Live Coverage: Falkirk FC AGM
It’s set to be an intriguing night set just a day after the departure of head coach Paul Sheerin.
The Bairns lost 6-0 on Saturday against Queen’s Park and are facing problems on and off the park.
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Hide AdDirector Gordon Wright will chair the event, focusing on the structure and ownership of the club going forward.
Outgoing chairman Gary Deans said beforehand in a letter to supporters: “We have been working behind the scenes over the last few months to put in place the final pieces of a new and exciting ownership and governance structure which will be presented.”
Deans is not set to attend.
Deans and directors Gordon Colborn, Phil Rawlins and Carrie Rawlins will all step down from the board, with five new directors joining.
Kenny Jamieson, Keith Gourlay, Nigel Serafini and David White will join from supporters groups, with current Company Secretary Ronnie Bateman joining also.
Our coverage will begin at 7.00pm.
Live Coverage: Falkirk FC AGM
Key Events
- Falkirk FC AGM
- Monday, December 6, 2021
- The Falkirk Stadium
Opening remarks
Director Gordon Wright has came up first and announced that he will chair the meeting.
He firstly admits that at the fans Q&A they should have thanked fans for their loyal support, and that they approached it wrong.
Finances
Gordon Colborn is now up to go over finances.
Some key points have been discussed:
Operating income fell by more than 50%
Overall loss of £255,000 this year - swing from profit of around the same amount last year.
£500,000 in new equity has been welcomed.
Current season
Funding put into the club for this campaign was for promotion this year and budgets were set to achieve this goal.
Summer concerts will be a significant income stream into the club (around £300,000)
Patrons Group funding is going to the January transfer window fund and will not be used for anything else.
Gary Holt is not attending tonight because he has Covid-19, he is still in his position.
Chief Executive’s update
Jamie Swinney is up now.
He says the commercial targets will be hard to meet.
The club is the most impactful business in the local area and can bring pride to Falkirk again, he says.
He then says the club’s staff have been ‘immense’ throughout the pandemic.
He wants hospitality to be bigger and bolder, he hopes the club will in the future be ‘one of the best venues for football hospitality in Scotland’.
Behind The Goals will be a focus too, he wants it to be the place fans want to go to before a match.
Jamie Swinney“We’ll struggle to meet our commercial targets this year.”
Youth squads update
Ian Fergus, head of youth development is now up.
He’s giving an update on his remit, the youth squads:
Unbeaten league campaign for 16’s squad so far.
He has really high hopes for them.
They are playing elite teams outwith the league to challenge the players in the squad.
18’s squad has had the main goalkeeper and three other players train with the first team over the past few months.
His budget is very small compared to most other clubs but he relishes that challenge.
Ian Fergus“One of my goals is to have a player break into the first team by the age of 18 and become a first team regular.”
Ian Fergus’ presentation goes down well
It was the first presentation that garnered an applause from the crowd.
He also took questions afterwards and spoke about the relationship with local clubs.
“It’s the toughest part of my job, the recruitment,” he said.
Speaking about the local boys clubs, he admits after approaching one of them, Falkirk were going to be fifth in line to pick a player and it is a tough area but one he feels the club can get right under his stewardship.
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