The Falkirk FC Thread

[badgertheeuro24witness]

1 hour ago, bridge of allan bairn said:

Taking (quite rightly) the 1 game at a time viewpoint to one side for a minute. We all know there are loads of ups and downs still to come this season (see Edinburgh away!). I had some spare time on my hands this morning and thought I'd look at what it takes points wise historically to win this league.

If you are not a statto, probably best ignore this and move on to the next post!

Over the past 10 years (ignoring the 2 covid years) it has taken an average of 80 points to win this league (this includes the Rangers 102 points which skews it up a bit).

Over the past 5 years (excluding covid) it has taken 77 points.

What's probably just as important is to see how many points the team that finished second ended up with (ie what you actually need to get automatically promoted). Over the past 10 years the average is 66 points, and over 5 years its 68 points.

The highest winning points totals in the past 10 years were Rangers (102) and QoS (92). The lowest being just 69 points (Morton I think?). In the past 5 years its been 81 points (highest) and 70 points (lowest). For 2nd place the highest in 10 years has been 75 points and lowest has been 61 points.

We have played 21 games so far and are on 53 points. Averaging an excellent 2.5 points per game (higher than the Pars 2.25 per game last season). Continuing at this points rate would mean a finish of 90 points. Hamilton are on 44 points after 20 games so also a very impressive 2.2 points per game. If they continue to score points at this rate for the rest of the season they will finish on 79 points. (which on an "average" year would also win the league).

At the moment, and this changes with every set of matches, I think it's looking like we might need about the 80 points mark to gain automatic promotion. So another 27 points or 9 wins from our last 15 games. 7 of those 15 games are at home. Obviously the games versus Hamilton will be more important, beat them and the totals go down. I think the points totals needed could be above average this year as ourselves and Hamilton are further ahead of the rest as things stand.

PS what got me thinking about this was the 6 points deduction Edinburgh received yesterday as it officially meant we couldn't be automatically relegated (sad stattos think about these things!)

25 wins (9 from 15) & we're there.

[Guest]

7 hours ago, TxRover said:

Noticed this while while watching the Rovers podcast as up next, sorry if its been posted before:

 

Seen it before but always worth sharing as it’s a great wee trip down memory lane. 

 

Not sure if you’ve seen this one. It’s a good poem made by a fellow Bairn about our home town. Made a great one about Crunchie too. 

 

Edited January 26 by Dave McInally

[SouthStander1876]

11 minutes ago, badgerthewitness said:

25 wins (9 from 15) & we're there.

Thats assuming Hamilton dont get 12

[Cologne]

1 hour ago, HopeStreetWalker said:

Yes you are dense whether it's deliberate or stupidity is open to debate. But will give you the benefit of the doubt and will explain it again for you.

If there are 100 shares and you have 25 of them you have a 25% shareholding.

Increase the shares to 200 and you still only have 25 of them you have a 12.5% shareholding.

If you can't get your mind round that, then there's no hope for you.

You are a complete and utter fool who proves it with every post you make. 

[badgertheeuro24witness]

1 hour ago, SouthStander1876 said:

Thats assuming Hamilton dont get 12

That is correct. With 13 wins from 20, I am confident Hamilton won't win 75% of their remaining fixtures.

[Raybowski89]

3 hours ago, Disco Duck said:

The town really has always been a bit of a dump, hasn’t it?

Speak for yourself! I grew up around the Braes! Nah, you're correct - it is a dump, but it's our dump. 

[Disco Duck]

10 minutes ago, Raybowski89 said:

Speak for yourself! I grew up around the Braes! Nah, you're correct - it is a dump, but it's our dump. 

Yup!  Stenny for me so the drive from Carron up to the town is very familiar.

[Proudtobeabairn]

13 hours ago, Bainsfordbairn said:

This viewpoint gets posted a lot and it's something I genuinely don't understand. 

The FSS can't be independent of the BOD, given that their reps currently comprise just under half of it. The FSS are a major factor in determining what direction the club takes. Lets take an imaginary example:- 

An FSS board rep position is up for grabs. The members will vote democratically to decide who gets it. One candidate is a diehard Bairn who's the brother of a multi-billionaire Celtic fan who could turn us into the next Man City. He wants complete control and his election would abandon the concept of fan ownership. The other candidate is also a diehard Bairn, but he wants to stick with the existing model where the fans groups provide the funding and have a veto over any major decisions that would require an EGM to be passed. 

Regardless of which FSS member wins the election, people are going to be unhappy.

What should an independent FSS committee do that they can't do already? Turn against their elected candidate and make posts on P&B attacking him/her? 

The current model is completely democratic. I'm not sure how you improve on it.  Can I ask what specific independence you would like to see that isn't already in place? 

Independent of other board members/groups.  

Where there is debate at board level, FSS should always represent the view of its members (its the elected members responsibility to gauge that accurately through whatever means) and challenge the other 2 legs where the need arises.  

For that reason, FSS reps should never also be patrons or major shareholders as that could result in a conflict of interest further down the line. 

That's what I'm getting at re FSS being independent.  Nothing to do with some FSS members being unhappy with the stance the FSS rep takes, that can only ever represent the majority of members views.  
 

[Proudtobeabairn]

Worrying that Morrison is looking like missing out tomorrow.  The obvious replacement would be Agyeman but wouldn't be surprised to see Ross brought in with potentially some shuffling about between Miller/Ross/Nesbitt

 

[Long Suffering Bairn]

I have researched my family tree for many years.  I have a couple of thousand of relatives and ancestors from Falkirk, Larbert and Stenhousemuir.  The most common occupation for males on my tree from this area were Iron Moulders, Foundry workers, miners and labourers.   That's an insight into the nature of the district, heavy industry.  Look at a map of Falkirk from the mid 19th century, the town is about a third iron works.  

So yes, Falkirk doesn't seem well planned and can look a bit rough here and there and the high street has deteriorated, but when you take into account the history of the place, it's not so bad.  A great wee town.

Edited January 26 by Long Suffering Bairn

[Guest]

21 minutes ago, Long Suffering Bairn said:

I have researched my family tree for many years.  I have a couple of thousand of relatives and ancestors from Falkirk, Larbert and Stenhousemuir.  The most common occupation for males on my tree from this area were Iron Moulders, Foundry workers, miners and labourers.   That's an insight into the nature of the district, heavy industry.  Look at a map of Falkirk from the mid 19th century, the town is about a third iron works.  

So yes, Falkirk doesn't seem well planned and can look a bit rough here and there and the high street has deteriorated, but when you take into account the history of the place, it's not so bad.  A great wee town.

I’m from Carron so the video that was shared is very familiar to me. Used to pass the iron works on my paper round regularly. Seen Carronades in museums around the world too which does make me feel proud. 

For any history buffs, Rabbie Burns scribed a poem on a window at the Carron Iron Works. Was also visited by one of the founding fathers of the USA, Benjamin Franklin.

Sad to see the main town centre looking so poor these days but lots of great memories around the town plus Stenhousemuir and Larbert. Lots of history in the area. Did my school work experience at McCowans toffee factory too which was amazing to get to tour the factory floor. 

[Blame Me]

12 minutes ago, Dave McInally said:

For any history buffs, Rabbie Burns scribed a poem on a window at the Carron Iron Works. Was also visited by one of the founding fathers of the USA, Benjamin Franklin.

Not to mention when King George IV visited too. Not that I'm a monarchist but this was at a time when the royals didn't need to justify their status by opening libraries.

[Bainsfordbairn]

53 minutes ago, Proudtobeabairn said:

Independent of other board members/groups.  

Where there is debate at board level, FSS should always represent the view of its members (its the elected members responsibility to gauge that accurately through whatever means) and challenge the other 2 legs where the need arises.  

For that reason, FSS reps should never also be patrons or major shareholders as that could result in a conflict of interest further down the line. 

That's what I'm getting at re FSS being independent.  Nothing to do with some FSS members being unhappy with the stance the FSS rep takes, that can only ever represent the majority of members views.  
 

Fair enough I get you now. It would be up to the FSS committee at the time to make a decision on excluding members of other groups from standing as BOD reps, though given the difficultly they've had in retaining directors or even getting people to stand, that might make it harder to fill those roles. It's surely better to have an FSS director who's also a patron rather than no director at all. 

 

 

[TxRover]

4 hours ago, Disco Duck said:

Thanks for posting this.  Some I remember, some I don’t (it must have been just before they switched all the roads round in the town centre and pedestrianised the High Street).

Strangely the most strikingly memorable thing is the concrete bus stop as you come along upper Newmarket Street, with the odd rattly metal barrier at the front. 

The town really has always been a bit of a dump, hasn’t it?

3 hours ago, Blame Me said:

The '88 video captures a point in time when much of Scottish society was changing and as we see now, many towns and cities even now have seen much, much steeper decline than Falkirk.

However, bear in mind that prior to the 80's Falkirk could be considered an industrial powerhouse with lots of heavy industry - some of the remnants appear in the video - but globalisation and government put paid to much of it. Thinking of Falkirk now it's actually been quite robust for much of my lifetime and we should look proudly on the heritage we have sadly lost.

IDK about Falkirk specifically, but as a person who remembers the 70’s-80’s as when I was “growing up”, most places I revisit now look a bit down in the dumps. The transition to a service base versus an industrial base was common in both the UK and in America then, so there’s a lot of revisiting and thinking I remember it was bigger/brighter/cleaner.

2 hours ago, Dave McInally said:

Seen it before but always worth sharing as it’s a great wee trip down memory lane. 

 

Not sure if you’ve seen this one.

Thanks for sharing that, always fascinating.

41 minutes ago, Long Suffering Bairn said:

I have researched my family tree for many years.  I have a couple of thousand of relatives and ancestors from Falkirk, Larbert and Stenhousemuir.  The most common occupation for males on my tree from this area were Iron Moulders, Foundry workers, miners and labourers.   That's an insight into the nature of the district, heavy industry.  Look at a map of Falkirk from the mid 19th century, the town is about a third iron works.  

So yes, Falkirk doesn't seem well planned and can look a bit rough here and there and the high street has deteriorated, but when you take into account the history of the place, it's not so bad.  A great wee town.

Much of the connection to particular areas/cities/towns/villages has disappeared as a lot of the heavy industry moved away, all over the world. Many people are shocked at how prevalent certain companies or industries were in areas (iron in Falkirk, lino/cloth in Kirkcaldy, etc), and it’s interesting to see even that sometimes changed suddenly (coal to lino).

12 minutes ago, Dave McInally said:

I’m from Carron so the video that was shared is very familiar to me. Used to pass the iron works on my paper round regularly. Seen Carronades in museums around the world too which does make me feel proud. 

For any history buffs, Rabbie Burns scribed a poem on a window at the Carron Iron Works. Was also visited by one of the founding fathers of the USA, Benjamin Franklin.

Sad to see the main town centre looking so poor these days but lots of great memories around the town plus Stenhousemuir and Larbert. Lots of history in the area. Did my school work experience at McCowans toffee factory too which was amazing to get to tour the factory floor. 

That’s an interesting little tidbit, are any of the Carron Works still maintained for historical interest? That’s the kind of thing that’s flogged like a dead horse to tourists here in ‘Merica.

[Blame Me]

3 minutes ago, TxRover said:

That’s an interesting little tidbit, are any of the Carron Works still maintained for historical interest? That’s the kind of thing that’s flogged like a dead horse to tourists here in ‘Merica.

Unfortunately not 

The main clock tower remains albeit in a parlous state. There is a display within the base of the Carronade cannon which CIW was famous for.

I think it's 'maintained' by a local group but even the newer buildings that were built where the original Carron works frontage was demolished have fallen into disrepair. The CIW site is used by various businesses so is privately held.

[Guest]

28 minutes ago, TxRover said:

IDK about Falkirk specifically, but as a person who remembers the 70’s-80’s as when I was “growing up”, most places I revisit now look a bit down in the dumps. The transition to a service base versus an industrial base was common in both the UK and in America then, so there’s a lot of revisiting and thinking I remember it was bigger/brighter/cleaner.

Thanks for sharing that, always fascinating.

Much of the connection to particular areas/cities/towns/villages has disappeared as a lot of the heavy industry moved away, all over the world. Many people are shocked at how prevalent certain companies or industries were in areas (iron in Falkirk, lino/cloth in Kirkcaldy, etc), and it’s interesting to see even that sometimes changed suddenly (coal to lino).

That’s an interesting little tidbit, are any of the Carron Works still maintained for historical interest? That’s the kind of thing that’s flogged like a dead horse to tourists here in ‘Merica.

https://maps.app.goo.gl/1w586J7Hifg2ApLt6?g_st=ic
 

Had a look at Google Maps and as @Blame Me said the tower at the front is in a sad state as are the items within it. 

Is sad too as that factory was of huge significance to World history, let alone Falkirk history. The cannons were used in many wars across the World and as I said, exist in many museums. Seen them in Canada and Hong Kong. Should be a big centre of interest but unfortunately little of the original Iron Works remain and of what there is, is crumbling. 
 

Where abouts in the States do you live, if you mind me asking?

Edited January 26 by Dave McInally

[Bairn to Believe]

1 hour ago, Proudtobeabairn said:

Independent of other board members/groups.  

Where there is debate at board level, FSS should always represent the view of its members (its the elected members responsibility to gauge that accurately through whatever means) and challenge the other 2 legs where the need arises.  

For that reason, FSS reps should never also be patrons or major shareholders as that could result in a conflict of interest further down the line. 

That's what I'm getting at re FSS being independent.  Nothing to do with some FSS members being unhappy with the stance the FSS rep takes, that can only ever represent the majority of members views.  
 

Out of interest do you not think that’s whose views they represent? 
 

 

[ShaggerG]

1 hour ago, Proudtobeabairn said:

Worrying that Morrison is looking like missing out tomorrow.  The obvious replacement would be Agyeman but wouldn't be surprised to see Ross brought in with potentially some shuffling about between Miller/Ross/Nesbitt

 

Surely would just be a straight swap, Ross for Morrison?

[HopeStreetWalker]

17 minutes ago, Dave McInally said:

https://maps.app.goo.gl/1w586J7Hifg2ApLt6?g_st=ic
 

Had a look at Google Maps and as @Blame Me said the tower at the front is in a sad state as are the items within it. 

Is sad too as that factory was of huge significance to World history, let alone Falkirk history. The cannons were used in many wars across the World and as I said, exist in many museums. Seen them in Canada and Hong Kong. Should be a big centre of interest but unfortunately little of the original Iron Works remain and of what there is, is crumbling. 
 

Where abouts in the States do you live, if you mind me asking?

Carron Co main office was crumbling in the early 70's when I worked there. Both wings of the building were off limits for safety reasons. The roof was nail sick and had leaked for so long the floor joists were unsafe.

Tragedy as the basement was crammed with drawings, patterns, photo albums as well as Hanshard's and Lambie's wine cellar 

[HopeStreetWalker]

3 hours ago, Cologne said:

You are a complete and utter fool who proves it with every post you make. 

Should you not be in the care of the community since you can't comprehend % shareholding and how that is diluted if there is a further share issue unless of course you buy the shares.