appreciate this is all easier said than done as would be very hard work, time consuming and costly but I feel the struggle we have getting more numbers is due to the message not being visible enough, if that makes sense.

 

Excellent

[RuncornBairn]

I’m upping my contribution to FSS, I’m not trawling through the recent post frenzy but glimpses of it convinced me to increase ie the the posts indicating we’re all fans no matter what “group” we’re in. I believe in fan ownership and as such put more in. Other glimpses of last few pages just made me depressed. Also pleased board apologised, notice they recognised a group think mentality when proof reading. Simple rule in writing stuff - the author(s) is the worst proof reader, they read the message they want to get over rather than what the message actually says to the audience. Only challenge now is to work out how to increase payment. I hope it’s just changing my standard order. COYB

[HoBNob]

39 minutes ago, Back Post Misses said:

Being a Morton fan you will know all about being skint. 

I see your passion for teams being financially prudent, I presume that you are in turn concerned by your clubs admittance that they're living so far outwith there means?