HopeStreetWalker

Any voluntary donations should be seen as a bonus and not a cast iron income stream. Nobody knows what's going to happen over the next year regarding people's personal finances and their disposable income just look at the interest rate rises. Last season's cap-in-hand appeal to the support should be seen as a warning about not having a credible budget projection. Hope the board goes canny

Yes! was thinking it would not be far off. Hope the signings come soon as the last thing wanted is the flurry of signings days before kick off. Always gave the impression we were the last resort as they could not find anybody else. Goalie, Right Back, Center back and the rest midfield if an extra forward all the better.

Should be getting the friendlies announced as well pretty soon.

Saw Dalglish in a reserve league cup semi at Brockville and it was the much vaunted 'Celtic quality street youngsters' Connolly, Davidson, McGrain, Wilson, Hay and a chubby sandy haired big arsed No 4 that played in front of the back line. Among all that talent Dalgish was the pick the bunch. Falkirk players could not get near him however they tried. the thing that stood out was he passed the ball on his terms how he wanted, when he wanted, he just jutted the arse out and suddenly he had 3ft of space. Goodness knows what a 26 year old Dalglish would be worth in todays market. Europe's elite would build a team round him and watch the trophies come in for the next 8 years. Best player together with Law I ever saw in a Scotland jersey

Naw! it's a great memory of a great player. Was at a football charity evening in Dundee in the early 80's and a guy Johnson a retired Dundee fullback was a guest. He was asked what was the most dispiriting moment he had on the pitch during a game. Told the story of a game at Dens Park against Celtic and he and big Hughes were having a ding dong battle and he reckoned he had the measure of him. No sooner did he think that there was a blur on the sideline passing him - Lennox was warming up. Lennox came on for Hughes and he set up the winning goals. 'He walked off a physical wreck as after 60 minutes battling Hughes he got run ragged by Lennox for the last 30' Love these football evenings with old pro's you get such an insight on the game. But good on you playing on the same pitch as a Lisbon Lion.

And of course the Nevin and Scotland managers Brown Clyde connection.

Never played 5's with Crawford Baptie in fact I heard a story that Pele was referred to as the 'Black Baptie' for a while in Falkirk dressing room. Loved that one!

The one in a generation chance for Falkirk was there. Move Cunningham upstairs and install Ferguson as manager. FFS When Falkirk f**k up they f**k it up big time.

You have to play with and against these old pro's to understand it's not just their skill and game craft but the level above you their minds work Played 5's with Peter Godfrey, Stuart Munro, Stuart Burgess and John Blackley in my playing days it was exactly as you said.

Regarding Scotland caps the same could be said for Kevin McAllister if Davie Cooper had not been around

His first job was at Grangemouth Dockyard and one of my mates worked there. Cocky guy with a good conceit of himself and was soon put in his place as you would expect in the dockyards. After that, he knew his place in the grand scheme of things and rubbed along fine with folk. To play the way Stuart played and at the level he reached you had to have that self-assurance bordering on arrogance. So worth cutting a bit of slack to one of the best players ever to pull on a Falkirk jersey.

My abiding 'Tiger' memory was a Falkirk v Kilmarnock game, the bairns were kicking towards the car park end and for some reason Tommy McLean started kick off on the left wing. Right at kick of Killie played the ball back and sent a wide pass out to McLean on the half way line where I was standing. Tiger took off as soon as the pass was made, McLean trapped the ball with that toothy grin and shuffling style just as Tiger arrived and nailed him. Ball first then followed through him with a boddy check come slide tackle. You heard McLean lungs empty as he bounced off the red gravel pitchside arse first rebound off the the advertising hoarding only to get a 2nd helping from Tiger following through. Tiger took the throw in and that wee shitebag McLean was not interested for the rest of the game. As Tiger ran back to the left back position Willie Cunningham was standing on the touchline applauding as his obvious instruction to sort out McLean early on had been carried out to the letter. Happy memories of a great era.

Once was at a football night when the late great Davie Cooper was a guest. Was asked what it was like to play against Stuart Kennedy. Davie answered: Oh beating Stuart was simple - but! and it was a big but! it was on his terms and that means you were brought to a stop, you beat him where he wanted to beat you and you would not have gone more than a few strides before he was in front of you again. By then the likes of Simpson, Cooper, Miller were on your case so it was pass it backword's. Job done if you're a fullback. It's hard to disagree.

2 of Falkirk's all time great fullbacks were anything but tall Stewart Kennedy and John 'Tiger' McLaughlin. The latter headed more clearances off the line than anybody else I saw play for Falkirk and was the one who dished out the physical stuff. Size has never dictated the quality of a fullback.

Lets get out of this division and then reflect if the players on contract another year older for good or worse will be good enough for the targets set for the higher division. What would that target be? Just stay up-Avoid the play off-Challenge for promotion. Nobody knows till we take stock on who's on the books, who the manager is and the financial clout the club has which will dictate.

Any manager worth his salt whether in football or business selects his employees to fulfill their job description and targets under the perimeters set namely wages and length contract, they stand or fall on their judgment. If the board have crossed that boundary now or in the past then hell mend them.

As far as the squad are concerned we are shopping in the bargain basement our level dictates therefore we get the appropriate quality of product. The residue of players from last season failed and the support have to face the fact they were not good enough so no excuses for them. With one or two exceptions if they were to get cleared out it would not give a toss. Hopefully some of the signed players will be moved on and the more the better. We will be making 8-9 signings plus replacements for any of the squad players we are lucky enough to move on. Like you I am not hopeful as the sad fact is that the quality we require ain't going to touch us with a barge pole because of reasons that have been well discussed on the forum.

Morrison sticks out as being the best of a poor lot. If any half-decent offer is made grab it.

Awful! Less is more and the plainer the strips are the more they will sell and FFS Falkirk do away with the one colour strips. Does anybody know when they will be released?

They own the pitch but not the land it sit's on. Owning the floodlights is news to me and stand corrected. This is not an obsession about the council the club got well and truly screwed and that's a fact. Just shrugging our shoulders with a 'That's our lot in the grand scheme of things' is not good for the future of the club. We do not have one physical asset as security to borrow against should the financial doomsday threaten as it did last season. If that does not concern you - it should. Will leave it at that regarding the stadium. Will not mention it again unless it's to say 'I told you so'

What irks me is the money being spent to upgrade the floodlighting. The club don't own the floodlights so yet again the Council will be pissing themselves laughing that their multi-million pound asset is being maintained and upgraded to the highest level ensuring it's capitol value that they can use as security for a loan and there is diddly squat the club could do about it. The council could come to an arrangement with a private equity company to take over the facility and the first thing we would know about it was then was all over. Therefore the bare minimum should be spent on care and maintenance and soldier on with the current lighting releasing funds for the playing squad.

Was some strike and will have brought back many memorable moments from his time at Falkirk Class act on and off the park.

The midfield requires a rebuild. It's the part of the team that has been posted missing when the going got tough. Either not protecting the defense not supplying the forwards or just being dominated. McGinn maybe has one season left. Henderson is either in midfield or the defense chopping and changing does not work. Yeats should start the season and has the potential to nail down a place. Carroll showed potential so should be in and out as he develops. Require 3 possibly 4 signings of a style to compliment what's already on the books.

It's the midfield that requires a major rebuild because it's been next to non-existent in some games. Get it right there then there are more chances created for the forwards and more effective in stopping the opposition from getting to the defenders. Incoming a Goalkeeper, Right Back, Center Back then the rest are midfielders. If we can punt some of the contracted players already on the books all well and good and leaves the door open for another positional signing

My point is that the money goes to the council. Nice easy money for them with little effort.