Proudtobeabairn

Exactly. The reality is that to borrow externally to build the south stand would most likely have been beyond our means so wouldn't have been built. SA stepped in to build it with a much lower annual cost to FFC. Cost benefits of having 3 stands in the SPL/Championship make this a no brainer as we'd make more than we'd be paying out annually for the SS. We didn't have complete freedom to choose whatever options we wanted. We had the choice of no SS or to let SA build it and pay £80k per year rent. As others have said, it may not be the £m gift we somehow expect someone to just hand over because they're a Falkirk fan but it was a much better deal than no stand at all. Let's all rage at SA.

New entry as most condescending post of the year

I'm always surprised there are folk who don't expect SA to get get something back for his up front investment here. Suspect £80k a year is far less than we'd be paying for a bank loan.

We don't know the salaries being paid to M&M but I'd be surprised if they were each on the same as McKinnon, Hartley or even Houston. More likely they are on lower salaries to compensate for their being two of them. Also would expect teams like Hearts and Dundee who have academies and multiple coaches to be paying far more than us. Aren't Dundee still paying Gordon Strachan too?

He seems to have been involved with businesses that have actually lasted and thrived. A rare treat

I think i read somewhere that its the 10th?

Have to remember its Arbroath who are sitting in the play off spot atm though and the SFA wont care about them being inconvenienced.

Agree, would be madness to sign players now with the shutdown. They couldn't be furloughed and we have no idea when the season will re-start.

Why the "" ? Some of the consipracy theories being banded about on here border on anti-vaxxer levels of paranoia.

There is zero chance of Holt leaving us for Killie. Could there be even the slightest possibility that the guy is telling the truth and that he wants the Sporting Director role the challenge excites him and he has no interest in becoming our manager or anywhere else? For some reason on here that seems to be impossible but in the real world its perfectly plausible and good luck to him, I hope he does well with us.

Didn't the proposal the clubs submitted propose starting back up at the start of March?

Any appointment is a gamble - there is never guaranteed success when you appoint a new manager and so to an extent the board have an impossible job. If you go back to when we appointed Hartley a large % backed him because his record was good (despite him being an odious wee rat). When McKinnon was appointed it was the same positive reaction from most fans. Likewise when M&M came in. I happen to think we've got it right going for younger managers (Jeffries, Hughes, McCall all still learning when they came to us) and letting them develop. Obviously there needs to be some limit on the time they get. Who was the last 'experienced' manager we've had who has been a success? Even Totten failed to get our out of the 2nd tier and when both he and Houston left we were in a right state.

I don't think M&M are a long term option unless there is substantial improvement to playing style and recruitment. Holt may help with that side of things but M&M need to learn from him fast and above all we need results. I don't blame the board for backing them, what good would it have done to say otherwise at the EGM? Sacking them while top of the league doesn't sit well with me but any course of action is a gamble. "experienced managers" failed last twice for us and most of here would have been happy with McCall. Say we do sack M&M, bring an experienced manager in and he loses the dressing room. For me that's a bigger gamble than M&M getting over the line with Holts support. A bit disingenuous to say Holt appointment is simply to coach the managers. From whats been said his job is 100% not that (though you' clearly expect him to pass on his advice and set stretching targets for them).

I don't understand - why would it happen in a short timescale?

Always thought Rhys Bennett was worth more of a run in the team. He had at least 2 or 3 mazy runs through the midfield that watered the mouth.

If Pressley recruited as well as some on here would have us believe then why on earth has he failed as a manager at every club he's been at. Something not stacking up there

Agree - we've been down this road so many times. If agreement couldn't be reached last season then it never will imo.

Holt about as good an appointment into that role as we could expect guess. As others have said, he should have some decent contacts and will bring back experience he didn't have first time round. Should also be committed given he left a bit early last time and has been here before. I hope he doesn't end up as manager - if we're going down the sporting director route, we need to be committed to that for at least 2-3 years and give the role a chance to make a difference. Should M&M go, I'd hope Holt would stay where he is and we'd bring in someone else as manager.

Such as....?

Can I be the first to correctly predict that the Premier and Championship will continue and finish the season while the leagues below will be declared null and void. No relegation from the Championship at the end of the season as a result means we'll be confined to League One for season 2021/22. Is any other outcome remotely likely?

FFS we'll get hammered.

I agree would drop Hall for Durnan for this one. Agree with the rest too other than Francis, we should use Sat to give Miller as many mins as he can last. Can see us needing him over the next few weeks if we don't bring anyone in.

While I disagree that the defence has sorted itself (it was a complete mess on Saturday) I do think in this league if we could create and score more chances then we'd win enough games to go up. Defence then needs major surgery to compete in the league above. At the moment our problem is converting chances and the god awful 'style' of play we seem to be persisting with week in week out.

Compton was shite. No better than the likes of Rees Greenwood.

Disagree that Hartley was the right person to bring in. True that on paper his record with Alloa and initially with Dundee was ok but things ended acrimoniously at Dundee and it was pretty clear that his attitude there with players and fans was disgraceful. He was (at the time and now) an arrogant man who rubbed people up the wrong way. For an extremely short time that's ok but with the scrutiny and expectations of clubs like Falkirk and Dundee he was never going to be a good fit over medium/long term. The 'Brentford model' hastened his departure but his attitude was a ticking time bomb both with the fans and the players. He was never going to last and that was obvious from his time at Dundee - appointing him was extremely blinkered and always bound to fail imo. I see nothing in the recruitment or style of play to suggest M&M are going to turn this around but also don't have a ready made name of who I'd like to come in (suggestions like McCann, McIntyre and Hopkin are depressing). Open it up to applications and see who applies. Wouldn't be adverse to another young manager but preferably someone coaching at a big team and looking to take first steps into management. Someone who knows how a successful club should operate and is willing to bring those ideas and structure to FFC.