Walking Down The Halbeath Road

[HoBNob]

1 hour ago, 101 said:

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I'm not entirely sure how much of this is in their control? You probably could spend 10x as much on fast contractors but if the council don't grant permission until 13 months after you thought you would be in then I don't know what anyone would do. 

On top of that the roofing contractor going bust half way through the project isn't ideal.

Unless I've missed a statement, why is none of this getting communicated? 

[Salvo Montalbano]

According to the excellent Narey's Toe Poker, we are the only side in the entire SPFL not to have made any January signings. 

[Stellaboz]

6 hours ago, Grant228 said:

Unless I've missed a statement, why is none of this getting communicated? 

I don't know, I have my worries about the club but in this case...possibly not to tip off all the roofer firms in the area that we're looking for a replacement and with increasing pressure on the project they don't want the price to get bumped up?

[101]

6 hours ago, Grant228 said:

Unless I've missed a statement, why is none of this getting communicated? 

Hardly a secret that Braisby roofing was working down there and has since gone bust. It was in the Dunfermline press.

As for the planning delay that is a matter of public knowledge on the council website.

As for why the club has decided not to do a statement on the issues I have no idea, maybe they aren't as big an issue as them seem from the outside looking in but it would explain some of the delay.

[Guest Wind Chime Jimmy]

8 hours ago, 101 said:

I guess where QP have exceeded is their coaches must have a higher certificate and more medical/ sport science staff along with some of their players maybe making the Scotland teams? I guess the German investment has taken on the payroll of the entire coaching set up and facility hire. 

FEFA only really failed because we were the only team bank rolling it, there is a reasonable amount of players that have made it from the academy into senior football.

Yogi clearly didn't fancy anyone other than the usual suspects. Max Little you would imagine came from the scouting network plenty time to see if that will work out for us. Also making sure we bring in the right players has also been a massive change to get away from bringing in rockets like Kyle Turner or Paul Watson who on the face of it were good enough footballers but clearly shook the dressing room up badly.

I thought it was poor decision making to put so much emphasis on the scouting when you take one look at Tory immigration policy and know that getting in folk will be difficult, when we can't even get nurses in what chances does a minor football club have

Really? I'm not sure I would agree that they are hiding behind anyone but I don't think we are as good as when Bob Garmory was chairman.

 

I'm not entirely sure how much of this is in their control? You probably could spend 10x as much on fast contractors but if the council don't grant permission until 13 months after you thought you would be in then I don't know what anyone would do. 

On top of that the roofing contractor going bust half way through the project isn't ideal.

I would agree, we need to have a plan in place to wean ourselves off volunteer labour. And support David otherwise we will just burn out someone else trying to work 24/7.

I think there are green shoots but by no means perfect. I'm not sure what more I'd expect of the board in league 1, obviously can demand a lot but is it realistic? I'm not so sure. 

Would it be great to have an elite academy in L1? sure. Is it necessary, I don't think so. Something to aim for in the next 2/3 years.

Would it be great to have a number of young European players looking to forge a career in the UK? Sure. But can we get them through the visa process, I doubt it.

Would it be great to have a fully functioning training ground and have had to planning process settled long ago? Sure, but is there much the board of a football club can do? I doubt it. If there was I suspect they would have done it.

Would it be great to have a staff fit to run the football club? Yes, but is that a great way to spend the cash, in roles like David that bring cash back into the club, there even seems to be a recruitment issue for bar and hospitality stuff so where staff are needed they are clearly bringing folk in. 

The absolute shambles of the last season is now well behind us thankfully but I'm sure still taking a toll on the finances. 

 

That's a very long post now, apologies

Well you're in with the club given the PST etc so your opinion is a bit of a club response to a fellow fans concern. Or am I wide of the mark?

[HoBNob]

24 minutes ago, 101 said:

Hardly a secret that Braisby roofing was working down there and has since gone bust. It was in the Dunfermline press.

As for the planning delay that is a matter of public knowledge on the council website.

As for why the club has decided not to do a statement on the issues I have no idea, maybe they aren't as big an issue as them seem from the outside looking in but it would explain some of the delay.

Again, maybe it's just me being out the loop, or being a bit lazy. 

 

But I wasn't keeping track of what contractors are working down there, nor am I scouring the council website for planning permission? I wouldn't have the first idea where to look for that. 

I'd say our training ground being delayed by this much is a pretty big issue, as you can see from this thread it's something people feel strongly about. Instead at the recent meeting it was about 10 seconds of David Cooks time. 

[101]

1 hour ago, Wind Chime Jimmy said:

Well you're in with the club given the PST etc so your opinion is a bit of a club response to a fellow fans concern. Or am I wide of the mark?

Definitely my own opinion, I didn't know when the planning application had been approved until I looked it up following CallumPars post about it.

I have no idea on any of the financials and I have only ever seen David Cook at supporters meetings, I doubt he knows who I am so I'm not sure I would say I'm in with the club and I'm sure they would disagree with some of my post.

If I thought anyone was taking anything I put on here as remotely ITK then I wouldn't post it as you will be severely disappointed.

56 minutes ago, Grant228 said:

Again, maybe it's just me being out the loop, or being a bit lazy. 

 

But I wasn't keeping track of what contractors are working down there, nor am I scouring the council website for planning permission? I wouldn't have the first idea where to look for that. 

I'd say our training ground being delayed by this much is a pretty big issue, as you can see from this thread it's something people feel strongly about. Instead at the recent meeting it was about 10 seconds of David Cooks time. 

No I agree, unless you had driven past there you wouldn't have known that Braisbys roofing was being used, although at the time it obviously made sense.

I agree it would have been good for the club to confirm the planning aspect of the artificial pitch had been approved, but that's really up to them what they put statements out on and I wasn't at the most recent supporters meeting so no idea if anyone asked questions on Rosyth.

I think more communication is better and a lack of stuff.

[DA Baracus]

8 hours ago, parsforlife said:

I didn’t say large sums of money, I said more money.   Again,  this was something the investment group stated they would provide,  they clearly haven’t.

I don’t know why you want to be petty about things you know fine well I can’t provide, but I can’t give you a number of examples of projects going more smoothly,  something roughly on the spend we are looking at is often done in 18 months, a year if things go well.  What is your justification for it looking like it’s going to take far more than double that time?  

League 1 simply isn't attractive, especially to international players. It wouldn't be the case of just a little bit more money, it would be the case of significantly more money to even tempt the type of player who was viable, in terms of visas etc, to consider it.

So we're back to the club refusing to spend money then. Why do you believe this is the case? When did the investors say they would be providing large sums of cash for transfers incidentally?

[CallumPar]

10 hours ago, 101 said:

The planning application was actually approved on the 27th September, so no doubt they will be aiming to have it ready for pre season.

https://planning.fife.gov.uk/online/applicationDetails.do?activeTab=documents&keyVal=RDZALFHFIPX00

I think it would be good to get an update on this. This time last year, we were expecting it to be ready for pre-season last year. Obviously these issues were unforeseen, regarding the length of time this took. But I’d been told that we haven’t started the work to sort the drainage, which is what I meant regarding not starting the work to have planning permission. Since we don’t have approval to install the artificial pitch until that’s completed.

To be fair, you’ll probably know a lot better than me. If you’ve been told that there’s been progress, I’d believe that and accept that my info was obviously wrong.

I do also understand that cost of materials and labour has increased astronomically since plans started. With that in mind, it would be foolish if they hadn’t scaled plans back a bit - at least for the time being. Prioritise the basics - pitches, security, changing rooms etc.

I still have questions around the transfer policy. However, I don’t doubt that they are still working hard to bring in players. Need to wait and see if they bring in players that were worth waiting for. What I will say, is that I haven’t seen Falkirk or QoS bring in anyone that I wish we’d signed. So I don’t feel like we’ve missed out on anyone. After last year, where they let Grant and Hughes sign masses of duds, I can understand a bit more caution. But 3 permanent signings in 2 windows isn’t great. Hopefully they find a decent middle ground for the summer.

As I’ve said already though, we’ll find out come the end of April whether they got it right with transfers. If we win the league, they will deserve credit for not spending more than required to get out of here.

[DA Baracus]

Always thought it was the manager and his staff who identified players to sign. We've been told McPake has been given a budget.

Are we now suddenly saying that the board are the ones making the signings, or in this case refusing to make signings? Even though it was confirmed in the summer that McPake tried to make more signings that fell through?

[101]

19 minutes ago, CallumPar said:

To be fair, you’ll probably know a lot better than me. If you’ve been told that there’s been progress, I’d believe that and accept that my info was obviously wrong.

Tbf you can see in the planning application all the stuff about the water which suggests progress and the young team were playing on the grass, no idea if they still are with the weather, so I guess there has been some progress. 

[Bairn in Exile]

3 hours ago, Salvo Montalbano said:

According to the excellent Narey's Toe Poker, we are the only side in the entire SPFL not to have made any January signings. 

[CallumPar]

25 minutes ago, DA Baracus said:

Always thought it was the manager and his staff who identified players to sign. We've been told McPake has been given a budget.

Are we now suddenly saying that the board are the ones making the signings, or in this case refusing to make signings? Even though it was confirmed in the summer that McPake tried to make more signings that fell through?

I was under the impression that McPake/scouts identify targets and it’s the board that discuss contracts/compensation with the players/selling club. That was certainly the case pre-covid. I know that it was always Ross McArthur that negotiated contracts. The manager just said who he wanted them to be offered to. This is fairly standard in modern football, I believe. Would imagine Cook/Meggle are the people that would take on that role at Dunfermline.

This is why I mention the board regarding signings. McPake’s interviews certainly sound like he’s done his part of identifying the targets (that’s been the same both windows), but for some reason the transfers never seem to be completed.

[DA Baracus]

4 minutes ago, CallumPar said:

I was under the impression that McPake/scouts identify targets and it’s the board that discuss contracts/compensation with the players/selling club. That was certainly the case pre-covid. I know that it was always Ross McArthur that negotiated contracts. The manager just said who he wanted them to be offered to. This is fairly standard in modern football, I believe. Would imagine Cook/Meggle are the people that would take on that role at Dunfermline.

This is why I mention the board regarding signings. McPake’s interviews certainly sound like he’s done his part of identifying the targets (that’s been the same both windows), but for some reason the transfers never seem to be completed.

Which would suggest you might think the board are, for some reason, refusing to pay wages for signings. 

Why? And why do you think they've lied to the fans about it? What is the conspiracy here?

[CallumPar]

34 minutes ago, DA Baracus said:

Which would suggest you might think the board are, for some reason, refusing to pay wages for signings. 

Why? And why do you think they've lied to the fans about it? What is the conspiracy here?

What conspiracy? I think you’re looking for something that’s not there in my post. I have never said that they are “refusing to pay wages” or “lied to fans”. I don’t believe either of those to be true, so no idea why you’re making that up. I just replied to your post claiming that the man identifying players is to blame. Reality is, we have no idea what the issues have been. It’s most likely partly McPake’s fault, partly the board’s fault. 

There’s probably been multiple issues here. Board are probably (understandably) more cautious after the money wasted on Grant/Hughes signings. McPake could be identifying targets that don’t want to come to this club/this level, in which case, we don’t want to pay premiums for players who don’t want to be here. I’m sure there are lots of issues that have come into play.

But it’s hard to deny that something’s gone wrong. It seemed clear from the manager’s interviews that we were wanting to make signings and we haven’t. Regardless of who is to blame, it’s something that needs to be sorted.

Edited February 2, 2023 by CallumPar

[Heaton]

I'd get it not being an issue our end if other clubs hadn't managed to bring people in but they have. That was the excuse used in the summer but it isn't the case here. 

 

Transparency by the club on what has been the sticking point can go along way here.

Communication seems to be the common issue on this thread for the past few days. Having meetings with fans it fantastic and regular posts on social media etc are all good, if there is content. If the content and topics aren't covered that we want to hear about and let's face it they are fairly big items about the club and its future, then they need covering and transparently.

Edited February 2, 2023 by Heaton

[DA Baracus]

What updates can the club give on potential signings? That some players were offered deals and turned them down? That some clubs rejected bids? 

There's plenty or fans who would say they were lying anyway.

[parsforlife]

8 hours ago, DA Baracus said:

League 1 simply isn't attractive, especially to international players. It wouldn't be the case of just a little bit more money, it would be the case of significantly more money to even tempt the type of player who was viable, in terms of visas etc, to consider it.

So we're back to the club refusing to spend money then. Why do you believe this is the case? When did the investors say they would be providing large sums of cash for transfers incidentally?

Danger of going round in circles here but

They stated they were going to expand the market of players we were going to select players from, so either they somehow thought they could do that for little money or they were aware of the additional cost and haven’t funded that.   Either way they haven’t achieved one of the key reasons they became involved with the club.

[Rob1885]

fucking hell fire, this thread btw 

[The Toun Clock]

Notice in the weekly manager interview McPake has now confirmed we were in for Euan Murray, he wanted to come but Hartlepool were holding out to get someone in, didn't and now that's done. Sounds like it could be something in the summer, McPake a big fan apparently.