Falkirk Statement

Dear Supporter

Some of you will recall that on Boxing Day I recorded an interview with Falkirk TV expressing concern at the allocation of Scottish Government funding designed to support all of Scotland’s senior clubs address the financial impact of the pandemic. Now, barely a fortnight later, I feel it right to communicate with you to express my disappointment yet again with the decisions made by our sport’s governing bodies to suspend Scotland’s League One and League Two. We’ve held off making our thoughts public for a few days awaiting further clarifications from the SPFL at a meeting scheduled for today (Wednesday). Unfortunately that meeting did not provide any clearer understanding of the justification for the decision.

By way of background, on Monday morning we received a communication from the SFA and SPFL notifying us of their decision to suspend all Scottish football below Championship level. This decision came with no prior consultation with our Club and we have been forced to rapidly assess the impact that the suspension of fixtures and training will have on all our staff here at Falkirk. We continue to work through the implications of this decision and will take the action that we believe is in the best interests of our people, supporters, and club. We will have more to say on this at the Club’s General Meeting of shareholders which is due to take place on Thursday evening.

Our staff have worked incredibly hard to ensure we comply with the varied and numerous pandemic directives and protocols from Scottish Government, the SFA and the SPFL. Quite frankly, our staff and supporters deserve greater respect from Scottish football’s decision makers who threaten their livelihoods and our club with decisions which we believe are ill-thought through and poorly communicated.

We all recognise the wide-ranging and serious impact that the pandemic has had on every aspect of society and of course we commend and support the efforts of the Scottish Government to safeguard life and to protect the NHS. Football has been granted unique concessions which reflect its importance to our national consciousness and we are all aware of recent failures which have brought these concessions into focus.

Unfortunately, only some clubs (namely those in League One and Two and those outside the SPFL) have been made to carry the can for those failings, whilst those in the upper reaches of the league pyramid have been allowed to continue on top of having been rewarded disproportionately with Scottish Government funding.

The health crisis results in everyone – us included – having to make difficult decisions and that includes those in charge of our game, but some decisions, such as those to stop us playing and training while allowing other part-time clubs to continue are baffling. We will be accused of looking at this with the benefit of hindsight, but there were many medical and scientific professionals predicting a second wave of the virus last summer, and yet again Scottish football has proven itself unable to deal with undoubtedly difficult circumstances.

The unfairness, inconsistency, and double standards on display is there for everyone to see. It is heartening to see other clubs express similar disappointment, but I know such expressions will ultimately fail to sway the decisions that are imposed on us and others. To not even be consulted is entirely unacceptable.

Many of you will feel you have heard this record before, but the continued inability of our sport’s most senior decision makers to take decisions that seek to safeguard the future of all of Scotland’s clubs continues to baffle but not surprise. We have called for change and we are ready to play a leading role in the much-needed reform that our national game requires. Change is required and urgently.

Gary Deans
 
I think it would be quite fun to try and follow a season in Scottish Football only using club statements. No results, coverage, anything like that, just the constant flurry of statements
 
It is all starting to look like organised shifting towards ending the season. Start with the lower leagues and then use that as justification to do the same in the top league.

If the stat I read here, that Julie Anne is the only player in Scotland who has Covid there is no way that the leagues should have been suspended.

Also, have the Premiership clubs been allocated the lion's share of the gvt bail out? I didn't realise that.
 
It is all starting to look like organised shifting towards ending the season. Start with the lower leagues and then use that as justification to do the same in the top league.

If the stat I read here, that Julie Anne is the only player in Scotland who has Covid there is no way that the leagues should have been suspended.

Also, have the Premiership clubs been allocated the lion's share of the gvt bail out? I didn't realise that.
My understanding is that the top flight clubs are getting loans and the lower league clubs grants so I'm unsure of his point there. Though I do understand that the full-time clubs in League 1 - basically Thistle and Falkirk - are not getting as much as part-time clubs in the Championship - it may be that.
 
It is all starting to look like organised shifting towards ending the season. Start with the lower leagues and then use that as justification to do the same in the top league.

If the stat I read here, that Julie Anne is the only player in Scotland who has Covid there is no way that the leagues should have been suspended.

Also, have the Premiership clubs been allocated the lion's share of the gvt bail out? I didn't realise that.
Mate the lower leagues have been suspended because they don’t do testing.
Correct decision
End of story.
 
Falkirk were denied the opportunity to gain promotion by last year’s shutdown. They still had to play Raith Rovers at home and had a great chance of finishing as champions. I have every sympathy with them and Partick Thistle. Doncaster and friends don’t have much longer.
 
It is all starting to look like organised shifting towards ending the season. Start with the lower leagues and then use that as justification to do the same in the top league.

If the stat I read here, that Julie Anne is the only player in Scotland who has Covid there is no way that the leagues should have been suspended.

Also, have the Premiership clubs been allocated the lion's share of the gvt bail out? I didn't realise that.
The season won't be ending, regardless of any efforts. It won't end anywhere else in Europe and they won't get away with it again.
 
They are totally right here.
Lower league clubs have observed the protocols to the letter, and now they are being punished. Meanwhile they need to sit and watch pictures of tims in Dubai sitting on sun loungers drinking pints. It's a joke.
 
Even if a club didn't vote with us last year, any change of opinion is to be welcomed rather than dismissed. It's the only way overall change can come.

It sounds like the meeting was a general non-event.
Agree with this. It doesn't help us remotely to tell every other club to F off - one of the reasons we didn't achieve our goals in the summer is due to a lack of support from other clubs.

Like it nor not, if we want to change Scottish football for the better, we need to get other clubs onside. It's shortsighted to believe otherwise.

That's besides the point that Falkirk were utterly shafted and were on our side from the beginning
 
If you voted for an independent investigation into the shambolic running of Scottish then fair play, you've got to feel sorry for those clubs.

If you didn't then you have no right to complain about the current situation or any future situations which may arise. You decided you were happy with these morons in charge so you reap what you sow.
 
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