DRIVEN BY THE DESIRE
Houston’s Falkirk chasing prestige more than profits
SIZE doesn’t matter. It’s not about the money. Two corny sounding lines that actually reflect the truth of Falkirk’s promotion bid.
The Bairns, rested and refreshed after a week off, travel to Tannadice tomorrow night for the first leg of their Premiership Playoff semi-final, knowing that the home team may be just a bit leggy after two quarterfinal clashes with Morton.
In a modern era when fans follow the fortunes of their club’s profit-and-loss accounts almost as closely as results on the pitch, it is pretty obvious that promotion would mean everything to any Championship club good enough, strong enough and lucky enough to go crashing into the top flight via a system designed to keep them down.
Yet Falkirk boss Peter Houston is clear that neither size of support nor scale of overdraft will enter into the thinking of either team as they fight for a second shot at the big time.
‘Aye, they’re the bigger club — that is without doubt,’ said the man who famously led United to a Scottish Cup triumph back in 2010.
‘The support base is bigger than ours, which means they have more season-ticket holders and more money.
‘They’re able to pay players a lot more than we can pay. We’ve got a fairly strict budget that I’ve to work to.
‘But sometimes it does not come down to budgets. It comes down to the group of players we’ve got and how important it is to them.
‘I know if you’ve got a good group of professionals, they don’t look at the money side. They look at the prestige of getting out of this division, playing in the Premiership — because that might be the last time for some of them.
‘Our focus is on how we can take this club forward. There are other people who look after our finances. I go to ask them for money and they say no because they have to look after the club. I understand it.
‘It’s the same at United. I don’t think Ray McKinnon will look into the results off the pitch, financially.
‘He’s had a difficult job because last season he was not left with a lot and he had to build a team to get them up in one. He’s still got that opportunity.’
With Myles Hippolyte back from suspension and Paul Watson returned to training after injury, they will definitely be ready for this one.
And preparation has been as painstaking as you would expect, with Houston augmenting his own eye-witness assessment of both United-Morton games by using the club’s excellent VT team.
‘We’re very fortunate that we’ve got a lad here that cuts games up,’ said Houston.
‘We’ve got the two games that Dundee United played Morton and already I’ve got it in my computer, downloaded ready for me to show the players.
‘It has footage on Dundee United’s strengths and weaknesses. Goals scored, goals conceded, set plays.’
Houston also does a video post-mortem immediately after a bad performance, forcing players to watch and learn.
Asked if he ever shows them footage of great victories, he laughed and said: ‘No! It is mentioned, though. It’s just that sometimes they need to be reminded when they’ve switched off during a game.’
Beaten finalists in last year’s play-offs, when they were blown away in a secondleg loss to Kilmarnock at Rugby Park, Falkirk have not enjoyed as good a regular season this time around.
But they have learned, hopes Houston, from the experience. They know a little more about what not to do, anyway.
‘I’m delighted to be going into the semi-final rather than having to play the quarter-final as well,’ he said.
‘I’ve been here for three years almost and we’ve built this group of players up — and they’re terrific.
‘We reached a Scottish Cup final and twice in a row we’ve finished second in the league. This is with teams like Hibs, Rangers and Hearts in it.
‘It’s been a tough two years and I came with hope of getting this team back in the Premiership, where I think a club like Falkirk belongs.
‘Hopefully we’ve learned from last year’s play-offs. Can we take it one stage further? That’s the question.’