Mccall turns down offer as Bairns seek replacement for Hartley

Falkirk have failed in a bid to bid to bring Ayr United manager Ian Mccall back to the club as their manager as the 53-year-old, who has transformed the fortunes of the Honest Men, has decided to stay at Somerset Park.

The Bairns, who parted company with Paul Hartley on Monday after less than a year incharge,hadtargetedmccall, who has lifted Ayr from the bottom of League 1 to the top of the Championship since he joined in 2015. However, they have been rebuffed.

Mccall had managed at Clydebank, Morton and Airdrie before joining Falkirk in May 2002 for an eight-month spell in which his side chalked up 18 wins and only three defeats in 30 games before he moved to Dundee United at the second time of asking.

After leaving Tannadice in 2005 Mccall worked for Queen of the South and Partick Thistle before ending

0 Iam Mccall: Brief meeting.

a near four-year exile from the game when he joined Ayr.

The League 1 Champions did not want their preparations for tomorrow’s trip to Queen of the South affected by speculation and they issued a statement saying: “With an extremely important game on Saturday we felt it necessary to respond to media speculation. Falkirk Football Club acted impeccably in the conversations we had regarding our manager, Ian Mccall.”

Mccall added: “I had a very brief meeting with Falkirk and made the decision to stay at Ayr United. I believe we have a young and exciting team.

“The club is moving in the right direction, though there is still a lot of hard work to do and I have a very personal debt to our chairman, Lachlan Cameron.

“Having played and managed at Falkirk before I am very aware they are a very special football club and I wish them all the best.”

Former Dunfermline, Queen of the South and Ross County manager Jim Mcintyre is also believed to have ruled himself out of the running. However, Jim Duffy, who left Morton at the end of last season, is still a candidate.