18BAIRN76

Wee Arfield McGovern double signing?

I’m not even convinced Nesbitt gets in our strongest 11, never mind a League One strongest 11.

Might be reading too much into things of course, but the fact Burrell didn’t come on on Saturday and Oliver played a huge chunk of a game which McGlynn said he’d be using to “shuffle the pack”, would that suggest he’s maybe leaning towards going with Burrell on Tuesday? Of course by that logic Max also played most of the game and I’m thinking he’ll start tomorrow too, so who knows.

I’d also be happy to give Watson another year on perhaps slightly reduced terms.

I’m absolutely positive this thread will stay full of enlightened takes articulated with grace and decorum and most definitely won’t descend into mutiny and mud-slinging.

4 games away from promotion. It’s as much within our capability to go out and win it as it is to f**k it up. Play to the best of our ability and there’s no reason we can’t go up. Don’t turn up and we’ll get pumped out. Worry about the rebuild necessary for the Championship if we get there. McGlynn will know we need to majorly toughen up.

Anything… literally *anything*, to avoid roof, stadium or M&M chat… Obviously we won’t know if it’s Airdrie or Alloa until tomorrow afternoon, but how are folk feeling going into the playoffs, what’s the mood? Optimistic; feel we’ll be able to turn some of our mid-season form back on when it matters? Pessimistic with our run of recent form and our record of bottling big occasions? Somewhere in the middle?

Tickets available to buy for season ticket holders but nothing on the club channels yet which is a bit odd.

Going by the atmosphere at all the previous play-off games at the stadium, I think the fans will be up for it. There’s always a bit more of an edge in the air because everyone knows what is at stake. Just got to hope the players are up for it, too.

I know it’s a bit crowdwanky, but it really doesn’t do much when the opposition bring about 30 fans (and that’s no jibe at the fans who do travel, by the way). TFS isn’t great and I’d like us to complete it cos the metal fence looking out onto Grangemouth is proper depressing - but games like Ayr this season show an atmosphere can be created in the stadium.

According to the Falkirk Daft boys, Jamie Swinney said tickets for semi-final home leg would go on sale this midweek?

No. McGlynn will not and should not be sacked, even if we don't go up. Talk of sacking him is incredibly stupid. He's on a two-year deal and has improved us enough this season to begin next season as our manager, regardless of what league we are in. Getting to a semi-final was great and unexpected - and has undoubtedly boosted the club's finances. I do think it is a bit of a red herring though - we were never going to win the cup, and when you're Falkirk in League One, success or failure is always going to be measured on league performance. Opinion among the serious fans discussing it on here is clearly split. No one is disputing the mess than McGlynn came into, but it depends on what your expectations were going into the season. If your expectations were simply 'improve on last season', then those have clearly been met. However, as I said earlier, I still think our squad, as bad as it was, under-performed by finishing 6th - McGlynn being a competent football manager, with space to bring in his own players (as he has), was never going to do worse than that. Therefore, I am in the camp that finishing 14 points behind your rivals in the third-tier and a failure to mount any form of title challenge is exactly that - a failure. However, that doesn't deem the season a failure yet - far from it. When appointed, McGlynn said the aim of the season was promotion. That is still entirely in our hands, and if achieved, the season will go down as a success. Every single Falkirk fan will tell you that we are fed up of this league and these next few weeks are so, so crucial. Hopefully we win the play-offs and this time next month are discussing building a squad fit for the Championship. If we fail to go up, the split in opinion will still be there. Some will see the progress as enough; others will begin to ask serious questions and see the overall season as a damp squib; others would simply call for his head. I would tend to fall more into the middle camp, but I do still think McGlynn would have done enough to get a second bite at it. That is my opinion on where we are at the moment. However, it's really immaterial until after the play-offs.

Constant Miller and McCracken chat is making me want to greet. Please stop.

McGlynn isn’t daft and he’ll know in his head the level of work that will need to get done to the squad if we were to reach the Championship. Realise I’m being hypocritical having contributed to the debate earlier but any continued discussion of the if, buts and maybes is entirely meaningless until we know the outcome of the play-offs. Chat of sacking McGlynn is entirely unserious and shouldn’t be entertained. Let’s see how the next few weeks pan out and we can have a proper discussion on what come next - let’s hope it’s discussing what we need in the Championship next season.

I actually thought the sacking McGlynn thing was a carry on - we’re not actually seriously discussing this, are we?

I don’t think that’s entirely fair. I certainly don’t think we’re ‘entitled’ to anything - we finished 6th in League One last season entirely on merit, because we were a shambles. I think McGlynn has done a decent job - he inherited us at an incredibly low ebb and has undoubtedly improved us considerably. He was a very sensible appointment; a competent football manager to replace the charlatans that came before him. But while he inherited a squad largely weighed down with some muck, I still think it was a squad that underachieved by finishing 6th, mismanaged by the aforementioned clowns. He’s improved on that incredibly low ebb, which I think fits in the minimum of what he was brought in to do. He’s still managing Falkirk in League One, and with that comes expectations. He’s still had one of the biggest budgets in what is a majority part-time league and has brought in a number of his own players over the course of the season. He himself came in and said that the goal of the season is promotion; either through winning the league or the play-offs. I think it’s incumbent on us as fans to get behind the team going into these play-off matches; I don’t think we have anything to fear and if we play the way we can and as we’ve shown throughout the season, there’s no reason we can’t make this season a massive success. I really hope that’s what happens. But I would question the mentality of any Falkirk fan prepared to label a season in League One where we don’t go up as a ‘success’, purely due to being it ‘better’ than a 147-year nadir of 6th.

In my opinion, any season Falkirk don’t win promotion out of the third tier is a disaster - doesn’t matter if we finish 2nd or 6th, to be honest.

It’s painfully obvious to point out, but with all the talk about stats and records etc - ultimately, our season hinges on the play-offs. If we end the season by getting promoted, the losses against Dunfermline, the 53% win rate in League One, the inconsistency against the Kelty’s and Clyde’s of the world etc are completely forgotten. The ultimate aim of the season will have been achieved and it will rightly go down as a successful season. Lose in the play-offs and the questions will undoubtedly come and the season will have undeniably been a disaster. Hard to overstate how big the next few weeks are.

It is why I feel decisions like handing out Nesbitt a two year deal seemed incredibly hasty. Good enough to get us out of League One? Hopefully, we’ll see. Good enough to play week in week out for a Falkirk team in the Championship? Unconvinced.

Morrison missed an open goal after Burrell used his pace to chase down his own interception, causing Ridgers to fluff it.

For me, I thought McGinn was our best player today; he's obviously not got the legs he used to have, but clearly showed his experience of playing at a higher level. Thought Max and Kennedy had a few nice flashes, but they weren't at their best. Donaldson and McKay exhibited the novel defending technique of deciding that neither of them would mark strikers moving in between them in the box. Morrison does flatter to deceive at times, but you still feel he's the one most likely to make something happen for us. I thought Hendo looked quite leggy and poor today. Matt Wright was... Matt Wright. Finally, I'd group players like Nesbitt and Oliver as players who will hopefully be good enough to get us out of League One via the play-offs, but they'd be nothing above squad players for the Championship. As others have said, there is the nucleus of a decent squad there and it's good that we won't need the massive turnover of previous years. However, there is still significant room for strengthening regardless of the league we're in; I expect McGlynn will know this.

I thought Burrell did alright, actually. Also thought Oliver did okay when he came on too, but showed he isn’t a striker. Can’t finish for shit.

Caley took their chances and we didn’t. I thought we played okay in patches, but simply beaten by a side with better quality on the day - although I thought the defending for the second and third goals was absolutely howling. Today was a bonus and play-offs are our bread and butter. I’m afraid I think today showed us there are a significant number of our squad who wouldn’t cut consistently it at Championship level, but it doesn’t matter - we have to get there first. On to the play-offs and let’s get out this league.

He’s one of the players that a long-term injury getting in the way of his career actually upset me. From the second he came in, you could tell he really fucking cared. It’s quite rare you get these players coming in who just play for the badge from day one, but he was one of them. Obviously wasn’t the same after he came back after his injury and it’s a real shame how his career has panned out - I reckon he’d have gone on to captain us and probably even bigger and better things had the injury not happened.

Home kit should have white shorts, red socks. White away kit with trimmings of red and navy in there. It’s what the people want.