Shadwell Dog

I'd have guys like McWilliams and Nicholls in my team before sibbald because they were winners and had the full package. Sibbs has bags of talent. Yes he lacks a bit of pace but more importantly he lacks belief in his own ability and that bit of arrogance on the park that all top players have. They had skill but they bullied opposition players too

R u not telling me that frank mcavennie was a better player than Sibbald? Nicholls scored the same amount of goals as sibbald from midfield in about a third of the games. He then proved to be an excellent centre half too.

doh. i did say it was off the top of my head. You can stick in frank mcavennie.

Off the top of my head. tony parks brian irvine gordon marshall mo johnston simon stainrod alec taylor eddie may gary smith gary gillespie russell latapy andy gray chris waddle scott arfield murray wallace stephen kingsley anthony stokes peter hetherston derek mcwilliams stevie tosh joe mclaughlin dani mallo brian martin david weir richard cadette crunchie jamie mcgowan mark kerr davie Nicholls roddy manley lee miller owen coyle john hughes Ian Mccall Tim Krull Kasper schmeichel Ryan Flynn Lyle Taylor Will Vaulks Tommy McQueen Alex Rae Michael McGovern Stuart Kennedy Scott Crabbe Neil Duffy Alan Irvine Brian Rice Davie Nicholls Craig MacPherson Ivo Den Bieman Dani mallo. Their all players I've seen playing for Falkirk that in my mind are better than Craig Sibbald.

I said he would struggle to get in my top 50 all time Falkirk players and I still stand by that. Biabi wouldnt make it either I'm afraid.

Only time will tell with the likes of Botti Biabi. Was never overly impressed with him but Swansea must see something in him they don't see in Sibbald.

I'd have the entire 1990/91 side ahead of him for starters .

He's not a patch on the likes of Kingsley for starters who has and will continue to play at a level Sibbald can only dream of. Jay Fulton's another one . I mean Swansea have had scouts sniffing about us for years and have taken what 4 players off us and yet have never shown any interest in Sibbald.

I have never said I didnt want him to stay but as I've said I've seen much better players move on and the club is still here today. He's been one of our best players over the past few seasons yes but then the standard has been pretty poor compared to years past. To younger fans he probably is one of the better players they've seen at Falkirk but not for older fans like myself. Its important to me that we have our squad complete, fit and ready to go for the 5th of August. Pre season is an important aspect of that . Results and performances in pre season don't matter if we then can't produce the goods when the season league starts. The fact is we can't plan our squad until Sibbald decides what hes going to do. The longer that takes the less options there will be for signing players if he decides to move on and the less match fit and ready to go either he or the players we're bringing in will be. A quick resolution can only be good for the club and thats all I'm bothered about.

I agree but i also don't want it getting in the way of us preparing for an important season which it undoubtedly will do the longer it goes on.We're well covered in the middle of the park so I'd like to think any money available would be spent on other areas like the full back positions.

How? He's been a decent player for us over the last few years but others in the past have been better and others have played longer. Falkirk has lost far better players and survived and the team is far more important than Criag Sibbald. At the moment he's holding up our pre season plans and I'd rather that wasn't the case and we had our squad complete, fit and raring to go.

I've watched Falkirk for over 40 years and he'd be lucky to get into the top 50 best players I've seen in that time so I'm afraid good is as far as he gets with me. Not great, not brilliant, not amazing . Lets face it if he wasn't from Falkirk people wouldn't be getting so sentimental about him. He's played his whole career in the scottish championship and is completely untested at any level above. There's a simple reason why he's struggling to find another side and thats because other teams aren't convinced by him. His best chance of getting some interest in him would've been to turn it on in the two live televised playoff games last season but he was poor in the away game and first half of the home game. He linked up well with Leahy in the second half but missed his chance if you ask me. A class performance then and he'd have had no problem finding a side in my opinion.

Correct mate.

Yes at the moment but we were talking about by the time the window shuts. He'll be a mile behind by then. As far as I know you cant play as a trialist in the league cup or in the championship or premier up here.

He'll be nowhere near ready to play by the close of the window. He needs games and hasn't played any whilst the rest of our squad will have had preseason, league cup and a month of league games under their belt by then.

He's not going to be match fit by the time the season starts anyway as he won't have kicked a ball in a semi competitive game for weeks. If clubs are that desperate to sign him they'll get him in get him fit and have a good look at him. If he's been training with us he cant be that injured anway.

Yeah so we're having that do it by the looks of things. Obviously Luton aren't as gullible as we are and don't want to spend any time on him when we'll do it for them.. Its obviously only a slight injury. Surely he could go down there for a weeks training and he would be fighting fit by the end of the week I would have thought. He's a free agent so has bags of time on his hands.

I can't really understand why he doesn't just sign a one year deal with us unless of course a one year deal isn't on the table. He will then have lots more clubs interested in him this time next season or could sign a pre contract in January. Some of those clubs will be a lot closer to home too and he'll still only be 22.

Either way thats going to happen anyway. I would've thought he's have been better training and getting fit with Luton so that they can see what he's about rather than us having to look after him. It was with them that he got injured in the first place.

He's be as well signing a 5 years stress free contract with us then.

He's 21 for fecks sake not 16. I'm afraid he'll never make it in the game if he shites himself about moving to a team an hours flight away.

Can't help but feel that Sibbald is really taking the piss now though. He goes on trial with Luton and gets injured . He comes back to us and uses our facilities to get fit again so he can then go back and have another chance with Luton. He's been a good player and servant for us and good luck to him if he moves on but at the moment we're pushing the boat out a bit much for him. Let him and his agent sort things out first and then if he signs a contract with us get him back into training etc. We shouldnt be getting him fit for someone else.

I presume this is just up up to the transfer window shuts. Once it closes he can't play for anyone else till January if he is still signed for us when it closes. Bit farcical to be honest but at least it would allow him to play for us up till then. I'd still rather he either moved on with our thanks for all he'd done or at least signed a contract till next summer. I suppose if someone comes in for him though within that month we can ask for any price we see fit.

Shiels 2 goals that season certainly made all the difference.

Not me.I'll take anything if it helps win us a match.