The Falkirk FC Thread

[Guest]

Seems like many are stuck in the Houston mantra of Scottish journeymen. I want to see something fresh and interesting both up front and in midfield

[Guest]

Names or GTF

I'll GTF then. Didn't know I was to be Houston's chief scout

[Guest]

My point is, this sort of stuff is very easy to say, but its folly to just say/expect it without recognising how difficult it is to acheive (for all clubs at all levels).

Therefore, its not the answer. Nor is a policy of purely looking at these said journeymen. Like it or not, you need a mixture of both, but your potential hidden gem coming from some obscure league somewhere is a much bigger gamble than someone like John Baird who has played for a hatful of teams up here and proved a good servant for us.

Look at the English Championship. It has a similar merry-go-round of players and managers that we have up here. It is cliched for a reason, that you need guys who know what the league is about. Every team needs a few old stagers that understand the job having done it before.

We do need a mixture of both. ATM we have a team of journeymen and youngsters who will turn into journeymen

[Guest]

Which youngsters will turn into journeymen? None of them have had a run in the first team, which is the only proving ground that matters, so that seems like an overly negative statement to me.

Shepherd, O'Hara, Henderson to name 3.

Gallacher the only with real quality will be sold this summer, post early bird offer probably, as we need the transfer income.

Let me turn it around on you. Name me any youngster outside Gallacher that will become an Arfield, Wallace, Kingsley and McGrandles.

If you speak to any of the Academy Scouts who watch the youth week in week out they will tell you we don't have the quality. We are getting lads in on trial from Cowdenbeath now to boost the U20 squad FFS.

It maybe negative in your eyes. For me I believe I am being realistic.

[hope street]

The coaches and scouts seem to be very good at saying the quality isn't in the academy.

Should someone not be questioning

1. Why the scouts aren't getting players in?

2 why the coaches aren't improving what is there ?

[Bainsfordbairn]

11 minutes ago, Bairnardo said:

I do find it rather bizarre that we have stories from multiple fans on here ablut the academy coaches freely telling them that we dont have anything coming through and they arent good enough etc.

 

 

 

In fairness, the only one saying that is BPM and he tends to critical of most aspects of the club, so he's maybe not the most balanced of posters.

I don't think the standard is as bad as made out. The majority won't make it, as is always the case, but there are a few who're cruising through the Development League ATM.  I wouldn't put my neck on the line by saying they'll definitely make it - or definitely fail - but I want to see them given the chance. Put them in,  give them the same run of games that Fulton et al got and then we can judge properly.

And if you want to speak to someone who'll always be positive about our prospects, go talk to Alex Smith. He's achieved more in youth development than any of these unnamed academy coaches. There is a framed Swansea top hanging in the club which Kingsley, Fulton, Blair & Biabbi presented to him as a "thank you" for all he'd done for them. I trust his opinions more than those I read on a messageboard.

 

[60`s bairn]

1 minute ago, Bainsfordbairn said:

In fairness, the only one saying that is BPM and he tends to critical of most aspects of the club, so he's maybe not the most balanced of posters.

I don't think the standard is as bad as made out. The majority won't make it, as is always the case, but there are a few who're cruising through the Development League ATM.  I wouldn't put my neck on the line by saying they'll definitely make it - or definitely fail - but I want to see them given the chance. Put them in,  give them the same run of games that Fulton et al got and then we can judge properly.

And if you want to speak to someone who'll always be positive about our prospects, go talk to Alex Smith. He's achieved more in youth development than any of these unnamed academy coaches. There is a framed Swansea top hanging in the club which Kingsley, Fulton, Blair & Biabbi presented to him as a "thank you" for all he'd done for them. I trust his opinions more than those I read on a messageboard.

 

I`d say there are a handful in the current U20 squad that show varying degrees of promise, some are still at the early stages of development but one or two have had a couple of seasons at that level and are "kicking on" as the terminology goes. I`d be very surprised if Cameron Blues doesn`t make it into the first team this season. Mark Finlayson is another who has improved immensely during the last campaign.

[Bainsfordbairn]

4 minutes ago, 60`s bairn said:

I`d say there are a handful in the current U20 squad that show varying degrees of promise, some are still at the early stages of development but one or two have had a couple of seasons at that level and are "kicking on" as the terminology goes. I`d be very surprised if Cameron Blues doesn`t make it into the first team this season. Mark Finlayson is another who has improved immensely during the last campaign.

Agreed. Bluesy is one of the ones I was thinking about when I used word "cruising". Marko can be brilliant going forward but still has a bit of room for improvement when defending. There's also a couple of others who've been MOTM one week and then anonymous the next. If they can add consistency then they have a chance.

[Shadwell Dog]

If their good enough they'll get a game as they have in the past, but not every batch is going to have 3 or 4 first teamers in it. 

[ANEWHOPE]

My point is, this sort of stuff is very easy to say, but its folly to just say/expect it without recognising how difficult it is to acheive (for all clubs at all levels).

Therefore, its not the answer. Nor is a policy of purely looking at these said journeymen. Like it or not, you need a mixture of both, but your potential hidden gem coming from some obscure league somewhere is a much bigger gamble than someone like John Baird who has played for a hatful of teams up here and proved a good servant for us.

Look at the English Championship. It has a similar merry-go-round of players and managers that we have up here. It is cliched for a reason, that you need guys who know what the league is about. Every team needs a few old stagers that understand the job having done it before.

With a manager that admitted on Sportsound he didn't know most of the players that represented Scotland in the recent Toulon Tournament because they played outside Scotland the likelihood of finding a hidden gem is remote.

[Bigbrbairn]

What about the lists of people sending their CVs around clubs desperate for a chance in football? Think that was Will Vaulks route. Worth a chance getting players released by lower league English clubs. Or perhaps I am a dreamer

[Rugster]

22 hours ago, Bainsfordbairn said:

In fairness, the only one saying that is BPM and he tends to critical of most aspects of the club, so he's maybe not the most balanced of posters.

 

 

To be fair we could say exactly the same about you in reverse.

[Gaz FFC]

13 hours ago, Bigbrbairn said:

What about the lists of people sending their CVs around clubs desperate for a chance in football? Think that was Will Vaulks route. Worth a chance getting players released by lower league English clubs. Or perhaps I am a dreamer

I'd imagine a lot of these guys get a weeks training wi teams including us and if it's the same names every summer looking for clubs then that speaks volumes.

[MrDust]

13 hours ago, Bigbrbairn said:

What about the lists of people sending their CVs around clubs desperate for a chance in football? Think that was Will Vaulks route. Worth a chance getting players released by lower league English clubs. Or perhaps I am a dreamer

We got lucky with Will as we did with Farid and Lyle Taylor, there isnt the pool of players available to us at the cost we are willing to pay and that is the simple block of us casting our net further.

Non league players in England pay more than we do in a lot of cases

[gav-ffc]

For every Farid and Taylor you get a Andy Haworth or Rakish Bingham.

[Shadwell Dog]

55 minutes ago, MrDust said:

We got lucky with Will as we did with Farid and Lyle Taylor, there isnt the pool of players available to us at the cost we are willing to pay and that is the simple block of us casting our net further.

Non league players in England pay more than we do in a lot of cases

Would be interesting to know what we are actually willing to pay? Do we have a wage cap or not and if so its time we binned it and let the manager choose what he wants to pay players within the total budget. Very little chance of us getting the quality of player we need if we're restricted to paying a few hundred quid a week. Will be interesting to see if we have any trialists up for pre season although going by Houstons previous record on signing players after trials sometimes we're as well not giving them a trial at all.

[Andreas Kelevra]

Quote

For every Farid and Taylor you get a Andy Haworth or Rakish Bingham.

 

Or Peter Grant, Luke Leahy, Will Vaulks or even Kallum Higginbotham all signed from England, having never played in Scotland before.

We have to sign players from outwith Scotland, our football is rubbish. Even taking a gamble on guys like Phil Roberts is better than signing average Scottish jersey fillers

Edited June 12, 2017 by Andreas Kelevra

[knee jerk reaction]

I'm pretty sure if you looked back on here and one f, that virtually everyone who has come through the academy and went on to bigger things was written off or told they'd never make it or  only make it at a lower level. You can't say Arfield or Kingsley won't make it now but is easy to slag the young guys coming through. 5 years from now the guys criticising the development player now will be slagging the young players saying they're not a patch on Austin, Shepard, Blues or Mitchell (or whoever makes it from this squad of players!) 

[The Grass Is Greener.]

2 hours ago, Andreas Kelevra said:

 

Or Peter Grant, Luke Leahy, Will Vaulks or even Kallum Higginbotham all signed from England, having never played in Scotland before.

We have to sign players from outwith Scotland, our football is rubbish. Even taking a gamble on guys like Phil Roberts is better than signing average Scottish jersey fillers

This.

[Marshmallo]

18 minutes ago, knee jerk reaction said:

I'm pretty sure if you looked back on here and one f, that virtually everyone who has come through the academy and went on to bigger things was written off or told they'd never make it or  only make it at a lower level. You can't say Arfield or Kingsley won't make it now but is easy to slag the young guys coming through. 5 years from now the guys criticising the development player now will be slagging the young players saying they're not a patch on Austin, Shepard, Blues or Mitchell (or whoever makes it from this squad of players!) 

You definitely work for the club.