Falkirk

Falkirk are back in the Scottish Premiership for the first time in 15 years following their title winning Championship season last time out, completing back-to-back promotions from the third tier to the first, but are they ready for their return to the top table? Back-to-back promotions in football are rare, and Falkirk’s rise is a remarkable achievement, but they can present serious structural and sporting challenges, often teams have an imbalanced squad with players reliable at different levels littered throughout the team; many out of their depth due to the team having no time to gel at a level. Two rapid promotions don’t allow a club to gradually evolve its playing style or recruitment strategy. Instead, you’re constantly in firefighting mode, plugging gaps rather than building for sustainability. Take Ipswich Town in last season’s English Premier League for example, they won promotion to the topflight a year after promotion into the Championship but were immediately relegated with a whimper.  The Tractor Boys had players ready for the league like Liam Delap and Sammie Szmodics, but regularly still featured players from their League One days such as Cameron Burgess and Sam Morsy. Falkirk cannot afford to be as sentimental with their squad planning if they hope to survive. January recruit Scott Arfield and summer arrival Scott Bain are good starts, solid Premiership players with plenty of top-level games under their belts, both with league winners medals but will the likes of Calvin Miller and Sean Mackie be able to step up, having previously dropped from that level to League One previously? They excelled in the last step up, but this is a different level altogether. An issue in England are that players suited to the direct, physical style of lower leagues may struggle in a more technical, faster-paced Premier League, but fortunately for Falkirk the gap is not as wide technically North of the border. Within Scottish football there have been two modern examples of teams entering the Premiership after two successive title wins, to opposite levels of success; Gretna in 2007 and Livingston in 2018. Gretna’s meteoric rise through the leagues remains one of the most surreal chapters in modern Scottish football. Bankrolled by Brooks Mileson, they surged from the Third Division to the Premiership in just three years.  But their fairytale was built on sand. Ill-prepared both financially and structurally for the topflight, they were relegated after winning just five matches and collapsed entirely shortly after. A warning from history, if ever there was one. However, the Bairns possess things that Gretna did not, a loyal, sustainable fanbase, and they live within their means, no sugar daddy philanthropist owner who could disappear at any moment. Livingston, by contrast, provide a more encouraging blueprint. Their back-to-back promotions under David Hopkin culminated in an immediate impact in the Premiership under his successor and still incumbent gaffer David Martindale. Pragmatic, aggressive, and tactically coherent, they didn’t try to play like a top-six side, they played to survive, and eventually, for a period, became one of the toughest teams to beat during their last stint in the league.  Smart recruitment and a strong home record on their unique artificial surface were key pillars. In short, they adapted rather than aspired to outplay the opposition. Falkirk will need to follow Livingston’s lead more than Gretna’s dream. Manager John McGlynn, an experienced hand at Championship level, faces his biggest challenge yet.  His teams tend to favour possession and control, but he may need to adjust tactically to grind out results against vastly superior opposition. Stylistic stubbornness, especially early on, could prove fatal, something new Rangers boss Russell Martin discovered during his time in the English Premiership with Southampton last season. Another critical factor will be squad depth. Injuries are inevitable, and a team light on Premiership-quality options beyond the starting XI will be punished.  The spine looks promising, options of Nicky Hogarth and Bain in goal, Arfield in midfield, and Brad Spencer continuing to blossom, but outside of that, there are still major question marks.  Is Gary Oliver ready to lead the line against Premiership centre-halves? Can Ross MacIver control games at this level, or will he be overrun? Falkirk’s support will travel in numbers and with noise, there’s no question this is a club with top-flight infrastructure and fanbase, but sentiment doesn’t keep you up. Realism, ruthlessness, and rapid adaptation do.  If they can avoid early heartache and find a system that maximises their strengths without exposing their flaws, there’s a chance.  But survival won’t be romantic. It’ll be gritty, ugly, and week-to-week, something Livingston and Martindale, who join them in the top flight after they play off victory over Ross County have experienced before. Falkirk are back. But the real battle starts now.