The Falkirk FC Thread

[Rugster]

12 minutes ago, BooBairn said:

Q&A initial thoughts: 

1. Deans is a knob and came across the worst.  
2. Colin McFarlane loves Gary Holt a bit too much
3. I give him stick but fair play to Lewis Connolly on this occasion. 
4. Sheerin comes across awright. 
5. McFarlane saying that the fans had to be more understanding was easily the most infuriating comment. 

Agree with all of that bar number one (expand at end of comment)  particularly the fans need to be a bit more understanding part. Patronising and insulting. I think Holt came across worse than Deans. He’s an arrogant c**t of a man. 
 

Lewis was excellent. 

[AL-FFC]

Cockburn and Deans come across bitter as f**k towards the fans 

 

[Rugster]

For a PR expert I’m surprised at the way McFarlane handled this. The notion that the fans need to be more understanding was as infuriating as it was insulting. Also claiming we had over communicated in the past so tone it down a bit? f**k off. 
 

Holt is just a Fanny. Always has been, always will be. 

[RC55 FFC]

Initial thoughts;

Phil Rawlins comes across well, Carrie, not so much but my opinion is still tainted. They do sound like they want to improve the place behind the scenes. A lot of fluff on his “completed list” though, ie changing of the bulbs on the floodlights. 
 

Link up with Greaves Sports sounds very decent compared to current & recent offerings, especially online. Let’s hope for some decent stock & dare I say it, potentially a move away from Puma & the rolling deals. 
 

Lewis handled the whole session very well imho. Asked every question including the awkwards ones. 
 

Holt is still a knob I see. Deflected every point on last seasons collapse & recruitment. He also seemed to think Lewis asked every point put to him personally. Hope he does a good job obviously but does he need to be a bellend? 
 

Very odd that they hid behind H&S re the stand renaming. I’m sure that topic isn’t done. 
 

I see some negativity over “only” 620 season tickets sold in 1 week. I know we didn’t do a running count last season but I’m pretty certain that’s a decent figure after 1 week. From my own memory we used to sit at about 1200-1500 after 3/4 weeks and then a sharp rise just before early bird ends. That said, I’d be shocked if we sell anymore than 1500 this season due to a variety of reasons. I’m sure if we are winning, scoring goals & social distancing isn’t a thing, then crowds will be circa 3,000 again. 

[GeordieBairn]

Holts defence of the collapse after the restart was one of the most embarrassing things ive heard. He said injuries to key players like… Ben Hall. 

[Rugster]

Just now, GeordieBairn said:

Holts defence of the collapse after the restart was one of the most embarrassing things ive heard. He said injuries to key players like… Ben Hall. 

Aye, aye, but we won the first game back! 

[Guest Caractacus Potts]

Thoughts are:

Great job by Lewis.

The Rawlins totally skipped over the 45% thing. Is it an option they plan to take up or one they can keep so the board can take full control at any given time? 
 

Wouldn’t get drawn in to how many shares they are willing to give the fans group or how the representative will be selected or be able to put forward fans views. Sure we’ll find out soon but seems odd not to have some general details at hand. 
 

The Greaves sports thing looks good. I see they do it with Partick and the stuff looks decent and reasonably priced. Not sure what the deal is or much it will make the club but the offerings look good and will be tempted to get some clobber. 
 

The patrons bit was glossed over and seemed a bit disingenuous as did the stuff with the CI. Not sure any of those questions were answered properly? 
 

Need to have a look at the document Phil produced too as first thought was that some things were a bit embellished. 19 new shareholders isn’t much for instance and at least 4 of them are on the board(not sure if the Rawlins were also included yet). Also as I stated before more than half of the new shares were bought by the board and the Rawlins friend so not telling the full story when lamenting on the success of the sale. 
 

Concerned too as to the further share issues being described. Know it’s a way to gain money but it constantly dilutes the shareholding of those existing shareholders. Doesn’t feel appealing if the price per share is the same but the percentage ownership it contributes to keeps declining. Would mean that any fan who wants to get a really decent shareholding would need to buy a heck of a lot of shares and there are that many super rich Falkirk fans. Also for the Rawlins to continually have that option to increase to 45% concerns me. Could just decimate them other 2 legs of their 3 legged stool at any time. 

 

[Shadwell Dog]

I presume we now take it that Rawlins has gone from intimating he would purchase further shares to a maximum of 45 percent to now he will only be investing to keep his 26 percent from being diluted. Would like that to have been clarified a lot more.

[Bigbrbairn]

Initial thoughts;
Phil Rawlins comes across well, Carrie, not so much but my opinion is still tainted. They do sound like they want to improve the place behind the scenes. A lot of fluff on his “completed list” though, ie changing of the bulbs on the floodlights. 
 
Link up with Greaves Sports sounds very decent compared to current & recent offerings, especially online. Let’s hope for some decent stock & dare I say it, potentially a move away from Puma & the rolling deals. 
 
Lewis handled the whole session very well imho. Asked every question including the awkwards ones. 
 
Holt is still a knob I see. Deflected every point on last seasons collapse & recruitment. He also seemed to think Lewis asked every point put to him personally. Hope he does a good job obviously but does he need to be a bellend? 
 
Very odd that they hid behind H&S re the stand renaming. I’m sure that topic isn’t done. 
 
I see some negativity over “only” 620 season tickets sold in 1 week. I know we didn’t do a running count last season but I’m pretty certain that’s a decent figure after 1 week. From my own memory we used to sit at about 1200-1500 after 3/4 weeks and then a sharp rise just before early bird ends. That said, I’d be shocked if we sell anymore than 1500 this season due to a variety of reasons. I’m sure if we are winning, scoring goals & social distancing isn’t a thing, then crowds will be circa 3,000 again. 

I am waiting to see what transpires re attendance and social distancing before acquiring a season 5his year again. I don't like watching a screen showing two teams running around an empty stadium. If I can sit in the Crunchie Stand as usual I will part with the dosh even though I work a lot of weekends. Prefer to watch the game via 365 Bet opposed to dull atmospheres

[jezobel]

3 things struck out for me

1 Phil Rawlings knows what he’s doing . The presentation at the start was good. 
2 Various fans groups tried their best but too many egos. Navy Blue didn’t even try and crunchie stuff is embarrassing. Why are board giving them shares?

3 Holt is a waste of a wage. Looked asleep half the time  punt him  

 

[Bairney The Dinosaur]

I'll stick to 3 main takeaways too.

1. Rawlins, particularly Phil, do seem to know what they're doing. Thought they did answer how many shares they were willing to take when stated they would want no more than a third of the club.

2. Breakdown in discussions with fans groups seems to me to come down to a clash of egos. My opinion is that it is on the board to be the ones to manage a situation like that rather than the fans groups. After all, it is the groups which are offering investment, not the board. Without really much prior knowledge to how discussions would have gone I can imagine it was something like,

Fans group - "Here is £550k but we want Deans and Holt out" or "We want this sign here on the stand"
Board - "That's ridiculous we are not going to do that. Don't be so stupid" or "That's a health and safety risk, don't be ridiculous"
Fans group - "Don't call us stupid/ridiculous , nah we're out"

A situation (which I admit I just made up) that is completely resolved if the board are careful with their wording.

3. Why oh why can we not get through any sort of communication with the board without their being some mention of fan 'wrongdoing'. Tonight it was us needing to be more understanding [emoji849]. Do they not realise that this is the exact thing which gets the fans backs up and stops these issues being repaired.

[Grangemouth Bairn]

2 hours ago, Shadwell Dog said:

Wong get many decent players by simply throwing your hat in for them.

If we are playing the Chinese proverbs game I’m in !!

• A journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step.

Edited June 24, 2021 by Grangemouth Bairn

[Shadwell Dog]

5 minutes ago, Bairney The Dinosaur said:

I'll stick to 3 main takeaways too.

1. Rawlins, particularly Phil, do seem to know what they're doing. Thought they did answer how many shares they were willing to take when stated they would want no more than a third of the club.

2. Breakdown in discussions with fans groups seems to me to come down to a clash of egos. My opinion is that it is on the board to be the ones to manage a situation like that rather than the fans groups. After all, it is the groups which are offering investment, not the board. Without really much prior knowledge to how discussions would have gone I can imagine it was something like,

Fans group - "Here is £550k but we want Deans and Holt out" or "We want this sign here on the stand"
Board - "That's ridiculous we are not going to do that. Don't be so stupid" or "That's a health and safety risk, don't be ridiculous"
Fans group - "Don't call us stupid/ridiculous , nah we're out"

A situation (which I admit I just made up) that is completely resolved if the board are careful with their wording.

3. Why oh why can we not get through any sort of communication with the board without their being some mention of fan 'wrongdoing'. Tonight it was us needing to be more understanding . Do they not realise that this is the exact thing which gets the fans backs up and stops these issues being repaired.

The ci thing  it's obvious that the problem is deans promising them one thing and then going back on it later.  He's now saying  oh let's not talk about what was said on certain dates let's just ignore what I promised.

[Hughsie]

To be honest, I’m past caring about anything they have to say.

I want to go and watch the team because I enjoy it but I have no energy or will to care about the running of the club anymore. I appreciate that by doing the former it is effectively endorsing the latter so I’m at a bit of a crossroads really.

[Zbairn]

43 minutes ago, jezobel said:

 

2 Various fans groups tried their best but too many egos. Navy Blue didn’t even try and crunchie stuff is embarrassing. Why are board giving them shares?

 

 

Giving who shares ? ....no one is getting shares ! 

Why is the  Crunchie stuff embarrassing ?

Did anyone state egos with respect to the Navy Blue ?  I thouight that there were  a few bruised egos on the Board side with the offer.

[HonestAl]

Bottom left is Gordon Colborn.

My thoughts?

1. I was enthralled by the whole couple of hours, especially having read (and re-read) postings on here about Navy Blue and CI.

2. Apart from the criminal mistake of not introducing the participants to the audience at the start, Lewis did a fine job. Perhaps a journalist would have followed up a few of the answers with more probing, rather than move onto the next question but.

3. I’ve done a 180 degree turn on my opinion of Holt. He should now be able to concentrate on the Sporting Director job (rather than cover for poor football managers). We’ve a good’un there. 
I continue to be optimistic as regards Sheerin.

4. 16 players signed (I paused and listed them) and surmised Paton would not be joining as they want a more established goal scorer. As they say, good luck with that one. 
Goslkeeper plus one other and 3 or 4 loanees.

5. Lots more.  
Infrastructure, Player Profiling, High Intensity Training, Fluid 4-3-3, 3-legged stools. 

Oh, and  as with most single, middle aged men, I’m in love with Carrie….

Edited June 24, 2021 by HonestAl

[Silvio Tattiescone]

My 3 -

1) Colin McFarlane is a patronising, defensive knob and one of the main reasons for the disconnect between fans and the club. I think he would screw up Santa's PR

2) The Rawlins know what they're doing and are entirely right to be getting the structure in place first. That we don't know what they've actually been doing is down to 1)

3) Holt hasn't earned the right to that smug arrogance.  He achieved nothing with us first time around (bar blowing a 3-0 lead at half time at Hampden) and he's widely believed to have just been a front man at Livi. There's a reason he never got another management offer and we probably saw it after he took over from M&M

[bairn88]

Constant vibe of Holt thinking he’s doing us a favour being here. Thinks he’s above us and imo has a poor work attitude and ethic. Will get abuse for it but feel Pressley would’ve been a far better appointment in that role. 

[PedroMoutinho]

I thought it was a positive q and a overall. It was good to hear from the Rawlins about what they’ve done already and plans for the future. It definitely seems like a lot of investment is going into areas like scouting and sports science.

Carrie and Phil both came across well imo, as did Paul Sheerin. I’ve said before that I don’t think Gary Deans is particularly inspiring in the chairman’s role and he sounded very defensive. I suspect he may well not be in the position for much longer. Personally I would like to see him replaced.

Gordon Macfarlane’s comment about the fans needing to be more understanding was also not helpful.

It was also good to hear further information about the ‘navy blue’ bid and the Crunchie initiative. As I suspected, it seems like the fans group have gone in with a long list of demands that were never going to be accepted in a million years (and in some cases things that the board could not legally do).

Hopefully things can be sorted out with the Crunchie initiative as it is a positive idea. I would be astonished though if the club got health and safety approval to put lettering on the roof of the stand, so again there seems to be some element of the group seeking the impossible.

Edited June 24, 2021 by PedroMoutinho

[PedroMoutinho]

5 minutes ago, bairn88 said:

Thinks he’s above us and imo has a poor work attitude and ethic. 

I agree that Holt comes across a bit too arrogant for my liking but I don’t think it’s fair to say he has a poor work ethic. He has seemingly been working 12 hour days according to the q and a.