PedroMoutinho

Why are the new board somehow above criticism? Just because they aren’t Deans & co and people’s mates are on it doesn’t mean people need to just clap their hands and keep quiet.

Tbh the whole thing sounds like the same nonsense Holt was coming out with last year about how much of an impossible task it was to get a playoff spot when we were 2nd when he took over. I don’t buy this line from Rennie and the bod that looking for us to have a team capable of competing for 4th place in league 1 is like expecting us to challenge for the premiership title when we’ve brought in 7 new players (including 1 on a wage Peter Houston would have dreamed of).

Sounds just like the same excuses we’ve heard again and again for the last 5 years tbh. Manager admits current squad isn’t good enough, promises of improvement in the summer. We’re still waiting. Why on earth was Griffiths signed on a fortune when even the manger admits the rest of the squad is rubbish?

Another one whose predictions should be fired straight into the sun. She was demanding full lockdown at Christmas, saying that hospitals would be overwhelmed otherwise.

Houston’s recruitment was poor but I do wonder what would’ve happened if he was given more resources. I remember being at a Q&A where Craig Campbell said the budget had been cut for the season Houston ended up being sacked. That was a crazy decision to me when it was our first real opportunity to challenge for promotion without Rangers, Hearts and Hibs in the league. You wonder if things would’ve worked out differently in hindsight of Houston had been given some of the money that has been spent like water over the last few years replacing entire squads.

Quite simply the recruitment that Rennie oversaw in January has been nowhere near good enough yet again. The fact that we still have Brad McKay starting at centre half despite 3 new signings in that position says it all. Taylor-Sinclair is poor, Mills a rabbit in the headlights and Watson was a poor defender last time he was at the club and is far from a leader. In midfield, if Jacobs can’t even get in the team ahead of Gary Miller and a 19 year old centre half out of position, why on earth was he signed? Upfront, Kabia, who had looked like the only decent signing of the January window, has been poor for the last few weeks. Griffiths may well have been the luxury player needed to grab us a few extra points from set pieces if we were chasing a title, but I can’t understand why we’re paying wages for him which are surely far beyond anything we’ve paid for many years given our current position and alleged financial circumstances. The vast majority of our signings have been poor over the last 5 years (which is why we are where we are) and Rennie’s picks have been no exception.

Thought Kabia was really poor again today, which is worrying as he’s been excellent up until the last few weeks.

Absolutely crazy that the only criteria for the new manager seemed to be being mates with a board member. The patrons now have effectively total control of the club. It’s up to them to take responsibility for the 2 very poor decisions that have been made in the appointment of Rennie and recruitment of Griffiths on crazy wages to finish 5th in league 1 when we’re apparently potless. That’s before you even start on the rumoured Goodwillie debacle.

I agree- from a governance perspective, it’s totally inappropriate imo to have directors who are technically representing one organisation while those same directors are themselves members of another organisation which also has board representation. It’s not a balanced structure at all and there is huge potential for conflict of interest. Even with the best of intentions, how on earth can an FSS director be considered an independent representative of of one ‘stool’ of the ownership structure when they’ve paid minimum £10k to be a member of another? We were sold the new structure as a ‘three legged stool’ approach with no one group having overall control, but this can’t be the case if members of one group have total control of the board of directors.

It does beg the question of what the £718k that was in the bank at the time of the last accounts has been spent on as it can’t all have gone on paying off managers. It also makes it even more crazy that Griffiths was signed when a) we seemingly have no money and b) it would’ve taken a miracle for even a fully fit Griffiths to get us to the playoffs given the other deficiencies in the squad. It’s a total mystery to me how the bod can have looked at those circumstances and thought ‘that’s £1500 a week well spent’.

I can already see the ‘it would in our judgement be grossly irresponsible to remove these vital public health protections at a time of rapidly increasing cases and hospitalisations. We will make no apologies for keeping people safe’ schtick being wheeled out.

I was more thinking about players who’ve signed for us- Alston, Sammon, McShane, Tidser, McKay, Durnan, Mcmillan, Mcdaid to name a few. All sold as players who could be stand outs at this level and all were poor.

The zero coviders now going full on anti vax and turning on each other I see

How many times have we heard that a player from a higher level will come in and stroll league 1 though? I’m struggling to think of any who actually have.

I really don’t think anyone is expecting us to be Barcelona. What people are looking for is to have a team capable of beating Clyde and Peterhead as a start, which shouldn’t be an impossible task given our resources.

It doesn’t make any sense to me that you have the bod on the one hand saying even a hybrid model may not be affordable next year and yet we’re paying surely the highest wage for many years for Griffiths. Either the financial situation is being laid on thick to get FSS sign ups or a crazy decision has been made to sign a luxury player when we’re potless.

It shouldn’t be but somehow successive managers continually manage to squander a good budget on dross. I dread to think what’s been spent on bringing in and paying off players who’ve contributed nothing over the last 4 or 5 years. January’s recruitment doesn’t seem much better mind you with a defence with 3 new centre halves but looking no better and £1500 a week for an immobile striker while other areas of the team are still a shambles.

Quite simply it’s poor recruitment of players and managers costing us yet again. Not only has Rennie totally failed to make us competitive with the better sides in the league, but he can’t even set us up to beat Peterhead and Clyde. 3 centre halves and a defensive midfielder brought in yet we’re still conceding poor goals and the midfield is nowhere to be seen.

Tbh I wouldn’t be surprised if masks remain compulsory on Scotrail given who now owns it

Very disappointing if that’s the case. It would be grossly premature to renew his contract at this stage. It does look like that is what’s being set up with the talk of ‘significantly improved’ results. I do think the implication in the statement of ‘give us your money or we’ll be part time next season’ is laying it on a bit thick. There are significant cash reserves as of the last accounts and the claim that even a hybrid model would be unaffordable is odd when we have teams like QoS, Morton and Raith full time with a fraction of our support base.

I really haven’t a clue what game the Falkirk TV commentators are watching tbh

I really don’t think it’s the budget we have that forces us to bring in the dregs of full timers. The issue is poor recruitment and we keep spending a fortune on bringing in and paying off shite. I dread to think how much has been spent over the last 5 years on signing and paying off players and managers who have by and large been poor. The other issue is we continually fail to address the key issues in the squad while spending a fortune elsewhere- £1.5k for Griffiths a week when the defence and midfield are totally inadequate and he will have no service.

That interview could be from any of the last 5 managers tbh. “We’re improving”, “ unlucky not to score”, “go again next week”, rinse and repeat. For 5 seasons.

The issue with that idea is that the best part time players generally would accept a full time offer if available. Yes there are well known exceptions like McAllister etc but these guys generally have good jobs/businesses in their local areas. They’re not going to move to the central belt to play part time.

It all comes down to poor recruitment yet again for me. £1.5k a week for an immobile Griffiths yet the defence is still a shambles and the midfield posted missing. 1 good signing out of 6 (same story as the last 5 years) won’t cut it. The tactics and substitutions are baffling as well.