bestbrother Posted December 19, 2023 Share Posted December 19, 2023 (edited) 2023/24 : Season 1 ----- Our first year at Falkirk and the pressure was immediately there for all to see, the club have wasted 4 years at this level, twice coming 2nd and 3 times missing out in the playoffs. Its a record that had to end as the club harbour ambitions of returning the the SPL, a position not held for well over a decade. To achieve this, the club had to invest and although the numbers are not massive, a gamble of £350,000 on the signing of 11 new players had given the club a squad capable of dealing with the rigours of a 36 game league campaign alongside the 3 cup competitions on offer. Notable signings would include the free transfer deal to bring in ex-Scottish International Robert Snodgrass, whilst the club would shell out £90,000 on Lewis McGratten from Morton as the single biggest piece of business. ----- On the pitch things had to start quickly and fortunately we did just that, 3 straight wins helped us head the early standings, before a stumble vs Alloa bought back a dose of reality (Alloa would prove to be our biggest challengers). Another mini unbeaten run culminated in us thumping Hamilton 7-0, before abruptly slipping to a 3-5 loss at Stirling, the last time we would taste defeat for 15 games. That 15 game run would see us drop points in just 2 games, draws at home to Cove then in Edinburgh, but it was our defensive stoicism that saw 7 clean sheets be the backbone of our form into 2024. A loss at Cove would prove to be our last before we clinched promotion and the title, as big results saw us stuff Stirling 6-1, Edinburgh 5-2 and then clinch the title with a 5-2 dipping of Cove infront of a full house. Alas our hopes of an unbeaten home season came to an end in our season finale, with Alloa spoiling the title party with a 1-2 win. ----- ----- Well its a competition that the club have won and alongside that have reached 3 Finals in recent history. So when we began our run by thumping a pair of Championship sides 4-0 on their own patch (Dundee Utd & Morton respectively), there was hope of a miracle repeat. We then bested local rivals Dunfermline 2-0 as a sell-out crowd could finally gloat, before our Quarter Final matchup went all the way to penalties, this time we beat SPL side St. Johnstone to setup a trip to Hampden Park. With a Final against Celtic the reward, we would start hard and fast to lead St. Mirren after a minute and again after 32. Alas our SPL rivals had too much for us and would force ET before scoring 2 more to finish us off in a thriller. A proud and memorable run to accompany a dream league campaign. ----- ----- The League Cup under one of its many naming iterations. Mainly seen as a way to get the team ready for the league campaign with 4 group games to navigate. These games couldnt have gone much better for us. We wrapped division rivals Hamilton 5-3, then beat SPL Kilmarnock on penalties to give us the edge in the table. Stranraer and Airdrieonians proved to be easy enough to beat, leaving us as group winners and a spot in the last 16. Arbroath proved to be tricky but beatable on their own patch, as our early season Cup form would setup a dream home tie with Celtic in the Q/F. An early season sell-out saw us put up a fight but invariably come up a little shy, losing 1-3 to the Champions-elect. ----- ----- Our final Cup effort proved to be the briefest of them all, we drew Welsh side TNS and they arrived in Scotland to thump us 0-3 and leave us with little excuses. ----- ----- ----- ----- Edited December 19, 2023 by bestbrother 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
bestbrother Posted December 20, 2023 Author Share Posted December 20, 2023 2024/25 : Season 2 ----- Back in the Championship and a mini rebuild was in order to make us competitive. A mixture of signings saw us snag various foreign imports on a free transfer, whilst we also broke the £500,000 mark in fees twice, with Ukranian Smoliakov signing for a club record £650,000. Excitingly our star signing would be former Fluminense forward 'Lele' as the Brazilian to a gamble to try ignite his career in Europe with the club. He would be later joined by another in Luiz Henrique, as our only January addition added yet more colour to the clubs squad. Our eventual annual £2,200,000 salary spend would actually make us a competitive team in the SPL, so although expectation of promotion wasnt high, the reality of the financial side of things would need the club to at least be in and around the playoff mix come the end of the season. ----- As expected our start proved to be challenging, losing 2 of our opening 4 fixtures and only having a 5-2 win at home to eventual bottom dwellars Inverness to write home about. We didnt fare much better in September, St. Mirren hit us for 6 and Airdrie also clocked us as we firmly planted ourselves in the middle of the table. Fortunately we would rally come the winter months. A derby day win over Dunfermline sparked a rally, that saw us win 5 of 6, including another 5 goal haul over the highland side Inverness. Christmas would become a season of good tidings as December saw us end unbeaten, with key wins over Arbroath and Airdrie to keep us well in the Top 4 places. Unfortunately the new year would begin with a 2-5 loss at Queens Park, but we were now becoming a competent team in the division. 4 draws would slow us down in the midst of February and March, looking back if we had managed to collect wins there, the automatic promotion place may have been on the cards. However we did enough to secure our playoff place with a draw at home to St. Mirren, before winning our final 3 league games as a confidence boost. ----- Into the playoffs as our 3rd place finish ensured we would need to do things the long way round. First up would be Arbroath and a 2-1 win at Gayfield, set us up to whack them 6-1 back in Falkirk as we had leaped the first hurdle. St. Mirren next and the reality was that the ex-SPL side had our number, beating us twice and holding us to a draw in the other 2 league fixtures. We would overcome them in a gritty 1-0 home win to give us some hope heading to Love Street. A couple of days later in the return, the travelling fans could barely believe their eyes when Agyeman put us a goal up. The Paisley outfit would equalise but it proved futile and it would see us advance to face the SPL side St. Johnstone. Again home for the 1st leg and another 1 goal win was all we took into the return, better than nothing, but the Johnnies would feel happy knowing we had to go there to defend the lead. Defending was the last thing on our mind though as Smoliakov notched within 2 minutes to give us a cushion. Alas by the half hour, it was wiped out and the tie would be all square thanks to a quickfire Saints double. Then the unthinkable, Lele, our Brazilian superstar would score again in injury time... it proved to be the final goal scored in our season and enough to earn a 3-2 aggregate win and promotion to the SPL. ----- ----- Last year we had a mazy run to the Semi Finals, this year our Cup hopes faded early as although we beat Highland side Forres Mechanics, the SPL heavyweights of Hibernian had too much for us, beating us by the odd goal in 5. ----- ----- 3 penalty shootout wins this year in our Group but not enough to see us make the next round. ----- ----- An enjoyable run to the Final of the SPFL Trust Trophy as we beat 2nd sides from Rangers and Dundee Utd, toppled Northern Irish outfit Cliftonville, before falling short against our season nemesis St. Mirren in a one-sided Final. ----- ----- ----- Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
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