18BAIRN76

I’ve got no issue with the penalty or Raith’s game management, I’d expect (and have seen) us do the same many times in the same situation. The injuries are unfortunate but they happen. I’m loathe to criticise McGlynn after everything he’s done, but there have been fans on here for weeks pointing out how screwed we’d be if MacIver got injured. I hope we can get someone else in. It’s also not a reason we lost the game at all, but the pitch is shite. It looks very similar to our one 2 years ago when it’s obviously completely done and needs replaced. Looked proper slippy and ball was bobbling around a lot. Same for both teams though.

I thought McGlynn just seemed a bit down in his interview tbh. His assessment of the game was pretty fair.

Not meaning to pick on this post in particular, but seen this sentiment expressed a few times. If it’s not such an amazing achievement, why has no other club in Scotland done it, outside Celtic or Rangers? There’s numerous examples over a large number of seasons of ‘bigger’ clubs playing at levels arguably below where they should be playing, so there has been plenty of opportunities for someone to do it. By all means, rip the pish out of us for losing if you want to, fair enough. But any club in Scotland - outwith the arsecheeks - playing 43 league games in a row without losing a single one is an incredible achievement and to argue otherwise is silly.

Already been said by others but I’d argue that even if MacIver isn’t going to be out for too long - say a couple of weeks - I’d still be making the case for bringing another striker in. Shanley did okay when he came on today but he’s not a viable, starting replacement. Accept the point we won’t get someone as good as MacIver, but we still need better back-up. I trust McGlynn’s recruitment and you’d think he have some contacts he could use.

Thought Pars fans would be all over this? Any idea why they’re not about?

Walked into that one to be fair.

Ach. Don’t think we deserved lose that but it’s been a long time. I know it probably sounds like sour grapes cause we’ve lost but I thought Raith were poor; we missed MacIver massively though so even though we had most of the ball we didn’t create an awful lot. It’s been a great ride and we won’t see that again. Great from the fans to sing the team off like that. Onto next week!

Same price for pies and coffee is cheaper. Can’t even have a moan about that. Fuming.

That is certainly a line-up. Ach well. Let’s get right behind them as always and see what happens. Mon the Bairns.

Also, regardless of what happens on the pitch today, I’m sure we can all agree that nothing will be as embarrassing as Dunfermline fans coming on to this thread begging Raith to win. Tinpot stuff.

It’s the pessimist in me, but feeling a bit uneasy this morning. No MacIver is massive and if Coll is out too it’s a big blow. Would back this group of players to do anything tbh but going into it today I’d take a draw quite happily.

Hoping McGlynn can pull a rabbit out the hat this afternoon because I don’t really fancy any of our options up front. Shanley is a no, Oliver has started the season well in the 10 but watching him as a lone striker makes me want to greet, Alfie is a total unknown in that position as is McKenna.

Watching Starmer reach the levels of unpopularity in less than 3 months that it took Blair 6 years to accomplish is no mean feat. I’m just shocked that other people are taken aback. Beyond a burning hatred of the left and lustful desire to be the ones in power, he - and the overwhelming majority of his frontbench; Reeves, Streeting, Nandy, Lammy etc - have nothing else to offer. They might play around the edges and be marginally more ‘progressive’ than the Tories on some issues, but when it comes to the fixing the ills of the country, they broadly have the same prescription. He’s a totally empty vessel and will only become more unpopular the more people see of him.

Imagine (allegedly) being a homophobe in 2024.

In our defence, we wouldn’t be being Falkirk fans if we didn’t take the punt of lording it up in September as we either go on to stream-roller our way to back-to-back promotions or chuck it, finish 7th and fall back on talking about how big a club we are and how many fans we have. It’s all part of the fun!

Also Hamilton getting rightly pilloried on social media for adult tickets which are 25 quid when Raith’s are only 1 quid cheaper. Said on the other thread but 24 quid is a joke for Championship football, especially if it’s true (seen it, but don’t know if it is?) that they’re charging us more than other teams. And before anyone chimes in with the usual “YoU DoN’t hAvE tO gO”, I say “bolt”, cause it’s in all of our interests that clubs at this level don’t take the piss. We all want to follow our teams without being fleeced.

What was it he said?

At the time you got promoted and we stayed down, sure, you could say this. But it's not entirely ridiculous; you got promoted with a season of McPakeball which even the most ardent of Pars fans would admit was, at best, 'efficient', and at worst, pretty brutal to watch. We stayed down, completed the second phase of the transition McGlynn had started in his first year, went invincible while playing entertaining, attacking football and blew away every team in the division. We've now come up and are in a better state than you both on and off the park. Not really nonsense at all.

Tbf, our last home game was now over a month ago against Partick and this will be our fifth away game on the bounce. It's not even a partisan point to suggest that there will have been some folk who have had to pick and choose what games they wanted to go over the last month. Obviously still think we'll bring decent numbers due to our form but perhaps not as many as if it had been a 'normal' run of fixtures.

By no means excusing the actions he’s allegedly committed at all, but it really must take a mental toll on these guys. Think about it, he comes through at Falkirk and breaks into the team young and quite quickly gets a move to Swansea who were in the PL at the time. He won’t have been in megabucks, but it wouldn’t have been peanuts either. To have all that hope, the quality of care/coaching he’ll have had etc, and end up milling around the lower and now junior leagues back up the road as he has for a number of years now, it must be pretty hard to deal with. Again, it happens to lots of people so it’s not an excuse at all, but I think it’s something to consider.

Won’t speak of Raith’s recruitment strategy as don’t know the ins and outs, but they’ve definitely got a very good Championship squad on paper. Do have to say though, of all the criticisms that could be put at McGlynn’s door in his nearly 2 and half years in post, poor recruitment isn’t one of them. I don’t know exactly how many signings he’s made for us, but a Dunfermline fan could count up all the duds he’s signed on one hand and still have four fingers left.

When the run ends, be it this weekend or in the future, the fans of other teams will inevitably come crawling out the woodwork to take the piss. It’s fair enough, given they’ve waited so long for something to have a go at us for, but I’ll be pretty content knowing the chances of them seeing their club complete an invincible league season, or go over 40 league games without losing, are incredibly low, and that we got to experience that. I’ll also be staying behind to show my appreciation for the team when they do lose. To go 43 (or more) league games without a defeat is an unreal achievement, regardless of what level you’re at, and we’ll never see it again. They’ve made us fall in love with the club again after years and years of teams and players that were incredibly easy to dislike.

Could do far worse than Bobby Wales on loan

Also spotted Berra on the bench again today, anyone know the story?

How much did you bank from big Ross scoring?