The Falkirk FC Thread

[knee jerk reaction]

Nothing to do with the club it's just I'm one of those very very rare things, an optimistic positive falkirk fan

 

Edit to add, I know I should've had any optimism knocked out of me years ago watching us!

Edited June 12, 2017 by knee jerk reaction

[Shadwell Dog]

To me we pay the coaching staff money to coach these boys and they should be able to tell when a player is ready for the first team or not. As has been mentioned we haven't been shy in putting young players into the team over the past couple of seasons with Gallacher, Shepherd and O'Hara all getting games. I'm sure if and when the current crop are ready to move up they'll get their chance but their's no point in flinging 4 or 5 just for the sake of it. 

[BountyBairn]

But seriously is there not some merit in just throwing these young guys in to see who sinks and who swims? Must be worth a punt surely? 

[Bigbri Bairn2]

From the bench young players can gain confidence and get used to the senior atmosphere. If a young player is not given the sight at least of senior football they will perhaps lose interest. Nothing is lost giving a player a 20 min spell in games. We might learn if they can step up or if they need more time or in some cases a different club

[MrDust]

3 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

Sadly our budget will curtail English players and the opportunity link isn't in Houston's make up. Grant, Will, Luke and Higgy were on two bit contracts cause of how their career had went so far and contacts got them here. Our team over 3 seasons is like an extended Lisbon lions, where all our players are from 100 mile from our ground......if you take out the English/Swedish freak who was recommended by the Scottish manager, all Houston's signings are local.

1 hour 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!) 

Everyone of our youngsters have had a rollercoaster to make the finished product, it's how it works The only one I'd exclude is Wallace who should go further and bewilders me how he is behind the current crop of Scottish internationals 

17 minutes ago, Shadwell Dog said:

To me we pay the coaching staff money to coach these boys and they should be able to tell when a player is ready for the first team or not. As has been mentioned we haven't been shy in putting young players into the team over the past couple of seasons with Gallacher, Shepherd and O'Hara all getting games. I'm sure if and when the current crop are ready to move up they'll get their chance but their's no point in flinging 4 or 5 just for the sake of it. 

It's a project with youngsters from the youth team, they maybe good enough but you have to persevere with them. St mirren did so with their players and sold two, not ideal but it's £s in and not the constant feed of not ready when as it stands will never ready.

I think youll find we have handed out around 10 first team starts to the three players you mentioned in two seasons.

Houston has only given youth a chance when he fuked his signings and the bigger squad has blocked their path due to same ability being available on tap, when a youngster may provide something different, by Christ, they'd be hard being worse

 

[Guest]

4 hours 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!) 

I can 100% tell you the "talk" about the likes of Sibbald, Arfield, Wallace, McGrandles, Fulton and Kingsley was much more positive from people working with them at the club than those same people are talking about lads coming through now.

[Guest]

2 hours ago, BountyBairn said:

But seriously is there not some merit in just throwing these young guys in to see who sinks and who swims? Must be worth a punt surely? 

Only if they are good enough surely?

They will be training with the first team day in day out. That will give the management team a big clue to see if they are ready of not ?

[Guest]

On 11/06/2017 at 11:48, 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.

 

Opposed to you who thinks nothing is wrong? So the balance coming from you should maybe treated the same as my view?

You are EVERY game taking photos. You have more stats about Falkirk than Sky Sports has on the EPL. You must speak to coaches/scouts?

You tell me who outside Gallacher from 16-20 at the club will make the impact of Sibbald, Wallace, Fulton, McGrandles, Kingsley and Alston did?

Edited June 12, 2017 by Back Post Misses

[Guest]

On 11/06/2017 at 11:12, hope street said:

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 ?

The club took a huge step backwards going into bed with the SFA. It is not out Academy any more. The people involved would tell you that there is still a confusion with parents as to the set up. It is a harder job for them to explain the situation. We have also not been in the Premier League now for nearly 8 years. The clubs above are a bigger pull than Forth Valley.

Hopefully if we get into the top level under Project Brave we can attract better.

[Armand 2]

Houston was on Sportsound a week ago or so and I found one of his comments rather curious; whilst discussing the Scotland U21 squad, he admitted he had little idea who any of them were because "they play in the U21 leagues in England" or words to that effect. Much like Thistle, I thought that would have been a prime hunting ground for a team like Falkirk. Of course, scouting resources may be scarce and Houston is regularly shooting the breeze with the BBC imbeciles during the week so it might be difficult to get to see these kind of players. From memory, guys like Vaulks and Leahy were Pressley signings (?) - has Houston signed anyone from outwith Scotland?

Edited June 12, 2017 by Armand 2

[Guest]

On 11/06/2017 at 10:25, Bairnardo said:

I will believe it when I have seen them play for the first team amd fail to make the grade. At this point I dont believe we know enough to know if they will sink or swim whem playing with and against senior pros.

 

Eta dont take that as me dismissimg your knowledge if the dev squad BPM you clearly know more about them than me, I just like to do my judging from the first team.

My personal knowledge will be less than many. However I have spoken to people whose judgement I respect and who know the youth well.

IMO their judgement will a good % of the time be better than mine and most supporters.

[MrDust]

26 minutes ago, Back Post Misses said:

Only if they are good enough surely?

They will be training with the first team day in day out. That will give the management team a big clue to see if they are ready of not ?

They must all be shite then, that or our management refuse to try some of them out rather than the samey experienced or 20+ pro type he signed.

 

[ANEWHOPE]

Houston was on Sportsound a week ago or so and I found one of his comments rather curious; whilst discussing the Scotland U21 squad, he admitted he had little idea who any of them were because "they play in the U21 leagues in England" or words to that effect. Much like Thistle, I thought that would have been a prime hunting ground for a team like Falkirk. Of course, scouting resources may be scarce and Houston is regularly shooting the breeze with the BBC imbeciles during the week so it might be difficult to get to see these kind of players. From memory, guys like Vaulks and Leahy were Pressley signings (?) - has Houston signed anyone from outwith Scotland?

I made this point previously but it still amazes me reading it again. To admit to this highlights to me that he thinks this is acceptable. A criticism often levelled at Houston is that he makes lazy signings, comments like this add weight to that accusation.

[Guest]

They must all be shite then, that or our management refuse to try some of them out rather than the samey experienced or 20+ pro type he signed.
 

Correct Maybe they are all not good enough

[Guest]

Houston was on Sportsound a week ago or so and I found one of his comments rather curious; whilst discussing the Scotland U21 squad, he admitted he had little idea who any of them were because "they play in the U21 leagues in England" or words to that effect. Much like Thistle, I thought that would have been a prime hunting ground for a team like Falkirk. Of course, scouting resources may be scarce and Houston is regularly shooting the breeze with the BBC imbeciles during the week so it might be difficult to get to see these kind of players. From memory, guys like Vaulks and Leahy were Pressley signings (?) - has Houston signed anyone from outwith Scotland?

2 Big Goalies , big donut from Sweden and McKee

[Armand 2]

49 minutes ago, ANEWHOPE said:

I made this point previously but it still amazes me reading it again. To admit to this highlights to me that he thinks this is acceptable. A criticism often levelled at Houston is that he makes lazy signings, comments like this add weight to that accusation.

 

I thought one of you guys would have picked on it before now.

Just found it rather odd that a manager who spent a large chunk of his downtime between jobs scouting for Celtic would openly admit to having little knowledge of a player pool that he could exploit. Archie was slightly guilty of that in his early days where his signings were largely restricted to guys that we'd played against in recent times. I know that we make good use of Wyscout to identify players in England which is a tool that (from the official Wyscout website anyway) Falkirk don't appear to utilise.

[ANEWHOPE]

I found it amazing that he admitted it but also not surprised. I posted that a few days ago but seems to have bypassed many. Understandable that a young new manager opts for that but Houston you would think has a fairly large network. But his network restricted to those that he plays golf with.

[Bainsfordbairn]

1 hour ago, Back Post Misses said:

Opposed to you who thinks nothing is wrong? So the balance coming from you should maybe treated the same as my view?

 

You know perfectly well I didn't say that. My point remains that I would like to see the players who are doing well at U20 level get the same opportunity that their predecessors got. Given the clamour on here for O' Hara to get games last season, I'm obviously not alone in that view. Nobody is shouting for Blues because (I presume) not many watch the U20s and he's not an attacking player. Shepherd seems to have been written off by many of our fans, though I'll concede that he didn't take many of the chances he got in the first team last season. The quality of Gallacher speak for itself. 

 

And yes, I tend towards positivity rather than being negative. In some topics we share the same views, such as a former Chairman for example, but I'm hardly going to slag off someone on a messageboard when I'm likely to meet them in the corridor the next day. I prefer to praise in public and criticise in private. And being part of the club - even as a volunteer - gives me an insight which I sometimes use to defend folk whom I know personally. Is that really so wrong?  

 

1 hour ago, Back Post Misses said:

You are EVERY game taking photos. You have more stats about Falkirk than Sky Sports has on the EPL. You must speak to coaches/scouts?

You almost make that sound like an accusation.

Actually, I made a point of speaking to the FVFA coaches at their awards ceremony last night. They were all very positive about the young boys in the pipeline. For example, the U14s are apparently excellent - and that came from a coach who's a Dunfermline supporter! They also reckon a few of the lads we've just given contracts to are certainties to make it. In fairness, you would hardly expect them to turn round and say "aye, we're doing a shite job and producing crap".

1 hour ago, Back Post Misses said:

You tell me who outside Gallacher from 16-20 at the club will make the impact of Sibbald, Wallace, Fulton, McGrandles, Kingsley and Alston did?

No idea. That's why I'm a fan and not a coach or scout. The four listed above are closest to the first team and the likes of Langton, Finlayson & Mitchell are probably the ones showing the most progress. I haven't seen enough of the new intake to judge, but McBride and Dunne have shown a few flashes which suggest they could turn into decent players.

[Guest]

It was not an accusation just that you are never away from the place so unless you go about speaking to no one you must know who are rated or not by those around.

I do think Houston seems not to give lads a chance but maybe in his eyes they are not up to it. It is not that we are an old team however. At the season end
23 year old keeper
Young back 4. Midfield with only Kerr being old and upfront Austin was number one with with of the older strikers. That kind of flies in the face of older player accusation

[Shadwell Dog]

5 hours ago, MrDust said:

Sadly our budget will curtail English players and the opportunity link isn't in Houston's make up. Grant, Will, Luke and Higgy were on two bit contracts cause of how their career had went so far and contacts got them here. Our team over 3 seasons is like an extended Lisbon lions, where all our players are from 100 mile from our ground......if you take out the English/Swedish freak who was recommended by the Scottish manager, all Houston's signings are local.

Everyone of our youngsters have had a rollercoaster to make the finished product, it's how it works The only one I'd exclude is Wallace who should go further and bewilders me how he is behind the current crop of Scottish internationals 

It's a project with youngsters from the youth team, they maybe good enough but you have to persevere with them. St mirren did so with their players and sold two, not ideal but it's £s in and not the constant feed of not ready when as it stands will never ready.

I think youll find we have handed out around 10 first team starts to the three players you mentioned in two seasons.

Houston has only given youth a chance when he fuked his signings and the bigger squad has blocked their path due to same ability being available on tap, when a youngster may provide something different, by Christ, they'd be hard being worse

 

Shepherd has made 50 appearances for the club. Obviously the vast majority are off the bench but to me he's never grabbed his chance even though he has been given more than enough opportunities. Now if you watch the u20s he is a standout compared to many of the others and yet he struggles to make an impact at first team level. If he struggles then I can't see many of the others who don't shine so much in the dev team being able to cruise right into the first 11.