Falkirk’s new head coach must deliver Premiership football to the club
Falkirk have set out ambitious requirements for their next head coach and insist the new man must deliver the club a “successful and sustainable” Premiership side.
The Bairns dispensed with the services of Peter Houston on Sunday after more than three years in the role and are now inviting applications – with a deadline of Monday – as they seek a replacement.
The former Dundee United manager and Scotland assistant took the club to the 2015 Scottish Cup final and into the play-offs in the past two campaigns but was made to pay for a winless opening seven matches in this season’s Championship.
The job spec the Westfield board have pieced together lays out the criteria they are seeking in their new boss.
The statement reads: “Falkirk Football Club are seeking to recruit a hands-on head coach who is committed to building and maintaining a competitive and successful football team through winning, attack-minded, skilful and inspiring football; sustained, professional youth development; and generating value through recruitment, development and sale of players.
“Our expectations are that Falkirk FC should progress from the SPFL Championship at the earliest opportunity and become a successful and sustainable Premiership football club.
“The right candidate will be able to match those ambitions and aspirations and, more importantly, deliver on them.”
Falkirk have also specified the successful candidate will be a “motivator with a winning mentality”, an “effective manager of finances, players and staff”, have a good network of contacts in football and live within “travelling distance of Falkirk and Stirling”.
They have also warned the new boss will have to “manage and work within strict player and management budgets”.
Veteran former Aberdeen and St Mirren manager Alex Smith has been placed in interim charge, along with players Mark Kerr and Lee Miller, ahead of Saturday’s trip to face Morton. Juventuspresidentandrea Agnelli was banned for one year by the Italian football federation yesterday for his role in selling tickets to hardcore “ultra” fans who passed them on at a profit.
The court also fined Juventus €300,000 (£264,000).
The ban comes less than three weeks after Agnelli was elected to chair the 220-member European Club Association.
The Serie A club said in a statement: “Having taken note of today’s decision by the FIGC’S National Tribunal, Juventus preannounces its appeal to the FIGC Court of Appeal in the full conviction of its own good arguments, which have still not found adequate recognition.
“The club expresses its own satisfaction because today’s sentence, even though it inflicted heavy bans on the president and other people involved, has ‘after extensive evaluation of the evidentiary material’ excluded all alleged links with representatives of organised crime.”
Federation prosecutor Giuseppe Pecoraro also said he would appeal for a harshersentence.pecoraro requested a two-and-ahalf-year suspension, a fine andanordertoforcejuventus to play two home games behind closed doors.
“I am partially satisfied because we managed to prove everyone’s guilt but the facts are so serious that I think they should be punished more,” Pecoraro told Italian news agency Ansa. “The judgment of another court would be useful, taking into account that the resources coming from the ticket scalping went to a criminal organisation, and that is very serious.”
Agnelliremainsjuventus president but cannot represent the club in any official matter governed by the FIGC. He cannot, for example, go into the dressing room during matches or have transfer dealings with players’ agents.
However, the ban has not been extended to Uefa and Fifa – and there is no chance of that happening until all the appeals have been heard. Agnelli’s position as head of the ECA is not at risk for now.