The Falkirk FC Thread

[Shadwell Dog]

So since you've come down you've comfortably finished in the top half of the table, finishing a low of 5th only once and you've been involved in promotion play-offs in that time. I'm sure the collective hearts of the likes of Montrose, Elgin and Albion Rovers are bleeding for you. I understand your expectations are bit higher than them but to say you've been suffering is a massive overstatement.

You're also now saying you don't expect promotion, which goes against everything you're arguing in the first paragraph.

Whilst in previous years it wasnt exactly ridiculous to expect us to make a real push for promotion now due to hibs and sevco being in the championship only the foolhardy would expect us to pip both of them to a place in the top flight. However, fighting it out with st mirren for 3rd shouldnt be seen as outwith the bounds of expectations this season. I dont see that as asking too much.

[COYB_RAB]

I think we might be holding out to go for it next season, which I'm ok with.

To me it makes sense. Try make the play offs this season and see what happens.

If we fail to go up we could easily be favourites next season, splash the cash and go all guns blazing.

[Guest]

Cringe

FFS stop taking yourself too seriously

[Guest]

I think we might be holding out to go for it next season, which I'm ok with.

To me it makes sense. Try make the play offs this season and see what happens.

If we fail to go up we could easily be favourites next season, splash the cash and go all guns blazing.

They have had an excuse every season since we were relegated. What if Hibs are still with us with say Kilmarnock getting relegated. Will we just wait another season?

[bejazz1]

if it wasnt for mcdonald we wouldnt have got to the final.

Basicaly this. I can understand the clubs pragmatism here, they assumed last season that there would be no chance of winning the league or going up through the play offs so didnt budget for it. this season they are assuming that rangers will walk the league and hibs will go up through the play offs. and we'l have the devision all to ourselves next season to strole to promotion. If only it were that simple.

Still its a big ask to expect fans to turn up and pay good money to watch a team that isnt realy trying to win or get promotion, what if hibs go and hibs up the play offs again and dundee or kilmarnock or thistle get relegated? were back to being outsiders for the tittle and promotion again for another couple seasons, while i understand that we shouldnt be spending big money to compete with rangers for the tittle, we should be looking to finish in a play off place AND WIN PROMOTION through the play offs. that is what our squad should be budgeted for.

This has been my point right through pre season, we are short changing our supporters now and have been for a numbers of years.

For this reason, I have not bought a ST this season and to be honest, I've gone to the 3 competitive games so far and must say it has been pretty uninspiring so far, particularly against Morton on Saturday.

New chairman has publicly stated that promotion is his main objectives, he'd be better to have kept his mouth shut. This manager and team has little chance of getting us up where the supporters want us to be.

I think we all need to realise this board will not invest seriously in the team even though we have had some good cash windfalls in the last few seasons... We are happy plodding along in the Championship hopeful of offloading promising talent and the hope of getting another easier cup run to rake some more cash in. We are playing at competing in this league and we are just treading water ads papering over the cracks.

Clubs who are progressive make statements of intent but our clubs silence really says it all... It will be interesting to see what actually happens if things go badly wrong this season... Will Houston get the bullet? My view is...he won't!

Just wonder what will happen if the supporters start to turn against Houston,

IMO this is a distinct possibility!!!

[Andy Dufresne]

12.5% of Falkirk fans are arseholes

[ilostmyself]

This has been my point right through pre season, we are short changing our supporters now and have been for a numbers of years.

For this reason, I have not bought a ST this season and to be honest, I've gone to the 3 competitive games so far and must say it has been pretty uninspiring so far, particularly against Morton on Saturday.

New chairman has publicly stated that promotion is his main objectives, he'd be better to have kept his mouth shut. This manager and team has little chance of getting us up where the supporters want us to be.

I think we all need to realise this board will not invest seriously in the team even though we have had some good cash windfalls in the last few seasons... We are happy plodding along in the Championship hopeful of offloading promising talent and the hope of getting another easier cup run to rake some more cash in. We are playing at competing in this league and we are just treading water ads papering over the cracks.

Clubs who are progressive make statements of intent but our clubs silence really says it all... It will be interesting to see what actually happens if things go badly wrong this season... Will Houston get the bullet? My view is...he won't!

Just wonder what will happen if the supporters start to turn against Houston,

IMO this is a distinct possibility!!!

Every single post I've seen of yours has been an attack on Houston. Give it a rest FFS!

We're only three games into the season! If we're not in the playoff mix come Christmas I'm sure a lot of people will agree with you but this early on when the window is still open and squads aren't finalised it's daft to talk about getting rid of the manager.

I'm actually looking forward to Saturday, hopefully only 2 central mids playing though!

[ka202]

12.5% of Falkirk fans are arseholes

I'd say it's a bit more than that

[Andy Dufresne]

I'd say it's a bit more than that

I was aiming low

[McRuffian]

its all relative tho

Certainly in Falkirk, yes you're quite right.

[Thundermonkey]

Since the early 90's we have generally been either in the top tier or pushing for promotion. Even when we weren't we at least we're decent to watch.

Debatable, good in our 2 title wins in 02/03 and 04/05. Good for a couple of seasons under Hughes in the SPL. I think too many are blinded by some of the attacking sides that Jeffries put together at the start of the 90's. I can't believe I typed Jeffries and attacking football Since he left I feel only under McCall in 02/03 matched that.

Some of the football we've been watching over the past few seasons since we came down from the top flight and the last two seasons in the top flight has been brutal to say the least.

It's really no different to what we endured in our previous 9 year stint.

More often than not in promotion playoffs. I wish. Our first season down we ended up 12 points behind Dunfermline in 3rd place even though we had the biggest budget in the league. The next season we again came 3rd 17 points behind Ross County. The following season we were even further away from promotuion being 25 points behind Partick Thistle in 3rd again. A partick team that was hardly breaking the bank. In 2013/14 we were at least in the running only 3 pts off Dundee and beaten by Hamiton in the playoffs whilst last season our league form was pretty poor and we ended up 5th 38 points behind hearts and 7 points off 4th place. So one year since we came down we have been involved in the promotion hunt which I would say is pretty poor for a club with our attendances and facilities.

Thanks for doing half the work for me. Let's see how much suffering our fans have had to endure in the last 5 years.

An average league finish of 3rd (or 3.4 to be exact).

We finished on average 19 points behind the champions. By your reckoning we only challenged once in these 5 years.

1 Scottish Cup Final

1 Scottish Cup semi final

1 League Cup semi final

1 Challenge Cup win

Lets compare this to our last stint in the 2nd tier, 96/97 to 04/05 (to which a few fans have compared favorably to our current performances). We were 9 years in the old Division One and as you are not expecting us to challenge for the title last year and this I have taken the liberty to remove our title in 04/05. In those other 8 seasons we:

Finished 4th on average, or 3.62 to be accurate (5th, 2nd, 2nd, 3rd, 3rd, 9th, 1st and 4th). We were 2nd behind Hibs by 23 points in one of these seasons.

Finished on average 16.86 points behind the eventual champions (26, 5, 23, 8, 20, 21, 15). By my reckoning that's only 2 title challenges in 7.

1 Title that counted for nothing.

1 Scottish Cup final

1 Scottish Cup semi final

2 Challenge Cup wins.

Things may seem bleak to you and the other pantshitters but we, going on final positions, points and cup performances seem to be comparing favorably. Especially as we have only been down in the division half the time we were previously. In comparison, the Shire's best finish since 96/97 is 4th in the 4th tier. Now that's long suffering.

[bejazz1]

Every single post I've seen of yours has been an attack on Houston. Give it a rest FFS!

We're only three games into the season! If we're not in the playoff mix come Christmas I'm sure a lot of people will agree with you but this early on when the window is still open and squads aren't finalised it's daft to talk about getting rid of the manager.

I'm actually looking forward to Saturday, hopefully only 2 central mids playing though!

Surprise surprise, you are right, we are Shiite... Read my post or posts, I'm not just having a go at Houston, the whole club needs looked at from top to bottom

Are you happy with the way things are going?

How can we compete when we won't invest?

[Thundermonkey]

f**k sake man. Are we going to spend heavily to get 2nd or go shit or bust for the title? It's taken 5 years but I feel we are over the drop from the SPL, certainly financially.

Let's not risk it when we have a great chance of the playoffs as it is.

[gav-ffc]

I'll take 4th.

No need to go balls out for this season, next season when Rangers are out the league we need to go for it.

[KiwiDB]

12.5% of Falkirk fans are arseholes

Only 12.5%?

[Guest]

f**k sake man. Are we going to spend heavily to get 2nd or go shit or bust for the title? It's taken 5 years but I feel we are over the drop from the SPL, certainly financially.

Let's not risk it when we have a great chance of the playoffs as it is.

Are we better off financially?

Certainly short term.

I will however quote the former chairman at one AGM at least. It is not word for word but it was along the lines of "for Falkirk to be financially viable without cash support from major investors it has to play in the top league in Scotland"

So a few juicy sales, Sevco being about and a Cup final has papered over the cracks for a period of time.

The New Chairman says that we want to get to the top league. He has been saying it off and on since January. We all await to hear a plan or timescale. You may say the club don't need to share that and shouldn't. How else do you get support of people for a longer term if you don't?

What happens when Sevco fly the nest and that revenue stream dries up? Let's say Hibs are still about next season with a Kilmarnock say? Do we wait another year? Oh and there is the fourth stand. However much of the family silver sales are going into that project? What happens next season when our cash reserves are lower? Who is our next big sale? Every year now the budget includes a player sale. Botti is by all accounts one for this year but it certainly won't be at Kingsley or McGrandles levels.

Despite the cup final and all the great buzz created in May the ST sales have gone nowhere. Same as last season to be accurate. Missed opportunity. Not even attracting ANY extra ST's is IMO purely down to the lack of ambition being shown by the club. The squad is only as good as last season at best. There has been no progression. How is this side going to make play offs when last year's couldn't and is at best on a par? What is that down to? I suggest at bit of not enough cash being made available to bolster the squads quality and Houston's inability to pick up a "gem" or two.

Us "Pantshitters" as you call us, well certainly this one, is not asking the club to burst the bank. I simply want to see words backed up by actions. If those actions are not now an indication of when it maybe. We won't make the top league with the squad quality IMO we have had for the last 6 years. We will at some point have to invest. Do they really want to go up or is it actually just hot air? Every team since we have gone down that has won this league has pushed their financial boat out to varying degrees. When we have won this league we have done the same. 90/91, 93/94, 02/03 and 04/05 we "went for it" in financial terms. We will have to do the same at some point if the Chairman's vision is to be achieved IMO. History dictates that not just with us but with every club. We are kidding ourselves on if we think otherwise in the future. Hey but maybe some are kidded more easily than other?

[effeffsee_the2nd]

I take issue with that. Falkirk are a well supported club. How many fans do you think we should've attracted?

theres nearly 100 thousand people living here, youd need to look at similar sized towns in england to have a fair comparison. we could do better than 3-4 k tho

[ilostmyself]

I'm not saying i'm delighted with the club at the moment but next season is the real test, there'll be no arguments if we can't compete next year even if Hibs don't get promoted. Last season was an anomaly to be fair as 1/2 of those 3 teams was always going to get promoted. If Rangers are promoted then there's no reason we can't compete with Hibs/St Mirren /whoever gets relegated.

That's when we'll really see what the board is made of.

In other news, Heffinho signing for QOTS according to the BBC (Gossip). Interesting to see how he gets on there.

[Homer Thompson]

I was aiming low

Just like Falkirk ... BOOOM!

[Shadwell Dog]

So its simply a case of we cant compete with sevco so no point in improving the side so that we can put a bit of entertainment on show for the fans who have again dipped into their pockets to buy season tickets this year then. Not only will we have missed the boat with anyone encouraged to perhaps come along after the cup final but we also risk finally frightening off the current core support. I agree with BPM we're not Wanting the club to break the bank but just a bit of investment in the squad to put out a team we can be proud of that plays some decent football.