Mind over matter has McCracken thinking big
Falkirk captain lifts lid on the life coach who has promotion-chasing underdogs firing on all cylinders
HOW do you get a team on a small budget, playing in front of modest crowds, to perform to such a high level that it now has them on the brink of widespread acclaim and, most importantly, promotion?
Well, it is simply about the ‘Bairn’ necessities.
In a male-dominated environment where bravado and bullishness generally win out, Falkirk’s success has been build upon more soft-centred foundations.
Throughout the campaign, Peter Houston’s team have been learning to embrace their emotional side, and boy is it working. Under the guidance of broadcaster and life coach Connie McLaughlin through her company Your Inner Buzz, the group of Alpha Males have spent sessions talking about everything from their feelings to pressures inside and outside of football, their relationships with each other and trying to create a positive, mental attitude.
It’s a long way from the traditional training methods of running up sand dunes, chasing chickens and doing laps of the car park, but given Falkirk are potentially just 90 minutes away from promotion to the Ladbrokes Premiership, none of the sensitive souls in their dressing room are complaining.
“Some of the personal stuff that a group of us have done throughout the season with Connie McLaughlin has definitely helped,” said David McCracken, the club captain. “That’s brought togetherness with a different side to it. Boys appreciate other players’ situations.
“It’s a mindfulness session where you are opening up your mind to the possibilities of what’s out there and realising that there are pressures on you in football. There are pressures on you outwith football. Sometimes there is a lot of stuff that you can’t control. that’s probably the hardest bit that players get wrapped up in, worrying about situations that they can’t affect. It’s had a massive bearing on some of the boys in the group who have been to the sessions. It has definitely showed in performances.
“It is unusual in a club because some people might make fun of it. Showing your emotions, that can get looked down on. That didn’t happen here. There have been some quite deep sessions here, which have become quite emotional – and that’s been accepted. That’s the best thing that could have happened.
“If you’ve got a group of 15 players and two or three want to make a joke of it, bringing people down because they’re showing their emotions, that can have a detrimental effect on the sessions.
“That never happened here. Everybody in the sessions was open to what was going on.”
High emotion is something that comes easy at Falkirk, and Thursday’s Premiership-play-off first leg win over Kilmarnock was certainly no different. With a game that the visitors really should have won just seconds from fading out to a draw, the home side did what they do best, and struck right at the very death to take a 1-0 advantage into tomorrow’s Rugby Park return.
While some may see Will Vaulks’ strike as fortunate, the fact it was Falkirk’s 10th injury-time goal of the season would point to something a bit more tangible than luck, and McCracken reckons Miss McLaughlin is quite entitled to claim an assist.
“It definitely helps us, for example, in the last minute of a game,” he explained. “And other times. There have been numerous games where we’ve been under the cosh, been behind.
“Look at the Rangers game here [Falkirk came from 2-0 down to win 3-2 in March], we should have been five goals down probably, given the chances they created in the first half. But we came in at half-time, the gaffer told us we’d managed to get away with it. He didn’t rant or rave.
“So we went out there positively, got a goal, knew we could get another one. That has happened on a number of occasions. No matter what stage the game is at, no matter the situation, we have that belief that it’s not over until the final whistle sounds.”
Focusing on what matters, the experienced centre-half is naturally excited and optimistic by what could lie ahead in Ayrshire. He said: “We know what’s ahead of us, we know what we’ve got to achieve and whether it’s the first-leg or after the second-leg, we know what we’ve achieved is big but we know it’s not finished yet, and that’s why we keep it under wraps and don’t get too far ahead of ourselves.”