The Falkirk FC Thread

[Shodwall cat]

5 minutes ago, DeeBairn said:

The only way you get 24 is if you count the ones who are likely on the way out as soon as we can find takers. I appreciate that from a wage point of view they have to be counted, but the only way Harris, McKee, Sheps or O'Hara are getting on the field is if the first team bus goes over a cliff. Realistically we have 5 central midfielders. Kidds only chance under Hartley appears to be as emergency fullback. Mckee doesn't even have that going for him. 

Hartley gave O'hara another year so I cant see him getting punted any time soon.  5 centre mids for two spots is still far too many when you dont have a decent right back. Giving Kidd another years deal was another crazy decision.  I thought we were going to go with a leaner better quality squad of about 18 supplemented by younger players but thats obviously been replaced with one of quantity and not quality.

Edited August 7, 2018 by Shodwall cat

[AL-FFC]

Just now, Believe The Hype said:

So after 1 (one) league game you are writing the season off and willing to bet we have failed already? This is next level for you BPM. 

We are only 3 points off first place. 

3 points off the top but we are in the relegation zone f**k it sack everyone at the club, Hartley must go get Sheps in as lone striker, Harris must play .. at what point did i go too far there by the way ?

[Shodwall cat]

13 hours ago, Back Post Misses said:

 

You are missing something. keeping the Academy would have meant a budget reduction. The budget (as Hartley stated two days after the “biggest ever budget announcement”) is much the same as Houston had.

 

Problem will be next season if we dont go up. If the academy is bringing in circa 250k on average a season and costs only around circa 100k say then we're going to have a 150k hole in the budget at least as I cant see any of the players we're bringing in being worth anything in the transfer market.

[Falkirk_Bairn_1983]

Just now, Shodwall cat said:

Problem will be next season if we dont go up. If the academy is bringing in circa 250k on average a season and costs only around circa 100k say then we're going to have a 150k hole in the budget at least as I cant see any of the players we're bringing in being worth anything in the transfer market.

The academy brought in some good money over the years but come on it was drying up. There is no way any of the players left were going to fetch any decent money so would have ended up costing us more from now on.

[Falkirk_Bairn_1983]

27 minutes ago, Marshmallo said:

We've got 24 first team players just now.  That doesn't include youths like Mutch or Dunne.

In the centre of midfield we have Paton, Irving, Owen-Evans, Sammut, Froxylias, Kidd, McKee. 7 senior players for 2 or 3 spots.

I really thought we were going for quality over quantity this season but looking at that list it doesn't look like it.

Would it be possible to punt Turner and Sammut early? Turner looks poor and Hartley can't fancy Sammut much if Irving came straight into the team ahead of him.

[Shodwall cat]

2 minutes ago, Falkirk_Bairn_1983 said:

The academy brought in some good money over the years but come on it was drying up. There is no way any of the players left were going to fetch any decent money so would have ended up costing us more from now on.

Having watched them on a semi regular basis there was some excellent players in the under 17s and our under 15's side was rated as the best in Scotland for that age group. Lets not kid ourselves that there wasn't talent coming through.  Rangers pinched a number of our youngsters as did St Mirren and other clubs. Will be interesting to see how many of them are perhaps up against us in future seasons and its a case of what may have been.  Only time will tell whether binning the academy was the right decision. I just hope to hell it was or we could be in a bit of bother as a club unfortunately.

[Reggie Perrin]

2 minutes ago, Falkirk_Bairn_1983 said:

I really thought we were going for quality over quantity this season but looking at that list it doesn't look like it.

Would it be possible to punt Turner and Sammut early? Turner looks poor and Hartley can't fancy Sammut much if Irving came straight into the team ahead of him.

Punt Sammut, the laddie who has been at Chelsea since his primary school days?

We are one game into the league season for god sake and you want rid of a young guy who has come up through the ranks of one of the worlds biggest clubs because he has not come up to YOUR standards yet!!!

[Falkirk_Bairn_1983]

7 minutes ago, Reggie Perrin said:

Punt Sammut, the laddie who has been at Chelsea since his primary school days?

We are one game into the league season for god sake and you want rid of a young guy who has come up through the ranks of one of the worlds biggest clubs because he has not come up to YOUR standards yet!!!

Your just twisting what I said!

 

[Bairnardo]

Have to apologise here I may have missed the obvious as my signal for the secons half on Sat was fucked.

Does Greenwood not have a left foot?

[AL-FFC]

The lads are 19 yrs old they are here as part of their development as a player the next step up for them is playing against grown men instead of U20s etc , they just need time to adjust to the difference in playing against seasoned pros or in the championship case Journeymen..lol.

I really despair 1 game in and between writing the season off wanting players punted/manager sacked etc you couldnt make it up its almost as depressing as an episode of Eastenders

[Shodwall cat]

Just now, Bairnardo said:

Have to apologise here I may have missed the obvious as my signal for the secons half on Sat was fucked.

Does Greenwood not have a left foot?

Was continually cutting on to his right to cross the ball anyway.  I presumed when we signed him he was left footed but then on Saturday he favoured his right.

[DeeBairn]

5 minutes ago, Bairnardo said:

Have to apologise here I may have missed the obvious as my signal for the secons half on Sat was fucked.

Does Greenwood not have a left foot?

He's got quite a good left foot, but some people on here are one step away from daubing the stadium walls with their own shite. 

[Falkirk_Bairn_1983]

3 minutes ago, AL-FFC said:

The lads are 19 yrs old they are here as part of their development as a player the next step up for them is playing against grown men instead of U20s etc , they just need time to adjust to the difference in playing against seasoned pros or in the championship case Journeymen..lol.

I really despair 1 game in and between writing the season off wanting players punted/manager sacked etc you couldnt make it up its almost as depressing as an episode of Eastenders

Look I'm not saying I don't rate Sammut, I mean how can I he has barely played but my point is I get the feeling Hartley doesn't rate him after another 18 year old coming in from Hearts and going straight into the team ahead of him.

Hartley sees him every day in training so it is concerning he has been dropped so quick. 

I hope in a few months time my posts are brought back up to mock me. 

[AL-FFC]

Just now, Falkirk_Bairn_1983 said:

Look I'm not saying I don't rate Sammut, I mean how can I he has barely played but my point is I get the feeling Hartley doesn't rate him after another 18 year old coming in from Hearts and going straight into the team ahead of him.

Hartley sees him every day in training so it is concerning he has been dropped so quick. 

I hope in a few months time my posts are brought back up to mock me. 

I just think the lot of us are reading into everything too much he might rate Sammut there might be a perfectly reasonable reason but the end of the day no matter what you do there's a reason why he picks the team he picks we might not know it we might question it but i dare say if we were to speak to him and ask him why it would make sense.

He sees them day in day out, he will know what he has to work with and who needs to improve and what needs to improve its just everyone is expecting an immediate wins we have no divine right to win every game and poor refereeing decisions are going to happen, if Harrisons goal had stood and we drew or went onto win it would be Caley thistle on meltdown instead of us we wouldn't be on a meltdown questioning team selection and who is sh*t and who should be played where.  Its fine to have concerns but the level of meltdown /over reaction is a bit OTT.

[Bainsfordbairn]

19 minutes ago, Shodwall cat said:

Having watched them on a semi regular basis there was some excellent players in the under 17s and our under 15's side was rated as the best in Scotland for that age group. Lets not kid ourselves that there wasn't talent coming through.  Rangers pinched a number of our youngsters as did St Mirren and other clubs. Will be interesting to see how many of them are perhaps up against us in future seasons and its a case of what may have been. 

Any names Shodwall?

I didn't attend FVFA games so I don't know anything about the U15 and U17 sides. However, there were a few boys who were sometimes promoted into our U20s to either make up the numbers, or get a taster of a higher level. None of them stood out for me. I don't recall any getting into Scotland U17 teams for quite some time either. 

That's not a dig; I simply don't know enough about that level to comment on their potential.

However, there have been a few folk online since the academy closed, like yourself, telling us how good the kids we discarded were. I'm really curious to see who they were and how they turn out. If one of them signs for the Old  Firm and turns out to be the next big thing them I'm sure  there will be a number of "told you so" posts from those were involved with the academy.

Who should we be looking out for?  

 

 

 

[Rugster]

21 minutes ago, Falkirk_Bairn_1983 said:

Look I'm not saying I don't rate Sammut, I mean how can I he has barely played but my point is I get the feeling Hartley doesn't rate him after another 18 year old coming in from Hearts and going straight into the team ahead of him.

Hartley sees him every day in training so it is concerning he has been dropped so quick. 

I hope in a few months time my posts are brought back up to mock me. 

Maybe it was a fitness, thing, maybe he just felt against Caley it would be better to play Irving. Hartley well known for tinkering the team big time depending on the opposition, and whether the match is home or away.

[Reggie Perrin]

56 minutes ago, Falkirk_Bairn_1983 said:

Your just twisting what I said!

 

I certainly am not.

Your words "Would it be possible to punt Turner and Sammut early? "

[HoBNob]

3 hours ago, Bairnardo said:

3 hours ago, Back Post Misses said:

The sad thing about Saturday is that the first two names on the team sheet every week now will be the two Scottish premier loanees. We have planned this English raid since last November and we seem to have failed to bring in the quality trumpeted. In the 5 games I have seen little to get us “off our seats” as per the rhetoric

 you genuinely sound to me like on some level you want us to fail. Your pists since Saturday have read like an I told you so that you were itching to dish out

That'd be me. 

 

Even then it's a bit too early, I will say though that when you are hoping to be like Inverness then this whole "experiment" has absolutely fell on it's arse, they still finished outside the playoffs last year despite us being absolutely rancid for about 4 months of last season. Realistically is anyone expecting them to win the title this year? If your ambition is to be like Inverness I'm genuinely baffled. 

[DeeBairn]

38 minutes ago, Bainsfordbairn said:

Any names Shodwall?

I didn't attend FVFA games so I don't know anything about the U15 and U17 sides. However, there were a few boys who were sometimes promoted into our U20s to either make up the numbers, or get a taster of a higher level. None of them stood out for me. I don't recall any getting into Scotland U17 teams for quite some time either. 

That's not a dig; I simply don't know enough about that level to comment on their potential.

However, there have been a few folk online since the academy closed, like yourself, telling us how good the kids we discarded were. I'm really curious to see who they were and how they turn out. If one of them signs for the Old  Firm and turns out to be the next big thing them I'm sure  there will be a number of "told you so" posts from those were involved with the academy.

Who should we be looking out for?  

 

 

 

This times two.

 

Also, all the chat about our released kids being "snapped up" by the OF. What would you rather do, scout players to fill up one of your u15 teams, or grab a few that had been released from elsewhere? Doesn't even mean that they think they are good, they may well be filling jerseys at a particular age group. I still feel that if the coaches and the board felt there had been prospects lurking in the Academy, we would have kept it open. We closed it, so I have to trust that we haven't released the next Arfield.

 

Only people I've seem actually bemoaning the closure of the Academy are a couple of people on here and a few parents in the Herald giving it their best "upset Daily Mail" faces.

[Falkirk_Bairn_1983]

4 minutes ago, Reggie Perrin said:

I certainly am not.

Your words "Would it be possible to punt Turner and Sammut early? "

Yes and your reply said Sammut didn't come up to my standard which certainly isn't what I said. If Hartley doesn't fancy him ( which might not be the case) then I see no problem in saying we should punt him.

Obviously if Hartley is going to play him then he won't punt him.