WeKnowSFA

11th Mar2010

Falkirk fan in the WeKnowSFA spotlight: Part 5

by WeKnowSFA

Six strings and five in midfield

And almost as if to prove there is no end of the football chat, Graeme Black, Falkirk fan and guitarist in The State Broadcasters is back once more. We all have an opinion on the game but discussing our own team is what really gets the juices going!

Right, we’ve discussed what’s wrong with the modern game, what about Falkirk? What are the hopes for the rest of the season?

GB: Stay up. When we appointed Pressley, no one was overly confident but he has started okay. They looked more organised and more motivated. Eddie May was brilliant for Falkirk as a player and at the Academy. Within reason, no one really wanted him sacked and people were sorry to see him go.

But no one was too upset so hopefully Pressley can keep us up and we can see if he can build his team.

We are losing Darren Barr in the summer and probably Arfield too, the truth is for clubs like ours, they will be replaced by players coming through. Our chairman pointed out, unlike Hamilton or Motherwell, we haven’t made money from these players. We need to start bringing in money for players.

Eddie May could become a big hero again if his youth academy brings through players which are sold on for profit.

GB: By all accounts, the under 17s and under 19s are doing very well, there is supposed to be a good crop of players. However, we have always been bad for that. Mark Kerr, Lee Miller and loads before, we never got any money for them.

January is the wrong time to sell players like that and I’m glad they decided the money they could have got for Alan Barr wasn’t worth not having him for 6 months. Hibs had it right but they didn’t invest any of their money. Hughes is getting money now but Pataleinan or Collins never did it.

What about Hughes at Falkirk?
GB: Under Hughes at first, we did well; we had a lot of youngsters coming through. The fans knew there was a need for experience but he almost ruined the club by stretching them financially…on players who weren’t up for it.

Steve Lovell and Burton O’Brien were on huge sums for Falkirk and it was wrong.

I think under Hughes, a lot of the older guys could not relate to him, he is better with the youngsters. And of course, when you are taking players on the way down, there is a reason for that, injuries mainly. Neil McCann was a huge gamble, we thought it was a gamble worth taking but it will be interesting to see what happens.

Also, with Hughes, there was no plan B. The thing is with Hughes, now Hibs have been on the end of a big defeat, they haven’t bounced back. He doesn’t really have a plan B as a manager. They have been great to watch at times but it will be very interesting to see how they progress, if they do progress, from here.

When Latapy left the club, it was so negative and so narrow. Hughes never signed a winger in his whole time at the club or a wide midfielder…you don’t buy wingers these days. We had four central midfielders playing all the time.

If we go down, I fear the worst. No club has came back up quickly and we will have a bunch of kids.

The times I have enjoyed Falkirk the most was in the First Division and at Falkirk at Brockville. Maybe because we were the best team but we weren’t allowed promotion so you had that anti-establishment feeling about you. If you have that in your cultural life, it’s amazing to get it in your football life as well! It was good to kick against the pricks.

Now though, sitting in a shiny stadium, it would be grim so survival is the aim and yes, I am a bit more confident about it and that is maybe surprising under. I would like to see Aberdeen go down. Aberdeen are looking above at the teams above but why can’t the teams below them catch them?

McGhee has made a lot of mistakes and some of his comments defy belief and of course, if you have momentum. Last season, we should have gone, we were awful and Caley had the run into the split but we have a tremendous record up there. We should have gone down but we didn’t…….

According to Hughes, it was the best season Falkirk ever had. Which probably irked the fans because the football was atrocious. We looked quite good against the big two but against everyone else….it didn’t work.

How do you feel about raising the game against the big two and then playing terribly the next week?

GB: We haven’t done it that much, yes this season v Celtic and then being terrible but as a fan, its annoying. I’m not sure if its always lifting your game, at times you can have more space against the big two but then again, you aren’t going to turn down a win or draw against the big teams. As a fan, you are more up for it, the atmosphere is better than other games. Of course, when you have youngsters you can see it but for some of the more experienced players, it’s not excusable.

And here is some more footage of Graeme and the rest of The State Broadcasters.