The Falkirk FC Thread

[Guest]

13 hours ago, HopeStreetWalker said:

Get your point it's future seasons i'm on about.

The club has been very lucky with a fanbase that has dug deep in financial challenging times over the last few seasons.

Factoring in a begging bowl if things go wrong to save the club just ain't sustainable and that's my point.

Would rather set a budget that's achievable and if there is a surplus mid-season take it from there. If that means a smaller squad, hybrid so be it.

At least we would have a club to support.

In the mid 70's when we nearly went bust and went part-time it was miserable I don't want that again.

I agree. I’d rather support a club in League One than have no club to support at all. We’ve seen clubs with much smaller budgets get out of this league before us so we could still challenge for the title with less of a budget. 

Also don’t see the harm in a hybrid structure if required. Don’t think we’ll get much more out of Jordan Allan being a full time player than if we had just paid a little more on his wage to remain as a part time player. 

Problem we may have if we don’t get out of the league this year we’ll probably still have several players on pretty good  wages. Fingers crossed we can get out but like you, I do worry about going forward as a club as they even said we’d have the same deficit regardless of promotion. 

Again, we just need to hope more continue to join FSS and as @Bairney The Dinosaur said, hopefully the patrons and MSG will invest more too. 

Edited August 2, 2023 by Van_damage

[FalkirkBairn2021]

I think if we were transparent about the wages we're paying (I know we can't be) and bonuses we'd get a shock at how much we are paying the mediocre dross that's our squad. That's the problem imo.

 

[Reggie Perrin]

31 minutes ago, FalkirkBairn2021 said:

I think if we were transparent about the wages we're paying (I know we can't be) and bonuses we'd get a shock at how much we are paying the mediocre dross that's our squad. That's the problem imo.

 

I would expect us to have the largest salary bill in this league but given that Tumilty (thankfully) knocked us back for Hamilton it would indicate that we are not throwing daft money around.

[Springfield]

4 minutes ago, Reggie Perrin said:

I would expect us to have the largest salary bill in this league but given that Tumilty (thankfully) knocked us back for Hamilton it would indicate that we are not throwing daft money around.

I don’t think we have been throwing daft money about, and probably have some players ie McGinn who command the top wages.
Players are signing for the club as we are giving two year deals slightly better than our rivals.

Recently had a conversation with a players father in law, who is part time with a club in our league, the wages between PT football is not that far behind FT players in this league.

[ebobsboy]

32 minutes ago, Reggie Perrin said:

I would expect us to have the largest salary bill in this league but given that Tumilty (thankfully) knocked us back for Hamilton it would indicate that we are not throwing daft money around.

Or it could be McGlynn had the deal done till he put his hand in the biscuit tin and found it was empty leaving Tumilty no choice but to re sign for Hamilton 

[LatapyBairn.]

2 hours ago, Springfield said:

Five or so BODs have been at the helm with this pre season deficit for a decade and beyond as quoted by one of the current BOD guys. You would think that some inroads would have been achieved by now. So far it doesn’t make good reading. The last major cash investment was the Rawlings who’ve disappeared off the side of a cliff,  and the goodwill of the patron group. I sincerely hope that the current BOD are successful, but I don’t think without major external investment we will be a pt/hybrid model very soon. There’s not a chance in hell the FSS are going to get near this deficit, but let’s thank every single fan that’s now contributing to around £80K a year. 

The last major cash investment was actually from the patrons group which came after the Rawlings bought into the club(around 300k or so) Then there was also the Scottish government loan as well. 

Edited August 1, 2023 by LatapyBairn.

[ShaggerG]

2 hours ago, Springfield said:

Five or so BODs have been at the helm with this pre season deficit for a decade and beyond as quoted by one of the current BOD guys. You would think that some inroads would have been achieved by now. So far it doesn’t make good reading. The last major cash investment was the Rawlings who’ve disappeared off the side of a cliff,  and the goodwill of the patron group. I sincerely hope that the current BOD are successful, but I don’t think without major external investment we will be a pt/hybrid model very soon. There’s not a chance in hell the FSS are going to get near this deficit, but let’s thank every single fan that’s now contributing to around £80K a year. 

Aye, but that's all a bit different from them having their 'heads in the sand'.

[Reggie Perrin]

11 minutes ago, ebobsboy said:

Or it could be McGlynn had the deal done till he put his hand in the biscuit tin and found it was empty leaving Tumilty no choice but to re sign for Hamilton 

Not buying that.

The Manager would have been aware exactly what budget he was working with.

[Blame Me]

1 hour ago, ShaggerG said:

Aye, but that's all a bit different from them having their 'heads in the sand'.

The main issue for me is the perceived goal of becoming "sustainable".

Sustainable for whom?

The recurring deficit is attributed mainly to maintaining the football budget which has remained broadly similar since our relegation from the Premier league in '09 in relation to income if I have understood correctly.

Having gone through the period where we bled numerous youngsters because we were skint and the relative halcyon days of our recent cup finals and player sales I would question whether it's ever possible to become sustainable, even in the Premier League. 

That our finances will still show the 400K deficit with a reduced cost base - likely subsumed by inflation lately, improved commercial income and continually strong season ticket sales and yet our outgoings still exceed our revenue.

I'll venture that on our hoped for ever upward trajectory these costs won't reduce even with the potential gains of higher league placings - which have already been confirmed as correlating to budget spend.

We are and will continue to be asked to pay a premium for a variable product which is a shaky business model.

Edited August 1, 2023 by Blame Me
Reworded

[Forever_Blue_]

28 minutes ago, Blame Me said:

The main issue for me is the perceived goal of becoming "sustainable".

Sustainable for whom?

The recurring deficit is attributed mainly to maintaining the football budget which has remained broadly similar since our relegation from the Premier league in '09 in relation to income if I have understood correctly.

Having gone through the period where we bled numerous youngsters because we were skint and the relative halcyon days of our recent cup finals and player sales I would question whether it's ever possible to become sustainable, even in the Premier League. 

That our finances will still show the 400K deficit with a reduced cost base - likely subsumed by inflation lately, improved commercial income and continually strong season ticket sales and yet our outgoings still exceed our revenue.

I'll venture that on our hoped for ever upward trajectory these costs won't reduce even with the potential gains of higher league placings - which have already been confirmed as correlating to budget spend.

We are and will continue to be asked to pay a premium for a variable product which is a shaky business model.

Just a thought.. Didn't Jamie say in one of his videos the club have budgetted for a reduced level of season ticket sales? Can't remember if it was around 2,200? Considering we're at 2,500 it's hopefully helping contribute to the £400k forecasted deficit. 

[ebobsboy]

6 hours ago, Reggie Perrin said:

Not buying that.

The Manager would have been aware exactly what budget he was working with.

That being the case he's made a right pigs ear of it by not bringing in a right back for a priority position that he himself said needed addressing at the end of last season.

[Springfield]

5 hours ago, Forever_Blue_ said:

Just a thought.. Didn't Jamie say in one of his videos the club have budgetted for a reduced level of season ticket sales? Can't remember if it was around 2,200? Considering we're at 2,500 it's hopefully helping contribute to the £400k forecasted deficit. 

The club will know that the revenue that our fife neighbours (two sell out away gates) and Airdrie bring will be a considerable loss this year and will no doubt affect our finances. It will also be dependent on how many home PATG supporters numbers continue to support the club. First home game of the new league season on Saturday and hopefully a good home turn out. 

[FK1Bairn]

1 hour ago, ebobsboy said:

That being the case he's made a right pigs ear of it by not bringing in a right back for a priority position that he himself said needed addressing at the end of last season.

We absolutely need a right back. We also needed a new CH, CM and strikers, all of which we got. Ideally we would have got a RB at the same time. 

Hypothetically, if it was a choice of a RB above one of what we brought in who would you not have signed? 

[PedroMoutinho]

55 minutes ago, FK1Bairn said:

We absolutely need a right back. We also needed a new CH, CM and strikers, all of which we got. Ideally we would have got a RB at the same time. 

Hypothetically, if it was a choice of a RB above one of what we brought in who would you not have signed? 

I think the issue is more that we have a number of players who are either on extended deals or who have been offered/triggered extensions and will not contribute much for various reasons.

[Disco Duck]

10 hours ago, ebobsboy said:

Or it could be McGlynn had the deal done till he put his hand in the biscuit tin and found it was empty leaving Tumilty no choice but to re sign for Hamilton 

Or maybe Tumilty is McGlynns secret love child and it would be too awkward having him around.  See, we can all just make shit up.

[Believe The Hype]

1 hour ago, FK1Bairn said:

Hypothetically, if it was a choice of a RB above one of what we brought in who would you not have signed? 

Nesbitts 2 year extension. 

[Disco Duck]

22 minutes ago, Believe The Hype said:

Nesbitts 2 year extension. 

Would you have extended his contract for one year?  And how much did it cost us?

[Big chungus]

1 hour ago, FK1Bairn said:

We absolutely need a right back. We also needed a new CH, CM and strikers, all of which we got. Ideally we would have got a RB at the same time. 

Hypothetically, if it was a choice of a RB above one of what we brought in who would you not have signed? 

Wouldn’t have resigned Nesbitt. Although I like the look of Calvin Miller so far I would have signed a right back before him. You’ve also got to say that Jordan Allan is looking like a right waste of money, which you have to say is Mcglynns fault. To pay money for a striker that does not fit into your style of play is just really poor man management.

[Believe The Hype]

27 minutes ago, Disco Duck said:

Would you have extended his contract for one year?  And how much did it cost us?

No, not at the time it was done either without knowing what league we would be in. No idea how much it cost us, but let's say he's on 30k a year (probably more) that's an extra 60k we could have used for a decent one year contract to entice someone? 

Of course it's just speculation on his wages, might be way off the mark, but using common sense it would be there or there abouts surely. I just can't see him contributing anything that will merit the contract. Would love to be proved wrong of course. 

[Proudtobeabairn]

Handing out 2 year deals to players who aren't good enough holds back our signing options every year. Did McGlynn really need to give Sean Mackie 2 years last summer? Next summer Jordan Allan will still have a year to go too.