The Falkirk FC Thread

[StuartA]

20 minutes ago, Blame Me said:

I don't have issues with volunteers per se but I think your underestimating that role and what it potentially entails nowadays. 

You also overlook the actual plea which was included sales experience. This isn't the club inviting folk to help smarten up the stadium or clear snow - these are specialist roles which are time consuming and skilled.

I used to be very critical of the club’s reliance on volunteers, given how many of these volunteers were treated. I have a couple of people in mind when I say that, especially on the media side. 

What's clear is that the club has degenerated for a decade or more, since we left the SPL. Bad decision after bad decision, taking people for granted, terrible management and processes, and some seriously dodgy behaviour from individuals who are, largely, gone. 

We don't have a choice now. Fans have to step up. Actually, that's not true. They don't need to, but our club will just suffer further if we don't. Hopefully we can get back to a point where we can pay for all the expertise and skills we need but we aren't there now, because of many years of strategic and financial mismanagement. Whatever folk want to say about the last board, they diagnosed many of the problems but didn't get round to fixing them.  Time for all of us to get in the tent. 

[Bigbri Bairn]

A lot of words to say we're skint and our commercial operation is a disaster!
It would seem in order to "control non-football costs" we seem to have reverted - if we ever deviated from - relying on volunteers with professional skills to work pro-bono which, in my view, is a nonsense considering the amount of work realistically required in the areas mentioned.
I can't say I'm as enthused as others about the statement.
Yet to see tangible change happening which aligns with the pillars the board describe their instigating.

Whilst working in the voluntary sector I worked with a group called SCORE which I think was the Scottish Confederation of Retired Executives. Those guys loved their voluntary work and because it was not about making money they put a lot of effort in. Bet there are lots of retired professionals who love the club and would enjoy putting their skills to work to get us back to where we aspire to be.

[kiddy]

49 minutes ago, Bairnardo said:

Cant wait to swagger into the KM7 stand btw

Aye, like it'll be radically different from the SS? 

[laughing gravie]

30 minutes ago, Bigbri Bairn said:

Whilst working in the voluntary sector I worked with a group called SCORE which I think was the Scottish Confederation of Retired Executives. Those guys loved their voluntary work and because it was not about making money they put a lot of effort in. Bet there are lots of retired professionals who love the club and would enjoy putting their skills to work to get us back to where we aspire to be.
 

Ambitions and capabilities spring to mind

[Bairnardo]

25 minutes ago, kiddy said:

Aye, like it'll be radically different from the SS? 

I don't get it?

 

[kiddy]

6 minutes ago, Bairnardo said:

I don't get it?

 

Yup, I don't. Is the pigeon shit on the seat classier?

[cb_diamond]

3 hours ago, Blame Me said:

A lot of words to say we're skint and our commercial operation is a disaster!

 

On 08/05/2022 at 21:37, Rugster said:

the famous Navy blue pound

[Guest]

3 hours ago, kiddy said:

Aye, like it'll be radically different from the SS? 

Shouldn’t bite but why do you seem to always have something negative to say about the renaming of the South Stand to the KM Stand? 

[Believe The Hype]

8 hours ago, kiddy said:

Aye, like it'll be radically different from the SS? 

Who shat on your cornflakes? Baffled anyone can have any sort of negative energy directed towards this. 

[Salvo Montalbano]

On 09/05/2022 at 14:18, Ontovictory said:

Someone on the Dunfermline thread said their Board had "let slip" they only had 1495 season ticket holders. Pretty sure ours are over 2000.

Skim reading the thread and came across this and don't know if it's been answered. 

Sadly it was a case of people adding 2 and 2 and getting 5. They announced 2 attendances and it seemed like they did one which was the number of tickets sold + season tickets whereas the other was the real attendance. Sadly for conspiracy theorists, the first "attendance" they announced was actually the half time draw number. I think we sold about 2,300 season tickets in the end but no doubt next year it will be a lot fewer, especially if Hughes is still in post. 

Really have the fear for next season by the way. Think you guys will be challenging with whoever doesn't go up through the play off, Queens if they get a few players in and possibly Kelty. I just hope we get off to a decent start otherwise it's going to be hard going watching you guys pull away from us at the top.

[Kircer bairn]

12 hours ago, JulioBairn said:

Disagree.

1. All clubs at our level need backing from the fans in order to generate money. They obviously need us to do our part cos there’s no sky TV or foreign billionaires gona do it for us. 
2. There are huge numbers of volunteers at all football clubs and the volunteer and the club clearly benefit from that. No issue with the guy who runs the social media etc doing so on a voluntary basis. 
3. There has been a lot of talk about disbanding the academy again. Although we are a while away from any real benefit from it, it’s pleasing to hear it’s part of the plan.
4. Tangible change? Appointing a proper manager is a good start.

I’ve always said I’ll criticise the club when I think they’ve fucked up and praise where it’s due. Since the season ended the club deserve nothing but praise. The next bit is key - getting the right players in. Here’s hoping the good work continues. 

Totally agree Julio but think it was suggested that the identity of blame me might have some history / link to previous board incumbents

For what it’s worth my take is this is a SMART statement in every sense not lacking in specifics & clearly giving timelines for their goals & ambitions.

I sense from individuals such as Blame Me they might wish to challenge how achievable & realistic these ambitions are but hey as a wise man once said aim for nothing & you will inevitably hit it

I sense however that vast majority will see this as I perceive it to be, namely an honest, bold rallying call to mobilise the troops for the battle ahead. So all we need now is for the new management team to unearth a 2022 version of Yogi for the back, a 2022 version of Alex Taylor to boss the midfield & a 2022 version of Richie Cadette to supply the goals. Not asking a lot am I but guess the next generation of Kevin, Simon & Russell will need to wait for the following year

[Blame Me]

12 minutes ago, Kircer bairn said:

Totally agree Julio but think it was suggested that the identity of blame me might have some history / link to previous board incumbents

I have no relationship with past or present boards. Ordinary fan with an opinion.

[Hughsie]

8 hours ago, Van_damage said:

Shouldn’t bite but why do you seem to always have something negative to say about the renaming of the South Stand to the KM Stand? 

Because he’s a p***k.

[kiddy]

8 hours ago, Van_damage said:

Shouldn’t bite but why do you seem to always have something negative to say about the renaming of the South Stand to the KM Stand? 

Shouldn't bite, but if you could quote any other time I had said something negative about renaming the SS. it would be helpful.

[HopeStreetWalker]

18 hours ago, RC55 FFC said:

Falkirk own the pitch and all pitch facing areas (ie the seats). I’d wager the council will get a cut for use of car parks and the rental of hospitality suites but otherwise it’s our cash. 

But the council own the ground the pitch sits on and the stands the seats sit on. Then the charges for facilities, staff, overheads, parking.

Sit back and do bugger all in the administration and running of the event and get sent a nice cheque at the end of it. You can bet FFC will be getting charged top dollar mark up after all its Falkirk Council after all.

Falkirk Football Club is a money fountain to the Council and like it or not there is nothing we can do until either the club buys them out or we build our own stadium and leave them to stew in their white elephant ego trip.

 

[bairn88]

7 minutes ago, HopeStreetWalker said:

But the council own the ground the pitch sits on and the stands the seats sit on. Then the charges for facilities, staff, overheads, parking.

Sit back and do bugger all in the administration and running of the event and get sent a nice cheque at the end of it. You can bet FFC will be getting charged top dollar mark up after all its Falkirk Council after all.

Falkirk Football Club is a money fountain to the Council and like it or not there is nothing we can do until either the club buys them out or we build our own stadium and leave them to stew in their white elephant ego trip.

 

How do you know this? Thought the council did a power of work over the gig admin stuff. 

[falkirkzombie]

19 hours ago, HopeStreetWalker said:

There is the rub regarding concerts. Falkirk Council take a large cut as and employees or services provided will be charged with a massive mark up Falkirk Football Club are tenants of TFS do the groundwork and the council sit back and wait for the payday.

The mugs that signed up to this one sided deal regarding our home ground should be hunted.

this is rubbish - its been shown in pervious accounting years that the concerts are good money makers for the club. Do you really think the club would be continuing with concerts after all these years if they weren't making us money, what would be the point? You talk some pish.

[LatapyBairn.]

1 hour ago, HopeStreetWalker said:

But the council own the ground the pitch sits on and the stands the seats sit on. Then the charges for facilities, staff, overheads, parking.

Sit back and do bugger all in the administration and running of the event and get sent a nice cheque at the end of it. You can bet FFC will be getting charged top dollar mark up after all its Falkirk Council after all.

Falkirk Football Club is a money fountain to the Council and like it or not there is nothing we can do until either the club buys them out or we build our own stadium and leave them to stew in their white elephant ego trip.

 

You do realise the club have a 125 year priority lease on the land the pitch and stands sit on which we only pay a peppercorn rent for and even although we technically don’t own the land we do own the north stand, the pitch facing aspects of the main stand and changing facilities, SA owns the south stand with the lease also covering the land where a potential east stand would sit should we somehow find the cash to develop this. The  council screw the club by charging us to use the internals of the main stand, specifically the lounges, hospitality suites, bars and bar staff impacting our ability to make any serous income from the facilities in the stadium like some other clubs can. This was asked at a previous AGM and explained, we don’t pay anything for using the stands and changing facilities on match days, training or any other time for that matter, we have priority use of all this at no additional cost including if we chose to host such events as a concert, it’s the facilities within the main the stand they have us over a barrel with and I dare say are charging the events company a pretty penny for at these gigs but it’s all factored in to a budget and the club make upwards of 6 figure sums hosting these events as is shown when the accounts are published. It may sound convoluted but it’s not a totally uncommon arrangement. Randomly I have a friend who runs a livery and training yard for sports horses, he doesn’t own the indoor arena which was built by a 2nd party however said arena does sit on his land and there is a long term lease agreement in place giving both parties access to it at no cost to either of them. It’s mutually  beneficial.

Edited May 13, 2022 by LatapyBairn.

[NavyBlueArmy1876]

3 hours ago, Salvo Montalbano said:

Skim reading the thread and came across this and don't know if it's been answered. 

Sadly it was a case of people adding 2 and 2 and getting 5. They announced 2 attendances and it seemed like they did one which was the number of tickets sold + season tickets whereas the other was the real attendance. Sadly for conspiracy theorists, the first "attendance" they announced was actually the half time draw number. I think we sold about 2,300 season tickets in the end but no doubt next year it will be a lot fewer, especially if Hughes is still in post. 

Really have the fear for next season by the way. Think you guys will be challenging with whoever doesn't go up through the play off, Queens if they get a few players in and possibly Kelty. I just hope we get off to a decent start otherwise it's going to be hard going watching you guys pull away from us at the top.

 

I can't find the exact figures but the last official numbers update from the clubs were as follows:

Dunfermline - 2,000 on 30.07.21 

Falkirk - 2,000 on 17.07.21 

I reckon we probably sold around 2,200-2,300 in total

 

[Bairnardo]

Shouldn't bite, but if you could quote any other time I had said something negative about renaming the SS. it would be helpful.

Crabbit basturt