HopeStreetWalker

Nope ! me neither 'Shagger'

What would help early on is an in depth business plan from the new set up. Not just froth about Premier League status, words are cheap and we have heard them before. It would be a case of - Aye Right ! McCann from Celtic type up front statement calling it as it is. What they want out it and what they are prepared to put in to achieve it within a set time line. Exit strategy as they will not be there in 15 or so years time. Their motive is to make money when they leave. That will be done with commercial success and year on year profits making FFC a desirable business to own. Honesty on this will get the goodwill required, just spare us the bullshit ! Including year by year KPI's to ensure the club are on track with - Youth policy - Expanding commercial activities - Community involvement - Ownership of the stadium outright to name but a few.

Reminds me of a phone call into Radio Scotland 'Off the Ball' Tam Cowan was talking about disaster movies when a punter phoned in this is how it went. Punter - Tam - You know these films with asteroids hitting the earth , leaving a 10 mile wide crater devoid of life and atmosphere ? Tam Cowan Aye ! Punter - Scotland would manage just fine it it hit us. Tam Cowan - How do you work that out ? Punter - We manage just fine with Dundee ! Howls of laugher from the presenters and backroom staff it went on for about a minute Was driving to a game at the time and nearly crashed laughing. One of those stories that gets a chuckle. But hearing it live was hilarious.

Laverty must be sick ! he will have had hopes of getting a run to try an establish himself in the game.

Wonder if the vomitorium at the bottom of the stairs is still there from the Doak's - Oil Can Harry era. That toilet reeked of sick even when you walked in, maybe the stale, warm Bass Special had something to do with it.

He who's name you do not mention is stirring the pot for no other reason than to get a reaction he adds nothing to the debate. Responding gives the attention he craves.

We can aim no higher this season than existing at the end of it and promotion. Then whatever the the situation in for 21-22 season take it from there.

Your club consistently over deliver. Right owner, Recruit well at management and player level and turn around good transfer fees. Good luck to you !

Plainer the better Navy blue, V neck, White trim. If there has to be a pattern then a 2 tone navy blue stripe like the Spall mid 80's strips which were a good balance between commercial sales and a FFC top.

Is that you describing the stadium then the player, or just the player ?

Shawfield Clyde's old ground was like that with the greyhound track around it. One of these places you remember in black and white. It was taking dreary to an art form !

Saw him twice so not long enough to pass a fair opinion. He was fast from a standing start and was sharp in the box but lightweight. Showed potential but required to bulk up.

Good fish suppers after the game. Support friendly, chat away to you in the pub beforehand. But ! that wind it cut through you ! Brechin was a good day out as well on the turfed terracing and the Bovril out a china cup you returned to the stall. It was a different era and yes absence makes the heart grow fonder of memorable away games in the distant past and dismal days at Morton and Albion Rovers !

Gayfield Ha ! that's a mild breeze compared to Links Park but I do take your point !

Experienced a bizarre Falkirk game there in the 70's. The wind was blowing a gale down the park. There was incessant rain blowing horizontal and it looked like it had been blowing for days. Bye kicks could not get out the box while at the other end they sailed out the park for a bye kick at the other. Players could not pass or run with the ball and it was a farce. Both sets of players, management and fans were pissed off at this but the referee for some reason wanted it played to a conclusion. It was and still is the must miserable time I have ever spent at a football game and believe me I have watched some shit over the decades. Anybody else remember it ?

If Gow does come up with funds then it has to be open where it has come from.

Was a good article in a Fanzine One F in Falkirk or Rupert's Roar can't remember about Houston from the Hardcore with a Q&A session from the great man. Hard things have been said about his stewardship of the club some of them on this forum same goes for Hughes. Time for the support to remember their contribution to the club and it would be fitting for them to be regular visitors to games so the support can show their appreciation and that their contribution far outweighs the negatives. That's fair !

Was told it was the council that drove the design of the main stand and FFC were more or less told ' This is what you are getting ' So that explains the atmosphere vacuum we are saddled with. Nothing can be done and we are stuck with it mores the pity. The only chance to improve things is with the 4th stand. 10 Stepped standing area in front. 2 tier grandstand with steep stands 12 rows deep. Build a cash cow behind it Hotel, Sport complex type of thing. But here is the rub 'There is no financial need to build it'

To be fair it's a pair of great signings and would have suited us perfectly. Back up goalkeeper and a center back.

Great memories of my time in the ground. As years went on migrated to the stand and the atmosphere was the same but different if you get my drift. No wonder it it was hated by the opposition. One voice in the stand could be heard all over the ground, the drumming of the feet above the opposition dressing room while the guys in the enclosure abused them through the window and banging the mesh in front. Goodness knows how the opposition manager got through his team talk. It was one big echo chamber and voted the most intimidating stand by some fanzine who's name I forget. But that's history ! we have got what we have got and have to make the most of it. The 4th stand has to be an innovative design with some fresh thinking eg 12 row deep 2 tier with hotel , sports complex etc behind. anyway that's years if a decade away.

Yes ! a time that has ' Gone with the wind ' The memory of what it was like at Brockville when in full voice with the support all worked up will gradually disappear as time marches on. Bearpit of a stadium that had no comparison in Scotland. If and when a 4th stand is built at that soulless barn of a stadium. Hope regulations allow for a standing area to capture just a bit of Brockville. Something along the lines of the enclosure in front of the stand at Brockville would do just fine.

The Ginger God ! not heard that for years. Member of the Houstie Hard Core then ?

Houston lost Alston-Sibbald and Vaulks the best balanced midfield we had in decades. Am hard pushed to come up with 3 players that complimented each other so well in Falkirk team. It was obvious and inevitable a team was breaking up either retiring with other players moving on Loy , Duffie for example. It was a hard ask and rebuilding the side was a disaster. Whether Houston's heart was not in it with the talk of him leaving at the end of the season or the lack of funds from the board. Well maybe the truth of what happened will come out some day. As a manager in the good times he put a team on the park motivated, skilled with a savvy game plan that never gave up and gave the support some thrilling games ever seen by the support. I will remember Peter Houston a player that tried no matter how he was playing. Remember one game he was having a stinker and the harder he tried the worse he got. ( we have all done it ) When he got substituted he got a standing ovation. It takes a certain type of player to get that for playing badly. He should be remembered for these achievements and receive the appropriate ovation when he comes to a Falkirk game.

Like Houston both of them are remembered for the end of their time rather than the thrills in the early days of their stewardship.

Yes ! Prentice - Miller - Hughes it would be nice for a bit of perspective and rehabilitation remembering what they did on the pitch rather than from the dugout !