Braes_Bairn
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Posts posted by Braes_Bairn
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While the idea of fan ownership is nice this is exactly the problem I saw coming and asked at the time of FSS launching. Who writes the cheques when you have cash flow problems?
With all due respect to the patrons, most of whom paid £10k last season, how many have the ability to keep making that level of payment every year? How many have the ability to write a cheque for £100k? There’s a much smaller pool of people with those resources.
You had the MSG who for all their faults had the resources but the current Board members criticised them for years so why would they bail us out now? You had the Rawlings who had the resources but again they were chased away by the same individuals.
In my opinion fan ownership is not the answer. Most fans are not interested in the behind the scenes of the club, they just want to watch a winning side on a Saturday. The club should be owned by shareholders with the resources to help the club in tough times. Obviously due diligence needs done but any large investment should be welcomed.
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Does read like a last throw of the dice. In what world did they think the insulting tone of that email would encourage more people to sign up?
In a cost of living crisis, trying to shame people into signing up is not the way to succeed. Fans have already stepped up in buying season tickets and pay at the gate.
Interesting to also read that the £400k loss is based on increasing income by 45% so it will likely be much much worse in reality. There’s hardly been a big influx of sponsors and advertisers and hospitality is much quieter than previous years so I can’t see how they are going to manage their income targets.
The FAQs state that borrowing the money will be the option if fans don’t buy them. Who is going to lend us money in the current climate?
Will be interesting to see the Going Concern statement in the accounts which should be due in the next few weeks. Pains me to say it but wouldn’t be surprised to see administration by Christmas based on the content of that email.
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Shocking email. Imagine the reaction from the current regime if Gary Deans had sent that?
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Since the latest FSS newsletter revealed the budget gap has risen from £300k to £400k how are we going to fill this gap?
Yes the performances on the park are much more encouraging the last few weeks but it is a big concern how we are going to fill this black hole with very little in the bank.
Previously we had board members with the bank balance to be able to provide a soft loan, where is this money going to come from now?
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It’s now over a month since the last discussions about the website and very little has changed.
Yet again we still can’t get basics right:
- Airdrie result the last to be updated
- Dundee match not on fixtures
- Still no match reports
Why can’t we get the basics right as a club?
What exactly does our Chief Executive do to justify his role as he certainly isn’t ensuring high standards across everything the club does?
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By my count that’s the third director to resign since the new board came in. So much for stability.
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First match I’ve been to this season and god that was poor. Absolutely nothing going forward.
On that showing we won’t even be close to making the play offs this season. Shows how far we have fallen as a club that some are considering the positives in that performance.
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Wouldn’t be my choice of sponsor.
Can’t imagine they are paying much but I suppose we must be desperate for any income.
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1 hour ago, Springfield said:
If sponsors have been getting “a free” advertising slot, understandably the club need to stop any such practice. However, would have thought the sensible and logical way would be an opening line of communication, followed by the appropriate actions. Sounds harsh removing boards without contacting the sponsor/company.
How many of these ‘free’ boards were genuinely free though and how many were in exchange for services provided to the club?
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Good to see fixture list finally updated, hopefully first of many improvements.
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32 minutes ago, Kevin James Left Knee said:
There are some technical issues with the website just now which are delaying things like the fixtures lists being up. And content is not written by the sponsors.
I never mentioned it being updated by sponsors. My complaint is the lack of quality control on updates (ie news stories) which ultimately reflects badly on the image of the club.
The fixtures list is another item which is becoming a bit of a joke. Anyone with a bit of web experience should be able to fix. It is now over a month since the fixtures were released and still not listed on the website which doesn’t reflect well on the club or Crunchy Carrots (if it is indeed a technical issue).
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Another high quality output from the club website. Falkirk v Clyde matchday guide with a map of Bonnyrigg’s ground.
Does no one proof read these things?
May seem picky to some but it’s all about standards and the quality of our website/media outlets leaves a lot to be desired and is put to shame by most other clubs in this league.
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On a related note we still don’t have a fixtures list on our website. Been sitting for weeks as ‘page undergoing maintenance’.
Bit of a joke that we still can’t get the basics right as a club.
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Must say Ray Bradshaw has been excellent over the last few weeks. Made the show much more relevant to younger audiences.
Also like someone else has said this weeks guests were very good, lots of very interesting football chat and stories.
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Could have predicted the low turnout. I recon lucky to make 1,000 for a friendly. Would have been so much better unveiling at first league match.
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If commercial income can’t be increased where are we going to plug the gap from as it doesn’t sound like any of the patrons have the funds to put in significant new investment.
The old MSG were slaughtered on here for giving the club soft loans - however at least we had a handful of very wealthy individuals who could write a cheque when times got tough. Ok they got paid back but where will we get funds now to get through any cash flow problems or even to fund the new pitch?1 -
I do not understand why on earth we would be spending money on a training ground when we are incurring such massive losses? How is that a good use of budget? Added to that the gym is at the stadium - is that now going to sit unused or will the players be going back and forth between both? All this pitch talk seems crazy when was good enough when we were flying high at the top of the championship and for every other club with a plastic pitch.
An outstanding show at the Stadium last night - so clearly not everything done by previous regimes was bad, some effort to get a band of such a stature to come to Falkirk. Replace the pitch with grass and it’ll be so much harder to get gigs like these as you’ll be restricted to such a small window for shows.1 -
We both went along to the early session the other night and I’ve tried to summarise the best I can for any fans who weren’t there. Just trying to be helpful so please don’t shoot the messenger!
After a brief introduction from Keith Gourlay, the opening section was from Kenny Jamieson and was around the performance in 2021/22. Summarised as:- for context, 450k is the average yearly operating loss in historic years
- we’ve had 17 operating losses in the last 20 years he said
- we had 720k in bank at start of 2021/22 (we were lucky due to apparently receiving a sell-on clause for Will Vaulks and some residual Rawlins investment)
- since taking over in 21/22 the new board are running at 2 times the normal operating loss (anticipated loss this year will be a staggering 900k+)
- serious current cash flow concerns he said, club is not in a healthy position
- KJ confirmed it is “the worst cash flow position at the start of any season since we were at Ochilview”
- he said they just paid the wages a few days ago but that there is very little left in the pot now
- begging bowl went out for more FSS members or anyone who wants to throw in 10k to join his patrons group
- this FSS plug was repeated about four times during the night and leaflets left on all our seats too
Thank you for the summary, very informative.1 -
Do you know anything about the details of either Ticketmaster or the new provider in terms of ease or use, contractual arrangements or the technical specs of both sites? No. Thought not. I am sure the DD the club has done on this site should deliver a product that can cover what the club needs. If it doesn’t work then by all means be critical then. Moaning about it before it is even launched seems agenda driven
No agenda from me. Just because I don’t lap up everything the club announce does not mean I have an agenda, trust has to be earned and as I’ve said before while they did inherit a mess they have not done that yet.1 -
What’s wrong with running from above an estate agents?
Leaving a platform used by the majority of big clubs and events to join an unheard of ticketing company with no track record of large scale events?0 -
Surprised no-one has asked the question about the new ticketing system. Leaving one of the worlds biggest ticketing platforms to an unheard of company Total Tickets.
A quick look at Companies House suggests it’s run from above an estate agents in Irvine. Doesn’t fill you with confidence… Clarke EPOS mk2?
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The branding and blurb today does make it look like its the 25th anniversary of the cup final and celebrating defeat, for me naming it before say the scum game would give it more meaning and the type of atmosphere that crunchie deserves a full south stand rockin….
This was exactly my point.
Realistically you’ll hit a couple of thousand max for a friendly match against Scottish opposition. Unveiling at a Dunfermline match would have been a much better occasion and tribute to Crunchie.3 -
Seriously? Let’s hold a friendly to celebrate 25 years since losing the final? Who’s bright idea was that.
If that’s the best you can do why not just wait and make the first league match the unveiling.
Yet another horrendous decision from our leaders.-3 -
That mean there is a hole?
Well it will be unless they increase income by £300k surely?0
The Falkirk FC Thread
in Scottish League 1 General Chatter
Posted
Not a criticism of the podcast - but realistically how many people will listen to it? Why have the board not come out via email or the club website to apologise for their statement? We shouldn’t need to listen to an unofficial podcast to hear an apology or explanation for that email.