AGPar

You're not allowed to do that. Nothing less than craven, unquestioning, slavish loyalty to "The Don" is required. Otherwise, you're just a quisling booboy.

Why? What "notable names" have been signed to date? The profile of these trialists is really no different to the vast majority of signings made this summer, young guys, no real track record or experience of first team football at any reasonable level. They wouldn't be any more of a gamble than that already taken

Kidd can cover right-back at a push, but both he and Hartley have stated that they prefer him in midfield. Personally, Dundee United game apart, I've not seen him offer much there either. McKee is a far better player. If he's going with wing-backs he needs someone on the right. Surely we're not going be shoehorning players into unfamiliar positions again this year, there's been far too much of that in recent seasons.

Kidd is not a right-back. Back-up midfielder should be the extent of his involvement. We have, or had as of last week, full-backs on trial so they might be given the chance in some of the friendlies. We have no wingers at all, so four at the back is not an option.

Until they provide a truthful explanation. Apologies for not having yet suspended all capacity for critical, independent thought. Would have been far more constructive to contribute the 10000th post on who is the best looking player in the squad.

You need to flip that scenario 180 degrees. The question that should be asked of, and answered by, your masters at the club is why, a year after consigning Sibbald to the stand for the first month of the season because they refused to countenance him signing a straight one year contract and walking away for nothing this summer, they are now apparently happy for that precise scenario to play out. No-one gives a toss about you being persuaded otherwise. In any organisation where transparency is not a dirty word, they would be providing that explanation to their "customers", especially if, as you claim, they have nothing to hide.

Hornby is utter fantasy, the guy is one of the highest rated players in the Everton under 23 squad. Not a chance of him signing, especially with the buttons we are offering players.

What is he going back to Dundee as, because it obviously isn't as manager? Tea-Boy? The total crackpot option probably looks most likely tbh.

Stubbs got the St Mirren job, announced tomorrow. For the something that is "not quite right" you need to look above the manager. Been that way for years, and isn't going to change any time soon.

We should be looking at someone like Harry Paton, on loan at Stenhousemuir last season and recently freed by Hearts. Very technically gifted player with a lot of potential. Unfortunately, even he will probably be beyond our means, and will probably have a number of offers, so no chance for us.

Who said they were offering 4 or 5 times more than Falkirk? You're quoting a Morton supporter, who admits he doesn't even know for certain Lindsay was the player. As also suggested by RC55, Lindsay has an obvious connection with RC which would have probably been a big factor in his decision to sign permanently there having been released by Celtic. Getting players to sign at this level comes down to one thing only, hard cash. So whilst it may be suspected that Falkirk have missed out on first-choices because they did not offer enough, I certainly would not criticise them if, for example, they lost out in a straight fight for a player to Ross County. Their chairman knows only one way to run a club, chuck as much cash as required at it. It's a ludicrous model.

Yep.

No idea, and I am not particularly itk, I just know the identity of one of these players, he is a proven player at this level, young and would have been a cracking signing imo, so not Aird. Put it this way, the fact that two clubs have come down, and the identity of these two clubs won't make signing players capable of winning, or even challenging for, the league, any easier.

Four of these offers were rejected. One signed for a club in the same division, our offer was blown out the water by a lunatic chairman who is well on his way to buying the league.

Except no Falkirk fan has claimed him to be murder, rather a player of reasonable ability who will display that ability one game in every four or five and is largely ineffectual the remainder of the time. Hartley offered him a deal, he turned it down and signed for Dunfermline. You'll struggle to find a Falkirk fan who gives the slightest toss, he simply did not make enough of an impact for anyone to care, but good luck to him anyway.

Aye, and that worked out so well for them right enough. It also had absolutely nothing whatsoever to do with his performance.

Eh? When was this? He wasn't even at Tannadice last season. He is infinitely better than the 2 clowns they did end up with.

This x100. The "GTF" shouts for a player who was thrown in at the deep end at 16 yo and has given us the best part of a decade of decent service are beyond embarrassing, as is the "doesn't want to play for us" narrative which is already being spread around and lapped up by the usual club lickspittles and sycophants. They'll announce the signing of some jobber who cannot get a game for Port Vale/Tranmere Rovers/Maidenhead United in the next couple of days, sending the easily-pleased masses into a frenzy, even though they have never heard of him or seen him play. If he considered a "looker" by those best placed to judge such things, all the better. #OnlyAt Falkirk

No, but I know how a contractual option works, and that, properly enacted upon, it would have been a smooth procedure and this debate would not even be taking place. I also know for a fact that Hartley is unhappy to say the least at potentially losing pretty much the only little bit of creativity he has in his squad for nowt. Neither Sibbald nor Hartley are the problem here. Those seeking to blame the player, or some "greedy agent" in the background, are a million miles wide of the mark.

I agree a question needs to be asked. I disagree with the content of the question and the identity of the party who should be answering it. Those who purport to run the club, and not the team manager, should be explaining why a legally binding option to retain a valuable playing asset for a further year has not to date been taken up. All other questions are utterly irrelevant. Those telling Sibbald to GTF or to stop messing around should go for a long swim in the sea. Why, when the power in this instance lies with the club, is he even able to GTF is what needs to be answered.

What further facts are required? On 11/8/17 Sibbald signed a one-year contract with a years option. That option has not been invoked. If anyone can produce a single, plausible reason, footballing or otherwise, as to why Falkirk would actively decide not to take up that option, which at a minimum allows them to ask for a fee if Sibbald moved on, I'd love to hear it. Hartley rates Sibbald highly. None of this is of his doing. The questions should be asked of those higher up,

Staggering levels of cluelessness about how an option works. There should not even be any requirement for negotiation or the option for the player to be considering other clubs. Otherwise there is no point in having it in the first place. Sibbald spent the whole of last August sitting in the stand rather than out on the pitch because the club would not agree to his request for a straight one year contract which would allow him to walk away for nothing this summer. The terms of the option are agreed during the original negotiation. Providing the club want to retain the player, they invoke the option by the stated deadline and automatically increase the contract length. No talks, no wrangling over wage demands, clean and simple, and would be at any other club except this one. Yet we are now expected to believe that the club are quite relaxed about Sibbald doing the precise thing they simply would not countenance throughout all of last summers wrangling and walking out the door for zilch. Absolutely not a chance in hell. Feel sorry for Hartley really. He regarded Sibbald as key to his plans, but has been let down by the staggering levels of buffoonery above him. It wont be the last time unfortunately.

Looking at his track record, he would surely be a development-type signing, likely to be playing reserve team football. First team signings need to be of a far higher standard.

So still the possibility that we could be lumbered with these two as well as Kidd, O'Hara, Loy, Harris, Shepherd, McKee. Frightening stuff.

What specific, recent examples of this fickleness are you able to provide? Because it is pretty much the last adjective applicable to a support who have purchased season tickets and turned up in very healthy numbers to watch nigh on a decade of mediocrity in the second tier without a peep. A myth, concocted by the media years ago because the support at that time refused to sit back and watch the likes of Fulston, Lambie and the Deans destroy the club. A lie then, and an even bigger lie now.