AGPar

Shame they've been such utter failures at running this club at anything close to its potential then.

You've just pretty much described an allegation. At worst, an accusation. Thank God you're not in charge of the legal system.

By releasing such a statement on the strength of an unfounded allegation, they have left the whole support, or at least the 1500 or so Falkirk fans who went to Ochilview , open to the charge of racism. The statement should simply have said that an allegation has been received and is being investigated. Your assertion that the charging of someone would preclude the club from commenting further is utter nonsense, as anyone with even the most rudimentary grasp of law will know, otherwise no crime would be able to be reported in any form until the perpetrator has been found guilty So again, if charges are brought, I'll be expecting a statement from the club to confirm this, which will also have the effect of exonerating the 99.99 per cent of the support who have nothing whatsoever to do with this but currently stand guilty by association. I trust at least someone in a position of authority at the club realises the importance of this. If there is only silence, supporters will be drawing their own conclusions.

They can confirm someone has been charged without any prejudicial effect on the case, and I'd be expecting them to do exactly that given that they were quick enough to slaughter and tar the whole support.

There's none, unless St Johnstone are in the mood to do something daft. He was a regular starter for them and in good form prior to his injury. He also signed a contract extension at the end of last season. If Alston was available on loan, there would be no shortage of interest from clubs far more attractive at the present time than Falkirk. Like a lot of the shouts about potential/wishful signings on here, it's not happening.

Laughed when he suggested this afternoon that the ideal next step for Shankland was to move to Aberdeen then forced to admit that he had no idea he'd already been at Pittodrie. Commentating on his beloved Celtic really should be the absolute limit of his involvement, as he's ignorant of anything outside of Parkhead. Clueless

You've got to be kidding with these midfield options. Kidd is nowhere near good enough. Bauben will play one game and then a miss the next three, he could be standout at this level at this level but is seldom fit. Paton is on a decent run of form relative to his horrendous displays from August to October but in an ideal world he'd only be backup going forward. The midfield has been an area of chronic weakness since the loss of Alston and Vaulks over two years ago. As an absolute minimum we should be looking for at least one creative player, and one player who does not require a compass to locate the option box. If however we genuinely fancy trips to Forfar and Stranraer then let's go with the midfield you suggested.

We'll need to pay them off. Fortunately, we are world class at this process and have it down to a fine art. Some of our fans still think ripping up a contract of employment involves nothing more than handing the player a P45 and a reference before wishing him good luck and booting him out the door. Hence the "plenty of room on the wage-bill for new signings" nonsense being spewed about after we emptied Froxylias, Turner, Mackin and Greenwood a couple of months ago. The financial waste at the club is utterly, utterly frightening.

A competent goalkeeper should be high on the list of priorities. It's a must. The midfield is a massive issue and needs completely gutted. Irving has some talent but appears incapable of imposing himself on a game, beyond the odd flash. here and there. Hopefully absolutely no consideration will be given to extending his loan deal. Sammut is a little boy lost and needs despatched back to where he came from if the contract allows. Bauben could be a quality player, but there's a reason why he was still unattached in October. He'd need to play 3 or 4 consecutive games in December to have any chance of being kept on, a pity, but he's just not reliable. McKee has scored a couple of goals but his performances have been largely anonymous. Frighteningly, Paton is now emerging as pretty much the first pick in that area of the park. Up front, goodbye to Haber if contract allows, Lewis should be advised to start considering alternative careers, retain Rudden if possible, Petravicius could be a decent option off the bench but would not like to see him starting every week . At least one decent forward needs to be recruited, and McKinnon has also spoken of the dearth of wide options, I'd like to see a couple of proper wingers coming in, not had one for years. So really, in an ideal world you're looking at about 6 recruits without even considering the defence. But, as others have stated, the idea that, come 1st January, we're going to have five or six players ready to go is fantasy stuff. We are a deeply unattractive proposition at the moment. The likes of Dundee, St Mirren and Partick are in the same boat - terrible summer recruitment=rancid season=change of manager=desire to bring in own players, they'll all be rummaging about in a similar market to us. It won't be popular, but our best recruitment strategy might be looking in the lower leagues for guys who woulf still see signing for Falkirk as a step-up, with half an eye on where we might be playing next season.

Probably, make that definitely, a wind-up!

No, the wind-up is that he is signing for Falkirk, when there has not been a single concrete (or even tenuous) link to that effect. McKinnon is looking to add wingers, Cardle's just left his club, so he must be Falkirk bound. The whole discussion about him is utterly bizarre, he cannot kick another ball until January anyway.

Hadn't even considered this scenario. Jesus, that is a f*****g nightmare. We'd be as well as just starting with nine men.

He was released from his contract outside the transfer window, he won't be pitching up anywhere before January.

Could not disagree more. Combined transfer fees and add-ons from the sale of the likes of Arfield, Wallace, Kingsley, Fulton, McGrandles, Gallagher as well as selling Flynn, Higginbothom, Taylor should have been more than sufficient to provide the club with solid financial base for years to come. That it has not is certainly a massive failure, just not of the academy.

A properly, prudently-run football club would not have required to view its academy in those terms. It could, and should, have provided us with a massive advantage over any other club of our size, allowing us to maintain a competitive first team whilst integrating players of the quality of Alston, Fulton, Kingsley, McGrandles, Sibbald and Wallace over a period of time. Instead, ruinous decisions such as allowing Hughes and Craig to run riot with the cheque book, followed by the appointment of May, meant we had hit the financial buffers by the start of 2011/12 and had no choice but to throw them in wholesale, before many of them were anywhere near ready. From that point onwards, the focus was solely on getting players into the first team, irrespective of preparedness, "marketed" and punted out the door at the first opportunity, for whatever we could get. In the January of 2014, with the likes of McGrandles, Alston and Kingsley well established, a modicum of ambition and investment would have seen us win the league with a bit to spare. Instead we sold Fulton and signed two loan players, one of whom was utterly useless. That was a massive sliding doors moment, and they took the wrong option again. Competent stewardship of the football club over the past ten years would have rendered the either/or scenario you paint completely irrelevant. The prospect of having five or six graduates as regular first-team players (and quality players at that) supplemented by experienced signings was well within our grasp, and could have easily taken us into the top flight and established us there. Instead, despite receiving transfer fees that others could only dream about, we have nothing to show for it, in terms of either infrastructure or performance and achievement on the park, and are staring League 1 squarely in the face. Criminal does not even begin to cover it. Those "custodians" failed the academy, and the club, not the other way round.

There are myriad reasons why we have been stuck in this league for the thick end of a decade, whilst countless clubs of no greater stature have prospered. The academy is not one of these reasons.

Still buzzing after your cup final win on Saturday it seems. How are the celebrations going, have you had the open-top bus tour yet?

How exactly have we been unlucky in the play-offs? We deservedly lost to Hamilton, were murdered by Kilmarnock and bottled it against a bang-average Dundee Utd team. Absolutely no bad luck involved on any of these occasions, we had the chance and did not take it. Just as Livingston didn't get lucky last season, they recruited well and played to their strengths in a style that the likes of us could not handle. Campbell and his ilk want Falkirk fans to believe that getting promotion is akin to rocket science, it isn't, as comprehensively proved by Livingston last season. You're in la-la land if you believe that nigh-on a decade in this division, and the likelihood of being in the third tier next season, is down to nothing more than a bit of misfortune or a bad break here and there. Deluded.

It's not even a debate, statistically it's the worst ever start to a league season. The obvious comparison in recent times is with 2001/02 but that team went to Love St and won 5-1, came back from 2-0 down to beat Ross County 4-2, won at Dingwall and Inverness. Take away Alloa and I would not bet against us getting a result against any other team in the division, home or away. Anyone with a set of eyes can see how bad we are.

He's implying that we're in this situation because of "that lot from down south". That will do wonders for dressing room morale. And your assertion that he's speaking the plain truth is utterly nonsensical, if he was doing that he'd be admitting that they have all, pretty much to a man, been utterly woeful this season and are collectively and equally responsible for the worst start to a league season in the club's history and the worst run of form and performances in decades. There really could not be a more suitable captain for this bunch.

And if he's said that, it's very, very poor on his part, all the more so considering he's meant to be the captain. The likes of him, Haber, McKee, Paton all have experience of, and a background in, Scottish football and have, to a man, been every bit as stinking as any of those from down south. Sounds like he's trying to pass the buck, or maybe his man-of-the-match performance has gone to his head, either way there cannot be many Falkirk fans who haven't had their fill of this guy, he's long outstayed his welcome.

They didn't want to even be on the park today. Get through the game and get off with the minimum amount of embarrassment appeared to be the limit of their ambition from the first whistle. They are, collectively, the worst squad of players assembled in decades, probably ever. When you sign the number of players we have, you expect a fair amount of dross but law of averages would suggest you'll unearth a couple of diamonds as well. We haven't.There is not one player in that squad I would even label decent. If this board do nothing else, I hope they give McKinnon the financial leeway to open up the early termination packages to every remaining squad member first thing on Monday morning, and I hope they all take it. Just forfeit the rest of the league season, do not pass go straight to League 1, it'll be less painless than this.

Exactly. The level of ignorance about how this works is frightening. Like McKinnon has just called them into his office, handed them a P45 and wished them all the best. These guys had contracts, they're not going to voluntarily rip them up and walk away with nothing. Because the transfer window is closed they are now effectively unemployable until January, so it's a safe bet that they will still be receiving a full wage until then. All that has really happened today is that they've been advised they are not part of the plans and told not to bother coming in any more. The idea that this somehow frees up wages for other players is a million miles wide of the mark. I'd love to know how much we have spent paying off dud managers, assistant managers, superscouts and players over the past 12 months. Incompetence on an industrial scale does not come cheap.

The chances that these rumours are complete and utter nonsense are much higher.

Totally agree. Despite all the "clean slate for everyone" chat, it's noticeable that Robson is stuck on the bench and the likes of Dunne, Greenwood and Russell cannot even make it whilst all the very worst of the dregs and dross are being given every opportunity to prove just how utterly hopeless they are. I've no idea of the circumstances surrounding Russell's departure from Morton in the summer, but I'd find it disturbing in the extreme if that is contributing to his mystifying absence. I'd be playing him and Robson before any of that abysmal defence. Dunne and Greenwood would be far better off the bench than Lewis f*****g Kidd, the very definition of a nothing footballer now into his third season of stealing a wage from the club. Early days, but worrying that he appears to be ignoring a number of options that could not be possibly be any worse than what we're seeing at the moment.