The Falkirk FC Thread

[Fawkirk Wull]

Been thinking, why would you leave what appears to be a successful club in rainy Florida,  & want to invest in a 3rd division  club in sunny Falkirk.  Why Falkirk in particular , why not a lower league club around  Stoke if this is where he appears to have links with. Does any investment come with stipulations. Did they approach Falkirk or vice versa. So many questions . Again after the last debacle why with MC it seems a bit deja vue, unless talks are a bit more advanced than we are being told

[AL-FFC]

9 minutes ago, bairn88 said:

You know nothing about me. I would never read that rag. 
 

A lot of the dirt dug up about MC was Jeremy Kyle still shit but collectively it proved what a fake he was. 
 

I don’t care if he cheated on his wife and ran off with a new woman. It was the fact that seemed to seep into the boardroom of a football club and left a bitter taste in the fans of that club so much that they don’t want him on their board that seems noteworthy. The fact that he’s had some good reports from his time at Stoke City is a good counter argument to this.

Your talking about fans in a country namely the US that cream themselves over Evangelists (and for some reason they still pledge money to them now to be "saved") just dont (although pretty sure the TFS was used for some evangelical stuff)

i really cant believe some of our fans taking a moral high ground its not as if the guy has committed genocide or that he just shagged another mans wife in fact the other mans wife shagged another womans husband i dont see where this comes into fit and proper to run a football club

[bairn88]

5 minutes ago, AL-FFC said:

Your talking about fans in a country namely the US that cream themselves over Evangelists (and for some reason they still pledge money to them now to be "saved") just dont (although pretty sure the TFS was used for some evangelical stuff)

i really cant believe some of our fans taking a moral high ground its not as if the guy has committed genocide or that he just shagged another mans wife in fact the other mans wife shagged another womans husband i dont see where this comes into fit and proper to run a football club

What? So because some people in America believe in and pay money to evangelicalists you can’t trust a single word anyone in that country ever says? That’s insane. 

Yes @Dawson Park Boy, the daily mail, which treats migrant deaths in the channel like a spectator sport. No thanks.  
 

As previously stated, If the story was man cheats on wife I’d laugh and not care. The rest of that thread was interesting reading, however. 

[AL-FFC]

This thread is going the same way as the MC one, i wish to f**k they hadnt said anything till it was done and dusted to spare us from the next f**k knows how many pages of  "i dont want them near the club"

[ShaggerG]

1 hour ago, Rugster said:

He’s not a rapist. He’s just a bit of a shagger. Think of the players we’ve had in the past who would have been ostracised if we knock back shaggers. 

Canny think of anybody. 

[AGPar]

2 hours ago, Back Post Misses said:

The MSG involvement is by and large is MR and SA. What will there involvement post this? Is this guy working with them to ensure they stay in some sort of control? Who knows?

I sincerely hope not. If now is not the time for them to pass the club onto others to (hopefully) take forward, it never will be. Their time has got to be up. Some sort of change which still results in them holding onto control is really no change whatsoever. But I suppose it cannot be discounted at the present time when there is no information about what members of the MSG are intending to sell up. To whom? What size of shareholding are these investors going to be taking? Tbh, the ownership structure outlined today seems very convoluted. 

[HopeStreetWalker]

44 minutes ago, ShaggerG said:

Canny think of anybody. 

Nope ! me neither 'Shagger'

[Guest]

I sincerely hope not. If now is not the time for them to pass the club onto others to (hopefully) take forward, it never will be. Their time has got to be up. Some sort of change which still results in them holding onto control is really no change whatsoever. But I suppose it cannot be discounted at the present time when there is no information about what members of the MSG are intending to sell up. To whom? What size of shareholding are these investors going to be taking? Tbh, the ownership structure outlined today seems very convoluted. 

If he buys 26% (the msg shares that are leaving) added to SA, MR and Moffat it is 67/68% holding before any share issue to dilute

[WestfieldBairn]

1 hour ago, Fawkirk Wull said:

Been thinking, why would you leave what appears to be a successful club in rainy Florida,  & want to invest in a 3rd division  club in sunny Falkirk.  Why Falkirk in particular , why not a lower league club around  Stoke if this is where he appears to have links with. Does any investment come with stipulations. Did they approach Falkirk or vice versa. So many questions . Again after the last debacle why with MC it seems a bit deja vue, unless talks are a bit more advanced than we are being told

Potential is there to take the club back to the premiership through time. Decent stadium, good size fan base, central location. 

[kiddy]

The new American bid? Aha.

Edited September 9, 2020 by kiddy

[bairnsaloud]

Don’t know why you’re so snobbish about the Daily Mail.
Its very liberal on personal matters and, under Geordie Grieg, much more centrist on politics 
For folks with time available, it’s a good daily read which I top up with the Telegraph at weekends and a subscription for the Spectator.
Some great reading there

‘Centrist’
Interesting

[FFC 1876]

1 hour ago, bairn88 said:

What? So because some people in America believe in and pay money to evangelicalists you can’t trust a single word anyone in that country ever says? That’s insane. 

Yes @Dawson Park Boy, the daily mail, which treats migrant deaths in the channel like a spectator sport. No thanks.  
 

As previously stated, If the story was man cheats on wife I’d laugh and not care. The rest of that thread was interesting reading, however. 

You're talking about a country who are extremely Christian, So the reddit post could be someone who's just trying to be spiteful as Rawlins' adultery has left a distful taste in his holy mouth. The post strikes of that kind of spiteful hatred, it means absolutely nothing in terms of how he runs a business. 

[Shadwell Dog]

How many thousand Orlando fans are on.this Reddit thread calling for him to go?

[mic_17_uk]

I'm optimistic about the direction the club is hoping to move in.

Dunno how much of a pain in the ass Shagger Rawlins (that has a real ring to it) ex wife was. Not fussed about that. I am interested in learning about this lad though. Would be good if folk can post links to any stand out chat about him.

SR pops up in a number of podcasts. Here's one where he's talking about setting up Orlando City. https://open.spotify.com/episode/7k4ZS2iqRov12OMaySB6QM?si=z_V5HXPmR8OzpCvL903kHg seems he was very hands on in that role.

Anyways, as good as all this sounds, When's the football back? Can't wait to see this new team out on the pitch.

[TxRover]

10 hours ago, Falkirkfan1985 said:

Aye, seems to be an affair that left the bad taste. A pretty normal life event these days. 

Would prefer to point out he is one of the reasons Orlando went from nothing to a club in the MLS and left them in a pretty good state

Just noting that he purchased the Austin Aztex and moved them to Orlando to springboard his entry into MLS. On the whole the guy is a football lifer, and seems a pretty decent catch for FFC. The wealthy have differing attitudes to some of the moral aspects, and he’s no different...even in the purchase of the Aztex, he was not up front about his intentions to move the team after only a couple of years of working to develop the Austin market. It’s not clear if that was his plan all along, but...

That being said, as a minority holder, he should bring some stability and knowledge.

[Hank von Hell]

10 hours ago, Bainsfordbairn said:

If I understand correctly, the proposal is for there to be four separate groups running the club. 

• The new fans group, who will again have board representation, just like the Trust used to do. 
•  
• Whatever is left of the MSG, because GD's statement makes it clear that not all of them are going.  ("some of the major shareholders have decided that this is the time for them to sell their shares in the club") .
•  
• Two new external investors in the Americans and (rumoured) Alan Gow. 

The last group presumably want something out of the club as well as putting something in. 

In theory this all sounds excellent. More money, more fan involvement and more expertise to drive the club forward. My only concern is that everyone will have to be singing from the same hymnsheet. That ought to be simple. After all, everyone involved should want what's best for Falkirk. 

However, as the Chairman stated "for everyone to pull in the same direction is something that has been missing from the club for some time". 

Actually Gary, that's not true. It's been missing ONLY from the owners and their boardroom appointees. The rest of us have always been on the same side. 

I have no qualms with either the statement or the direction that we appear to be heading in. It seems positive. I'm just not quite at the stage of cheering from the rafters yet. Let's have a bit more meat on the bones in terms of detail.  

I'm really interested to find our what's in those hidden bullet points. Is that content only available to "(Real) FANS ONLY" ?   

Edited September 10, 2020 by Hank von Hell

[Ryan-FFC]

Maybe a stupid question, the ‘official Falkirk supporters association’ - will this be put together by kenny and David, essentially a revamp of BTB?

I think yesterday’s announcement is positive. More fan involvement, increased investment, Phil Rawlins has a proven track record in football and reduced MSG involvement.

Like others won’t scream from the rooftops yet but it does seem we may finally be getting a break.

[Hank von Hell]

6 hours ago, Fawkirk Wull said:

Been thinking, why would you leave what appears to be a successful club in rainy Florida,  & want to invest in a 3rd division  club in sunny Falkirk.  Why Falkirk in particular , why not a lower league club around  Stoke if this is where he appears to have links with. Does any investment come with stipulations. Did they approach Falkirk or vice versa. So many questions . Again after the last debacle why with MC it seems a bit deja vue, unless talks are a bit more advanced than we are being told

It will only be deja vu if the bloke turns up at the South Stand scruffy as hell with fairy stories of building hotels in Manhattan &  Brooklyn coffee empires, ticking off a list of Falkirk fans dreams and handing out Keane tickets saying that wasn't me that was another Phil Rawlins.

Is he on Twitter  , I'm scared to look incase the COYB Facebookers have already migrated over.  

[TxRover]

21 minutes ago, Hank von Hell said:

It will only be deja vu if the bloke turns up at the South Stand scruffy as hell with fairy stories of building hotels in Manhattan &  Brooklyn coffee empires, ticking off a list of Falkirk fans dreams and handing out Keane tickets saying that wasn't me that was another Phil Rawlins.

Is he on Twitter  , I'm scared to look incase the COYB Facebookers have already migrated over.  

I see “@philrawlins1”, created in 2012 with no tweets...a good start.

He may have had “@OCPres”, but that’s idle too...not sure about before 2016.

His ex-wife (“@kay_rawlins”) seems very active, and joined in 2016, might be some amusing reading.

”@OrlandoCitySC” has his “resignation” video from 27/12/2016, nothing noteworthy in it.

[Bainsfordbairn]

3 hours ago, Ryan-FFC said:

Maybe a stupid question, the ‘official Falkirk supporters association’ - will this be put together by kenny and David, essentially a revamp of BTB?
 

A different question might be what about the original supporters associations, or Bairntrust, or Falkirk Supporters Society as it later became known? 

It doesn't seem to have "traded" for years but it held a large number of shares which at one time was almost sufficient for it to get it on the MSG. I think Brian Guthrie continued to believe he spoke on behalf of those shareholders and was on a few fan committees as a result of it. I heard he's in very poor health nowadays but whoever gets involved in the new organisation would do well to check out the legal status of that shareholding. 

Agree that KJ and DW would be a good choice for leadership. Whether either would want the role after some of the stick they got online when their MC concerns got leaked to the press remains to be seen.  Any fan leadership role is a poisoned chalice IMO, particularly nowadays. Trial by social media, often by those who know nothing but criticise everything. 

Good luck to whoever takes the role.