Bainsfordbairn

You always like a windup, don't you Senor? I can think of three or four similar ones over the years and given that I'm not aware of any bounce games I think we can add this one to the list.

I had the motivation of knowing that if you beat me there would be nothing left by the time I arrived.

Yep. I spent yesterday with the womens team in Yoker who were playing on the only grass pitch in our league. The girls absolutely hated it. They were struggling to keep their feet and a few of them said afterwards that if they had to play on that every week they would give up the game.

You were - as always - on the side nearest the pressroom and the halftime pies.

You're half right. I forgot about the second one but both weren't under Pressley. May delivered the first win and then departed after the next game when we lost at home to Kilmarnock. So Pressley gets the credit for the second win in which Showumi scored.

I've seen a couple of victories, though not many. Michael Higdon scored when we beat them 1-0 at TFS in January 2009. 60s Bairn will probably be along shortly to supply an image of the winning goal. Then we won at Pittodrie a year later. This pic of mine shows Mark Kerr watching on as Colin Healy scores the winner. Undoubtedly the best result Eddie May's team got that season as we were relegated at the end of it. I think it was the only time we'd won at Pittodrie in something like 50 years.

Yeah, I've got photos from this season which show that your FFCTV branded jackets, polos and t-shirts are still being worn years after you supplied them. Not sure about the replays; I'm sure it's do-able but whether people would want to sit through 90 minutes rather than just the highlights is maybe debateable.

Yes. The two part-time media two staff take the kit to and from the games and usually edit the highlights. One of them operates the camera and the other does media stuff like tweeting during the game and putting out the team lineups. Stuart and Lewis do the commenting and most of the technical stuff involved involved in setting the thing up. FFCTV wouldn't be where it is today without the two of them and the humongous amount of hours that they've put in every week for years.

Loan deals are announced simultaneously by both clubs. We suggested a time this morning add the media guy (or girl?) at Bonnyrigg asked for 1200 tomorrow. Then their manager put him in the team and nobody informed FFC of the change of plans.

It varies. Last-minute ones tend to happen mainly on the final day of the window. I normally get told the day before though there have also been occasions where I've known a week in advance. Usually when a player is on holiday or in the run up to a window opening. On those occasions I'm given the date but never the name, which is entirely sensible from the club. I also prefer it that way so that if a name gets out I can't be suspected of leaking it.

I have nothing in the diary other than an under 17 friendly tomorrow night, Alloa on Saturday and a trip to Clydebank with the womens team on Sunday. Sorry.

If you listen to McGlynns post match interview on Saturday from about the five minute mark, he goes into detail with the issues they're having. Reading between the lines of what he said, I got the impression that signings are more likely to happen towards the end of the window rather than the middle. Not that it stops folk tweeting the club every day asking for signings, as if that will make a difference.

Apologies for being a bit late to the party, but I've been up North all day and am just starting to catch up on P&B. I have nothing on the Donaldson tackle as there were players in the way and I was at the other end of the pitch. However, for the Clyde red card this is the moment of impact. Hendo wins the ball and the Clyde player is a fraction of a second late. I don't have any pics of the challenge before this one so can't say if it was intentional, but it looks harsh for a straight red.

He'll be 26 next month. This was a pic I took of him 11 years ago while playing for Scotland U16s. That baby face hasn't changed much.

I was down at TFS earlier for the pic of Nizzy and Brian Flynn. That not enough for you? And before anyone asks, no I have nothing exciting in the pipeline. A commercial job Friday lunchtime, an under-18 friendly on Friday night, Clyde game & hospitality on Saturday and then a bus trip with the womens team to Aberdeen on Sunday are my diary entries for the week.

I have no idea if it's true or not, but I think the source of the rumour is a facebook post made by someone who said last January that Cal Morrison had signed for Hamilton. Because he missed one game due to covid. As always, time will tell.

Made for a nice picture though.

Nope, though if I had then for obvious reasons I couldn't comment. Today will be my first visit to the stadium in 2023.

No chance IMO. We've had 18 league games and McGuffie has played in every one of them, either as a starter or a sub. Players who get that much gametime don't want leave unless they have something more lucrative lined up. And McGlynn clearly rates him as a squad player at the very worst. If anyone else leaves, it's most likely to be those like Seb Ross and Jaime Wilson - guys who're not playing and not likely to. Craig McGuffie isn't in that category.

I didn't watch the training as it was pishing down and I'd already been soaked once in 24 hours after Junior Bairns the day before. I turned up to shoot Cal getting POTM, do the signing and then went home.

He travelled up Wednesday, trained on Thursday morning and has been with the squad ever since. On the "leaks" debate, with him having been here five days now it was always a possibility. There's 25 other players in the squad plus club staff who knew and could have mentioned it to friends or family. The window obviously didn't open until yesterday and I think the hope was to give the fanbase a boost by announcing him unexpectedly on the morning of the game. Unfortunately some people like to get in first with news rather than allowing the club to do it. That's not a dig at them, it's just human nature for some people if they know a secret.

He was injured for a while and presumably only returned to fitness recently. If you look at team lines he was listed as a sub in the last two games against QOTS and Dundee. Prior to that he was missing from all subs benches for a couple of months, despite there often being space for him. The last time I saw him play was in a closed-door game up at Perth at the end of September.

When I went in last night there was a christmas present waiting for me - from John McGlynn. In thirteen years of knowing Falkirk managers as a volunteer that's the first time I've ever had a present from one. He also namechecked Graeme Stewart, our Commercial Manager, in a Falkirk TV interview recently and wished him well as he's been struggling with illness. Also a first as managers rarely pay attention to non-footballing people. He and Smudger come across as genuinely good guys who value everyone that puts in time at the club.

I have no idea about club morale, but if you consider Finlay Malcolm, Paddy Martin, Seb Ross, Blair Sneddon, Jaime Wilson, Paul Watson, PJ Morrison, Steven Hetherington & Finn yeats then we've had a lot of players who're either injured or not getting much gametime.

And yet Paul Sheerin didn't manage it, despite making 14 new signings before the transfer window closed. (Ryan Williamson, Steven Hetherington, Brad McKay, Aidan Nesbitt, Craig McGuffie, Leon McCann, Sebastian Ross, Paddy Martin, Luke Holt, Jaime Wilson, Samuel Ompreon, Ernaldo Krasniqi, Michael Ruth, Declan McDaid.) I'm discounting the three youth players of Cammy Williamson, Mackenzie Lemon and Ben Weekes as they're equivalent to Lennon Walker, Scott Honeyman and Kyle Connolly. Sheerin played 16 League 1 games before he was sacked. He won 6. That’s not an attack on him. It’s simply pointing out that using the stats of previous managers to attack McGlynn doesn’t stack up. Let’s see what the new year brings before jumping to conclusions.