Bainsfordbairn

Strange, I could have sworn he signed last week. He was tied to Falkirk days before your claim that QP were after him and that we should be watching their social media. Local paper now confirming for everyone that he signed last Monday. https://www.falkirkherald.co.uk/sport/football/former-hearts-hartlepool-and-dunfermline-striker-aidan-keena-finally-moves-falkirk-2933347 The only person who was ITK on this one was Sick Boy, as I'm sure he'll be along shortly to point out.

I think they were concerned that the number of new directors would draw negatives when compared with the number of new players. The football story should have been out long, long ago. I imagine when it does get released the Herald will be able to explain why.

The announcement was to be made after a certain football story which seems to have dragged on forever. It will still happen.

If it was off the club wouldn't say so, or at least they're wouldn't release public statements. I don't think they've ever commented on a deal that didn't make it. What usually happens is that the media pick up on rumours and ask questions at the weekly press conference. Or in this case, David Oliver of the Falkirk Herald probably contacts the club once a week before the Herald goes to print. They ran a story last week which AFAIK was accurate. On Thursday I imagine they'll have an update to it. That's probably the nearest you'll get to anything official unless a signing is confirmed before then.

You overdid it with the Keena to Queens Park stuff. You obviously have a source but that's useless without credibility. And you've blown yours. Dominic Cummings is more believable than you are.

Don't be silly. Sirscottyyoung told us that the move had been hijacked and inferred that Queens Park were behind it. He can't possibly be wrong, can he?

No, other than pointing to this quotation from David Oliver on the Falkirk Herald website. "Fans are still waiting on confirmation that the club’s fourth summer signing has been finalised. A move for striker Aidan Keena from Hartlepool is all but complete, but the deal was not quite over the line when The Falkirk Herald went to press last night. It is understood the forward, once of Hearts and Dunfermline, has agreed personal terms with the Bairns after negotiating his release from English National league side Hartlepool United ...there are added steps which must be taken before the Irish under-21 cap can be officially pronounced a Falkirk player" I think DO has pretty much nailed it.

Laverty hadn't played for a year due to injury and couldn't get match sharpness with us as we didn't have a reserve team. He went to Brechin, but as they were literally fighting for their existence in the league I think they needed fit battlers and didn't have the luxury of easing him in. He didn't get a lot of game time. Not sure what will happen this season. The last time I saw him play was at the start of November 2018 at St Andrews in a closed-door game V Dundee Utd. McKinnon used it to assess a number of trialists and shortly after that it was announced that he'd done his ACL. So when the season commences it will be almost two years since he's played in a Falkirk shirt. A quick check of the online stats shows that Leitch played six games for Forfar and appears to have been a regular in their squad after joining them. No idea how well or badly he did, but if you want to inquire in their thread I'm sure someone will give an opinion.

There's one story pending but it can't be released until the club receive some documentation. Probably tomorrow I would think. I was also told that apart from that one story, the rest of the rumours currently doing the rounds are nonsense.

I know nothing about Alston so assume that one is inaccurate, particularly as someone said we previously had an interest. Enough time has passed since then that I suspect we were politely declined. He'll surely get better offers than we can give him. As for the Keena one, well Sick Boy's posted it twice and he's obviously having fun with the rumour so I won't spoil it by commenting. Let him run with it. Having said all that, I'm in tomorrow afternoon for the Foundation as they have their first kids back in about four months. I suppose it's possible I could be given extra jobs after I arrive that I don't currently know about. We'll see.

Thanks for the insight. You obviously have a close knowledge of the process and a trust in the experts who put that process in place. I don't know anything about either. However, I find your explanation more credible than anything your detractors have posted. Let's hope - for the sake of all our clubs - that the experts who've set this up have got it right. The consequences if they haven't don't bear thinking about.

Amusing.

Is Lex Miller not a plumber? *Here son, sign with us and we'll give you a tenner an hour to clear blocked lavatories* I'm not sure how appealing that would be.

Contracts often have "what if" clauses in them that don't get announced. We've had a lot over the years so I imagine it's common practice.

Friday 25th September.

BPM will know better than me, but I'm sure the MSG were meant to be disbanding / giving up their block share. Was there not supposed to be an EGM about that this summer, at least until covid screwed everything?

I doubt any manager at our level would accept having a board decide on player recruitment. It goes back to the old "oversight" arguement that was debated on here after Hartleys shambolic summer. Managers have complete control over football matters. So they should, because they live or die by those decisions. Anyone from above who tries to interfere is (politely) told where to go. There have been a few stories about that over the years.

The parent club get a portion of their players' wages paid by someone else. The player gets closer to a first team slot, as all it would take is one injury for him to be in. I doubt that would have been the case for Ferrie at Dundee.

How did Edinburgh Bairn last so long?

The reserve team were binned at the end of 2018/19; we didn't have enough players for one last season. He's got a fair bit of skill but when he signed for the U20s he struggled to make an impact in his first season. It's not unusual; a lot of the young lads were in and out the youth team during their first year as professionals. He only played four months in his second year before doing his cruciate and there were no games last year. He is/was a midfielder who could possibly do a job on the wing, but I haven't seen him play in a year and a half. M&M obviously saw enough in training last year to think he could do a job. I've no idea how he'll get on this season.

Yep. I doubt we told East Fife what time the post was scheduled for so I'm guessing Mr SSY is someone close to Dowds. He also teased the signing on here the day after it happened. It's a long time since we've had a player-ITK poster on the FFC messageboard. The last one that I know of was Kevin O Hara's dad.

I heard an interesting suggestion earlier. With the Premiership starting in a couple of weeks there may soon be a group of players there who suddenly realise they're not going to be first picks. I have a suspicion that's how McManus became available, and why our signing of him was so late last summer. We're obviously trying to recruit people now. However, even if we get a few in M&M might decide to keep some money back in case someone interesting becomes available over the next month or so. Raith got Regan Hendry to drop to League One and he did alright.

Mibbes aye, mibbes naw. I did hear rumours about O Hara and Foster but I also heard of one other guy who knocked us back that has no connection to the club. BPM might put his name up. The four guys who arrived in January had no FFC history, albeit Da Vita was with LM at Livvy. And Dowds, who's been heavily rumoured, has no connection to the club. I think you might be seeing a pattern that isn't there. We'll know for sure in a couple of months.

Far too much negativity. I much preferred Shodwall Cat as a poster. Can we not get him back?

No idea. I thought his refusal to give someone who looked decent even a chance in a terrible team was extremely strange so there may have been personal issues at play.