Bainsfordbairn

Jamie Swinney said at the AGM that he has ten permanent staff and thirty-five volunteers. Of the permanent staff, you can subtract the three groundsmen and probably Super Sam as not being admin. That leaves six. Four of whom are part time.

From memory, I think it was down at Palmerston due to high winds. Can't remember the date but it was within the last decade.

Aidan Nesbitt.

Yes, three times a week.

I'm in no way ITK on this, but I suspect the party was arranged months ago and had the approval of the previous manager before it was organised. IMO it's not an issue that folk want to arrange a night out at Christmas with their mates. I don't think there's any employment law in the UK that prevents staff doing what they want in their free time. (with obvious exceptions) They were perfectly entitled to go our for a bevvy. Just as you and I would be, as long as it didn't affect our performance the next day at work. But considering recent results it was extremely foolish for any of them to post about it on social media. Because it gives the impression that they didn't care about results and weren't hurting as much as we are. The sensible thing would have been to keep schtum and enjoy themselves in private, but footballers and sensible don't always go together.

Yeah, the youth setup is run by IF. What he said at the AGM pretty much reflects a few conversations I've had with him pitch side before games. I saw GH helping out with training in the early days but there. are a few other coaches around nowadays so I'd guess his involvement will be minimal now.

Not true.

I believe Andy Thomson would tell you he's also in charge of Falkirk TV and helps out with the club accounts. Regardless, if you travel to away games and look at those sitting in the BOD seats you would have seen that he, David White and Ronnie Bateman are frequent guests. I'd assume the three of them must have a relationship if not a friendship given their similar (ish) ages and affiliation to the club. For that reason, along with the fact that the other two are now on the BOD, I suspect you may end up disappointed.

That's a decent point actually. I think I saw you there; is there a reason you didn't ask it?

Constructive probably sums it up for me. Gordon Wright was the initial speaker, followed Gordon Colborn, Ronnie Bateman, Jamie Swinney, Ian Fergus and then reps from the two fan organisations in Kenny Jamieson and Stuart Adam. The only one likely to attract stick was Colborn and he started with an apology which seemed to defuse any hostility.

Fair enough. The 16/17 year olds are at an age where they should be hoping to earn a pro contract now and I don't think any will make it. The three older ones who did get contracts in the summer haven't had much of an impact.

Disagree. There's a few decent ones and one who's an absolute standout IMO. I'm not going to put pressure on a fifteen year old boy by naming him on an internet forum but if I see you at the AGM I'll give you his name and you can have him watched. The beat a strong Hearts youth team and did the same to a Lowland league side in the Shire, though admittedly they were slightly bolstered by having Ompreon & Krasniqi in the team that night. That's not bad for a team of kids.

Eh? I haven't given them any credit for Foundation work, nor do I see them trying to claim any. I'm talking about the club as an institution, not the individuals who currently serve on the board. Or the board before them, or the new one that will start on Monday. I understand Harry's point. I simply disagreed with it because IMO being a community club isn't defined by however warm or cold the relationship between fans and BOD is at any given time.

Yes, because the Foundation was set up BY the club. It’s no coincidence that Campbell Christie and George Craig were named on the Certificate of Incoration and that they’re based in TFS. The credit lies primarily with the Foundation staff and volunteers who do the work every day. Though I’d say that every success they have reflects back on FFC, given that we created them. As long as the two organizations are working closely together then in my eyes we’ll always be a community club. Regardless of what f*ck-ups any FFC board member might make during their short time in office.

They're two separate legal entities but they work very closely together. I think it was set up that way so that the community side would be eligible for things like grant funding.

Sorry Z, but I don't agree. One or two alleged bad eggs at the very top cannot undo the good work done by god know how many volunteer coaches that it takes to give up their time and run teams for massive numbers of kids. FFC are still a community club. If those at the top are as bad as some folk claim them to be then they'll get their just rewards in the end.

No it's not. I don't know the current figures, but pre-covid there were over a thousand kids playing community football every week with Falkirk strips on. The "Falkirk Family" stuff was a standard marketing slogan, made up I think for a season ticket campaign, but while many didn't like it the players were still visiting local primary schools before every game and going out to Strathcarron Hospice four or five times a year. The club tried hard to do their bit for the community and still do. Foodbank collections and the best Grassroots Award that the Foundation won from the SFA on Sunday evening are further evidence of that. Please don't let the alleged misbehaviour of a few directors tarnish the work that dozens of folk are doing to help the community. Folk whose work clothes have a steeple on their chest.

No arguement from me about the first team. The best players in the two squads are IMO the fifteen year olds so they're a couple of years away yet. Given the overall lack of game time that Lemon, Weekes & Williamson have had I'd be surprised if any of the current youths got a pro contract until at least the summer, if not later.

From my understanding they had to start at the very bottom and work up as they didn't initially have the staff or player numbers to begin at a higher level. I believe they plan to be playing a grade up next year. It is below professional standard, but from the games I'm watching they're scooshing it. Which suggests they have the potential to go higher. I think it's a given that they won't be near FVFA standard yet but at least they've made a promising start. At the moment I think that's all we can ask for. As for honesty, I'm not sure how they're being dishonest. Every game they've played that I know of has been reported on. For example they didn't try to hide the 6-0 gubbing from Aberdeen.

Yes.

No idea. I haven't looked at it and as I'm not a twitter person I wouldn't know where to start in terms of verifying it. I have a twitter account but it was set up so I could watch the output of a few media companies. A friend who's much younger and more tech-savvy than I am told me it was fake and I have no reason to doubt her, hence my reply.

It's a parody account. There seems to be a few of them around. I was told today that one has been made up for Clyde FC saying that their signing of Benjamin Mendy is imminent.

The game at Newcastle on Saturday apparently went extremely well until the usual wholesale changes that you get in friendlies. It was 1-1 for something like 60 minutes and then after bringing on a pile of subs they lost a number of goals in the last half hour. Or so I understand from speaking to Ian Fergus on Sunday morning. The Under 16s won 3-2 on Sunday in the 1000 kickoff. Goals from Aaron Ramage, Jazib Khaliq and Blair Nelson. In my (admittedly very biased) eyes it was 3-2 going on 5 or 6 as their goalie played a blinder. I wasn't at the U18s game - I left after the 16s ended to head for Livingston to watch the women - but from texts with Ian yesterday they lost 2-1. I believe both teams have a lot of walking wounded so maybe it's just as well the league season is over, bar one final U18 game away to Montrose. It was meant to be tonight but is off and will be rearranged. I presume there will be reports or maybe a video interview with IF at some point this week.

I believe so yes.

Rankin was 9. Honeyman was a secondhalf sub at number 11. 6 was Johnny Armstrong.