weegeebairn

Genuine question - how many over-21's are still on the books at EEP?

!! Happy to be proved wrong!

I think you're just a wee tease...

Thought it was interesting - but depressingly, hardly a revelation - to see how the two teams played on Saturday. Lucky for us that Falkingham got crocked early on, as he looked like he was going to cause us a lot of problems down the wing. Nonetheless, Jefferies had them continue to play the ball out wide, to guys who were running forwards, and onto the pass, and usually in acres of space... Resulting in two spells of sustained pressure in the second half that somehow we survived, more by luck than anything, and on another day would have probably cost us 2 or 3 goals. Pressley, by contrast to this, has us playing short, tight passes, often behind but mostly square, to boys tight on the touchline, with their back to the Fife goal, and with opponents all over them. Its so laboured, and predictable, and its frankly baffling that Pressley thinks this is all part of some fanciful masterplan. Its delusional. Aye, superb result, to put it mildly, but as plenty others have said, we got lucky and its no more than papering over the cracks. Again. I know which manager's tactics I'd rather watch.

Like him or loathe him as a player - and very much the latter for me - one thing about Pressley's time as captain at Tynecastle I reluctantly had to admit was the drive and commitment he instilled in their team, and the pace at which Hearts played; he constantly gee'd them on to be direct, aggressive, and pressurising the opposition; and playing with pace when on the ball, and their movement off the ball. Stuff like that, y'know... the stuff that makes it entertaining to watch. All in all, the exact polar opposite of how he sets us out now he's a manager. That's the real problem for me. As many have said already - win or lose, at the very least let's see the effort. Change the tactics; change the formation; and change the attitude. The young lads will get a bit of slack from the fans if there's something - anything - to indicate that Pressley's increasingly unjustifiable mantra of progress had any real substance. The first 6 months of last season look more and more like a fluke; its been painful to watch us deteriorate so badly under his stewardship. I just don't get how he thinks he's making progress. We're clearly not, and although we do have some genuinely decent players we're clearly toiling this season. The Sevco debacle and our BOD's sucking at their teats is the biggest embarrassment in all my years as a Bairn, but Pressley appearing to be intent on coaching out the evident talent from the likes of Sibbald, Duffie and Murdoch, forcing them to conform with his square-ba', half-paced, one-dimensional 'meister-plan', is criminal. Not happy.

Like him or loathe him as a player - and very much the latter for me - one thing about Pressley's time as captain at Tynecastle I reluctantly had to admit was the drive and commitment he instilled in their team, and the pace at which Hearts played; he constantly gee'd them on to be direct, aggressive, and pressurising the opposition; and playing with pace when on the ball, and their movement off the ball. Stuff like that, y'know... the stuff that makes it entertaining to watch. All in all, the exact polar opposite of how he sets us out now he's a manager. That's the real problem for me. As many have said already - win or lose, at the very least let's see the effort. Change the tactics; change the formation; and change the attitude. The young lads will get a bit of slack from the fans if there's something - anything - to indicate that Pressley's increasingly unjustifiable mantra of progress had any real substance. The first 6 months of last season look more and more like a fluke; its been painful to watch us deteriorate so badly under his stewardship. I just don't get how he thinks he's making progress. We're clearly not, and although we do have some genuinely decent players we're clearly toiling this season. The Sevco debacle and our BOD's sucking at their teats is the biggest embarrassment in all my years as a Bairn, but Pressley appearing to be intent on coaching out the evident talent from the likes of Sibbald, Duffie and Murdoch, forcing them to conform with his square-ba', half-paced, one-dimensional 'meister-plan', is criminal. Not happy.

As if any further proof were needed that 'the 29' made a complete hash of The Vote, this whole sorry saga sums it up. The sorry-assed institution that they are and stand for should have been consigned to oblivion. Out the leagues altogether. "Apply next year, we'll consider it, if you're lucky, and if you've paid your debts" should have been the SFL/SFA stand. We'll never get that chance again. Outraged from Govan puffs out his chest, complaining about injustice and inappropriate language. You couldn't make it up. In my lifetime and for the decades before that, everyone else has to suffer their bile and bigotry, songs about Irish wars and catholic blood, yet they're all indignant about the nothing term Sevco, which was in their own legal paperwork. The franchise from Govan has no moral standing whatsoever, and still they play the indignant victim. Just pay your unpaid taxes, you cheats.

Aye fine, this coming season we're a lame duck, that's agreed; Pressley is a first class fud, that's also agreed. We're in for a long hard struggle, that's agreed too... Leaving aside the 5 seasons we've just done in the SPL, in our last 6 seasons in Division 1 (ie at our level of opposition), we were winners twice, 3rd twice and 4th once. Its hardly making up the numbers. And that includes finishing 3rd last season, when our style of play was utter dross, under our incompetent manager. It seems that our general standard of players over recent years, plus our reasonable fan base, plus our reasonable facilities, means we've consistently been one of the Div 1 challengers and gives us reasonable hope for the future, if we can finish 3rd when we're abject pish. But it certainly won't be this season. Pressley won't be with us for ever - sooner he's out, the better - and you're right there's no guarantees, but we have been able to attract a decent standard of applicant in the past when the job has been on the open market. And we believe there's evidence of decent talent coming through our own ranks for future years, for a future half-decent manager to work with. Is that really delusional?

...and it'll cost us more in abortive legal costs to chase this unsuccessfully than the compensation fee we'd get in any case. How many more examples of the total incompetence of our BOD can there still be?? You couldn't make this stuff up.

Just as a BTW, what has happened to McLean? Scrapheap? Crewe? Not losing sleep over it, just mildly curious, as his name just came up.. Come to that, where's BOB? "Who cares" is a fair enough response I agree, but maybe someone knows better...

Just a note to say that the fecker with the drum is not permitted at Falkirk games this coming season, as he is a distinctly tiresome individual. This is particularly true of January 2, when we will bring along our massive hangovers to your patch, and apparently renew our "traditional" Ne'erday "rivalry" with you lot. That is all.

The cash will surely be diverted to the well-lined pockets of our MD, as a tidy performance-related bonus. With results like this, he is clearly justifying his fabulous salary. The dick.