Falkirk fan in the WeKnowSFA spotlight: Part 1

Musical and midfield maestros

As well as being the guitarist and songwriter in acclaimed band The State Broadcasters, Graeme Black is a Falkirk fan. In what will hopefully become a regular feature at WeKnowSFA, we have caught up with Graeme to get his thoughts about his club and the state of the game today.

The interview went so well, we are going to spread it out over a few days and we will take the opportunity to let you get to know Graeme’s band a little bit better.

Graeme recently gave our close friends at Cold Blooded Clarity a five song playlist, which will give you an insight into his musical preferences but for now, football chat.

We’ll start off with some simple questions about the best times as a Falkirk fan.

Who is the best player you have seen at Falkirk and then, the worst?

GB: Since I started supporting them 25 years ago, it would have to be Kevin McAllister. We’ve had some great names like Chris Waddle and Mo Johnstone who are clearly good players but McAllister is undoubtedly the best player I’ve ever seen. Worst player…..far too many to mention.

There are different types of worst players. We had a guy called from Vince Mennie from Dundee, and he was on relatively big money.

This was when we were a yo-yo club and he was absolutely honking. We had a habit of signing players who scored a barrel of goals for other clubs but nothing for us.

Ken Eadie* scored tons for Clydebank and our hopes were on him, he scored 6, we punted him and he then scored loads more again for Clydebank. We also had Paul Wright, Tommy Coyne…guys who were prolific and then they signed for us.

(Edit: * Apologies, in the interview, we thought Graeme referred to the striker as Kennedy. He has since informed us it was Ken Eadie, sorry!)

Was it the midfielders fault for not making the chances?

GB: Err, Wright played when we had a great midfield but it just never clicked. There are some instances of players not being used properly; there were times when Mo Johnstone played right midfield for us! Jim Jefferies signed him and Johnstone was brilliant for the half season under Jefferies.

Jefferies went to Hearts and the board, in their infinite wisdom, appointed John Lambie. Lambie was the exact opposite of what Jefferies was doing for us and his style of play. Young fans wont know this but Jefferies had his Falkirk team playing some really good stuff. Lambie came in and ripped that team apart and inevitably got relegated.

Johnstone didn’t need the money and was playing under an idiot but he gave everything and I was surprised he was doing that at that stage in his career.

Can you remember your first game?

GB:The first game I went to was ironically a 0-0 draw. It was halfway through the season and we got promoted that year. We finished third but it was a season of league expansion so got up to the top flight.

No doubt that was another year where Motherwell should have been relegated?

GB:Yeah totally, I only went to three or four games that year but I was drawn in. I always liked football but hadn’t been to a game at that point. My dads not a Falkirk fan but it was the closest ground to where we stayed. Kilmarnock were the opposition and it was a really bad game.

My uncle is a Falkirk fan, I still go to games with him today. The promotion game that season, we needed to beat East Fife, we did and that was us in the Premier League. So yes, I’m a glory hunter!

As a teenager, I went through phases of not bothering with football. I was more obsessed with being a callow youth and spending time listening to Morrisey, so I missed some seasons.

Were they coincidentally the relegation seasons?

GB:Haha, no, the most I’ve seen Falkirk has been in the really bad periods…until now of course, where we are having a continuous spell in the top flight. I’ve a season ticket now and I make the games so thats good but in the past, I seemed to be more regular when things weren’t going well.

Back when we were a really good team under Jefferies, I missed a lot. I maybe only made about 5-10 games a season in they days, none of my close friends were Falkirk fans. I would have to go on my own or with my uncle or try and drag my dad along who wasn’t that bothered, it was a bit weird.

Who was your earliest hero or heroes?

GB:My first Falkirk hero was a central defender called Roddy Manley.

He got a big money move to St Mirren, this was after we went down, so we had to sell him. It was after St Mirren won the cup, he was a real classy centre back. A Gary Gillespie or Hansen ball-playing centre back. Of course, Gillespie was at Falkirk too but Manley was great, a long haired classy centre back.

I suppose its weird having a centre half as a hero. My mum knew someone who had a probably ill advised venture of making personalised football scarves. I got a Falkirk one and it had Roddy Manley’s name on it so of course, he left about a season later and couldn’t wear the scarf again.

Manley was also one of the first Scottish players to play in Japan. I think he got a bad injury because he never played again but he came back to Scotland. I remember he played a fundraising game when we were in admin and I genuinely thought, he would walk into our defence. He could have played at a higher level but sometimes, they just don’t happen.

That’s more than enough for Part One, just us for Part Two where Graeme talks about his favourite Falkirk game and cup finals.

Graeme’s band The State Broadcasters are one of the best to have come from Glasgow in recent years and the following video will hopefully give you a little bit of insight to the group.

No related posts.

Related posts brought to you by Yet Another Related Posts Plugin.