The Falkirk FC Thread

[Tea and Busquets]

Apparently, Holt wasn’t 100% sure of his role but now he is. He also only signed those players that signed pre-contacts before Sheerin arrived, Sheerin basically signed the rest or at least had the final say. Time will tell.

[Bairnardo]

Clearly there are various facets to this. If he is in fact valuable to the running of the club (and its fucking clear as a bell that in first team football terms, he absolutely is not) then his role needs to be redefined and communicated as such. It needs to made clear that he is not going to be standing up at a Q&A and lecturing fans on how much improved the signings are, and citing Jaime Wilson, or indeed Ryan Williamson who's widely known injury issues at that point was the reason we had seen Gary Miller at RB for almost every minute of the season.

Even then I think the damage is done. It needs to be some charm offensive to convince anyone that further first team calamity is not in large part down to his meddling. 

[Rocco]

As long as Holt is at the club, then I have no interest in putting anymore money than I already have into it. 

[18BAIRN76]

22 minutes ago, Tea and Busquets said:

Apparently, Holt wasn’t 100% sure of his role but now he is. He also only signed those players that signed pre-contacts before Sheerin arrived, Sheerin basically signed the rest or at least had the final say. Time will tell.

Sounds like ‘blame the guy that has just been papped’ revisionism to me.

[Bigbri Bairn]

Clearly there are various facets to this. If he is in fact valuable to the running of the club (and its fucking clear as a bell that in first team football terms, he absolutely is not) then his role needs to be redefined and communicated as such. It needs to made clear that he is not going to be standing up at a Q&A and lecturing fans on how much improved the signings are, and citing Jaime Wilson, or indeed Ryan Williamson who's widely known injury issues at that point was the reason we had seen Gary Miller at RB for almost every minute of the season.
Even then I think the damage is done. It needs to be some charm offensive to convince anyone that further first team calamity is not in large part down to his meddling. 

If his role is getting quality players in for development then we need to know this. Rennie and his assistant ( really hope its Kenny Miller ) should have the remit to pick players for the first team, decide on tactics and have full accountability for all first team matters. This needs clearly defined from the start so we know what is happening. Having the feeling that Holts slimy hand is causing first team chaos is not what we need. Rennie should answer to the BOD only not smarmy killie kid

[bairn88]

So Holt’s rap sheet includes *only* signing perma crock Williamson, flattered to deceive McCann, one of the worst CBs in my lifetime McKay, *re-signing* Ben Hall, utterly ineffectual Mcguffie, no goals Wilson, list probably goes on, including signing no other striker as they all turned him down......and he’s used that as a reason as to why he need stay? 

[roman_bairn]

The problem is we don't know what Holt does in the background. Perhaps it is a hell of a lot. But the problem is the results he has achieved in the Fan/Backroom interface which is the first team performance on match day has been extremely bad. I don't care if he works non stop getting youth players I only care about my boyhood club winning football matches and playing at a higher level. BIN

I think this is a really good point. He may well do some really good work behind the scenes that we don’t see but if that’s the case it wasn’t clear from the EGM. The problem for me is we have no real understanding of the remit of the Sporting Director role and if I’m honest, I can’t fathom out why it’s really required at all given that it appears to directly cut across the roles of others.
My main reason for wanting him gone however is really related to how much we plummeted even further after he replaced M and M. The players clearly didn’t respect him enough to try in the slightest, so he’s not the right man for me in a position of influence within the club…..

[StuartA]

6 hours ago, Davffc said:

Sorry but aren't the two FSS appointees also Patrons as are Gordon Wright and Ronnie Bateman ?

https://www.falkirkfc.co.uk/2021/12/02/club-update-new-faces-to-join-falkirk-fc-board-of-directors/

Whilst the two FSS appointees we are told are temporary it seems to me that regardless the Patrons group are effectively running the club via their appointments to the BOD and will be for some time - certainly until the end of the season. Whilst I'd prefer that the FSS appointees weren't also patrons that's water under the bridge for now.

Fair play to all the Patrons for putting their own money in so absolutely it is right they have some members on the BOD but all of them - looking from the outside it does seem to concentrate a lot of power in one group ?

I fully accept the new BOD needs time to sort the club out however we have two weeks until the transfer window opens with a new manager incoming this week. I think we can all agree that the curent squad won't win the league, and given the last few week's performances won't make the play-offs (at the right end of the table) unless the new manager can work some minor miracle without new recruits.

On that basis I don't think it unreasonable for fans to have some concerns about who may be identifying January signing targets given our recent history, and without knowing more about Martin Rennie's current knowledge of Scottish lower league players.

That's not a criticism just a genuine concern as I think his appointment is the right one given all the circumstances.

I agree we all need to pull in the same direction but I do think perhaps we need to hear something shortly from the patron's group/new BOD given the above. Perhaps tonight's meeting will go some way towards that if I understood what was said when the meeting was announced.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

All six directors have joined the patrons, that’s correct. The two FSS guys were approached before they signed up to the patrons’ group. They’re both also understand their mandate clearly, that they’re on the board as FSS reps. They were selected because they met the pretty challenging criteria we set, including agreeing to the interim nature of their positions. 

It’s also true that they’re all FSS members, as are many of the patrons, minor and major shareholders and others. Lots of them subscribe to Bairn for Life, Equity Bairns, and have contributed to the Crunchie Initiative fundraising. Some might have been Junior Bairns too, though that’s maybe stretching it  

The key point is that we want to get away from factional thinking - it’s a bit childish, and patrons are Falkirk fans too, just with a wee bit more to invest at the moment.  

[Angus of the Mo]

6 hours ago, roman_bairn said:

I think this is a really good point. He may well do some really good work behind the scenes that we don’t see but if that’s the case it wasn’t clear from the EGM. The problem for me is we have no real understanding of the remit of the Sporting Director role and if I’m honest, I can’t fathom out why it’s really required at all given that it appears to directly cut across the roles of others.
My main reason for wanting him gone however is really related to how much we plummeted even further after he replaced M and M. The players clearly didn’t respect him enough to try in the slightest, so he’s not the right man for me in a position of influence within the club…..

It's not my business, so apologies in advance, but this statement strikes me as being correct and possibly a route cause of problems.

Director of football is a grey area, how much say does the director have in choosing a team and how they play? It didnt work at Hearts, and what is the point in a director of football? If I was a manager with a clear game plan, I wouldnt want some director over ruling me, especially one that has helped steer the club in the wrong direction?

The position of Holt is one which I notice keeps creeping up in this thread. Apologies for any offence caused.

[AL-FFC]

38 minutes ago, Angus of the Mo said:

It's not my business, so apologies in advance, but this statement strikes me as being correct and possibly a route cause of problems.

Director of football is a grey area, how much say does the director have in choosing a team and how they play? It didnt work at Hearts, and what is the point in a director of football? If I was a manager with a clear game plan, I wouldnt want some director over ruling me, especially one that has helped steer the club in the wrong direction?

The position of Holt is one which I notice keeps creeping up in this thread. Apologies for any offence caused.

I wouldnt worry about it a lot of us are in the mindset if its recruitment he has done a p*ss poor job and failed, along with his retort directed to supporters after the thats a statement not a question, the fans are to blame for the poor performances and then the final kick in the balls by Holt himself not to mention signing his laddie.  Think there were some posts that suggested that he was throwing his oar in first team side of things. 

[Salvo Montalbano]

10 hours ago, Reggie Perrin said:

See you in the play offs.

It wouldn't surprise me tbf

[knee jerk reaction]

There's 2 ways the position with Holt can go and something needs done as he's toxic to a lot of fans at the moment. One way he's fired and out the club, the other way is the new board give a very precise statement about Holt's role and what he need to achieve in this role. This would take away any of the ambiguity about what he actually does or is responsible for. It seems to me as a fan but with no inside knowledge of the running of the club that no-one really knows who he signed or didn't and what he's doing day to day. If he's a positive with the new board and manager then good, if not he has to go and sooner rather than later.

[Shadwell Dog]

I actually think that I'd rather we had a dof or individual who knows feck all about football tactics etc and is simply excellent at getting deals over the line.  Manager identifies players or gets scouts to identify players and then runs the rule over them. The dof then organised contracts , wages etc so the manager can concentrate on the team.  That ensures there is no issues with whether the dof is getting involved in the football side of things. At our level you could possibly merge the dof/CEO role .  I don't see why Ian Fergus couldn't run the youth side of things himself. I'm not really sure why Holt would need to get involved much there.

 

[Shadwell Dog]

Anyone at the meet the directors thing last night?

[Albertobotswana]

Anyone know the time frames for MR?

When he is going to start or do media, will he be in charge on Saturday?

[FFC 1876]

18 minutes ago, Albertobotswana said:

Anyone know the time frames for MR?

When he is going to start or do media, will he be in charge on Saturday?

Going by what has already been said on here he arrived in the country today and as long as his PCR is negative then he'll start on Thursday, therefore I'd imagine he'll be in charge on Saturday. 

[ShaggerG]

3 hours ago, Shadwell Dog said:

I actually think that I'd rather we had a dof or individual who knows feck all about football tactics etc and is simply excellent at getting deals over the line.  Manager identifies players or gets scouts to identify players and then runs the rule over them. The dof then organised contracts , wages etc so the manager can concentrate on the team.  That ensures there is no issues with whether the dof is getting involved in the football side of things. At our level you could possibly merge the dof/CEO role .  I don't see why Ian Fergus couldn't run the youth side of things himself. I'm not really sure why Holt would need to get involved much there.

 

What's involved in running the youth squads?

[Proudtobeabairn]

As others have said, Fergus (and Swinney if needed) should be able to run the youth teams without Holts involvement.  
We have a scout in place to identify new targets. 
The CEO should be in a position to agree contracts. 
The manager should have the final say on players.  

What else is there for Holt to do?  I don't buy the 'he's indispensable' line.  

[Proudtobeabairn]

Hopefully when Rennie is in the country we get an FTV interview asap.  Would be great to hear what his goals and ambitions for the club are. 

One aspect of the 6mth contract might be that he has something lined up from the summer in the US and has no intention of committing longer.  Depends on how the contract has been agreed/discussed.  At face value it looks like we're protecting ourselves but may not be the case.  

Would be good to hear he's committed and plans to bring his family over and extend the deal if the first few months go well.  

[Guest]

15 hours ago, JulioBairn said:

Did anyone go for a chat with the new guys tonight? Anything interesting to report? When is Holt being made redundant?

Due to the format, everyone will have come away with a slightly different impression of what was said. There were individual tables, and the Board members split up, and spent a bit of time at each table. It worked well as a format, but of course, everyone’s experience was slightly different.

I was sat with a guy called Scott, and we were the only two at that table. We had Keith Gourlay, then Jaimie Swinney, then Kenny Jameson, Gordon Wright, and a few moments with David White.

The elephant in room was of course, Gary Holt. I think every table voiced concerns to varying degrees, but a repeated message was that the Board accept and believe in the model, but were keen to get across the message that he didn’t involve himself in first team duties at all, and has absolutely no desire to do that.

There were hints that the “better players” were Holt’s signings before Sheerin arrived, but Sheerin was responsible for many of the signings thereafter……,and not just Ruth. Sheerin simply could not transfer from the training ground to the pitch and was (as we all know) unwilling to try new things, and stuck by players regardless of performance.

No leaders on the park, too few players getting involved when we don’t have the ball. It’s the “transition” thing from having possession, losing possession and regaining possession that has been highlighted by Rennie (and Rice tbf). That actually goes back to Pep’s mantra at Barca, Bayern and Man C which was once possession was lost, he wanted it back within 6 seconds, or he wanted it out of play. We don’t have the players prepared to do that, and the plan is to (hopefully) bring in a four man spine with leadership abilities as well as footballing abilities.

Up close and personal, these guys are night and day compared to what has done before, and while inexperienced, every one of them came across as quick learners. I didn’t sense there being any bad apples in the room…..quite the opposite in fact.