Roboccop

Some amusing editing ( or lack of it) in Finn’s YouTube interview. He was quite professional about the interrupting.

That pitch!

I’ve actually read it and discussed it with the Board so I think I know a bit more about this. Looking back we ( FSS) agreed it without thinking about all the implications and I regret that.

Sorry you are misinformed. The deal says the club will get all money from Fss ( but crucially doesn’t say in what form) and in return they will get 2 directors and be regarded as the official supporters representative ( sadly FSS current leadership has forgotten that bit and does whatever the club wants). That’s it. Nothing about keeping the share holding to 25% ( which it still hasn’t reached - last time I checked companies house still had the holding below 25 - perhaps I need to check again but at best it wil be 24%. Be wary.

Any current money is going to the club with no strings attached where if it was a loan then shares could be allocated to it if there’s a share issue. The “ deal” you are alluding to is unofficial and would require further fundraising. And I am reasonable sure it’s not in the contract between the club and FSS ( which I was part responsible for negotiating).

I’m on my phone at moment so can’t write screeds but this scenario is exactly why FSS needs to be more independent of the club just now than it is and MUST get something in return for all new money invested from its membership. The interest free loan against future shares if there’s an issue is essential and not a proposal that the FSS committee has kicked into the long grass to avoid upsetting the Board.

No. The only way funding was possible for anything was the sale of the site. The Goldies opposed most sales to allow their own preferred developments to have a chance ( backhander city). Additionally the railway bridge had to be moved under some options at Falkirk’s own cost - that was prohibitive. Redevelopment of Brockville was a pipe dream.

I was involved at that time. There were far too many financial and practical issues with redeveloping the site and frankly the wooden stand was a fire hazard waiting to happen. I often think about people being allowed to smoke downstairs at half time - that’s how the Bradford fire happened. A miracle we never had an issue. Moving was also affected by the corrupt Goldies - we were forced to look at options that were not perfect. Staying there was never an option.

I wasn’t there as it was my son’s graduation party but got sent this: Only 25 at meeting. Was simply a rehash version of AGM with Club Directors and Jamie doing the same slide presentations. Ideal for those who didn't attend AGM but nothing new if they did attend AGM. Was a presentation from T Begg on Academy, which had heard most of before. QnA ran for 30 minutes at the end.

Surely McIver leading the line. Yes he’ll choose Oliver but to be fair he’d have scored a few times in recent games if the opposition keeper hadn’t been on top form. I’d prefer Nesbitt ideally though.

I live near Edinburgh and go to all games. If you can meet me at Edinburgh Park I can give you a lift some weeks. Pm me.

I like having wingers but I often feel they dispatch the ball too early if they come inside ( invert). Morrison in particular could from those positions head more into the box. He’d then have a pretty good chance of being fouled with a resultant penalty. The early ball usually means we only have one player in the box when it arrives and him challenged by several defenders. A little more composure please.

Ok Ultras. Match this: https://www.instagram.com/reel/Cx4hBivrBw2/?igshid=MzRlODBiNWFlZA==

Ok. Have you come along and helped hand out leaflets to the crowd as we’ve done on many occasions? Of 2,000 leaflets handed out we had 2 new recruits on one occasion. The truth is the majority of people going to the game see themselves as customers being entertained for their money not as owners. Fan ownership is a good thing but there are natural limits to how many will get involved. For Falkirk research carried out by Dave McInnally last year would suggest 1,200 would be the ceiling. so let see that as the target not a crazy double.

When I was on the FSS committee I was regularly in meetings where this figure of 2500 was suggested and every time I said it was fantasy. It was not aspirational but claimed as a required goal. Let’s not pretend that it is only this. I could name names where this nonsense had come from. FSS needs to play its role. It needs to have a reboot and start expanding again but 2500 is nonsense. And the other two aspects of the three legged stool have to play their part in reducing the deficit too.

I see the club are still pushing the idea that FSS can reach 2500 members ”We estimate that the club needs an extra £400,000 per annum to become sustainably successful and to be able to compete for promotion to the Premiership against clubs owned by wealthy individuals. This requires around 2500 fans to contribute an extra £3 per week. ” i don’t know why they are still saying this it is near impossible. In fact in recent weeks FSS membership has fallen a little and recruitment stalled. The Board have been told time and time again 2500 is a fantasy and stop saying this but again this figure is trotted out. No one denies there is a problem in a shortfall in funding but this is not how it is going to be fulfilled.

Only 9 clubs in the entire English leagues make a profit. That is unsustainable. Football needs to stop being a sugar daddy industry. Costs and, that means wages in this industry, need to be cut in England.

5 mins in and Hamilton already ahead. This is going to be a match to match season.

Agyeman on pitch warming up so good news - on bench at least.

You need an uncommon vpn to fool the BBC to think you are in the uk. The common ones the system can “ see”. Try Surfshark

He was great today. Some lung bursting runs and he hooked up well with Morrison. I can’t understand how anyone could think he was poor!!!????

Can I just say that disagreements are not always personal. I had a real fight with one of the Board members at the FSS meeting but we remain friends and he’s someone I like. Sometimes it really is principle. I’ll not post again on this unless I have to correct sonething said. This subject has been done to death and most people are fed up with it. But it is important to get the relationship between fans, their representative organisation and the Board right. And that’s what the real issue here is. Else FSS might as well be the failed Falkirk Forever initiative (17 members the last I heard).

I have two accounts here ( one for my phone, other my desktop) and I’m happy to be known who I am. I resigned from FSS committeeafter being the person to get the final deal with the govt over the line. I did so because I was deeply unhappy with the lack of independance of the FSS committee from the club and some personal strong arguments with Board members about how future money should be passed over. I proposed a loan scheme where the money was repaid in shares only if there was a new share issue. I was told by a Board member in a one to one meeting that they would oppose that as “ it wasn’t in the best interests of the club” without any actual reason why that was being given. I finally left when the FSS chair said at a committee meeting that FSS should not propose anything to the Board “if they could not be certain to get the decision through” the Board - which effectively gave the Board control over FSS. That view is crass, cowardly and craven and I could not agree to stay if that was how FSS was being led. The tail was wagging the dog. I asked in advance for the recent members’ meeting to take a vote on my proposal (which I argued for in the meeting) but the FSS committee decided not to allow one - they said they’d just consider proposals later as a committee. We now see people saying the contract with the club means a “ loan” option can’t be accepted. I dispute that and certainly no one argued or said that when the contract between FSS and the Board was agreed. I was part of that meeting and agreed to the contract but if I’d had known it would be used later to restrict how the money was to be given then I would have opposed it i continue to support FSS and this Board but these are worrying signs of the lack of independance of the organisation: it needs to not just give money but to represent the fans like a trade union. Everyone is happy just now as things are going well on the pitch but if things start to become problematic then a strong and not weakly led organisation will be needed I suspect for the second time FSS has failed to find a director to represent it on the Board: that in itself is a sign that all is not well. The first nomination period passed without much communication from the FSS and this second period also was weakly promoted. FSS needs to be a strong and public voice and be led by someone who above all values the role of fans and can stand tall of their behalf when needed.

We did. I asked for 375,000£. The govt said yes then for some reason I do not know only gave us 350,000.

Really? I’ve seen it used as a de facto restriction in the past when people have been asked to stand and they have refused citing it as the reason. This current election has no one standing so far (although FSS failed to promote it in the way they had previously) and there’s a mad scramble behind the scenes trying to find someone.