The Falkirk FC Thread

[Bairnforever1992]

Any news from the meeting, has SP been sacked?

[ffcsam]

Any news from the meeting, has SP been sacked?

No, but a well known (fat) fan was spotted with half a chicken stuck to his face .

The fucker will quite happily do anything for a free meal

[Andy Dufresne]

No, but a well known (fat) fan was spotted with half a chicken stuck to his face .

The fucker will quite happily do anything for a free meal

I would love to know when was the last time he paid for anything that related to Falkirk FC.

[Marshmallo]

Any news from the meeting, has SP been sacked?

Nope, and it doesn't sound like he will be for a while.

On the train the now but will post about it when I get in.

Oh and it was basically confirmed that we voted "Yes" to Sevco in Division One

[Bairnforever1992]

No, but a well known (fat) fan was spotted with half a chicken stuck to his face .

The fucker will quite happily do anything for a free meal

[MattBairn]

Would someone who went along to tonights meeting please post what was said etc please?

Oh aye, Mattbairn, you can do it

I'll try.

Started out with Introductions before David White came out and outlined his role and the other roles at the club.

After mentioning about 800k loss 2 seasons ago and 200k loss last season, it was presented that we made a 200k profit this season.

Q&A came and I asked if it was true that we had to sell players from the academy to break even and got some diplomatic answer that didnt actually answer my question.

A few other questions about the bottom line the club were asked if the numbers took into accout our sale of players (Wallace & Higgy etc.) which it did.

I asked that if we got £800k for Wallace and 100k for Higgy then surely we need to sell to break even.

Got an answer saying 'take 500k off the Wallace figure' for a true reflection but was still left feeling we were being fobbed off, given the cup games were also a major bonus.

The Trust were next up who came across very well to be fair. Gordon spoke very well and seemed genuine. ( I have reservations about another certain member of them but that's another issue) Looking for x amount of investors and what they're trying to do. (Ill try and expand more on that later)

After the break it was up to Pressley and his team to put his points across (which I thought he did very well) and it was then opened for questions.

Much of it was about lack of creating chances, losing players, lack of fitness (which I though was bizarre to be honest as its not a concern I have).

Pressley used a board to explain his tactics at corners etc. and despite a few awkward questions, he handled himself very well.

The Sevco issue also came up and was handled by a 'board member' in the crowd' but it was the usual political pish answer. I seem to remember him saying that even HE didnt know how the club voted, but I might be wrong on that one. Either way it was a bit 'wishy washy'.

Id post more but I've had a few and need some time to mull the whole thing over...

On the plus side I won a 'training day' at the raffle. No idea what's involved but will wait and see what they say about it

[MattBairn]

I would love to know when was the last time he paid for anything that related to Falkirk FC.

He won sweeties in the raffle. I wonder what he did with them

[ffcsam]

Training day Matt? Play well and you will be at Huddersfield next season

[Bairnforever1992]

So is he going to change tactics or still using the god awful hold one nil and pass the ball around the park without getting the ball back into the net?

[Andy Dufresne]

He won sweeties in the raffle. I wonder what he did with them

Tucked them under the chicken leg.

[MattBairn]

Training day Matt? Play well and you will be at Huddersfield next season

I'm already looking at houses in the Huddersfield area

[MrDust]

I just got a text from someone who is there and we only made a profit of 200k last season despite the sales of Higginbotham and Wallace and the cup runs. This was seen as acceptable by the accounts guy.

That was my big thing throughout the whole meeting.....

Surely the league cup with near sell out v Rangers, sell out v Celic and decent large crowd in other semi (semi money pooled) and the tv money,Ramsden cup win sales of higgy and Wallace has us at worst 6- 800k better off and only to make a 200k profit just doesnt add up

I kept saying to my mate throughout those sums dont add up, I was sure Higgy was quoted at 150k down Huddersfield way and it was kinda confirmed that it was 300k up front for Wallace at meeting, so with a decent cash cow called league cup and ramsden (50k) adds up that if we had no sale of players we wouldve lost 250k........

Nope, and it doesn't sound like he will be for a while.

On the train the now but will post about it when I get in.

Oh and it was basically confirmed that we voted "Yes" to Sevco in Division One

Surely you didnt expect an answer to that question tonite or ever and that we didnt vote for Sevco......

I did laugh when McIntyre said he didnt know how we voted.......

Training day Matt? Play well and you will be at Huddersfield next season

First of all he will be in team for the Saturday.......

My quick general feeling -

David White seems a decent enough guy working hard but profit figures dont add up for me of 200k

Gordon Profit - Decent enough ideas but decline is the feeling within FFC at moment and these ideas wont work when people have no real love with the club with recent decisions board level and most of all level of performances at the moment. If we had an evil chairman it may have been a different story with the performances as they are at the moment as most Falkirk fans unite to fight evil, but I would use pandering for the word to describe for MR. There also is that hmmmm feeling towards the Bairns trust/Falkirk thingy, They announced a Sportsman breakfast at the Park hotel the day we play fifers on Feb 16th.....32.50 a ticket....hmmmmmm, good luck with that one.

There also was Sam Mcgivern film shown and It was almost as if Sam had been scripted to say what he said

Elvis - as expected came across well, he wont shirk anything but as much as I sympathise with areas of him pointing out that he is working with 70% less budget than when he took over, he is still on par if not greater this season than everyone else, there is no Ross County this season who were easily budgets ahead of the pack. I didnt agree with his comments that he sent out players to attack, pressure game as he called it....ha

Bringing in the Craig Levein name drop didnt help matters either when showing how we defend corners, Id said on holiday an have for a while that Elvis is a Levein clone and sets out not to lose first of all. Overall he came across well but still didnt answer the questions that were answered on how they were asked

Messrs Crawford and McFarlane pipped in with backing for the manager in heart felt cries, but TBH I fell asleep 1 min in for their 5 ish mins war cry

Anyway, meeting wasnt too bad but was all too predictable. I had said to my mate pre that we will all leave feeling like we have no answers and have felt like we have been banging our heads against the wall, which pretty much sums up most of these meetings, unless there is praise to be handed out

[HoBNob]

To only make a 200k profit is scary considering how much you made last year.

And yes I am fully aware of Dunfermlines debt.

[ffcsam]

To only make a 200k profit is scary considering how much you made last year.

And yes I am fully aware of Dunfermlines debt.

Somethin wrong somewhere tbh

[Just a bairn]

Were gate prices mentioned?

[Marshmallo]

Matt's summary is pretty much spot on but I'll try and flesh it out a bit. I didn't take notes so if there are slight errors in what I write or I miss something out I apologise.

There was a brief intro before David White began to speak. Not sure of his official title but he's basically in charge of day to day operations at the club. He presented a load of lists detailing different areas within the club. For some reason he decided to have a pop at Partick Thistle for "signing 15 journeymen to win the First Division" (they haven't signed any journeymen to my knowledge and have a young side), as though this was somehow a bad thing. it was made clear our goals are threefold: Play at the highest level possible; Run a sustainable club; and develop young players. The budget in our last season in the SPL was £4.5m, in the season following that it was £3m (this seems huge to me, and we didn't win the league!), last season it was £2m and this year it's £1.5m. He then said that we had made a profit of 200k last season, but it later transpired this included money from the transfers of Wallace, Higginbotham, the CIS Cup run and the Challenge Cup run (most likely some Arfield money as well come to think of it). He then said that we only needed to sell players to make profit, not to break even. As I'm sure you can see, that's not the case. He either can't count, was trying to mask something or there was some sort of mistake, as the 300k we received for Wallace alone would have taken us into another loss if it was removed. It was also mental to see some of the wastage while we were in the SPL. It's unclear whether this is still the case today, but we had 6 (SIX!) company cars, 18 club mobile phones and expenses which seemed to be at a premium in some contracts in comparison to others. The contracts are definitely still an issue as they are apparently to be renogiated to take out these high expenses. There were a few questions about the financials which were answered in a manner which didn't really make sense, as detailed above.

Next up was Gordon Profit from the Supporters' Society. I thought he spoke very well and detailed the goals of the FSS well, it was nice to see someone on the night presenting a clear outline of what they want, how they intend to achieve it and the timescale they are giving themselves. I broadly agree with the ideas of the FSS and took memberships forms away with me although I'll have to have a think about joining/buying shares. One thing I would say is cancel Donald Findlay for that sportsman's breakfast, not the sort of guy I want associated with the club and I'm sure others would agree. Questions were a bit off topic and ended up being turned back to David White, primarily regarding pay at the gate prices. He was all over the place on this issue, I personally think they will fall soon as he seemed to move towards this stance the more questions he was asked on it.

Pressley followed this. His speech prior to the questions said something along the lines of, "these aren't excuses for doing poorly but they are reasons":

-My budget has been reduced 70% since I took over (I see no relevance in this personally, we are no longer in the SPL and it has nothing to do with how our budget now compares to other teams in this league)

-The team is young and we have missed the experience of Dods who is a key player (Don't buy this personally as guys have been in the team for at least a season)

-I lost a huge number of key players over the summer and I am having to scrape the barrel to try and replace them (Our form was horrendous for 5 months before the summer and we are in the same market as everyone else in the league)

-The team are under more pressure this season as expectations have changed

He then said we are working hard every day at training etc etc. He came across as passionate in what he is doing and he does genuinely seem to believe he is the man for the job. He spoke well up to that point despite there being a lot of spin as usual. He then compared the current Falkirk set-up to Jim McLean's Dundee Utd team or Alex Ferguson's Aberdeen team, although I must have misheard this part as it's too mental to have actually been said.

Questions followed (I can't remember them all). Someone asked if why we played so defensively. Pressley replied that we play a high pressure game and don't set up defensively. He felt that the main problem in the first few games of the season were that we were too open. There were a couple of questions about individual games and tactics. Pressley used a flipchart to describe our corner routine. I asked him about our league record in 2012 and pointed out that it couldn't just be players leaving over the summer. He said that stats could be presented in a lot of different ways and that his budget had been cut 70% since he took over. Someone asked how bad we had to be before Pressley considered his position. I can't remember Pressley's response but the guy then said "It's your fault, you got us relegated". Pressley asked him if he enjoyed last season. The guy said "no" and got shouted down by quite a lot of the room. Someone then asked about the Sevco vote. A couple of people said they weren't sure of the answer before a Board member jumped in and said it was a secret ballot, we had a meeting, integrity of the vote blah blah blah. MattBairn, who asked good questions all evening, challenged this and said that the club could say if they wanted. Basically there was no satisfactory answer and it's clear to me we voted yes.

Stevie Crawford and Neil McFarlane bummed up the "system" we have in place a bit and that was essentially it.

I can't fault Pressley and his team for effort and he spoke pretty well tonight. But I really feel that nothing is going to change on the park. Off the field I am concerned by the financials but we'll need to wait and see how that pans out over the coming year.

BTW, it seems strange to me that last season has somehow morphed into some massive success. Neil McFarlane said it's the best quality of football he's ever seen in his career in football! The first half of it was really good but the second half was unmitigated garbage.

[drs]

He then compared the current Falkirk set-up to Jim McLean's Dundee Utd team or Alex Ferguson's Aberdeen team, although I must have misheard this part as it's too mental to have actually been said.

Maybe he meant that Ralph Milne, Hamish McAlpine, Willie Miller and John Hewitt are signing next week.

[Guest]

I'll try.

Started out with Introductions before David White came out and outlined his role and the other roles at the club.

After mentioning about 800k loss 2 seasons ago and 200k loss last season, it was presented that we made a 200k profit this season.

Q&A came and I asked if it was true that we had to sell players from the academy to break even and got some diplomatic answer that didnt actually answer my question.

A few other questions about the bottom line the club were asked if the numbers took into accout our sale of players (Wallace & Higgy etc.) which it did.

I asked that if we got £800k for Wallace and 100k for Higgy then surely we need to sell to break even.

Got an answer saying 'take 500k off the Wallace figure' for a true reflection but was still left feeling we were being fobbed off, given the cup games were also a major bonus.

The Trust were next up who came across very well to be fair. Gordon spoke very well and seemed genuine. ( I have reservations about another certain member of them but that's another issue) Looking for x amount of investors and what they're trying to do. (Ill try and expand more on that later)

After the break it was up to Pressley and his team to put his points across (which I thought he did very well) and it was then opened for questions.

Much of it was about lack of creating chances, losing players, lack of fitness (which I though was bizarre to be honest as its not a concern I have).

Pressley used a board to explain his tactics at corners etc. and despite a few awkward questions, he handled himself very well.

The Sevco issue also came up and was handled by a 'board member' in the crowd' but it was the usual political pish answer. I seem to remember him saying that even HE didnt know how the club voted, but I might be wrong on that one. Either way it was a bit 'wishy washy'.

Id post more but I've had a few and need some time to mull the whole thing over...

On the plus side I won a 'training day' at the raffle. No idea what's involved but will wait and see what they say about it

The training day will be really good. You won't actually train with the team but you will get an insight on what happens day to day, a tour round the training centre and a chance to get to meet all the players, watch them train and sit with SP and his staff for a good blether. You can take a mate and they will make you welcome.

[Guest]

Matt's summary is pretty much spot on but I'll try and flesh it out a bit. I didn't take notes so if there are slight errors in what I write or I miss something out I apologise.

There was a brief intro before David White began to speak. Not sure of his official title but he's basically in charge of day to day operations at the club. He presented a load of lists detailing different areas within the club. For some reason he decided to have a pop at Partick Thistle for "signing 15 journeymen to win the First Division" (they haven't signed any journeymen to my knowledge and have a young side), as though this was somehow a bad thing. it was made clear our goals are threefold: Play at the highest level possible; Run a sustainable club; and develop young players. The budget in our last season in the SPL was £4.5m, in the season following that it was £3m (this seems huge to me, and we didn't win the league!), last season it was £2m and this year it's £1.5m. He then said that we had made a profit of 200k last season, but it later transpired this included money from the transfers of Wallace, Higginbotham, the CIS Cup run and the Challenge Cup run (most likely some Arfield money as well come to think of it). He then said that we only needed to sell players to make profit, not to break even. As I'm sure you can see, that's not the case. He either can't count, was trying to mask something or there was some sort of mistake, as the 300k we received for Wallace alone would have taken us into another loss if it was removed. It was also mental to see some of the wastage while we were in the SPL. It's unclear whether this is still the case today, but we had 6 (SIX!) company cars, 18 club mobile phones and expenses which seemed to be at a premium in some contracts in comparison to others. The contracts are definitely still an issue as they are apparently to be renogiated to take out these high expenses. There were a few questions about the financials which were answered in a manner which didn't really make sense, as detailed above.

Next up was Gordon Profit from the Supporters' Society. I thought he spoke very well and detailed the goals of the FSS well, it was nice to see someone on the night presenting a clear outline of what they want, how they intend to achieve it and the timescale they are giving themselves. I broadly agree with the ideas of the FSS and took memberships forms away with me although I'll have to have a think about joining/buying shares. One thing I would say is cancel Donald Findlay for that sportsman's breakfast, not the sort of guy I want associated with the club and I'm sure others would agree. Questions were a bit off topic and ended up being turned back to David White, primarily regarding pay at the gate prices. He was all over the place on this issue, I personally think they will fall soon as he seemed to move towards this stance the more questions he was asked on it.

Pressley followed this. His speech prior to the questions said something along the lines of, "these aren't excuses for doing poorly but they are reasons":

-My budget has been reduced 70% since I took over (I see no relevance in this personally, we are no longer in the SPL and it has nothing to do with how our budget now compares to other teams in this league)

-The team is young and we have missed the experience of Dods who is a key player (Don't buy this personally as guys have been in the team for at least a season)

-I lost a huge number of key players over the summer and I am having to scrape the barrel to try and replace them (Our form was horrendous for 5 months before the summer and we are in the same market as everyone else in the league)

-The team are under more pressure this season as expectations have changed

He then said we are working hard every day at training etc etc. He came across as passionate in what he is doing and he does genuinely seem to believe he is the man for the job. He spoke well up to that point despite there being a lot of spin as usual. He then compared the current Falkirk set-up to Jim McLean's Dundee Utd team or Alex Ferguson's Aberdeen team, although I must have misheard this part as it's too mental to have actually been said.

Questions followed (I can't remember them all). Someone asked if why we played so defensively. Pressley replied that we play a high pressure game and don't set up defensively. He felt that the main problem in the first few games of the season were that we were too open. There were a couple of questions about individual games and tactics. Pressley used a flipchart to describe our corner routine. I asked him about our league record in 2012 and pointed out that it couldn't just be players leaving over the summer. He said that stats could be presented in a lot of different ways and that his budget had been cut 70% since he took over. Someone asked how bad we had to be before Pressley considered his position. I can't remember Pressley's response but the guy then said "It's your fault, you got us relegated". Pressley asked him if he enjoyed last season. The guy said "no" and got shouted down by quite a lot of the room. Someone then asked about the Sevco vote. A couple of people said they weren't sure of the answer before a Board member jumped in and said it was a secret ballot, we had a meeting, integrity of the vote blah blah blah. MattBairn, who asked good questions all evening, challenged this and said that the club could say if they wanted. Basically there was no satisfactory answer and it's clear to me we voted yes.

Stevie Crawford and Neil McFarlane bummed up the "system" we have in place a bit and that was essentially it.

I can't fault Pressley and his team for effort and he spoke pretty well tonight. But I really feel that nothing is going to change on the park. Off the field I am concerned by the financials but we'll need to wait and see how that pans out over the coming year.

BTW, it seems strange to me that last season has somehow morphed into some massive success. Neil McFarlane said it's the best quality of football he's ever seen in his career in football! The first half of it was really good but the second half was unmitigated garbage.

I have seen Donald Findlay and he is hilarious at the after dinner bit. Not at all what you expect.

[Marshmallo]

He's probably a brilliant speaker, but we get enough of the "H*ns without a bus fare" stuff without adding Donald Findlay to the mix. Sounds a cracking start to the day though, bigots apart.