[The Falkirk FC Thread]

9 hours ago, AJ1981 said:

their CEO has openly said football is secondary to the charity work

Unfortunately I've heard a similar story, though as I haven't heard it first hand I can't be certain it's true. 

Hopefully our board are aware and will be asking some questions. 

[The Falkirk FC Thread]

8 hours ago, LatapyBairn. said:

Why are the foundation even involved with the south stand bar in the first place?!

I might be wrong on this, but there's something in the back of my mind about the Foundation largely funding the development of the South stand interior. Because as a charitable organisation they were able to get external funding for the benefit of the wider community which wouldn't have been available to a professional football club. And build a meeting space to help train unemployed youths to find a job, or a blether with lonely older people,  or help folk with their mental health. All are laudable initiatives. I think that's what it's used for most of the week and then every second Saturday it gets turned into a bar run by FFC volunteers to benefit the club and our supporters. 

I think the same charity funding route applies to the construction of the community pitch at the back of the stadium & Woodlands. And presumably this new project that they trumpeted about a few weeks ago. 

 

[The Falkirk FC Thread]

10 minutes ago, Raybowski89 said:

Help a 90s lad out. Where was that pub? I'll be sure to ask my auld faither about it. He probably participated in these scraps

The building above it caught fire and the whole block was demolished some time ago. It's now a fenced-off wasteland. Next to the barbers shop and what's now called The Fusion Corner. Was the Golden Lion chippie when I grew up. 

[The Falkirk FC Thread]

21 minutes ago, StuartA said:

BB - finger in the air - how much would it cost to run the team for a season *without* the players, coaches etc having to pay prohibitive fees?  No-one will hold you to it, but it might focus minds a bit.

I honestly have no idea. I could ask the coaches at the weekend, but I'd need their permission before making the info public. Albeit there may be other people on this messageboard who run amateur teams and who could give a ballpark figure. 

In terms of the womens development team, it doesn't matter. They're gone. The senior womens team are self-funding, mainly due to various initiatives and sponsorship brought in by the coaching staff. 

[The Falkirk FC Thread]

21 minutes ago, Hughsie said:

I noticed the women’s team are playing their games on the community pitch recently too. I thought they normally played in the stadium? Seems a bit of a backwards step as well.

They moved to the community pitch at the start of this season. I believe it's to save money, as there will be either no pitch fees there or reduced ones because it's owned by the Foundation. I could be wrong on that though. I also know that some of the girls prefer it, either because it's smaller or the surface was better before the main pitch was relaid. 

[The Falkirk FC Thread]

1 hour ago, LatapyBairn. said:

I’d have thought the women’s team would be exactly the sort of thing the foundation should be excelling at, are the issues all purely around funding? I was under the impression the foundation was awash with money. Did they not just receive a 400k government grant? There was also 20k surplus they were given from the money fans raised doing the KM7 stand at the beginning of last season which I am told was meant to be for funding a sensory center within the stadium, as far as I’m aware that still hasn’t happened so presumably the money should still be sitting there, perhaps somebody from the club could politely suggest they use some of those funds to help the girls out if the sensory center isn’t going to happen. 

I have no knowledge of overall Foundation finances and so can’t comment on them.

As for “excelling at”, I have an extremely biased opinion because I’m heavily invested in the womens team. I have friendships with coaches which go back years and spend every Sunday travelling all over the country to support them. It was just over a year ago when I had a fourteen hour day taking some of our players to Golspie in my car, as did the coaches, so that the girls could play a Scottish cup tie in a town not far from Wick.

I don’t believe the Foundation excel at supporting their womens team.

One of the things that frustrates me is that Falkirk women are at the bottom of the pyramid with only the regional leagues below them. Big names such as Spartans and Montrose are three leagues above us. Gartcairn, Boroughmuir Thistle, Stirling University, Glasgow Women (not City) are two leagues above. Rossvale, East Fife, Dryburgh, Renfrew, Westdyke & Hutchison Vale are one league above. Those are massive clubs for our girls to try and compete with.

I’d love to know what support those teams get from their parent organisation that allows them to be so much better than Falkirk.

[The Falkirk FC Thread]

52 minutes ago, Roboccop said:

What’s this about? Any clarity?

 

https://scotwomensfootball.com/latest-news/statement-on-falkirk-development/

We’ve had a womens development team for a number of years and some really good players have come from it. Current womens first team goalkeeper Rachel Pirie, midfielder Iona Bridges and winger Ella Stewart spring to mind. The first two are superb and the third has massive potential. 

The development team suffered a major setback earlier in the season when one of their coaches left to join another club and took a large number of players with him. There are no transfer windows or rules surrounding player movements at this level. 

However, they attempted to rebuild and had found enough players to make up a new team.

Before I go into the next part, I should explain that all womens football at Falkirk is amateur and costs money to participate. To cover fees for referees, pitch hire, strips, travel, etc. In many cases, amateur teams raise money from monthly player fees. The senior womens team have scrapped those.  Our A licence coaches have given up any reimbursement and the team is paid for by fundraising and sponsorship from various companies. It was done that way to make it easier to attract good players. Every one of us who help the Falkirk womens team do it for the love of the game and are out of pocket because of it. Falkirk FC cover my fuel costs if I drive to Kelty to shoot the first team, as I did on Saturday, but if I drive to Dundee to shoot the women it costs me £sss.

That’s not a complaint and it’s no big deal for me, but it is for the girls. This is a direct quote from one of our former development players as to why they all left. 

"None of them have committed because of the massive monthly fee and not getting anything in return"

 It’s one of the reasons why I’ve posted a few times online about womens sponsorship. And why I’d love to see our girls team brought into the main football club instead of being with the Foundation. A tiny fraction of the mens first team budget would transform our womens team.

[The Falkirk FC Thread]

10 hours ago, Ranaldo Bairn said:

Brian Guthrie there. Is he still on the go?

Yeah he's still about. I saw him in reception on Saturday. 

[The Falkirk FC Thread]

28 minutes ago, Bigbrbairn said:

Anybody else feeling stupid for thinking that John McGlynn was not the man to take this club forward?

No because a lot of people were hurting after the Airdrie result and just wanted to lash out. Hence all the vitriol over the summer. 

But when you looked back at last season there were a lot of positives. Improved performances, better league position, vastly improved recruitment and some really enjoyable games. It's undeniable that McGlynn improved us last season. 

The calls to bin him because he hadn't improved us ENOUGH were just mental. 

[The Hamilton Accies League 1 thread]

6 hours ago, Ye Olde Hamiltonian said:

The laughable part is a full-time squad of 31 players

Wow. We have a squad of 20. 

4 loanees and 19 signed players, 3 of whom aren't rated which is why they've been punted out on loan. 

All 20 are very much part of the squad and are regularly involved as either starters or subs, 

[The Falkirk FC Thread]

7 hours ago, AndrewFFC said:

Where is Max McGinley? I don't remember the club announcing that

They didn't. I assumed he'd been released and was surprised when I saw him a development cup or closed door game as he's too old for the 18s. I asked Tony Begg about it but I've long since forgotten who he's with atm. I don't think anyone told the club media staff at the time, hence the lack of an announcement. 

[The Falkirk FC Thread]

2 minutes ago, Proudtobeabairn said:

Being in the Championship will also widen the pool of potential loans whose clubs will be willing to let them come.  We need to keep some powder dry to see whose available.  

Even if all those currently being discussed were signed, there's still at least five vacancies to be filled as I don't imagine Long, McKay, Bisland,  McGinn & Lawal will be here next season. Never mind the uncertainty over Mackie, Oliver and Allan. It's also possible we'll run with a larger squad in the championship as we currently have only 20. (not counting the 3 first teamers on loan) 

It'll be interesting to see how close Honeyman, Walker, Hayward & Sinclair are to the first team next season. The first two appear to be doing very well on loan and Hayward may be considered good enough to become the backup goalie. Though I've no idea how he's getting on currently at Penicuik. Ditto Sinclair at Tynecastle. 

AFAIK we also have two youth players on loan as amateurs in Shay Burke and Max McGinley. They might end up getting modern apprenticeships, which I'd be happy with as I always rated Burke in particular. 

[The Falkirk FC Thread]

1 minute ago, 60`s bairn said:

When I started going to watch the Bairns as a kid in 19 "cough", all the old guys used to keep going on about Kenny Dawson..."Aye, he`ll never be as good as Kenny Dawson etc". Hadn`t a clue who Kenny Dawson was. 

Wow. So you're not actually old enough to have seen him play? 

A very quick look online shows he played for us just prior to the outbreak of WW2,  so I always assumed that was the era you were in your prime. 

 

[The Falkirk FC Thread]

10 minutes ago, Grangemouth Bairn said:

I thought Kenny Dawson was our all time top scorer ? 

That's what I have too, with 283 goals. A figure that will never be beaten. 

[The Falkirk FC Thread]

10 minutes ago, Big chungus said:

Please do excuse me for most likely getting ahead of myself. But this is Morrisons 5th season with us. Just signed a new two year deal, so let’s say he’s with for that length of time. That’ll be 7 years he will have been with the club. If he can continue a similar goal scoring record in the championship does that mean he’s a Falkirk “legend”.

I'm not sure where I got these stats from, but I've held them in my FFC spreadsheet for a number of years now. In 44 years of watching Falkirk, these are the top goalscorers I've seen in person: 

Crunchie 61

Cadette 46

Hoggan 44

McWilliams 43

McRoberts 42

Houston 40 

Duffy 36. 

 

A few of those are already considered legends, so if Cal can top that table he absolutely should be considered in the same bracket as them. And with 12 games left of this season and two more years afterwards, who would bet against him? 

 

 

[The Falkirk FC Thread]

1 hour ago, LatapyBairn. said:

 We were obviously able to match or better the extensions they’d offered both Lang and Spencer. 

Not necessarily. Both had worked with McGlynn before and I was told on the day we signed them that he was a large part of the reason they came here. Lang had interest from a Premier League club who wanted to have a look at him and you must assume they could have paid more than we did. 

You could also reasonably assume Morrison could have earned more had he left us. He might well have doubled his salary if some of the figures reported were accurate. However, if he has two good seasons playing for us at the top end of the Championship that may turn out more beneficial to his longterm career than a move to somewhere like Linfield or Salford City. 

He might have gazillioned his salary if he'd signed for megabucks Hamilton, but who in their right mind would want to go there? 

 

[The Falkirk FC Thread]

19 minutes ago, FFC 1876 said:

That's the second time the twitter admin's scummed us with a random tweet we all thought meant a signing.

GET THE MAN SIGNED UP.

Nothing to do with signings. Look at the points gap. 

 

[The Falkirk FC Thread]

13 minutes ago, Hisingdoon said:

MW1-beat Annan as table is sorted alphabetically

MW3-beat Stirling we were 3rd they were second

That’s it we’ve been on top ever since MW4

Not true I'm afraid. Hamilton overtook us on 2nd December when our game against Cove was postponed and they beat QOTS 5-0. 

They were still top the following week on goal difference even though they dropped two points to Alloa. 

Then we beat them at NDP and have held top spot ever since. 

 

[The Falkirk FC Thread]

Just now, Bairnardo said:

As said all along, I just want us to stay grounded and keep winning games till the job is done, but i'm beginning to think that Queen of the South arent going to be in the title reckoning

I think everyone on the football side of the club is grounded. Even in hospitality last night when asked by the compere in the post-match interviews the players were sticking to the "nothing won in February" routine. They'll be professional to the end. 

What interests me is what "end" we're talking about. When we last won a title in 2004/05 we lost 3 out of our final four games after clinching it. The players were in holiday mode. 

If we secure the title with a pile of games left and are still undefeated at that point - will we keep it going to try and earn an invincibles tag?  

 

[The Falkirk FC Thread]

4 minutes ago, Bairn in Exile said:

We know we've won the league but we don't want to say that we know that we have won the league. Just in case.

 

I bet that was a Morten horse. We're Falkirk. 

[The Falkirk FC Thread]

37 minutes ago, Ranaldo Bairn said:

I have Morrison on 51 goals, not 50. The only one I can think of that might be incorrect was the one at Kelty - did that go down as an OG by the keeper? BBC have him scoring 2 but I'm sure it was an OG.

I thought I was the only one who noticed that, as I have him on 51 too. I gave him both goals against Kelty as he was so close he must have got a touch and I doubt anyone could prove otherwise. 

If I mind I'll ask next time I see him. 

 

 

[The Falkirk FC Thread]

59 minutes ago, BPM said:

5 wins would do it now IMO. That would mean Hamilton would need to win 10 of their twelve games to beat us. Don’t see them doing that 

It's done. We need to lose 5 out of 12 for them to overhaul us while winning all 12 of theirs. Or us to lose 6, 7 or 8 if they drop further points along the way. It's mathematically possible, but the chances of it happening are miniscule. 

 

[The Falkirk FC Thread]

12 minutes ago, BPM said:

We are now 1/20 on Bet365 to win the league. Win on Tuesday and that will be 1/25 or even shorter. The Bookies don’t get many things wrong and very rarely as spectacularly as this.   

I bet Morton could screw it up from here. 

Oh feck. I just thought of something. When we go up we'll have to deal with all those roasters they can fans polluting the FFC thread again. 

[The Hamilton Accies League 1 thread]

48 minutes ago, Beckford said:

Gerry strain posing in the dug out was the final insult today and was only going to wind up the more vocal section of our support. 

As Dylan Tait was running off the field following the warmup, a chunky guy in an Accies bodywarmer with the white initials "GS" approached Dyl and tried to greet him like a long-lost friend. DT turned his face and body away with only one word uttered - "later". Looked the very definition of being snubbed.

Though I could of course be mistaken and that the player was just too focussed on the game at that point to be indulging in social niceties. 

 

[Falkirk v Hamilton Pt3]

13 minutes ago, Senor Bairn said:

Accies players look absolutely buzzing considering they got beat! 

Fair play to our media officers for not only coming up with the idea but getting permission from above to run with it. They get stick for things like TV picture quality and spelling but they're actually pretty good at their jobs. 

Besides, it's just a picture of three random players celebrating, right?