Blame Me

Did Jamie Swinney have much input into last nights affairs? Have read a lot about the main players but his name has been absent and I thought he was involved in the Q&A.

Falkirk website down tomorrow under the strain of everyone hitting it for the recording to gauge how outrageous it sounds so far

Agreed. They can't talk about implementing a football model and then bin it after 4 months. Whether the assembled staff are correct for the model is where most questions should be concentrated. Had it been someone other than Holt would there be such an issue. His Falkirk signings previously were unspectacular (Durojayie, Roberts) when we were a bigger draw and hadn't Martindale, now manager, been the main recruiter at Livi.

Common theme here is the constant emptying of squads. How many of our rivals recruit new defensive pairings, midfields and strikers every season. Since Hartley/McKinnon, we've had constant churn whereas before we had fairly static squads with the odd addition - who usually had to wait to dislodge a player. Our rivals make fewer changes gradually and they seem to supplant the team with younger players. We seem to "clean house" on a pretty regular basis recently. That said, what our management (playing/non-playing) have to appreciate is there are expectations on Falkirk that mean you have to compete, win and do all of the above pretty quickly. What's frustrating from the outside is it's unclear if our performance is a result of the BOD strategy, Holt influence or problems of Sheerin's own making or more likely a combination of all three.

The sense that they have played many more games than Ompreon or Ruth have in Scottish L1. As I mentioned in my original post - putting anyone's opinion of the two I mentioned aside - I don't think there is an argument that had they been given a greater chance we'd be any worse off than now.

I meant Wilson and Dowds. Regardless of the costs for those two replacements they have not evidently bettered the returns that either of the two they replaced could have achieved. Ruth's 2 goals in as many games is not stellar considering he's been afforded, as sole striker, much more time than Wilson and Dowds were.

A lot of supposition ahead of the Q&A about Holts role in all of this, Sheerin's management style and motives of the chairmen. However, the established facts are that we are 5th in L1 and the weakest of those 5. Despite having a glut of attacking options - Wilson, Keena, Ompreon, Ruth, (early Dowds), McDaid, Morrison, Nesbitt and Telfer the goal return from those the manager favours is dismal. Morrison's goals often put gloss on frustrating games where the breakthrough seemed unlikely. It's wholly correct to ask how Sheerin was afforded budget to sign Ompreon and Ruth when he had two proven operators - regardless of our opinion - whilst neglecting the obvious problem at RB. In addition, Krasniqi is the elephant in the room, Keena a sideshow and we now have the recent ostracism of Dixon and Mutch. It would seem to an outsider there is definitely an issue with the managers approach and senior players.

Yet we also had Alex Smith at the same time Totts was there so that implies there was another reason he wasn't involved. As for management speak and 5-year plans it all makes sense when you realise what Gary Deans background is.

The argument this board will likely make - and it's predecessor made - was there wasn't enough football knowledge after Alex Smith left and DoF is meant to advise and be the buffer between them and Sheerin at board level. However, Holt is not that man IMO. Holt doesn't want to manage anymore and his role effectively guarantees his financial stability by not putting himself in the firing line. M & M appointed Dec '19 and Holt Jan '21 - Ask when and why did the briefing against them begin as alluded to by McCracken. While Holt enjoys the ear of our board we're unlikely to see his departure.