Rodgers gave me an amazing education... now I am putting it to good use with Falkirk
SKILLS HAVE HELPED McGLYNN LEAD BAIRNS TO CUP SEMI-FINAL
THE final blast of referee Chris Fordyce’s whistle at Firhill Stadium last May brought grim confirmation that Falkirk’s descent had hit rock bottom.
A 1-1 draw with Queen’s Park meant the Bairns had finished a lowly sixth-place in League One, later described by chief executive Jamie Swinney as ‘the lowest point in the club’s history’.
Fast forward 11 months, however, and a team rebuilt and reborn under the astute management of John McGlynn heads back to Glasgow today for a Scottish Cup semi-final showdown against Inverness Caley Thistle at Hampden.
Dunfermline may have won the title but Falkirk could yet join their old foes in the Championship next season if they are successful in the play-offs, while there is also the promise of a glamour cup final against Celtic or Rangers if they can beat the Highlanders today.
A special end to the season could lie in wait under McGlynn, who Falkirk fans sing ‘has got the Bairns believing’ after a dismal few years. That concluded in last May’s nadir as they stumbled home with two wins in their last nine League One games under Martin Rennie.
‘There was talk about Falkirk being at rock bottom but, when we took over last summer, I was just blinkered on how we took the club forward,’ McGlynn told Sportsmail this week.
‘I knew there was a lot of work to be done but never in my wildest dreams could I have guessed we would be going to a Scottish Cup semi-final at Hampden Park.
‘When we beat Ayr United at home in the quarter-final, that was a special night but we had another special night early in the season when we beat Hibs in the League Cup.
‘I would imagine for the fans who watched the previous season, to see the team beat Hibs just two or three games into the new campaign, it was like a magic wand had been waved.
‘Hopefully that gave the fans great encouragement that we were going in the right direction. We believe we are — but we know we still have a long way to go.
‘We want to get the club to the Championship and we still have a great opportunity to do that through the play-offs.
‘That’s our bread and butter and I would sacrifice our Scottish Cup semi-final to go up — although the board may not agree. We want to be playing Dundee, Dunfermline, Inverness, Raith Rovers — all these teams — and to be challenging at the top of that league and trying to get to the Premiership. That’s the potential of this football club.
‘We regularly get over 4,000 at our home games and the matches against Dunfermline have been a sell-out. I hope to contest them again next season as sell-out games in the Championship.’
While Falkirk’s last campaign was tough, McGlynn had his own difficulties at Raith Rovers amid a season that turned turbulent with the signing of David Goodwillie in January 2022.
The striker had been ruled a rapist in a civil court trial in 2017 but had been playing for Clyde for five years.
Goodwillie’s arrival at Raith sparked a fierce backlash and McGlynn found himself front and centre to publicly apologise for the ‘collective’ decision taken by the club to sign the player. ‘It was certainly my toughest season, yes, but my love for football has always been there. It didn’t affect that,’ said McGlynn.
There were talks over a new contract with Raith Rovers last summer but McGlynn felt the Fife club did not do enough to keep him and his assistant Paul Smith.
That left the door open for Falkirk and, so far, the move to Westfield is proving beneficial to both parties.
McGlynn’s first spell at Stark’s Park, from 2006 to 2012, saw him successfully launch his managerial career, steering Raith to the old Second Division title. He was voted PFA Scotland’s Manager of the Year in 2011 as Rovers finished second to local rivals Dunfermline in the Championship.
He was appointed manager of Hearts a year later, where he had spent much of his earlier career as a coach and briefly as caretaker boss after the sackings of John Robertson and George Burley in 2005.
By 2012, however, the Vladimir Romanov regime was crumbling and, despite taking the cost-cutting Tynecastle side to the 2013 League Cup final, he was sacked before the Hampden showdown with St Mirren.
A similar fate lay in store for McGlynn at Livingston and Raith after he led them to cup finals.
He obviously needs no added motivation to take Falkirk back to Hampden on June 3.
‘I took Hearts to a League Cup final but I never managed to lead the team out on the day,’ McGlynn said, ruefully. ‘It also happened at
Livingston after we reached the Challenge Cup (in season 2014-15).
‘Then I got to the Challenge Cup final with Raith Rovers (2019-20) but that final never took place due to Covid.
‘I’ve been very fortunate, though, in my career and I’ve worked hard to achieve those moments. Hopefully I can go one better and get to a cup final with Falkirk.’
McGlynn also steered Hearts to a creditable 1-1 draw with Liverpool at Anfield in the Europa League in 2012.
They lost 2-1 on aggregate but the result was to come in handy after he accepted a scouting role at Celtic after leaving Livingston.
Remembering how tough Hearts had made it for his Premier League outfit, Parkhead manager Brendan Rodgers tasked McGlynn with leading a department analysing the next opposition at home and abroad when Celtic were getting ready to face the cream of the European elite. It was a period of McGlynn’s life that has heavily influenced all the coaching he has done since — and it will shape Falkirk’s performance at Hampden as the third-tier side aim to reach their sixth Scottish Cup final in 147 years.
‘I probably learned the most during my career during my time working under Brendan Rodgers at Celtic,’ he said.
‘Watching the Champions League games was brilliant. I was delighted to be watching Barcelona, Manchester City, Paris Saint-Germain, Bayern Munich, Borussia Monchengladbach, Anderlecht — all the teams that were in Celtic’s groups.
‘That was an amazing education. I’m still in touch with Brendan, mainly through texting.
‘There is definitely stuff I can use at Falkirk from what I learned under Brendan. The style of football is the biggest thing. We don’t have Celtic players but everything is relative and there are things you can put into your team.
‘You get the players to buy into how you want to play and how all the little cogs all come together to make the team tick.
‘I found it fascinating learning from Brendan.’
McGlynn is a manager who is universally respected in the game, yet he is also arguably one of the game’s most underrated figures.
That spell at Hearts was his only time managing in the top flight but he hopes a second chapter lies waiting to be written for him there.
This cup run will help fund new floodlights and a new artificial pitch at the Falkirk Stadium for next season.
The current surface was a hindrance to signing new players and the ambitious McGlynn is hoping Falkirk are now heading on an upwards spiral.
‘I do feel like I have unfinished business in the Premiership,’ he continued.
‘I’m not trying to blow my own trumpet but I do believe I can manage at that level.
‘And ideally that would be with Falkirk. There would be nothing better than to be able to take this club from League One to the Championship then into the Premiership. That would be an amazing achievement and it’s something I long to do. It would be a real feather in our cap to achieve that.
‘Like a snowball going down the hill and getting bigger and bigger, I’m hoping if we can get up this season then the momentum can continue taking us forward.
‘Everyone knows the potential at this club but when you see it from the inside it just makes you strive even harder to achieve.
‘Falkirk is a sleeping giant that is ready to get woken up.’