Bainsfordbairn

And then McKinnon came in and wouldn't play him. We were terrible after RM first arrived and only a couple of backs-to-the-wall away results at Dunfermline and Inverness kept us from being cast adrift at the bottom of the table. Meanwhile Russell was doing extremely well every week in the reserves yet couldn't get a sniff. A bit like Shayne Lavery six months later.

Five weeks to preseason. The first friendly is usually a week to ten days beyond that. And about twelve weeks until the league kicks off. There's plenty of time. If you want guaranteed early signings, we could always pay over the odds to bring up ex-academy players from England and then pay to put them in digs. Paul Hartley made plenty of early signings in the summer of 2018. Then when he got them in for preseason he realised they were shit and had to splash out again on Scottish players he knew personally - Dylan Mackin, Marcus Haber, Andrew Irving & Mark Russell. I don't care about "soon". Right is more important. We recruited thirteen players before the season kicked off last year. The twelfth one joined when the League Cup campaign was already underway. Being so late, he might qualify as a "last ditch signing of the left-overs". It didn't stop him scoring 24 goals. Not a dig at you BTW. Just pointing out some parallels with the past.

The players aren't back at training. First friendlies probably won't be until September.

I think the idea is to do a group announcement once everything is concluded.

Ross Perry joining the juniors too. Amazing the amount of senior pros that are heading there when they're still young enough to play in the SPFL. Nothing to do with money of course. I'm sure Sgt wotsisname telt us that.

As one of the existing out of contract players has just extended I think it's reasonable to speculate that some of the others may be next.

I can't comment on possible signings until the club confirms them but as the Blair Sneddon one is now out.... I believe they were wary of announcing a teenager signing from the juniors as the first football story of the season. Some folk like to have a moan so to lessen that they waited until they could do the Captain Miller one first. Not something I agree with but it's a rarity; signings are usually announced as quickly as possible. The normal media guy being on furlough might have had something to do with it too.

When the season kicks off it will be almost exactly three years since Paul Hartley arrived. (9th October 2017). Since then we've signed 64 players. By the time we recruit this years squad it will likely reach 70.

I don't know how they'll work out, but we have two young players to come into the midfield who we know virtually nothing about. Laverty's been at the club for three years and hasn't played a game yet. Leitch does have something about him, as he showed with his finishing against Brechin & Berwick yet he's hardly played either. TBH I was surprised that M&M gave both got contract extensions for this season. They might end up surprising us. If nothing else they must have the legs that the likes of Gomis lack.

I never understand why this point gets raised at this time every year. Football managers - at least at our level - do not make signings to sell season tickets. Or sponsorship, or ad boards, or anything else that brings in money. That's not their concern. Their only focus is bringing in good players so that they don't get the sack for the team under performing.

I think most folk feel the same way and it's a very fair point. The guy who runs the media side tries to space out commercial stories and I know there have occasionally been "disagreements" about how much consecutive sales stuff should go up compared to football news. The problem is that all the absolute shite (as you describe it) brings in money. And apart from strip sales it's the only revenue the club have right now. The Commercial Dept will presumably still have monthly targets to meet. Just skip past it. You only have to flick a screen for a few seconds. I have to spend hours every week producing it. As for transfers, they're not inactive. I heard today about several players who knocked us back. I've no idea what the success ratio is for transfer targets, but I was told a few years back that Bob McHugh was the ninth striker we tried to sign that summer. I imagine it's even harder now we're in League One.

We've got six players signed and presumably six players who'll be resigned when their short term contract expire. If you speculate on a squad size of around eighteen again, then we have six weeks to sign around six players. I believe they hope to begin preseason on 24th August.

When the club announced his extension on 3rd January they stated it was until the summer with the option to extend for a further year. The option normally always lies with the club, although if a player doesn't want to stay then most managers would probably let them go. Miller is wanted and I would say is almost guaranteed to be here next season.

Careful Shadwell, you'll create an infestation of Fifers on here again. They went mental enough last time someone posted ITK stuff about their salaries.

I've no idea who would have been covering Falkirk matches 30 years ago. The club certainly don't keep pictures from those day though it's possible Michael White would be able to help if you contacted him? The only photographer I can think of who's still working and might have been there is this guy. May be worth trying. https://michaelschofield.photoshelter.com/archive

Same answer as always. When an agent picks up the phone and says "we accept your offer". Deccy had a deadline of 1500 Friday to let us know whether he was staying or not. I know a couple of others who were shown round the stadium last week and presumably received offers from us. Recruitment attempts are ongoing. The chairman pretty much said that in an interview a few weeks back. The timings of when they succeed are outwith our control, unless of course we offer far more than anyone else is likely to. I doubt we'd go down that road with the financial uncertainties at present.

Think someone said a week tomorrow, though I wouldn't swear to it. Probably get confirmation next week.

He started three games in three months. I think that tells you what the management thought of his performances. No danger they would bring him back.

Depends on how badly a manager wants a player, how aggressively an agent negotiates with a potential employer or what other options the player has. I know we weren't the only club that CS had interest from. Sometimes the "what if" clauses will be balanced in favour of the player and sometimes it's the other way round. Promotion / relegation ones seem to be a regular feature as do the number of appearances.

Waiting for someone to buy me a bottle.

I'm a heavy metal man. I don't know any of that shit.

Or "we will follow Falkirk...", which both of us have probably been singing for decades.

They were both announced as having two year deals when they signed last summer. However, there have been rumours about the second year being dependant on promotion. Neither were listed in the "definitely staying" category in the last club update so you could speculate that M&M might choose to let them (and others) go. https://www.falkirkfc.co.uk/2020/06/14/club-update-2/ As far as I can see Connolly, Dixon, Durnan, Hall, Miller and Telfer aren't confirmed either way. Now that M&M are off furlough I imagine we'll start getting football news again soon.

No arguement from me on that score. I must admit that I know absolutely nothing about mumsnet though. You seem to be quite clued up on it. As we've little else to debate, will you share your experiences?

I've no idea. I was hoping the management could be back after the latest govt restrictions were lifted in mid-July, but from a brief conversation last week I got the impression that August might be more likely. The first thing we need is confirmation from the SPFL. The vote deadline was Friday so I imagine we'll hear tomorrow. Once that's confirmed things can start moving. I assume season ticket sales will be next announcement.