The Falkirk FC Thread

[Hank von Hell]

12 hours ago, Richie Sacramento said:

My understanding is that the board are keen to try and ensure the club is not only in a sustainable position this year, but next year and beyond.

As a fan-owned club, if that is to work, means the income generated by the club every year needs to be able to sustain the outgoings, and all needs to come via the fans. If we all still want the same things...a competitve first team, growing the academy again, then all that needs to be funded by us as the owners, whether thats via FSS, Patrons or individuals buying more shares, 10 year tickets, hospitality, etc etc.

Saying 'the gap is filled' suggests theres no need for more investment...the truth is if we want to grow the club, even if we do get promotion, then investment is still needed as the 'gap' needs to be filled every year.

So if it's to be another season in L1 next year what will sustainable look like? Part time? Or pushing the boat out to get up, more 2 yr contracts to attract better players etc? Another gap? Tough task ahead for those who stood up for the rest of us.   

If we do go up investment in the squad will certainly be needed and such is the history of our club and fanbase we will have ambitions of going up again.

IMO completely fan owned is not for us at present whilst we try to get back to the top league. The slow take up on FSS subs adds to my worry, and there is only so many times you can go to Patreons for more money. Far better to keep the likes of MR & SA on board just in case along with a strong fans voice. 

Part owned by the fans is fine for now, we won't be a sustainable club until we reach the promised land once more. Hopefully by then we will be selling our academy developed players again for big money plus future add-ons (sustainable) and be the number one large concert venue in Scotland. Essentially where we were before the fools in charge (at the time) messed up badly.         

 

  

 

[PedroMoutinho]

16 minutes ago, Hank von Hell said:

So if it's to be another season in L1 next year what will sustainable look like? Part time? Or pushing the boat out to get up, more 2 yr contracts to attract better players etc? Another gap? Tough task ahead for those who stood up for the rest of us.   

If we do go up investment in the squad will certainly be needed and such is the history of our club and fanbase we will have ambitions of going up again.

IMO completely fan owned is not for us at present whilst we try to get back to the top league. The slow take up on FSS subs adds to my worry, and there is only so many times you can go to Patreons for more money. Far better to keep the likes of MR & SA on board just in case along with a strong fans voice. 

Part owned by the fans is fine for now, we won't be a sustainable club until we reach the promised land once more. Hopefully by then we will be selling our academy developed players again for big money plus future add-ons (sustainable) and be the number one large concert venue in Scotland. Essentially where we were before the fools in charge (at the time) messed up badly.         

 

  

 

I agree with most of this except this idea which I’ve seen raised a few times that somehow the only way to make money from transfers is through the academy.

We as a club have also had considerable success from identifying young players who’ve either fallen out of bigger clubs’ youth systems or from lower leagues and selling them on- Taylor, Vaulks, Wallace etc and in my view, this is an area we should be prioritising. 

Hartley signing a bunch of young duds is no more an argument for solely focusing on the academy than the likes of a Blues or  O’Hara are for scrapping it. 

Yates, Burrell and Lawal are all examples of players who didn’t come through our academy but who could potentially be developed and sold on. I wouldn’t want to see that policy scrapped in favour of dogmatically throwing all resources at the academy.

[Reggie Perrin]

1 hour ago, PedroMoutinho said:

I agree with most of this except this idea which I’ve seen raised a few times that somehow the only way to make money from transfers is through the academy.

We as a club have also had considerable success from identifying young players who’ve either fallen out of bigger clubs’ youth systems or from lower leagues and selling them on- Taylor, Vaulks, Wallace etc and in my view, this is an area we should be prioritising. 

Hartley signing a bunch of young duds is no more an argument for solely focusing on the academy than the likes of a Blues or  O’Hara are for scrapping it. 

Yates, Burrell and Lawal are all examples of players who didn’t come through our academy but who could potentially be developed and sold on. I wouldn’t want to see that policy scrapped in favour of dogmatically throwing all resources at the academy.

Absolutely no reason why we can’t have a successful academy and develop young prospects sourced from other clubs.

[Bairn in Exile]

1 hour ago, PedroMoutinho said:

I agree with most of this except this idea which I’ve seen raised a few times that somehow the only way to make money from transfers is through the academy.

We as a club have also had considerable success from identifying young players who’ve either fallen out of bigger clubs’ youth systems or from lower leagues and selling them on- Taylor, Vaulks, Wallace etc and in my view, this is an area we should be prioritising. 

Hartley signing a bunch of young duds is no more an argument for solely focusing on the academy than the likes of a Blues or  O’Hara are for scrapping it. 

Yates, Burrell and Lawal are all examples of players who didn’t come through our academy but who could potentially be developed and sold on. I wouldn’t want to see that policy scrapped in favour of dogmatically throwing all resources at the academy.

Excellent post.

History has shown us that neither way of sourcing new, young players is 100% successful so it makes sense not to put all our eggs in the one basket and put all our resources into one method to the exclusion of the other. Both have their positives and negatives.

[Hank von Hell]

5 hours ago, Bairn in Exile said:

Excellent post.

History has shown us that neither way of sourcing new, young players is 100% successful so it makes sense not to put all our eggs in the one basket and put all our resources into one method to the exclusion of the other. Both have their positives and negatives.

I never said they were mutually exclusive, nor 100% successful.

Of course, we should be open to both options but personally speaking I'd rather see homegrown star players like we once produced. And that will take time, a lot of time......so let's hope the recruitment is better than it has been as we will be solely sourcing players from others for a while yet.   

 

[Guest]

8 hours ago, PedroMoutinho said:

I agree with most of this except this idea which I’ve seen raised a few times that somehow the only way to make money from transfers is through the academy.

We as a club have also had considerable success from identifying young players who’ve either fallen out of bigger clubs’ youth systems or from lower leagues and selling them on- Taylor, Vaulks, Wallace etc and in my view, this is an area we should be prioritising. 

Hartley signing a bunch of young duds is no more an argument for solely focusing on the academy than the likes of a Blues or  O’Hara are for scrapping it. 

Yates, Burrell and Lawal are all examples of players who didn’t come through our academy but who could potentially be developed and sold on. I wouldn’t want to see that policy scrapped in favour of dogmatically throwing all resources at the academy.

Cameron Blues is captain of a team 4th in the Championship. 

[Grangemouth Bairn]

39 minutes ago, Back Post Misses said:

Cameron Blues is captain of a team 4th in the Championship. 

Yes, and any reports I’ve heard are that he’s playing very well. But why let facts get in the way of an agenda.

[FFC 1876]

Can't see any legs in the Tumilty rumour, he seems to be playing every week for Hartlepool. Hetherington to Arbroath would be absolutely magic.

Barjonas hasn't really done much in the games against us I thought Nicky Low was more influential when we played them at home, Agyeman on the other hand would be a good addition as he looks a right handful.

Paton will have most likely impressed enough to get a far better move than ourselves.

[Bairnardo]

2 minutes ago, FFC 1876 said:

Can't see any legs in the Tumilty rumour, he seems to be playing every week for Hartlepool. Hetherington to Arbroath would be absolutely magic.

Barjonas hasn't really done much in the games against us I thought Nicky Low was more influential when we played them at home, Agyeman on the other hand would be a good addition as he looks a right handful.

Paton will have most likely impressed enough to get a far better move than ourselves.

What have I missed

[FFC 1876]

6 minutes ago, Bairnardo said:

What have I missed

First paragraph was mentioned on Falkirk daft and the other two somebody mentioned as a rumour earlier in this thread.

[PedroMoutinho]

2 hours ago, Back Post Misses said:

Cameron Blues is captain of a team 4th in the Championship. 

Was purely an example of an academy developed player who was not good enough for us. 

We were also told by those running the previous academy that players like O’Hara, Gallagher and Blair were going to be superstars and look how that prediction ended up.

Edited December 28, 2022 by PedroMoutinho

[PedroMoutinho]

3 hours ago, Hank von Hell said:

I never said they were mutually exclusive, nor 100% successful.

Of course, we should be open to both options but personally speaking I'd rather see homegrown star players like we once produced. And that will take time, a lot of time......so let's hope the recruitment is better than it has been as we will be solely sourcing players from others for a while yet.   

 

Personally I think the priority should be sourcing and developing the best possible players regardless of where they come from. I doubt many people would say Will Vaulks lacked a connection to the fans because he wasn’t an academy graduate.

[Guest]

8 minutes ago, PedroMoutinho said:

Was purely an example of an academy developed player who was not good enough for us. 

We were also told by those running the previous academy that players like O’Hara, Gallagher and Blair were going to be superstars and look how that prediction ended up.

Blair and Gallagher brought in c400k between them in transfer fees. 

[Guest]

8 minutes ago, PedroMoutinho said:

Personally I think the priority should be sourcing and developing the best possible players regardless of where they come from. I doubt many people would say Will Vaulks lacked a connection to the fans because he wasn’t an academy graduate.

You really are some sort of visionary. Who would have thought a club is successful that gets its recruitment right. 

[Guest]

13 minutes ago, PedroMoutinho said:

Was purely an example of an academy developed player who was not good enough for us. 

We were also told by those running the previous academy that players like O’Hara, Gallagher and Blair were going to be superstars and look how that prediction ended up.

Not good enough for us but is captaining in the Championship? FFS will Falkirk fans ever learn? You will have Morton fans like @virginton slaughtering you for that sort of comment. 

[PedroMoutinho]

3 minutes ago, Back Post Misses said:

You really are some sort of visionary. Who would have thought a club is successful that gets its recruitment right. 

The point is if you throw all your resources at the academy as some are advocating, there is little left over to take a punt on prospects like Yeats or Lawal. In my view the new board are taking the correct approach to youth development by limiting spending on the academy until at least 2026.

Just now, Back Post Misses said:

Not good enough for us but is captaining in the Championship? FFS will Falkirk fans ever learn? You will have Morton fans like @virginton slaughtering you for that sort of comment. 

He was not good enough for us and couldn’t get into a very poor Falkirk team at the time. 

[PedroMoutinho]

2 hours ago, Grangemouth Bairn said:

Yes, and any reports I’ve heard are that he’s playing very well. But why let facts get in the way of an agenda.

Nothing do to work agendas. I have the current board for the approach they’re taking to the academy- i.e. not throwing money at it.

[Bairnardo]

2 minutes ago, Back Post Misses said:

Not good enough for us but is captaining in the Championship? FFS will Falkirk fans ever learn? You will have Morton fans like @virginton slaughtering you for that sort of comment. 

We will never know with Blues. He undeniably looked a bit shit for us, but he didnt have the luxury of being eased into a decent side, which was there for him under Houston IIRC, he was in and around then, but then the whole thing went to f**k and we had the likes of Hartley chucking him in at left back against Dundee Utd where he took an absolute battering. He never got the opportunity at all so theres no real point in lamenting him from our point of view. 

[FFC 1876]

2 hours ago, PedroMoutinho said:

Personally I think the priority should be sourcing and developing the best possible players regardless of where they come from. I doubt many people would say Will Vaulks lacked a connection to the fans because he wasn’t an academy graduate.

It's all about balance, academy graduates are generally on a lower wage which gives you more of the budget to recruit your Taylor's, Vaulks etc from down south. 

For years we were hopeless at recruiting and didn't have an academy so we were fucked on both fronts. McGlynn's done a lot better on the recruitment side of things, I'd class Gary Oliver as his only failure.

Hopefully the likes of Connolly, Honeyman & Walker come back better players having had regular game time on loan and then we've got Pearse Carroll who looks gifted.

Edited December 28, 2022 by FFC 1876

[Guest]

41 minutes ago, PedroMoutinho said:

The point is if you throw all your resources at the academy as some are advocating, there is little left over to take a punt on prospects like Yeats or Lawal. In my view the new board are taking the correct approach to youth development by limiting spending on the academy until at least 2026.

He was not good enough for us and couldn’t get into a very poor Falkirk team at the time. 

Who is advocating throwing all our resource at the Academy?