Proudtobeabairn

It wasn't Goodwillie (or his mate) I heard it from but was also someone who is in a position to know exactly what happened. Clearly I don't want to name names here but I have no reason to doubt its 100% true and the story being confirmed by DGW backs that up. If someone at the club wants to offer their side of the story I'd love to be proven wrong but the silence on the issue suggests its true. Anything to the contrary would directly conflict with DGW and others who were involved on 31st. Its time to move on from DGW but let's not pretend no mistakes have been made. How quickly we learn from them and move on is most important now. Its a steep learning curve!

For the record, at tea time on 31st January (well after the FSS vote) we had agreed terms with Goodwillie and he was set to sign. We were paying Clyde £40k but they wanted £50k which we wouldn't pay. Clyde called Raith to say they can have him if they pay £50k and the rest is history. Extremely lucky on our part. Griffiths a strange one. We clearly had the money for DGW agreed and so when we were let off the hook it suddenly would have felt like we could pay similar wages for a replacement. Now I very much doubt Rennie randomly came up with Griffiths as a signing he wanted without a discussion that suggested we now had the DGW money ready to invest in someone on similar terms. There was also a misguided belief that LG would excite the fans and bring hundreds of extra fans through the gates for the run in. Nobody in that decision making process (board or Rennie) had clearly paid attention to the state of LG this season.

To the naked eye it looks like the BOD are embarking on a large scale cost cutting exercise. May be necessary but does make the signing of LG even more ridiculous if we are now in a position where we are having to close down our youth teams and much of the off field activities to save funds. For me the new BOD lost any right to blind confidence when they went against fans wishes and tried to sign DGW. At that time they were silent rather than transparent and we're seeing the same head in sand now questions are being asked about the youth teams etc. "It was the other guys" didn't wash for Deans etc and shouldn't wash for the new guys either. Leadership is about having conviction in your decisions and getting others to buy into your vision. The fact we don't even have a chairman yet is a real concern. Where is the leadership? As others have said, we need much more communication and some bold decision making over the next few weeks. I really hope the new guys are up to it as we all want to see a winning team on the park and far less drama off it.

Hopefully we'll stop fannying about and get back to red shoulders next season. Regardless of whether folk like them or not, red shouldered kits = successful seasons.

Cammy Williamson, Weekes and Lemon's contacts are up at the end of this season. Not sure on Blair Sneddon but he'll be on peanuts.

Who are the 14? Not having a go but the number seems to go up every few pages. McKay is the extreme example - the only one with a 3 year deal and I agree the most difficult to move on. The worst of the 2 year culprits (Wilson, Ross, Martin, Holt etc) can be told they won't kick a ball and that if they want to salvage a career in football they can go now. Some, if not all, will hopefully take that. The wages may be ok but if they stay and play 0 games, their career will be over so they may see going now as a chance to take control of their career either in or outside football. Morrison, McCann, Watson and Mutch (as back up) can still play a part of the starting XI. Arguably Nesbitt, Armstrong, Malcolm (and possibly Hetherington if he can keep up his form in last 2 or 3 games) can play a part as back up. So that's 7-8 who with the right players around them and a proper coach/system don't need replaced. Convince some of the others to go, sign a decent spine and add some quality round that lot and we have a decent chance of success.

As folk feel the pinch of rising living costs, it's inevitable that some won't be able to stretch to a season ticket next year and no one can argue about that. The last few years will also have lost us a fair chunk of fair weather fans who found better things to do with their Saturdays during lockdown and beyond. We won't get a lot of them back. For the rest of us, it's important that we buy ST's this year. To get out of this league we have to have a competitive budget. We have a new board now so those holding off over the last few years (which I suspect wasn't that many) need to return. Rennie is gone too so it really does need to be a clean slate. There's no one left to empty (apart from the players) and the club needs fans ST money more than ever this close season. Its the only advantage we have over many of the other teams in the league and if we end up with 1000-1500 ST sales we could be down here for a long time.

Yesterdays result doesn't show anything other than East Fife are sh*te

I also think whoever the manager is next year we might see Miller stay on as assistant. He's clearly been given some carrot by the board to stay on for these 3 games. If we win the next 3 games (extremely unlikely as that is) does he then become a realistic candidate? Wouldn't be enough for me but his interview seems to suggest that's a possibility so not unlikely that he's been told there's a chance.

I think Rice did do enough to convince the board he was their man last time. Rennie was a left field option that according to reports only very narrowly pipped Rice to the job. It seems more likely they'll go back for him now than ignore him because he missed out to Rennie.

Dunno, just think people would have a little more time for Rice than they would for McGlynn. Could just be me but I find him unlikeable. Of course you don't have to be likeable to be a good manager etc etc but I hated the sight of Hartley in the Falkirk gear and I'd find it hard to warm to McGlynn either. Wright & Craig would be my first choice.

I agree that Wright/Craig is the standout option. Not sure Wright would be out of out reach, he's not getting any younger and has been without a club for a while. He might see turning us around as the catalyst towards one final bigger job before he retires. Not excited whatsoever by McGlynn. He's done ok at Raith but, like Hartley, there's something about him and the way he operates I just don't like. I think he'd be divisive and someone the fans would turn on quickly if he made a slow start. The appointment needs to be someone who the support can fully get behind. For me that's Wright or Rice.

Pushing on with Goodwillie despite ALL the warnings (inc the FSS vote). "Who would believe we have Miller and Griffiths at Falkirk" cringe Spending £1500 a week on a washed up waster expecting it would bring an extra 500 fans in instead of fixing the glaringly obvious was madness Naive, Naive & Naive. I don't blame the board for appointing Rennie, I was pleased to have him over Rice at the time and it was a gamble worth taking. I also don't doubt that there is a lot of mess to clear up but as others have said we really need the new board to get their heads into gear asap. The next few months and the decisions made are crucial on and off the pitch. We need to find new investment ASAP and we need to make the right decisions on the playing side to sell STs. I don't envy them and it won't be easy but we can't afford any more head in the sand moments. We also need a chairman (or at the very least a spokesperson).

Griffiths won't be playing next season (for anyone) in my view.

jamie@falkirkfc.co.uk

You'd like to think that some of those contracted but unlikely to ever play would decide to take a career change rather than hang about collecting a low wage with us for another year. Its not like staying the extra year is going to keep them in professional football. if anything a year on the sidelines with us would even more likely end their careers. Of course we'd need the manager or the board to sit down with them individually and have that difficult conversation. We shouldn't be offering to pay them off.

One of them is going to have to, there has to be a board spokesperson appointed at the very least.

Miller and Griffiths at Falkirk though, who thought we'd ever see that! #COYB

500 extra fans not turning up to watch Griffiths?

If we're looking for a new manager at the end of the season, then there's no chance we're getting anyone experienced with a better track record than Wright. Things didn't work out at Kilmarnock but he's shown at St Johnstone that he knows what he's doing. If he applies then it's up to the board to judge how motivated he comes across at interview but on CV alone he'll be the strongest candidate. That said, I expect we'll give it to Rennie.

Nesbitt I think could be a reasonable squad player with the right players around him. The effort is normally there but as someone said before he's like a 5 a side player in games at the moment.

Out of interest, is McGivern still at the club in a commercial capacity? Haven't heard mention of him in months.

Without significant investment over the next 12-18 months you could well be right. With season ticket sales set to drop off a cliff, one of the toughest jobs for the new board will be to find ways to attract that investment. Ironically I think faced with oblivion we'd see a big upsurge in FSS memberships but we can't afford to wait until then. If we're in serious financial turmoil then the season ticket marketing can't be anything other than about saving the club.

Tommy Wright or Brian Rice are now the obvious choices. We've probably missed the boat on Rice unless he has an agreement that he can walk in his Alloa contract. Like others, I don't think the decision to appoint Rennie was a bad one but keeping him on would definitely be. He's brought in 7 players and that should be more than enough to at least marginally improve us. The only decisions I put at the foot of the new board are putting the future of the club at risk by ignoring fan opinion to come a bawhair from signing DGW and when the club are hemorrhaging money, chucking £30k at a has been to take corners and free kicks. They need to show from here that they can work effectively as a committee and work some magic to bring in some serious investment. No more gambles and hopefully we'll all be happy!

Yeah... but we're still agreeing Ben Hall is utter sh*t though right?