The Falkirk FC Thread

[FFC 1876]

I reckon after the Airdrie game fans were around 90/10 as to wanting M&M out, now surely that's 100% want them gone. Get them gone today so Holt has at least 1 day of taking training to get them ready for the Peterhead game. Holt's not who I want managing us but at this point I'd take anyone but M&M, the longer they delay the inevitable the more the chance of us blowing the title increases. We have absolutely no chance going up with them two so it's time to change it. 

[18BAIRN76]

The complete radio silence from the club - not even a match report, never mind interviews etc - is giving me hope that something might be happening. Mind you, they might have just completely sacked it off and decided it's not worth the effort for the abuse they'll get. Could be either.

[Guest Ecosse83]

Just now, 18BAIRN76 said:

The complete radio silence from the club - not even a match report, never mind interviews etc - is giving me hope that something might be happening. Mind you, they might have just completely sacked it off and decided it's not worth the effort for the abuse they'll get. Could be either.

Unfortunately they took ages getting an interview with McCracken up after the Airdrie games I wouldn’t read too much into it just now.

[Bairnardo]

1 minute ago, 18BAIRN76 said:

The complete radio silence from the club - not even a match report, never mind interviews etc - is giving me hope that something might be happening. Mind you, they might have just completely sacked it off and decided it's not worth the effort for the abuse they'll get. Could be either.

Folk were saying this after the Airdrie game too. It means nothing. Its all about Falkirk TV. 

[AGPar]

4 minutes ago, FFC 1876 said:

I reckon after the Airdrie game fans were around 90/10 as to wanting M&M out, now surely that's 100% want them gone. Get them gone today so Holt has at least 1 day of taking training to get them ready for the Peterhead game. Holt's not who I want managing us but at this point I'd take anyone but M&M, the longer they delay the inevitable the more the chance of us blowing the title increases. We have absolutely no chance going up with them two so it's time to change it. 

I think everyone is pretty much on the same page, but I just struggle to see it happening. The " But We're Top of The League" mantra will be clung on to until, well probably about 9 o'clock on Tuesday evening with the way things are going at the moment. That will then become " Still in contention, right up there, only 1/2/4/6 points off the top, we can do this". Which will quickly morph into "Right up for a crack at the Playoffs". Until we inevitable crash out of them in embarrassing fashion. As a few other posters have said, I've precious little interest in the remainder of the season if these two remain in situ. We might scrape a result at Peterhead, but the post-split fixtures will almost certainly be horrible. Partick Thistle will be an absolute car crash given respective current form and momentum, Cove will rightly fancy taking the three points and Airdrie will no doubt be the standard pitiful defeat. 

If there's no announcement of a parting of the ways at some point in the next few hours, the only conclusion is that those who laughably purport to run this club are perfectly, supremely, completely comfortable with the prospect of Falkirk Football Club spending a third consecutive season at this level. 

[Reggie Perrin]

4 minutes ago, 18BAIRN76 said:

The complete radio silence from the club - not even a match report, never mind interviews etc - is giving me hope that something might be happening. Mind you, they might have just completely sacked it off and decided it's not worth the effort for the abuse they'll get. Could be either.

Bunker mentality.

Probably hoping that if they ignore the problem it will disappear.

[HopeStreetWalker]

26 minutes ago, Back Post Misses said:

 

Something has to change to pull this club together again. The club is in danger of disenfranchising so many people. Sad

 

Last time we were in such a mess as a football club. Moffat & Allen took over the club and appointed Alex Totten and Gregor Abel . All the success we have had stemmed from that revival when we were on the brink of being a small part time team of a few 100 diehard supporters.

Lets be blunt we ain't an attractive option as we used to be in the manger stakes. So any left field thinking on who would take the gig ?

 

 

[HopeStreetWalker]

57 minutes ago, Ranaldo Bairn said:

You mean Stainrod?

He was woeful at Dundee and Ayr, and famously has no time for poor or underperforming players. He'd be slaughtering them and this lot would completely crumble.

Remember a game at Dens Park when God was the manager. We had just signed McColl and was about to come on as a substitute. When the Falkirk fans started 'He's Blue ! He's White ! He will will your shoes with shite ! He's Ian McColl ! He's Ian McColl !

Stainrod was in the directors box behind me and to be fair he had a good laugh. Thought Jeffries and Brown were going going to give themselves a hernia laughing when the Dundee Fans joined in as well.

One of these great football moments enjoyed by both sets of fans. 

That was the game the Dundee police lifted the Falkirk Fanzine sellers and locked them up for the game.

[Guest Ecosse83]

9 minutes ago, HopeStreetWalker said:

Last time we were in such a mess as a football club. Moffat & Allen took over the club and appointed Alex Totten and Gregor Abel . All the success we have had stemmed from that revival when we were on the brink of being a small part time team of a few 100 diehard supporters.

Lets be blunt we ain't an attractive option as we used to be in the manger stakes. So any left field thinking on who would take the gig ?

 

 

I’d like some ambition shown for once.  

Dean Holden is well thought of as a coach, not sure he would be interested but perhaps would be interested in us as a Championship team. 

Scott Gemmill is one I’d like is to enquire about as well, been at the Scotland u21 for a while now and would possibly see us as a good club to get his first steps in club management 

Darren Young probably the most realistic, done a decent job at East Fife and would probably be interested.

[Reggie Perrin]

17 minutes ago, HopeStreetWalker said:

Last time we were in such a mess as a football club. Moffat & Allen took over the club and appointed Alex Totten and Gregor Abel . All the success we have had stemmed from that revival when we were on the brink of being a small part time team of a few 100 diehard supporters.

Lets be blunt we ain't an attractive option as we used to be in the manger stakes. So any left field thinking on who would take the gig ?

 

 

At the moment I would be happy with Totten and Abel.

[Shadwell Dog]

21 minutes ago, HopeStreetWalker said:

Last time we were in such a mess as a football club. Moffat & Allen took over the club and appointed Alex Totten and Gregor Abel . All the success we have had stemmed from that revival when we were on the brink of being a small part time team of a few 100 diehard supporters.

Lets be blunt we ain't an attractive option as we used to be in the manger stakes. So any left field thinking on who would take the gig ?

 

 

I still feel we are a very attractive job for managers.  Good fan base and a budget that swamps 8 of the other 9 in this league.  It's a great job . McKinnon is no genius but he is doing with queen's park what we should be doing this season to everyone else save perhaps Partick although considering their terrible start to the season them too.  I still the think we should be looking at managers on the way up for a change. Ones that have proven relatively  successful and have already cut their teeth. A jack Ross, Jim Goodwin type.  Young and Petrie fit the bill so they would be the first port of call. If they say no then you look elsewhere.

Edited April 18, 2021 by Shadwell Dog

[Brummo]

11 minutes ago, Shadwell Dog said:

... and Petrie fit the bill so they would be the first port of call. When they say no then you look elsewhere.

Ftfy.

[Bula Bairn]

4 hours ago, MSG GTF! said:

Exactly. Dumb and Dumber were absolutely mental appointments and some of us could see from day one they lacked the basic credentials to be managers. They are comfortably the worst managers we’ve had in my 38 years, and arguably the worst in our Clubs history...and that takes some fu*king doing.

But what happens when these two clowns are eventually shown the door? Does anyone have any confidence that it’ll all fall into place and we’ll suddenly get it right? The one constant in all of this is the key decision makers. The puppet masters. Two arrogant, self-important old bast*rds who have stunk the place out for far too long. I’ve never known a bigger divide between lifelong fans and the Club than what we’re seeing now. Until that changes and we can all start pulling in the same direction again, we are simply going nowhere.

Some of us have boycotted home games and refused to spend any money whatsoever since our relegation in May 2019. I don’t need patronised by anyone as to how hard this would be for them, because if someone who has been everywhere with Falkirk, watching them week in, week out for 30 odd years can do it, so can they. Doing nothing will change nothing! It needs significant numbers of likeminded fans for this to work, but it will work. I wish I knew the best way to spread the word amongst the wider fanbase. Perhaps it starts with supporters clubs canvassing their members? Or The Falkirk Supporters Society canvassing on social media? An open letter from an organised fans group? I honestly don’t know. But the ONLY way Ritchie and Alexander will take any notice is if we do this together, as a collective. It’s short term pain for long term gain. The fans are the lifeblood of any Club. It belongs to us, and we can force change. It worked for Kilmarnock when they got rid of Michael Johnston. It worked for Blackpool when they got rid of the Oystons. Withhold your money, refuse to buy season tickets and let’s oust the poison that is ripping the heart and soul from our Club once and for all.

I didn't renew in 2019 either but covid changed everything!  I just couldn't see how the club could survive with no crowds and if the fans didn't spend so I bought a season ticket 'top up' and shares. The Rawlins deal only scraped through thanks to the small shareholders (fans) as well.  The board is unrecognisable from last year and Ritchie and Alexander have had their shareholding diluted now. 

Next season is a different question for renewal as it looks like we've survived the pandemic but I'll think about that once we know which league we're in. And yes, I want Miller and McCracken sacked as well!

[Top Bins]

Holt till the end of the season but not beyond that as I think he is only marginally better than M+M in the dugout then I would hope the club would perhaps speak to Darren Young at East Fife as an option. My other suggestion a few months ago was shot down in flames so I won’t go back to it. (Neil McCann).

Edited April 18, 2021 by Top Bins

[WestfieldBairn]

Darren Young wanted the job before. Probably deserves a shot at a bigger club.

[Gaz]

1 hour ago, AGPar said:

I think everyone is pretty much on the same page, but I just struggle to see it happening. The " But We're Top of The League" mantra will be clung on to until, well probably about 9 o'clock on Tuesday evening with the way things are going at the moment. That will then become " Still in contention, right up there, only 1/2/4/6 points off the top, we can do this". Which will quickly morph into "Right up for a crack at the Playoffs". Until we inevitable crash out of them in embarrassing fashion. As a few other posters have said, I've precious little interest in the remainder of the season if these two remain in situ. We might scrape a result at Peterhead, but the post-split fixtures will almost certainly be horrible. Partick Thistle will be an absolute car crash given respective current form and momentum, Cove will rightly fancy taking the three points and Airdrie will no doubt be the standard pitiful defeat. 

If there's no announcement of a parting of the ways at some point in the next few hours, the only conclusion is that those who laughably purport to run this club are perfectly, supremely, completely comfortable with the prospect of Falkirk Football Club spending a third consecutive season at this level. 

A few times over the past few years I've been laughed at for suggesting that for the BOD it is far better for them to be in lower divisions than higher ones. Everything I've seen over the past couple of years is backing that opinion up more and more.

[Guest]

The board may have changed, but I am not sure that attitudes have. We have long had a set up that viewed criticism as attacks, and have never been open to the prospect that they might actually get stuff wrong.....that’s why there hasn’t been a single apology for any of the mind bending decisions of the last dozen or so years.

Right now, I can’t say I am familiar with the club governance. The big three of SA, MR and P&CR are the power holders, and then you have GD, a commercial director, and a PR guy. Don’t know who else. Of the latter three, GD might get to voice an opinion, but the other two wouldn’t be listened to.

There has been all sorts of tick the box PR attempts at transparency (which tends to last for a few days at best). The ongoing distancing of club and support isn’t going to end, because the club see it as something driven by disgruntled supporters, and not their fault or responsibility. Until they are open to honest feedback, and are prepared to set aside privilege for accountability, we will just keep lurching along.

[Shadwell Dog]

4 minutes ago, Duncan Freemason said:

The board may have changed, but I am not sure that attitudes have. We have long had a set up that viewed criticism as attacks, and have never been open to the prospect that they might actually get stuff wrong.....that’s why there hasn’t been a single apology for any of the mind bending decisions of the last dozen or so years.

Right now, I can’t say I am familiar with the club governance. The big three of SA, MR and P&CR are the power holders, and then you have GD, a commercial director, and a PR guy. Don’t know who else. Of the latter three, GD might get to voice an opinion, but the other two wouldn’t be listened to.

There has been all sorts of tick the box PR attempts at transparency (which tends to last for a few days at best). The ongoing distancing of club and support isn’t going to end, because the club see it as something driven by disgruntled supporters, and not their fault or responsibility. Until they are open to honest feedback, and are prepared to set aside privilege for accountability, we will just keep lurching along.

Gary Deans first statement on becoming chairman was slagging off the behaviour of the fans. I expect to see at some point in the future a picture of Rawlins ripping off Gary Deans head to show it's actually lex miller.

[Bairn in Exile]

Ye know, all things considered, I’m pretty happy with my lot.

I have an attractive, loving wife who as well as being almost half my age, she is almost half my weight. 

I own a nice little apartment on the edge of the city, away from the hustle and bustle.

I don't earn a fortune but the job allows me to stay out here in the tropics where the cost of living is so cheap anyway. I get out for dinner and a few beers a couple of times a week, I can still save enough to let me get home to Scotland once or twice a year (pre Covid-19) so that I can see the family and the Bairns (although not necessarily in that order). I’m not the most materialistic of people so, all in all, life is good.

Yet, somehow, there is something missing.

Is it really too much to expect that the Bairns can become an established, Scottish Premier League side? (after we somehow, eventually get out of this hellhole of league 1). I’m not talking about challenging for the title or Europe or anything fanciful like that, simply scrabbling away for 7^th, 8^th or 9^th, with the occasional foray into the top 6, would be fine by me. If the likes of Motherwell, Kilmarnock and St Johnstone can manage it year after year, why can’t we?

And winning the Scottish Cup once in my lifetime before I kick the bucket would be a nice bonus.

Please, BOD / the Rawlins, ditch the 2 Muppets and appoint a new manager or management team asap to make this happen so that this old fart can die a deliriously, happy man!

In the words of Jean Luc Picard, “Make it so”.

[Russ]

Just me that’s a little bit creeped out?