The Falkirk FC Thread

[ANEWHOPE]

No matter how many times our fans ramble on about getting our young players into the team it is not going to happen. Not because Houston doesn't want to but because the quality is not nearly as good as it was a few years ago.

If the club board believe he is blocking development get him told or get shot of him.

Houston was like Pressley was he then? Forced to play them before they were ready? So when they are in the team the manager and coaches get no credit for developing them?

Ramble on [emoji23] You really are a charmer.

I wish they would get shot of him or at the very least apply pressure on him to play a few. Don't believe you can really tell how good they are until they play in competitive games.

We seem to have so many coaches tho that don't rate our own players if what I read is to be believed. We should get new ones that can find & develop players that are able to add to 1st team or otherwise scrap the whole thing.

Don't understand your 2nd point. Both were forced into blooding youngsters. Pressley embraced it & Houston threw his toys out of the pram, despite being told that what they had was good. He resisted at every chance and his relationship at the club broke down as a result. Our board have been weak in holding him to account. Hopefully they are more insistent this season but I doubt it.

[Anthony Fitzgerald]

Ramble on [emoji23] You really are a charmer.

I wish they would get shot of him or at the very least apply pressure on him to play a few. Don't believe you can really tell how good they are until they play in competitive games.

We seem to have so many coaches tho that don't rate our own players if what I read is to be believed. We should get new ones that can find & develop players that are able to add to 1st team or otherwise scrap the whole thing.

Don't understand your 2nd point. Both were forced into blooding youngsters. Pressley embraced it & Houston threw his toys out of the pram, despite being told that what they had was good. He resisted at every chance and his relationship at the club broke down as a result. Our board have been weak in holding him to account. Hopefully they are more insistent this season but I doubt it.

Berating a manager who got us to a Scottish cup final in his first season as well as two second place finishes ahead of clubs such as Hibs and Dundee United. I think he knows what he's doing.

[Gaz FFC]

I love the way fans know better. Play Champ man on the computer and suddenly they are Jose Mourinho.

Their is probably a reason they have coaching badges and get paid to manage a football club whilst you work 9 - 5 in an office 

[ANEWHOPE]

Berating a manager who got us to a Scottish cup final in his first season as well as two second place finishes ahead of clubs such as Hibs and Dundee United. I think he knows what he's doing.

Bottling it at every occasion. What you call berating, I call demanding and what you call success, I will call mediocrity (at best)

However much we disagree tho, we must surely agree that this his last chance?

[Shadwell Dog]

Whether you rate Houston or not I certainly don't have a problem with him bringing through youngsters. He gave o'hara his chance the season before last and then unfortunately his form dipped . Im sure if he shows enough in preseason he'll get another chance.  As i said before he's given shepherd more than enough chances and gave gallacher a chance last season. At the end of the day it's a results business. I'm sure if u asked spurs fans whether  they'd rather have harry Kane playing every week and winning hee haw the past 3 seasons or being Chelsea and seeing only fleeting appearances from their youngsters and winning two titles . Most would say the latter.

[Anthony Fitzgerald]

Bottling it at every occasion. What you call berating, I call demanding and what you call success, I will call mediocrity (at best)

However much we disagree tho, we must surely agree that this his last chance?

Yeah actually I agree. He has done reasonably well up until now but there is more expectation this year with no Rangers Hearts or Hibs this year.

[Believe The Hype]

24 minutes ago, RichieBairn said:

Remember watching Kingsley in a few games towards the end of his time with us and him playing at Centre Back and he was absolutely strolling it there and thought he might one day be a CB at a higher level but obviously LB is his more natural position.

Definitely, he was a baller. My point is, that he certainly wasn't some kind phenomenon. He came onto a game, there certainly wasn't premiership clubs talking about him after 2 or 3 of his first team games. Same with McCarthy and mcarthur. 

 

28 minutes ago, ANEWHOPE said:

 

Bottling it at every occasion. What you call berating, I call demanding and what you call success, I will call mediocrity (at best)

However much we disagree tho, we must surely agree that this his last chance?

 

 mediocrity at best?? Who the f**k do you think Falkirk are ? The last 3 seasons have provided some great times as any logical bairn would agree with.

[ANEWHOPE]

Whether you rate Houston or not I certainly don't have a problem with him bringing through youngsters. He gave o'hara his chance the season before last and then unfortunately his form dipped . Im sure if he shows enough in preseason he'll get another chance.  As i said before he's given shepherd more than enough chances and gave gallacher a chance last season. At the end of the day it's a results business. I'm sure if u asked spurs fans whether  they'd rather have harry Kane playing every week and winning hee haw the past 3 seasons or being Chelsea and seeing only fleeting appearances from their youngsters and winning two titles . Most would say the latter.

Dipped & dropped is one thing but to be completely out of the picture another. Bizarre to recall him also from a loan spell to sit him in the stands. The new deal for Shepherd makes little sense to me unless he becomes a big part of his plans this season.

As for the results business comment that is exactly why he should go. Yes the league has been competitive but we haven't been promoted and time to give another a chance as to expect something different by doing the same thing again and again is insane. But I get that isn't going to happen. I just hope that he has been told that it is now or never and we (including the board) go for it as the play offs are obviously not for us.

[ANEWHOPE]

 mediocrity at best?? Who the f**k do you think Falkirk are ? The last 3 seasons have provided some great times as any logical bairn would agree with.

We obviously fundamentally disagree on what constitutes success for our club. I think if it's not promotion then there must be at least signs of the club moving forward in terms of a developing young players or giving us an enjoyable team to watch. I think both have not been delivered.

We are in danger of becoming the tartan army of club football and celebrating glorious failures. Both Scotland & us have a specialist in failure at the helm that have managed somehow to convince gullible fools that we are lucky to them. Hilarious that you use the word logic as the logical thing would be to say enough is enough and cheerio, not say please Mr Houston can we have some more failure please. Seduced by a couple of 'great' games that have ultimately ended with nothing but a nice memory of Bob scoring against Hibs. My question to you is who the f**k do you think Falkirk are?

[ANEWHOPE]

This can all be boiled down to 3 x 90 minute games.

A Scottish Cup final we lost. (On the day it was there for the taking but ultimately would have been the biggest shock cup win in decades I would think)

2nd leg of playoff against Killie. A tired team had given its all and ultimately.got bodied by a team who at that poimt IMO were playing better than leagie position amd had a Josh Magennis.

2nd leg of playoff against United. No excuses that was a shiter.

In each of those seasons, we were beaten to the greater prize by Hearts and ICT, Rangers, then Hibs.

Now I will concede that we should have pushed Hibs harder but hindsight often does that.

But to take all of that, and somehow convert it into the above rant is fucking MINDBLOWING levels of knickerwetting. Sorry mate, but that post is a serious heads gone.

I fully accept the knickerwetting tone of this post but written in response to many of the happy clapping
Houston love inns that I read on here. Don't accept the premise that it can all be boiled down to 3 games. To do that overlooks a succession of rotten signings and bewildering selections. As you can tell I have have lost all faith in him. But even the Houston apologists must agree this is his last chance.

[ANEWHOPE]

I dont consider myself an apologist. But in terms of performances/results balance, only this season has fallen below par for me. And even then, results is what matters and it wasnt until a couple of Fridays ago that we failed to do exactly what was required of us.

So he has my backing to getnus over the line now that there isnt a very clear favourite for the league.

I also agree with you though that if it isnt this season, we should move on.

I wasn't necessarily saying that you are an apologist but I'll have a wee check back at ur posts and see! [emoji12]

I definitely got my full grump on with us at the moment and no matter what the club do at the moment it won't be right. I'll calm down eventually & be back to my usual positive self but it really is the hope that kills you. Maybe a feeling of no hope is what I need.

[Believe The Hype]

43 minutes ago, ANEWHOPE said:

 

We obviously fundamentally disagree on what constitutes success for our club. I think if it's not promotion then there must be at least signs of the club moving forward in terms of a developing young players or giving us an enjoyable team to watch. I think both have not been delivered.

We are in danger of becoming the tartan army of club football and celebrating glorious failures. Both Scotland & us have a specialist in failure at the helm that have managed somehow to convince gullible fools that we are lucky to them. Hilarious that you use the word logic as the logical thing would be to say enough is enough and cheerio, not say please Mr Houston can we have some more failure please. Seduced by a couple of 'great' games that have ultimately ended with nothing but a nice memory of Bob scoring against Hibs. My question to you is who the f**k do you think Falkirk are?

 

How fucking dare you!! Were you there when we nearly went bust, playing charity matches to raise funds ? Were you there when we were nearly relegated to the seaside leagues if it wasn't for Airdire going bust  just 16 years ago. Were you there when Kilmarnock put us down to this division in 2010 ? We are supporters of a non city club, and I thank every single one of us for not following either side of the arse cheeks, but let's be realistic, I am 30 years old, in 97 I went to a Scottish cup final and it was massive, once in a lifetime stuff!!  For me I was only a young lad so never appreciated the length of time we took to be there, 20 years later, I have managed another 2 plus 2 semis. 2 Scottish cup finals in the last 10 years 1 of which was just 2 years ago and within that time we have competed with 3 of the biggest clubs in the country. If you fucking dare call any of that mediocre, then you sir are a fool with delusions of grandeur. Should we be doing better ? That's up for debate at the moment, has Houston done well ? In the grand scheme of things, of course he fucking has. Now is the season to get on his back, to aim for what we should be doing, to call his tenure mediocre at best is the view of someone who does not grasp what it feels like to be a bairn in the darkest of times.

Edited June 2, 2017 by Believe The Hype
Typing in rage at this c**t

[roman_bairn]

 

I was literally about to ask 'ANEWHOPE' how long he has supported our club. We are hardly in the midst of a crisis at the moment and for me the last two seasons have been enjoyable even without promotion.

 

Too many people are keen to push for change. More often than not change when your club are doing modestly well results In a regression of performance.

 

Really I think it's a case of be careful what you wish for.

[Bainsfordbairn]

12 minutes ago, ANEWHOPE said:

it really is the hope that kills you. 

 

I succumbed to that once, in 1997. Never again. I was utterly devastated after that loss and for months afterwards I would walk into a pub, see the Tennents Lager branding and all the pain would come rushing back. It literally took me a couple of years to get over it.

Nowadays I just assume that we're going to fail. It makes it far easier to cope when the inevitable happens.

[RichieBairn]

Houston does really frustrate me at times and this season is his last chance saloon IMO but some of the performances under Pressley/May/Holt were brutal. Try going to Cowdenbeath away and not seeing a shot on target from us in 90 mins. Or watching Burton O'Brien squaring it or passing backwards for the 20th consecutive time in a match! [emoji15]

[Ranaldo Bairn]

8 minutes ago, Bainsfordbairn said:

I succumbed to that once, in 1997. Never again. I was utterly devastated after that loss and for months afterwards I would walk into a pub, see the Tennents Lager branding and all the pain would come rushing back. It literally took me a couple of years to get over it.

Nowadays I just assume that we're going to fail. It makes it far easier to cope when the inevitable happens.

1997 had me in tears, but I had my first date with my (current) wife that night which lessened the pain somewhat.

2009 was a scunner, but we had Europe.

2015 nearly fucking killed me and it only gets worse as time goes on. I was sitting in the SS before some shitty game a few weeks ago and the rage/regret/pain/sorrow kicked in all of a sudden as I unexpectedly got triggered by watching Luke Leahy run about. GRIM.

[ANEWHOPE]

How fucking dare you!! Were you there when we nearly went bust, playing charity matches to raise funds ? Were you there when we were nearly relegated to the seaside leagues if it wasn't for Airdire going bust  just 16 years ago. Were you there when when Kilmarnock put us down to this division in 2010 ? We are supporters of a non city club, and I thank every single one of us for not following either side of the arse cheeks, but let's be realistic, I am 30 years old, in 97 I went to a Scottish cup final and it was massive, once in a lifetime stuff!!  For me I was only a young lad so never appreciated the length of time we took to be there, 20 years later, I have managed another 2 plus 2 semis. 2 Scottish cup finals in the last 10 years 1 of which was just 2 years ago and within that time we have competed with 3 of the biggest clubs in the country. If you fucking date call any of that mediocre, then you sir are a fool with delusions of grandeur. Should we be doing be doing better ? That's up for debate at the moment, has Houston done well ? In the grand scheme of things, of course he fucking has. Now is the season to get on his back, to aim for what we should be doing, to call his tenure mediocre at best is the view of someone who does not grasp what it feels like to be a bairn in the darkest of times.

If I've been told my post is knickerwetting & heads gone then I think this a different level. Take a breath, calm yourself and have another read of what I've said.

I think what Houston has achieved is mediocre, you disagree and that is your prerogative. However to read that as an attack on the preceding years is sheer lunacy and to somehow turn that into an attack of my legitimacy as a fan is embarrassing.

It is perfectly reasonable to analyse Houston's achievements or lack of them in context and without having to stand them against the past. You obviously think that everything must be judged in a 30 year context, weird but good luck with that.

I do however thank you because I enjoyed the phrase 'how fucking dare you' [emoji23]

PS - I was there for all you listed & many more. You failed to include the 6 - 1 defeat from Clyde tho. Obviously not grasped what it truly feels to be a Bairn in the darkest times [emoji13]

[ANEWHOPE]

 
I was literally about to ask 'ANEWHOPE' how long he has supported our club. We are hardly in the midst of a crisis at the moment and for me the last two seasons have been enjoyable even without promotion.
 
Too many people are keen to push for change. More often than not change when your club are doing modestly well results In a regression of performance.
 
Really I think it's a case of be careful what you wish for.

39 years. This is my 30th year as a season ticket holder. I imagine there will be a special cake or something.

Not suggesting we are in crisis at all and have been there for some amazing highs and some low lows. Last Friday for me was a real kick in the teeth because like the cup final we chucked it away.

[Dudu Dahan pal]

8 minutes ago, Bairnardo said:

 

Funnily enough, the Clyde game is stilly darkest day as a Bairn.

 

my boredom levels have hit great heights tonight so I googled this scoreline as I seemed to recall it as a child and found this slightly biased match report

https://www.clydefc.co.uk/match/report/85/

 

 

 

[ANEWHOPE]

Funnily enough, the Clyde game is stilly darkest day as a Bairn.

That was a shocker! A midweek 3 hr trip on a school night in the pouring rain was truly awful. Don't think we anywhere near that at all, far from it but last Friday was tough to take.