The Falkirk FC Thread

[AL-FFC]

10 minutes ago, PedroMoutinho said:

Sorry, the bit about agendas is just a nonsense for me. You talk about a “winning feeling” but we won just over half of games in the third tier in a season which culminated in a 7-2 defeat to Airdrie. Really not sure what aspect of that was a winning season.

Equally, you mention “the nucleus of a good team”. We have an unbalanced squad with no right back, a dodgy centre half, a defensive midfielder past his best and no real goalscorer. If you call that a good team, I’d hate to see your definition of a bad one.

We all want the best for the club but to present the situation as sunshine and light and those of us being legitimately critical as having hidden agendas is ludicrous.

We went on a 13-game unbeaten run, and got to a Scottish cup semi-final for the firsts time since f**k knows, ok the draw being favourable or not I see that as a positive despite the end result.  As I mentioned some of the posters on here just seem to want to see us fail or any reason to say i told you so, I'm not a happy clapper I'm a realist if you want to see the team win week in and week out then follow one of the arse-cheeks mate.  I would love for us to steamroller every f**king team in this league but i know we will fall at some point and even at that one-week folk would still call for McGlynns head even if we were to win week in and week out sitting at the top of the League with 100 points at the end of the season so how about giving it a rest and cut a a bit of slack and for once be a realist on how its going to go if we are cut adrift with quarter of the games done then so be it but ffs go and start up One F again as your honestly soul crushing p and b

As for squad as much is Yeats isn't a RB the young lad gives a shite which can be said more and as much as we don't like it we also have Brad McKay (albeit the 2 of them are not natural right backs but hey it is what it is). Allen is making an adjustment to full time football and as for MacIver gie the lad a chance look at players in the past like Gareth Hutchison came to us from Stenny and was a sprinter originally done not too bad, Cadette on his first game for us didn't look like he would do much either even players like Marino Keith so how about gie them a chance before you hang them. So far you want McGlynn and most of them canned as not good enough before the leagues started i don't even know what is good enough and if we were see Ken Eadie as an example there is no guarantee they are going to work for us regardless what system is played.

 

[ShaggerG]

1 minute ago, FK1Bairn said:

I'm not getting involved in the manager debate but I bumped into a Raith fan in Dalaman airport a few weeks back and he said McGlynn doesn't do change unless it's forced on him. He said the same about Smith as the director you mention. 

From the sound of it, best case scenario may be us stumbling over the promotion line then Smith taking over in the Championship!

[ShaggerG]

2 minutes ago, PedroMoutinho said:

In my view they need to be ready to relieve McGlynn of his duties quickly if necessary. This will be controversial but I would also be looking to free up resources from other areas of the club (such as youth development) to bring in a right back.

What does 'looking to free up resources' mean? How much should we spend on a RB and where would the money for McGlynn and Smith's pay-offs come from?

[Proudtobeabairn]

50 minutes ago, AL-FFC said:

We went on a 13-game unbeaten run, and got to a Scottish cup semi-final for the firsts time since f**k knows, ok the draw being favourable or not I see that as a positive despite the end result.  As I mentioned some of the posters on here just seem to want to see us fail or any reason to say i told you so, I'm not a happy clapper I'm a realist if you want to see the team win week in and week out then follow one of the arse-cheeks mate.  I would love for us to steamroller every f**king team in this league but i know we will fall at some point and even at that one-week folk would still call for McGlynns head even if we were to win week in and week out sitting at the top of the League with 100 points at the end of the season so how about giving it a rest and cut a a bit of slack and for once be a realist on how its going to go if we are cut adrift with quarter of the games done then so be it but ffs go and start up One F again as your honestly soul crushing p and b

As for squad as much is Yeats isn't a RB the young lad gives a shite which can be said more and as much as we don't like it we also have Brad McKay (albeit the 2 of them are not natural right backs but hey it is what it is). Allen is making an adjustment to full time football and as for MacIver gie the lad a chance look at players in the past like Gareth Hutchison came to us from Stenny and was a sprinter originally done not too bad, Cadette on his first game for us didn't look like he would do much either even players like Marino Keith so how about gie them a chance before you hang them. So far you want McGlynn and most of them canned as not good enough before the leagues started i don't even know what is good enough and if we were see Ken Eadie as an example there is no guarantee they are going to work for us regardless what system is played.

 

This sounds very much like a Gary Holt speech

Edited July 19, 2023 by Proudtobeabairn

[Bairnardo]

58 minutes ago, ShaggerG said:

What does 'looking to free up resources' mean? How much should we spend on a RB and where would the money for McGlynn and Smith's pay-offs come from?

For the Club still struggling to get past the absolute cluster f**k of shutting a respected academy, Pedro's idea is to bin the youth system to sign a right back, despite the fact that the transfer window is still open for about another 6 weeks. 

Beyond the pale now

[PedroMoutinho]

8 minutes ago, Bairnardo said:

For the Club still struggling to get past the absolute cluster f**k of shutting a respected academy, Pedro's idea is to bin the youth system to sign a right back, despite the fact that the transfer window is still open for about another 6 weeks. 

Beyond the pale now

I didn’t suggest binning the youth system. The point is we are potentially a year from having no full time pathway at all, for our youth players or anyone else.

Getting out of league 1 has absolutely got to be the priority this season so I would absolutely be looking at whether some funds can moved from non-core areas to the first team to try and fund a right back.

Is there potential to can the B team for example and get some of these players out on loan instead? Even if there is no wage saving, there will presumably be travel and coaching costs etc that could be saved.

[LatapyBairn.]

50 minutes ago, Bairnardo said:

For the Club still struggling to get past the absolute cluster f**k of shutting a respected academy, Pedro's idea is to bin the youth system to sign a right back, despite the fact that the transfer window is still open for about another 6 weeks. 

Beyond the pale now

Binning another academy/youth system or even part of the system would do untold long term damage to the club! For the minimal moneys we are spending on the new system your not going to achieve any form of noticeable rise in first team playing budget but the reputational damage to the club would itself see us loose not only multiple sponsorships that were leveraged by the idea of youth football but the goodwill of the many volunteers involved in the academy. I’d say if we scrapped it for a 2nd time we could forget about ever being able to credibly run an academy again. A proper youth system not only generates money for the club but helps the fan base bond with the first team when they see these young players break through, it creates a sense of pride. Absolute madness to suggest cutting it! We should actively be looking at ways to support the new academy, we already see one or two now breaking into the first team this pre season. 

Edited July 19, 2023 by LatapyBairn.

[roman_bairn]

There’s an awful lot of talk about playing quality football but I think people on here are confusing the issue when they raise it.

The issue last night wasn’t about how attractive the football was to watch, it was that we lacked any cutting edge up front and frankly was it not for a lucky break in the last couple of minutes, I don’t think many that were there really thought that we would regain the lead in the last 30 minutes.

As I said, it would be wrong to judge on a single game, that we actually won too, but it wasn’t a great pointer for the season ahead…..

[PedroMoutinho]

9 minutes ago, LatapyBairn. said:

Binning another academy/youth system or even part of the system would do untold long term damage to the club! For the minimal moneys we are spending on the new system your not going to achieve any form of noticeable rise in first team playing budget but the reputational damage to the club would itself see us loose not only multiple sponsorships that were leveraged by the idea of youth football but the goodwill of the many volunteers involved in the academy. I’d say if we scrapped it again we could forget about ever being able to credibly run an academy again. A proper youth system not only generates money for the club but helps the fan base bond with the first team when they see these young players break through, it creates a sense of pride. Absolute madness to suggest cutting it! We should actively be looking at ways to support the new academy, we already see one or two now breaking into the first team this pre season. 

Who has suggested binning the youth system?

[FK1Bairn]

1 hour ago, PedroMoutinho said:

This will be controversial but I would also be looking to free up resources from other areas of the club (such as youth development) to bring in a right back.

 

12 minutes ago, PedroMoutinho said:

Who has suggested binning the youth system?

If you're not binning it then how do you propose to "free up resources" from it? 

[LatapyBairn.]

11 minutes ago, PedroMoutinho said:

Who has suggested binning the youth system?

Any form of cut or scale back is exactly the opposite direction the club should be moving in, it achieves no tangible financial benefit and harms multiple other areas and dimensions the club has long term. It shouldn’t even be a consideration for any right thinking fan after we viewed the previous disaster under Lang, Thomson, Campbell and Miller. It set the club back years and burned many bridges and alienated many sponsors,  we are only now starting to repair the damage. 

[PedroMoutinho]

9 minutes ago, FK1Bairn said:

 

If you're not binning it then how do you propose to "free up resources" from it? 

I would look at whether some of the budget could be used for the first team. We won’t be able to offer full time contracts this time next year to any promising academy graduates if we’re still in league 1.

Edited July 19, 2023 by PedroMoutinho

[Bainsfordbairn]

13 minutes ago, PedroMoutinho said:

Is there potential to can the B team for example and get some of these players out on loan instead? Even if there is no wage saving, there will presumably be travel and coaching costs etc that could be saved.

As I understand it, the B team will be made up of modern apprentices and first teamers who're not getting gametime or returning from injury.

We put the likes of Lennon Walker, Kyle Connolly, Scott Honeyman and Finlay Malcolm out on loan last season.  I suppose we could also do the same with the 5 MAs this season.  Though they would likely end up at clubs of a similar stature to last seasons loanees. 

What would it gain us? Not much I'd suggest. They would still train with our first team outwith a matchday. And if they played with Bo'ness United, East Stirlingshire and Open Goal Broomhill once a week would the coaches there enhance their development and help turn them into the next Jay Fulton or Scott Arfield? 

I rather doubt it. 

The Falkirk manager would still arrange friendlies to get our injured / nonplaying first teamers gametime, in which case the MAs would be needed anyway.

I just don't see any benefit to your idea. Never mind the obvious downsides. 

 

[Guest]

Can I just say no to Paul Smith being appointed Manager in the event of McGlynn being sacked.

The manager job is the most important appointment and if McGlynn goes then he goes down as yet another failure. Every time we get it wrong it costs us massively. Queens Park appointed a manager who won them promotion in January 22, we went for Rennie who done the impossible and achieved worse stats than Sheerin. Miller then took charge when we still had a chance of making the playoffs, albeit with only 3 matches to play.

McGlynn was a sound appointment and will hopefully make good on it this season but if not then appointing Smith will be a massive gamble where we can afford to take none. Smith has been a part of McGlynns team and if it fails he will be as much to blame. He’s not been tested properly in his own right, maintaining squad harmony, bringing in his own players amongst others. I get the logic in what’s been proposed but we can’t afford to get another one wrong. Would much rather pay the £25k or so to let him go and start a thorough process to recruit the best man for the job. 

[GeordieBairn]

15 minutes ago, Long Suffering Bairn said:

I know we have other, more important things to worry about, but I really hate the way the new Falkirk TV commentator shouts when we score a goal.  At least with Lewis and co you know they were genuinely chuffed, with this guy you can tell he's just doing it for dramatic effect.  

Nearly every commentator adds dramatic effect to goals, and i’d be surprised if he wasn’t genuinely chuffed as he’s a Falkirk fan himself.

[JulioBairn]

41 minutes ago, PedroMoutinho said:

Is there potential to can the B team for example and get some of these players out on loan instead? Even if there is no wage saving, there will presumably be travel and coaching costs etc that could be saved.

Utter nonsense…again. Tony Begg will still be in post if we have the B team or not. The B team is the platform for guys like Carroll and Honeyman to try and make an impact on the first team. The B team provides a place for players out injured to get back up to speed before returning to the first team.

Do you honestly think we’ll get a right back for the cost of a couple of coach hires?

[RRFC_Liam]

I haven’t seen any of Falkirk so is McGlynn still got a hard on for the 4231 or a 433 with a lone striker or has he finally changed and manage to adapt? Because signing another striker and Agyeman would’ve suggested that from the outside looking in… also how’s Lang and Spencer been? 

[ClathyDave]

23 minutes ago, Long Suffering Bairn said:

I know we have other, more important things to worry about, but I really hate the way the new Falkirk TV commentator shouts when we score a goal.  At least with Lewis and co you know they were genuinely chuffed, with this guy you can tell he's just doing it for dramatic effect.  

I have to disagree, different fans react to goals/chances differently. I react completely different to my dad for example. I actually prefer the new commentary team. Obviously it’s early days, but I no longer feel the need to mute the commentary at some points 

[PedroMoutinho]

19 minutes ago, JulioBairn said:

Do you honestly think we’ll get a right back for the cost of a couple of coach hires?

Clearly not but it may help make a contribution alongside things like increased STs and FSS subscriptions.

[Guest]

1 hour ago, Long Suffering Bairn said:

I know we have other, more important things to worry about, but I really hate the way the new Falkirk TV commentator shouts when we score a goal.  At least with Lewis and co you know they were genuinely chuffed, with this guy you can tell he's just doing it for dramatic effect.  

Don’t know the new guy but he’s a volunteer and like Lewis, he’s doing a great job in what is a very hard job to do. You’re welcome to your opinion but it’s a bit unfair to place it on this forum or social media.