The Falkirk FC Thread

[RandomGuy.]

James McCarthy, Scott Arfield, Anthony Stokes, Leigh Griffiths, Andrew Robertson. Any more?

 

Scott Arfield didn't make his debut until he was 18, he turned 19 that same season and scored about three goals. Griffiths didn't play in the top flight until he was 21, at 18/19 he'd just had his breakthrough season either Livingston.

 

Robertson joined United at 19 aswell, turning 20 during that season..

 

[Believe The Hype]

15 minutes ago, Shadwell Dog said:

4 that I could think of in a  few minutes and I've added Andrew Robertson. There's way more than that but I'm not wasting my time. Whatever happened to if your 'good enough your old enough'? Why did Hibs let him go if he's that brilliant? Different if he's dropping down a level to play for us but he couldn't get on the bench for them in the championship. Time will tell if he's going to be any better than the make shift right mids we've been playing out there for a good few seasons.

Surely given your adamance that nothing matters until the 5th of August then you should get off the boys back until then seen as you can't accept people praising him so far. It should work both ways and only be judged on what he does in Navy Blue, nothing else, before or after.

[Distant Doonhamer]

10 hours ago, MrDust said:

Having paid a fee for a player, surely would be madness not to offer at least a 2yr contract.

I can't imagine a club paying a fee and offering a 1yr contract

#GaryOliver

I`d actually forgotten that Falkirk paid any sort of fee. It can`t have been much surely.

[RC55 FFC]

My view on last night:

GKs - Thomson talks the defence/midfield all through the game & knows his stuff. Good couple of saves including one at point blank. Mitchell was barely tested in the 2nd half so hard to tell how he is. His distribution pre match to Thomson for handling training was awful & after the 4th crap cross on the bounce Thomson went mental at him. Good lad.

DEF: Kidd was poor in the first 45 and was rightly subbed at HT with Muirhead going to RB in the 2nd half. Who had a very good 2nd half until replaced by Finlayson who looked decent in the 10mins he got. Grant/Muirhead/Gasparotto all did well at CH and Grant looks a great captain already. Gallacher & Henderson didn't put a foot wrong at LB.

MID: Harris was the best on the night and covered every blade of Astro. Crossing was good too & set up 2 goals. Looks like he has a point to prove. McKee played well & had his usual game. Taiwo & Sheps were poor imho and when replaced by Kerr & Blues we were much more commanding. To be fair to Sheps, I gather he was only in due to Craigen & Hippo having had knocks the night before. Young lad Stowe came on & played well too.

FWD: Great overall play by the forwards & Fash took his goal well. Rory had flashes but nothing came off for him last night but class is permanent. O'Hara had a good 15mins, took his goal well and looked hungry for more. Miller was his sexy self and had a few good passes/knock downs.

Good wee game to go too & a decent set up at Spartans, even though the Astro is poor. Looked like the vast majority of the 350 crowd were Bairns fans tbh.

Roll on Saturday.

[lanky_ffc]

1 hour ago, Shadwell Dog said:

A good player should stick out like a sore thumb in a side that are average. Especially a winger. He played 20 games for queens and I haven't found a Queens fan yet who thought he was anything over average.

He played 26 games and was involved in a goal every 136 minutes. That's a pretty decent output for a winger, especially in a team that finished 7th. Where possible, I'd much rather put my faith in the something quantifiable like goals and assists than the opinions of fans.

For me, there's enough there to suggest he can be a capable player for us. He's not going to single-handedly win us the league, but I'm fairly content with the attacking options we've got.

[Shadwell Dog]

25 minutes ago, Believe The Hype said:

Surely given your adamance that nothing matters until the 5th of August then you should get off the boys back until then seen as you can't accept people praising him so far. It should work both ways and only be judged on what he does in Navy Blue, nothing else, before or after.

Point out where I've got on his back already?  All I've done is reply to people saying that I must be pissed off because he had a decent game last night. I then said I will judge him in what he does in competitive league fixtures and not before. I further commented that I had no vandetta against Harris I was just hoping for someone with a bit more quality who had previously shown he was a cut above this level. If and when he runs out at St Mirren I will back him and then we'll know whether he's up to the job or not. Till then he can be woeful, dire or mediocre and it means not a jot. 

 

Surely Queens fans should be able to tell whether a player is any good or not over 26 games. Statistics can easily be skewed by who the goals are scored against for a start. 3 of his 4 goals were scored against Dumbarton for instance.

Edited July 12, 2017 by Shadwell Dog

[Distant Doonhamer]

Re Harris I thought he had stacks of ability when he played with us but was very much a confidence player. If he started a match poorly he often disappeared to an extent. There is a player in there though IMHO.

[Shadwell Dog]

3 minutes ago, Distant Doonhamer said:

Re Harris I thought he had stacks of ability when he played with us but was very much a confidence player. If he started a match poorly he often disappeared to an extent. There is a player in there though IMHO.

We'll just need to hope so. I was hoping that if we were only signing a couple of players they both would have shown their quality previously at this or a higher level.

[RC55 FFC]

We'll just need to hope so. I was hoping that if we were only signing a couple of players they both would have shown their quality previously at this or a higher level.

There is an argument he's shown it previously at Hibs in the Premiership when he first broke through 3 years ago.

[Marshmallo]

I wasn't happy with the signing either but FFS. He set up two goals last night, albeit in a friendly, and played well by all accounts. His record at Queens is nothing outstanding but it's not like he'd flopped completely. He's worth giving a chance now he's here. I'm not going to pretend I'm now delighted he's a Falkirk player but if he's got pace and is creating goals he might turn out to be alright. We just need him to get us out of what looks to be a very average Championship, so I'm not sure what his teenage years in the Premiership have to do with anything. If your bar you're setting for an 18 year old is Andy Robertson or Leigh Griffiths then I think you're supporting the wrong club.

[PipoIsABairn]

1 hour ago, roman_bairn said:

 

If a manager decides to make signings as the basis of a performance in a friendly does that not simply further define their importance?

 

I have no idea what you mean by this?

EDIT: The minute I typed that it suddenly made sense, you mean the friendly's importance, not the player. 

Edited July 12, 2017 by PipoIsABairn

[Shadwell Dog]

6 minutes ago, RC55 FFC said:

 

There is an argument he's shown it previously at Hibs in the Premiership when he first broke through 3 years ago.

 

Only started 16 games in two seasons with the most being 10 in one season . Only scored one goal and that was against us( he's a winger though so thats probably not all that important to be honest) and second season was one of the worst in hibs history . He even started in their 7 goal drubbing from Malmo that year.  I wouldnt say that was great evidence of being quality  champ level or above.

[RC55 FFC]

On another note, was sad to see Farid last night in that situation.

I'll never forget the season he gave us but looks a shadow of that confident guy now.

He looks fit enough (upper body) but his knees are obviously shot to shit. He had a foot race with one of our defenders (Grant I think) and he got nowhere near him.

When he got subbed he walked round the pitch towards the pavilion, a few fans interacted with him but he looks a beaten man.

[AL-FFC]

1 minute ago, Shadwell Dog said:

Only started 16 games in two seasons with the most being 10 in one season . Only scored one goal and that was against us( he's a winger though so thats probably not all that important to be honest) and second season was one of the worst in hibs history . He even started in their 7 goal drubbing from Malmo that year.  I wouldnt say that was great evidence of being quality  champ level or above.

You dont let go of grudges well, has anyone ever told you that ? 

[Shadwell Dog]

7 minutes ago, Marshmallo said:

I wasn't happy with the signing either but FFS. He set up two goals last night, albeit in a friendly, and played well by all accounts. His record at Queens is nothing outstanding but it's not like he'd flopped completely. He's worth giving a chance now he's here. I'm not going to pretend I'm now delighted he's a Falkirk player but if he's got pace and is creating goals he might turn out to be alright. We just need him to get us out of what looks to be a very average Championship, so I'm not sure what his teenage years in the Premiership have to do with anything. If your bar you're setting for an 18 year old is Andy Robertson or Leigh Griffiths then I think you're supporting the wrong club.

I was asked a question. I answered it. I wasn't setting any bars.

[Shadwell Dog]

4 minutes ago, Jackie Moon said:

You dont let go of grudges well, has anyone ever told you that ? 

Again I'm only replying to things others put to me. 

Edited July 12, 2017 by Shadwell Dog

[AL-FFC]

If only we had held out on Loy we could have signed Wayne Rooney on a free 

[MrDust]

3 hours ago, Shadwell Dog said:

No vandetta I was simply wanting to see us sign a better quality of player this season. Harris may be great may be mediocre may be shit. With signings like loy you know your getting a quality player for this level whilst Harris hasn't set the heather on fire in his previous games at this level. If we were only going to be signing two players I'd rather they were both top drawer at this level and not one being a gamble.

Every signing is a gamble, you quote Loy and although you quote his quality, there is no guarantee that it will work.

The end of the day, when you sign a player it's usually best to judge him on displays for your team, not fleeting moments you have seen him against you or even fully on supporters views from his previous clubs unless your aim is to be like high pants Simon Cowell.

That's been three crosses for 4 of our goals in pre season so far for Harris, don't read much into preseason but it's about fitness and confidence tho business end starts on Saturday

 

 

[Shadwell Dog]

1 minute ago, MrDust said:

Every signing is a gamble, you quote Loy and although you quote his quality, there is no guarantee that it will work.

The end of the day, when you sign a player it's usually best to judge him on displays for your team, not fleeting moments you have seen him against you or even fully on supporters views from his previous clubs unless your aim is to be like high pants Simon Cowell.

That's been three crosses for 4 of our goals in pre season so far for Harris, don't read much into preseason but it's about fitness and confidence tho business end starts on Saturday

 

 

Your right to a certain extent although some are more of a gamble than others. I had hoped that as we were signing only a couple of players we'd be signing players that were a bit less of a gamble than Harris .  He's here now though and  I've stated already I'll rate him on his performances from 5th of August onwards as thats when it really counts.

[AL-FFC]

Goals from last night: