The Falkirk FC Thread

[Shodwall cat]

2 minutes ago, Grant228 said:

The predictions thread from the start of the season certainly didn't have us down as dead certs.

 

Likewise when Falkirk were on a good run just prior to the EEP game I don't remember any chat on here that it Falkirk couldn't have expected to be title challengers. 

You're saying that with hindsight, at the start of the season Chalmers, Breen, Todd and McCann were not considered first team standard. Whilst Wighton had spent the end of the season out, unsuccessfully on loan to Arbroath. Comrie didn't even finish the season as our first choice right back. The appointment of McPake wasn't heralded as fantastic either. 

These were players that your manager could improve and he has that's all credit to him.  You try turning Jaime Wilson into a better player.  Jose mourinho couldn't manage that.

Edited April 30, 2023 by Shodwall cat

[Guest]

…..and it needs to be remembered that the awful squad McGlynn inherited from last season is the one that supplies three, four or even five of McGlynn’s starting XI.

That’s McGlynn’s choice….it’s not because he doesn’t have alternatives. When he fields PJ, McCann Williamson, McKay, McGuffie Nesbitt, Morrison, at varying times, that leaves him with half a dozen starters to find from his 17 (or however many it is).

McGlynn has been backed to the hilt with the expectation of either automatic promotion, or promotion via the play offs. The former has been “Fail”, and the latter is heading in our direction soon.

For him to fail yet again in the play offs, then there has to be a serious debate as to whether or not he is the man to get us out of L1. The club would be crazy not to keep their options open. His dogmatic system and tactical weakness will always be a concern, because he will never change.

[Shodwall cat]

17 minutes ago, Duncan Freemason said:

…..and it needs to be remembered that the awful squad McGlynn inherited from last season is the one that supplies three, four or even five of McGlynn’s starting XI.

That’s McGlynn’s choice….it’s not because he doesn’t have alternatives. When he fields PJ, McCann Williamson, McKay, McGuffie Nesbitt, Morrison, at varying times, that leaves him with half a dozen starters to find from his 17 (or however many it is).

McGlynn has been backed to the hilt with the expectation of either automatic promotion, or promotion via the play offs. The former has been “Fail”, and the latter is heading in our direction soon.

For him to fail yet again in the play offs, then there has to be a serious debate as to whether or not he is the man to get us out of L1. The club would be crazy not to keep their options open. His dogmatic system and tactical weakness will always be a concern, because he will never change.

As I said already some of the signings haven't met expectations unfortunately but that's going to happen when you have to bring in so many players. Others have seen form dip due to a lack of football experience . Yesterday we had 4 from last year. Williamson due to Rowe being injured, Mackay whose playing on that left side of defence due to Mackie and Henderson's inability to nail that place down and McCann and Morrison who have been fine this season. Mackay was always going to still be here this season having been given a 3 year deal . Moving him on was never an option Williamson likewise as noone was going to pay a crock what we were paying him. He's now away and so will be mcguffie . That should free up some more wages and will cut the number of pre mcglynn players in the squad again.  I would suggest there is zero chance of mcglynn getting replaced come June whatever league we are in. He has a two year contract and I'm sure will be given the chance to see that two years out. So anyone hoping he will be suddenly paid off will be disappointed.  Hopefully he can do what he did at Raith and build on his first season and then get them up if we don't manage it this season. Although even I will be asking questions if we lose a semifinal to alloa mind you.

[AGPar]

3 hours ago, Caractacus Potts said:

I wouldn’t have put Dunfermline as firm favourites and I’m sure if I was to look at the chat prior to the start of the season then very little would have accepted playing second fiddle to them. 

Neither did Dunfermline fans. From recollection, most of them were fairly pessimistic - or certainly not optimistic - about their chances. Top four and a play-off place being a reasonable enough expectation, but nothing much more than that, and certainly no talk that they would cruise the league in the manner they have, with the cigars out pretty much since they beat us in November. 

All managers are, to some extent, judged against the performance of their peers at rival clubs. And I think that is where our manager has a problem. I didn't particularly rate McPake from his time at Dundee but, on an absolute fraction of what we have spent on recruitment, he has comprehensively outmanaged McGlynn, something I would not have thought possible. He's got the absolute most from a group of largely someone else's players, some of whom - Chalmers for example - most Pars fans would have been delighted to see the back of a year ago. The idea that their squad, on the back of a comedy season under the guidance of a pair of clowns (sound familiar?) was ready made to absolutely stroll to the title - sorry, not buying that for a single second. Absolute rubbish. It's just an argument being used to suit a particular narrative, and one with no basis at all. 

 

[Shodwall cat]

1 minute ago, AGPar said:

Neither did Dunfermline fans. From recollection, most of them were fairly pessimistic - or certainly not optimistic - about their chances. Top four and a play-off place being a reasonable enough expectation, but nothing much more than that, and certainly no talk that they would cruise the league in the manner they have, with the cigars out pretty much since they beat us in November. 

All managers are, to some extent, judged against the performance of their peers at rival clubs. And I think that is where our manager has a problem. I didn't particularly rate McPake from his time at Dundee but, on an absolute fraction of what we have spent on recruitment, he has comprehensively outmanaged McGlynn, something I would not have thought possible. He's got the absolute most from a group of largely someone else's players, some of whom - Chalmers for example - most Pars fans would have been delighted to see the back of a year ago. The idea that their squad, on the back of a comedy season under the guidance of a pair of clowns (sound familiar?) was ready made to absolutely stroll to the title - sorry, not buying that for a single second. Absolute rubbish. It's just an argument being used to suit a particular narrative, and one with no basis at all. 

 

Their squad wasn't but they had a far better base to start from than we had that's pretty obvious. Chalmers was a decent midfielder at the top of the champ bottom of the premiership for years. Wighton the same as a striker  . The question.was can Mcpake get them playing at the level they should be playing at which would see them be a cut above the level of league one and he's done that.  

We on the other hand had a pile of players that we knew weren't good enough for this level having seen them struggle to a 7th place finish the season before. Mcglynns improved a couple but even the likes of McCann and Morrison haven't played at the same level as a number of the Dunfermline players. 

Dunfermlines squad was very much an unknown quantity but I'd much rather we'd started with that in June than one we knew was utter shite.

[ebobsboy]

I'm very much in the belief that McGlynn's remit was to get us up at the start of his tenure whether it be winning the league or via the playoffs. The pressure is very much on him over these next few games, he's talked it up let's see if he can actually deliver, I'm not confident though. If he is still here next season and we are in league 1 and considering the team or teams coming down won't be as strong as Dunfermline. If he can't get us up then he absolutely should be emptied, although I'm running out of patience with him already and if he turns us out as a passive gutless shitshow in the playoffs then he's very much on borrowed time with a target on his back. 

 

 

 

 

[Shodwall cat]

14 minutes ago, ebobsboy said:

I'm very much in the belief that McGlynn's remit was to get us up at the start of his tenure whether it be winning the league or via the playoffs. The pressure is very much on him over these next few games, he's talked it up let's see if he can actually deliver, I'm not confident though. If he is still here next season and we are in league 1 and considering the team or teams coming down won't be as strong as Dunfermline. If he can't get us up then he absolutely should be emptied, although I'm running out of patience with him already and if he turns us out as a passive gutless shitshow in the playoffs then he's very much on borrowed time with a target on his back. 

 

 

 

 

His remit from the board wasn't simply promotion at all cost this season that's clear. He's got a two year contract I'd expect at the end of that though if we're still in league one it won't be renewed. Still a long way to go before we reach that stage though.  

[AGPar]

13 minutes ago, Shodwall cat said:

Their squad wasn't but they had a far better base to start from than we had that's pretty obvious

You’re literally talking about a base of three or four players maximum. Edwards, Todd certainly, perhaps Comrie. I don’t think it includes some of the players you have been quoting. Dunfermline fans would have personally driven Chalmers to any club daft enough to take him. He was utter garbage last season. What would have been the reaction had he turned up at TFS? I can guess. McCann wasn’t considered good enough either. I just don’t look at a squad containing the likes of Mehmet, O’Hara, Todorov and think “wow” But they are a proper unit, not reliant on two or three individuals. McPake has worked with most of the tools he inherited -interpret tools however you want!-and supplemented it with very selective, clever recruitment in the likes of Benedictus, Hamilton, Ritchie-Hosler. That’s good management.

Even accepting the argument that we started from an even lower base - well, intelligent use of an infinitely greater budget, both last summer and in January, should have helped to bridge that gap. It hasn’t. In that context, I don’t see 14 points off top spot and failure to mount any sort of credible title challenge as anything other than gross underachievement. 

[bridge of allan bairn]

McGlynn should definitely be given the opportunity to take us up via the play offs, and if he does this will be an excellent season, especially given the starting position he inherited. Promotion and a financially lucrative Scottish Cup run can be seen as nothing other than significant success. I think as others have said he has done a number of things well, recruitment, motivation of players who were already here but underachieving, he knows the Scottish market and these leagues well, the players seem to like him and most fans seem to also. I also really like his pre and post match interviews which are a breath of fresh air, especially compared to previous incumbents.

Having said all of that there are some warning signs (many of which the Raith fans made us aware of when he took the job). His record against our 2 nearest competitors is very poor, no wins against the Pars from 4 games and 1 from 4 against Airdrie. He doesn't seem to know how to set up to beat these teams and I still get the feeling he doesn't know our best team and formation. McPake has out thought him for large chunks of our games and against other teams. I'm not keen on the fact that if a game isn't going well, he insists on changing it at exactly 60 minutes whatever is going on in the game, that just can't be right every game. McPake on the other hand isn't scared to change it when needed, a prime example being their game at Airdrie where he made 2 subs in the first half then another at half time, they ended up winning the game 4-3 from 3-0 down. For all of these reasons and the fact we've only won 2 in our last 9 games, I am not confident going into the play offs. I think we have a great chance if its Alloa, but Airdrie have a great recent record against us and as things stand I think they have more firepower, yesterdays game being a case in point, we don't seem to have a natural goalscorer.

I like McGlynn and really hope he gets us up.

[Reggie Perrin]

2 minutes ago, bridge of allan bairn said:

McGlynn should definitely be given the opportunity to take us up via the play offs, and if he does this will be an excellent season, especially given the starting position he inherited. Promotion and a financially lucrative Scottish Cup run can be seen as nothing other than significant success. I think as others have said he has done a number of things well, recruitment, motivation of players who were already here but underachieving, he knows the Scottish market and these leagues well, the players seem to like him and most fans seem to also. I also really like his pre and post match interviews which are a breath of fresh air, especially compared to previous incumbents.

Having said all of that there are some warning signs (many of which the Raith fans made us aware of when he took the job). His record against our 2 nearest competitors is very poor, no wins against the Pars from 4 games and 1 from 4 against Airdrie. He doesn't seem to know how to set up to beat these teams and I still get the feeling he doesn't know our best team and formation. McPake has out thought him for large chunks of our games and against other teams. I'm not keen on the fact that if a game isn't going well, he insists on changing it at exactly 60 minutes whatever is going on in the game, that just can't be right every game. McPake on the other hand isn't scared to change it when needed, a prime example being their game at Airdrie where he made 2 subs in the first half then another at half time, they ended up winning the game 4-3 from 3-0 down. For all of these reasons and the fact we've only won 2 in our last 9 games, I am not confident going into the play offs. I think we have a great chance if its Alloa, but Airdrie have a great recent record against us and as things stand I think they have more firepower, yesterdays game being a case in point, we don't seem to have a natural goalscorer.

I like McGlynn and really hope he gets us up.

A lot of sense here but not getting the fear for Airdrie at all, their “great” record against us features no wins in the last three games and we skelped them at their own midden.

It will be difficult no matter who we face in the playoffs but it is in our own hands.

[Disco Duck]

There’s several people here who sound more keen on emptying our manager than getting promotion.

[Shodwall cat]

1 minute ago, Disco Duck said:

There’s several people here who sound more keen on emptying our manager than getting promotion.

I used to get pelters for being the most negative poster on here. Christ I'm nowhere near holding that crown these days.

[PedroMoutinho]

2 minutes ago, Disco Duck said:

There’s several people here who sound more keen on emptying our manager than getting promotion.

No one wants to empty the manager. Hopefully in a few weeks we’ll be celebrating promotion and looking forward to next season in the championship

[Parsman85]

[Guest]

31 minutes ago, PedroMoutinho said:

No one wants to empty the manager. Hopefully in a few weeks we’ll be celebrating promotion and looking forward to next season in the championship

CP wants him emptied 

[FFC 1876]

McGlynn's done enough for me to be here next season regardless of how the playoffs pan out. You're always going to have some sort of issue with whatever manager you have in place but he's definitely improved us massively this season especially when you think of the squad he inherited.

His reluctance to make a change before the 60th minute, his stubbornness sticking to the same 4-2-3-1 for so long and the fact we don't leave a single player up the park at corners are my main gripes. 

We've got enough in the squad to win the playoffs so it's up to them to go earn their place in the championship next season. 

[Newbornbairn]

Regardless of results, we're not changing managers at the end of the season.

[Springfield]

14 minutes ago, FFC 1876 said:

McGlynn's done enough for me to be here next season regardless of how the playoffs pan out. You're always going to have some sort of issue with whatever manager you have in place but he's definitely improved us massively this season especially when you think of the squad he inherited.

His reluctance to make a change before the 60th minute, his stubbornness sticking to the same 4-2-3-1 for so long and the fact we don't leave a single player up the park at corners are my main gripes. 

We've got enough in the squad to win the playoffs so it's up to them to go earn their place in the championship next season. 

Not sure that’s he’s done enough for me, but you’re middle section pretty much sums it up.

With the greatest of respect those still harking on about McGlynns inheritance doesn’t wash with me. He’s been given a decent budget and some of his signings can’t get into the starting eleven. 

Weve shat it in nearly all the big games so far and yesterday was another “Hibsit” day away. We keep on hearing we’ve enough in this squad, maybe on paper, but yet see on the park (apart from maybe 5/6 games) 17 league wins so far……….

 

[Guest Caractacus Potts]

1 hour ago, Disco Duck said:

There’s several people here who sound more keen on emptying our manager than getting promotion.

Or maybe think that our best chance at promotion will be to change the manager. No chance that will happen so hope that I’m wrong.

[Guest]

4 hours ago, 18BAIRN76 said:

It’s painfully obvious to point out, but with all the talk about stats and records etc - ultimately, our season hinges on the play-offs. If we end the season by getting promoted, the losses against Dunfermline, the 53% win rate in League One, the inconsistency against the Kelty’s and Clyde’s of the world etc are completely forgotten. The ultimate aim of the season will have been achieved and it will rightly go down as a successful season.

Lose in the play-offs and the questions will undoubtedly come and the season will have undeniably been a disaster. Hard to overstate how big the next few weeks are.

Totally agree. For FFC, “progress” and “going in the right direction” cannot be gauged by making us a neat and tidy L1 side.

Pre-season expectations change. I think in budget terms, the Board backed McGlynn heavily. When we signed the likes of Donaldson, Henderson and especially McGinn, that was not the sign of a club expecting to be kicking around L1 for much longer.

The title is gone. Failing in the play offs for our squad will be a failure…..I don’t think it can be spun any other way.
Recruitment has been pretty good, but compared to McPake, building a side that seems organised and disciplined still looks to be some way off.

It’s amazing that the “pile of shite” that McGlynn inherited still provides a significant number of his first team picks including one getting a two year extension for contributing a dozen or so decent performances in two years.

Anyone not prepared to see that McPake has completely outperformed McGlynn in every meaningful way is kidding themselves on.