The Falkirk FC Thread

[Gaz]

6 hours ago, Hank von Hell said:

Wow , how quickly history gets rewritten on this forum - one bad couple of months and all of a sudden Houston was as out of his depth as that all time major managerial disaster Eddie May. 

Let's conveniently forget all the play offs, beating Hibs all the time & Sevco and a Scottish Cup final - patently out of his depth obviously.  

Football has no space for sentimentality unfortunately. As much as Houston gave us a few good seasons it was obvious at the start of last season he had lost it, for whatever reason - whether that's because he told the players he was leaving, whether it's because he'd lost the dressing room, whether it's because his poor recruitment had come back to bite him, probably a combination of several factors.

As such, it was obvious a few games into last season that he had lost it, and should have been replaced. But we waited far too long to do so.

That "bad couple of months" had a massively detrimental effect on last season. That's all it takes. There's no room for nostalgia in football.

[Falkirk_Bairn_1983]

3 minutes ago, Shodwall cat said:

Yeah Rakish Bingham, Joe Chalmers, Ole Durojaiye and Phil Roberts were all rip roaring successes.  If he'd signed some decent players insteasd of these dumplings we'd have won the league that season. Probably our best chance to get promoted and Holt blew it big time.

You conveniently left out Rory Loy, David McCracken, Mark Millar in January and Mark Beck in January who came onto a right good game after settling in. 

Now I never said his recruitment was amazing just that it wasn't miserable like you stated.

[Shodwall cat]

15 minutes ago, Falkirk_Bairn_1983 said:

You conveniently left out Rory Loy, David McCracken, Mark Millar in January and Mark Beck in January who came onto a right good game after settling in. 

Now I never said his recruitment was amazing just that it wasn't miserable like you stated.

Sorry I hadn't finished my post fully. I agree he had a few decent signings but around 50% is still pretty miserable to me.  You need to be hitting the 90 %s to win championships and be a success.

Edited October 11, 2018 by Shodwall cat

[Reggie Perrin]

May, Pressley, Holt, Houston, Hartley. All failed miserably in the recruitment stakes which has resulted in us getting worse and worse over the past ten years.  If we are to eventually reach the holy grail this is the area that we must turn around completely. Jobby McCall managed to get us from relegation material to cruising the league in one summer so it is entirely possible to see a vast improvement in the short term if the right players are brought in. However, we cant continue to have our successful signings very much in the minority though as has happened since Hughes's final season in post.

McCall had a pool of very good unemployed players to bring with him courtesy of the demise of Airdrie.
Very, very unusual circumstances.

[gav-ffc]

32 minutes ago, Falkirk_Bairn_1983 said:

Holt certainly didn't fail miserably in his recruitment. 

 

Off the top of my head.

 

Olu Durajaye -started well but meh

Rory Loy, signed after Taylor was sold.

Phil Roberts - Ice bucket etc 

Rakish Bingham - did he even score?

Dave McCracken - good signing but got stuck with the clause of certain games played = new contract.

Mark Millar - Alex Smith signing 

Joe Chalmers - shite

Mark Beck - few goals but took a while to fit him into system.

——————

He also Sign Peter Grant on a PCA before leaving.

 

[Hank von Hell]

2 hours ago, JinkyBairn said:

Really pisses me off when folk slate Houston as some diddy manager for us.

He gave us the only enjoyable spell since we got relegated almost a decade ago.

Also pisses me off when fans call for ex hero players to become Falkirk manager. They will eventually turn on you and forget any of the good times. I loved Houstie as a player and sometimes as a manager - he only gets talked about in derogatory terms on here. 

Imagine what they would do to Latapy if he ever got the manager job,  as many call for - I shudder to think.   

[Anthony Fitzgerald]

Can someone explain to me the recent history with the board? It’s not been universally liked over the past 10 years but one man who was highly thought of was Ronnie Bateman. I know nothing about him, why was he looked so fondly on? When did Doug Henderson come on board as well? We all remember the Brexit pish from him but I can’t remember how he got to that level. Obviously Ritchie was chairman at one point and now it’s Laing with Campbell as CEO.

[Shodwall cat]

2 minutes ago, Trump said:

Can someone explain to me the recent history with the board? It’s not been universally liked over the past 10 years but one man who was highly thought of was Ronnie Bateman. I know nothing about him, why was he looked so fondly on? When did Doug Henderson come on board as well? We all remember the Brexit pish from him but I can’t remember how he got to that level. Obviously Ritchie was chairman at one point and now it’s Laing with Campbell as CEO.

I think Ronnie Bateman correct me if I'm wrong did a power of work behind the scenes for no recompense compared to the other clowns we have now.

[Falkirk_Bairn_1983]

10 minutes ago, Shodwall cat said:

Sorry I hadn't finished my post fully. I agree he had a few decent signings but around 50% is still pretty miserable to me.  You need to be hitting the 90 %s to win championships and be a success.

Yes it was 50/50 I suppose. The poor signings were all English as well. I think we need to steer clear of them for now 

[Shodwall cat]

5 minutes ago, Falkirk_Bairn_1983 said:

Yes it was 50/50 I suppose. The poor signings were all English as well. I think we need to steer clear of them for now 

I think there is the odd gem down there but its a very competitive market.  You've got to think that if it was as easy and as fruitful as Hartley felty it was going to be then surely more clubs up here would be doing it.

[wullie robb]

3 minutes ago, Shodwall cat said:

I think there is the odd gem down there but its a very competitive market.  You've got to think that if it was as easy and as fruitful as Hartley felty it was going to be then surely more clubs up here would be doing it.

If the lower leagues had decent player's they would move up a level in England, after all guys playing in tier eight will earn the money Falkirk pay easily. 

[Shodwall cat]

22 minutes ago, Hank von Hell said:

Also pisses me off when fans call for ex hero players to become Falkirk manager. They will eventually turn on you and forget any of the good times. I loved Houstie as a player and sometimes as a manager - he only gets talked about in derogatory terms on here. 

Imagine what they would do to Latapy if he ever got the manager job,  as many call for - I shudder to think.   

Managers lifespans at one club are pretty short these days.  Houstie followed the usual pattern of a season getting things going ( poor league form but a cup final)  a couple of very good league seasons and then it all goes to pot.  He was undoubtedly more of a success than a failure and i he had been manager in any of the previous seasons since we came down his side would've won the league. Unfortunately player recruitment let him down and signings like Alec Harris proved to be the final nail in the coffin.

[MrDust]

1 hour ago, Shodwall cat said:

May, Pressley, Holt, Houston, Hartley. All failed miserably in the recruitment stakes which has resulted in us getting worse and worse over the past ten years.  If we are to eventually reach the holy grail this is the area that we must turn around completely. Jobby McCall managed to get us from relegation material to cruising the league in one summer so it is entirely possible to see a vast improvement in the short term if the right players are brought in. However, we cant continue to have our successful signings very much in the minority though as has happened since Hughes's final season in post.

McCall had the luxury of getting the majority of Airdrie Fc signed up for us who were doing not so bad of which some had played for us afore, that hardly needed gelling with only adding more quality to it with the likes of Hughes, Miller, McQuiliken, Kerr, McKenize

As for Houston, said at the time he shouldve went after the embarrasment v Dufc play offs after what was a poor season albeit we finished 2nd mainly through every other team having car crash runs but a cup final, finishing 2nd with Rangers and Hibs in our  league and being more of a contender to Rangers than Hibs, that season alone will be talked about for years to come.

Still we have folk saying Hartley did a good job, that doesnt piss me off, it makes me laugh for days

 

[Shodwall cat]

1 minute ago, MrDust said:

McCall had the luxury of getting the majority of Airdrie Fc signed up for us who were doing not so bad of which some had played for us afore, that hardly needed gelling with only adding more quality to it with the likes of Hughes, Miller, McQuiliken, Kerr, McKenize

As for Houston, said at the time he shouldve went after the embarrasment v Dufc play offs after what was a poor season albeit we finished 2nd mainly through every other team having car crash runs but a cup final, finishing 2nd with Rangers and Hibs in our  league and being more of a contender to Rangers than Hibs, that season alone will be talked about for years to come.

Still we have folk saying Hartley did a good job, that doesnt piss me off, it makes me laugh for days

 

In Mccalls case okay he was helped by that but not one of his signings that season was a falilure. Whether they were from Airdrie or not.  The likes of Stevie Tosh ,davie Nicholls, yogi and even brian reid did a job when needed. The likes of Jim Jeffries and more recently  Jack Ross have managed to turn clubs around in one season  due to their recruitment being spot on too.

[Gaz]

12 minutes ago, MrDust said:

Still we have folk saying Hartley did a good job, that doesnt piss me off, it makes me laugh for days

This is because of your steadfast refusal to acknowledge actual, verifiable statistics about last season, instead choosing to believe a quite frankly bizarre "ifs, buts and maybes" shtick.

Hartley did a good job last season. He did a terrible job in the summer and deserved to be punted. It is possible to separate the two.

I think any reasonable fan would agree with that.

[Gaz]

FWIW I'm actually quite surprised at McCall having a renaissance over the past few seasons as I'd always put his early career success to signing his pals from Airdrie. Once that player pool staretd to dry up, his recruitment for years was poor.

[TheScarf]

Was 3 of Falkirk's wins after the new year last season not against Brechin?  I mind Hartley went through a 2 or 3 week spell of actively trying to get games postponed.

[Gaz]

2 minutes ago, TheScarf said:

Was 3 of Falkirk's wins after the new year last season not against Brechin?  I mind Hartley went through a 2 or 3 week spell of actively trying to get games postponed.

Yep, absolutely.

They still gave the same points.

Most teams had three or four wins against Brechin last season, do we start making up new league tables with teams having 9 or 12 less points?

[Guest]

1 minute ago, Shodwall cat said:

In Mccalls case okay he was helped by that but not one of his signings that season was a falilure. Whether they were from Airdrie or not.  The likes of Stevie Tosh ,davie Nicholls, yogi and even brian reid did a job when needed. The likes of Jim Jeffries and more recently  Jack Ross have managed to turn clubs around in one season  due to their recruitment being spot on too.

..........and now we desperately need Ray McKinnon to do that very thing. His recruitment from here on in has to be bang on the money. It won’t be too difficult to find better replacements for Hartley’s Horrors. Thing is, “better” might still not be good enough.

The last four years, 9th place has amassed 27, 31, 30, and 37 points. To reach the upper figure of 37 points in the 28 remaining games, we’d need to win 8, draw 10 lose 10. Figures that seem complete pie in the sky for the current squad. 

[Shodwall cat]

He did the bare minimum required last season . Nothing more nothing less.