The Falkirk FC Thread

[The Toun Clock]

15 hours ago, Ontovictory said:

Sounds like Raith outbid you for Hanlon 

I would say they have. Regardless of what their fans tell you, they’re absolutely spending more coin on players than they were under the previous board. Just the same way the previous board spent more when in charge of Kelty.

5 hours ago, Grangemouth Bairn said:

I’m sure you are aware of this but we can’t compete with what Raith are offering players in wages.

I think Hanlon is a good signing for the Championship and will do well in this league.  I’m not sure about the 3 year deal though.

Raith will have a good chance of promotion and if they do go up he’ll need replaced as want good enough for the Premiership last season and will be over 1 year older by then. 
 

Like the majority of fans, I’m not sure Stevenson, who’ll be 37 in January is that great a signing.
 

Yeah the three year deal is wild. However, my only thing to the original post was that those two would start in Falkirk’s defence if they’d signed for you, same as if they’d signed on at East End, for this season at least.

40 minutes ago, BPM said:

I know who is off his rocker. Hanlon I will give you. Stevenson couldn’t handle Houstie’s team and that was 8 years ago when he was in his prime. Benidictous would not get a game for us now at his age. Lang and Donaldson were superb last season. I really enjoy guys like you under estimating us. 

Okay mate. Benedictus is still a better defender than Lang and Donaldson, you do know we’’be seen Donaldson and Lang play, well Lang couldn’t get a game in a poor team but Donaldson was part of one of our worst teams.

I’m not underestimating Falkirk but I’m also realistic. I think you’ll have a decent season, could maybe even challenge for top four if you get a couple of quality signings in, however it sounds like you’ll be running with a small squad and if that’s the case then you have to hope injuries don’t come calling as that’s what happened to us last season and we ended up far too near the bottom of the table.

[Broken Algorithms]

Benedictus is better than Lang. Both were relatively middling towards the end of their spells with us. Benedictus in particular needed a fresh start. 

[CountryBumpkin]

I liked Lang, has the potential to be a very good defender if he ever manages to cut out the "win the ball at every opportunity" mentality that sees him regularly plough straight through the back of defenders and giving away stupid fouls. Sometimes its better to let the opposition get the ball and close out their options when they have it. It makes him quite a bit easier to play against as a forward when you know you're going to get a few decisions from the referee due to stupidity.

[ShaggerG]

2 minutes ago, CountryBumpkin said:

I liked Lang, has the potential to be a very good defender if he ever manages to cut out the "win the ball at every opportunity" mentality that sees him regularly plough straight through the back of defenders and giving away stupid fouls. Sometimes its better to let the opposition get the ball and close out their options when they have it. It makes him quite a bit easier to play against as a forward when you know you're going to get a few decisions from the referee due to stupidity.

Sure you're not thinking of Sean Mackie?

[CountryBumpkin]

3 minutes ago, ShaggerG said:

Sure you're not thinking of Sean Mackie?

No, Mackie just suffers from being utterly brainless. Lang (pre-ACL) just wanted to win the ball every time, without fail. It was quite infuriating to watch, but he had a lot of potential. 

[Bairnardo]

15 minutes ago, CountryBumpkin said:

I liked Lang, has the potential to be a very good defender if he ever manages to cut out the "win the ball at every opportunity" mentality that sees him regularly plough straight through the back of defenders and giving away stupid fouls. Sometimes its better to let the opposition get the ball and close out their options when they have it. It makes him quite a bit easier to play against as a forward when you know you're going to get a few decisions from the referee due to stupidity.

Lang wasn;t guilty of this last season. He is a fully committed defender but hes clearly calmed down from your recollection. Hes not reckless anymore. 

[Grangemouth Bairn]

46 minutes ago, The Toun Clock said:

I would say they have. Regardless of what their fans tell you, they’re absolutely spending more coin on players than they were under the previous board. Just the same way the previous board spent more when in charge of Kelty.

Yeah the three year deal is wild. However, my only thing to the original post was that those two would start in Falkirk’s defence if they’d signed for you, same as if they’d signed on at East End, for this season at least.

Okay mate. Benedictus is still a better defender than Lang and Donaldson, you do know we’’be seen Donaldson and Lang play, well Lang couldn’t get a game in a poor team but Donaldson was part of one of our worst teams.

I’m not underestimating Falkirk but I’m also realistic. I think you’ll have a decent season, could maybe even challenge for top four if you get a couple of quality signings in, however it sounds like you’ll be running with a small squad and if that’s the case then you have to hope injuries don’t come calling as that’s what happened to us last season and we ended up far too near the bottom of the table.

I 100% wouldn’t want Stevenson at Falkirk particularly on the wage he’ll be commanding and the age he is.

Regarding Benedictus vs Lang. The last I seen of Benedictus was 2 seasons ago when you won league 1 and there are a lot of similarities in the impact he had for you ie. Leadership and what Lang did for us.

I think both are good, Championship level defenders.

 

[Shodwall cat]

19 minutes ago, Grangemouth Bairn said:

I 100% wouldn’t want Stevenson at Falkirk particularly on the wage he’ll be commanding and the age he is.

Regarding Benedictus vs Lang. The last I seen of Benedictus was 2 seasons ago when you won league 1 and there are a lot of similarities in the impact he had for you ie. Leadership and what Lang did for us.

I think both are good, Championship level defenders.

 

Benedictus is 32 and I'd say his best days are well behind him now. Injury hit season at that age could see him struggle to get back .Stevenson at nearly 37 and as a fullback is a big no from me. At that age one minute you think everything's fine then your ability just falls off a cliff and everything's a struggle. I mean the other thing is Hibs defence has been pretty rotten for years and he and hanlon have been 50 percent of it during most of that time.

[Reggie Perrin]

Older players are always a risky signing.

McGinn was quite superb for us initially but once injuries took there toll there was a huge drop off in performance levels when he was available to play.

Good that he got a wee run of games at the end of last season but a pale shadow of the player we signed.

[ShaggerG]

1 minute ago, Reggie Perrin said:

Older players are always a risky signing.

McGinn was quite superb for us initially but once injuries took there toll there was a huge drop off in performance levels when he was available to play.

 

Good that he got a wee run of games at the end of last season but a pale shadow of the player we signed.

I saw him limping quite badly after the Montrose game. Guy will probably have trouble for the rest of his life. 

 

[North West]

52 minutes ago, Bairnardo said:

Lang wasn;t guilty of this last season. He is a fully committed defender but hes clearly calmed down from your recollection. Hes not reckless anymore. 

But he's still crap.

[StuartA]

It’s perhaps sobering seeing other clubs’ fans dissing our players on the basis of performances earlier in their careers.  At the same time, these players are a couple of years older (while still all under 30), have played together as a team for some time, and won something quite special under a manager that makes them tick since these other fans saw them play regularly.

Makes me think of the likes of Dowds, Telfer and Todorov.  Struggled badly with us but still managed to thrive elsewhere.  It’ll be interesting to see how it all works out.

 

[HonestAl]

10 minutes ago, North West said:

But he's still crap.

Well, pre-season training has yet to start but I think we’ve already identified this season’s @virginton……

[Been going too long]

1 hour ago, The Toun Clock said:

I would say they have. Regardless of what their fans tell you, they’re absolutely spending more coin on players than they were under the previous board. Just the same way the previous board spent more when in charge of Kelty.

Yes and no , Jamie McDonald, gullan, Ross etc all had big increases each year built into their contracts, we are spending more but we are generating far more to spend, will it last , who knows but there is a good buzz around the town and club since they came on board 

[Enigma]

3 minutes ago, Been going too long said:

Yes and no , Jamie McDonald, gullan, Ross etc all had big increases each year built into their contracts, we are spending more but we are generating far more to spend, will it last , who knows but there is a good buzz around the town and club since they came on board 

I think we are spending more but it’s not as much more as some would like to hope it is. I think we are a lot more savvy now in terms of the transfer market. I hope for Falkirk’s sake McGlynn isn’t being given too free a reign when it comes to the terms of players’ contracts.

Edited June 7 by Enigma

[Grangemouth Bairn]

34 minutes ago, Shodwall cat said:

Benedictus is 32 and I'd say his best days are well behind him now. Injury hit season at that age could see him struggle to get back .Stevenson at nearly 37 and as a fullback is a big no from me. At that age one minute you think everything's fine then your ability just falls off a cliff and everything's a struggle. I mean the other thing is Hibs defence has been pretty rotten for years and he and hanlon have been 50 percent of it during most of that time.

Of course his best days are behind him and of course he’s taking longer to recover from injury but he’s still a more than capable defender at this level with excellent leadership skills.

I’ve already agreed with what you said about Stevenson. I don’t think anyone has said anything overly positive about him Tbf.

[Harry Kinnear]

13 short of 1000 members now for the FSS, numbers going up steadily.

[Been going too long]

6 minutes ago, StuartA said:

It’s perhaps sobering seeing other clubs’ fans dissing our players on the basis of performances earlier in their careers.  At the same time, these players are a couple of years older (while still all under 30), have played together as a team for some time, and won something quite special under a manager that makes them tick since these other fans saw them play regularly.

Makes me think of the likes of Dowds, Telfer and Todorov.  Struggled badly with us but still managed to thrive elsewhere.  It’ll be interesting to see how it all works out.

 

 

It will, has Mcglynn learned from his time with us? He usually doesn’t have a plan B and doesn’t deal with pressure well at times and it clouds his judgement. Still a good manager though and Falkirk will do well this season not sure how well but Spencer, land, tait and Ross all did well for us in the championship and solid players. Morrison is good but the pars did struggle a lot this year but mostly down to injuries and having no decent strikers

[NavyBlueArmy1876]

Hanlon, Lang, Donaldson & Benedictus will probably be 4 of the best centrebacks in the league, and it's pretty much impossible to determine who will be better at the moment given 3 of the 4 haven't played in the Championship for at least 2 seasons  

I'm quite happy with Lang and Donaldson given the relative ages of the other two

[Enigma]

I actually think Falkirk have a decent squad and McGlynn will have them off to a flying start. Top 4 finish imo.