Falkirk's title triumph, dark days, John McGlynn & Hearts speculation

The Herald Scotland

07-05-2025

'If they pick up the phone, I just won't answer," he tells Herald Sport, only half in jest.
The first man to win PFA Manager of the Year three times, McGlynn is 63 now. Where most managers are heading into the twilight zone of retail parks and Open All Mics, he's in the prime of his career, back in demand after back-to-back promotions.
(Image: Craig Williamson - SNS Group) In May 2022, Falkirk were in a dark place. The club AGM had gone viral after a pugnacious punch and judy show between directors and fans. The board had stepped down. Paying full-time wages to a team which finished sixth in League One they were losing money hand over fist. Lured from Stenhousemuir to steady the ship Swinney wondered what, in god's name, he'd got himself into.
'I can talk about this openly now,' he says. 'But I had a lot of reservations about coming here because I felt the club had been poorly run for a long time.
'In the build up to that infamous fans' Q&A we were conscious of a disconnect between fans and club which had to be addressed.
'We were going to go down the road of fan ownership so we had to bring the fans back with us.
'But we had a meeting and while I agreed with a Q&A format the board of that time decided that they wanted to, not go on the attack exactly, but make sure that the fans understood that their negativity was part of the problem.
'I said, 'I can't stress enough that this is the wrong approach and I want it minute'd that I do not agree with that approach. And I was dreading that night. Dreading it.
'It was two and a half hours of watching through the cracks of the fingers and I remember walking out that night thinking, 'have I made a real error moving here?'
Falkirk lost 6-0 to Queen's Park and that was the end of the road for manager Paul Sheerin. Swinney had been part of the selection process for three or four managers at Stenhousemuir.
Schooling a new Falkirk board on how it's done he cut through the usual scattergun approach to set five key criteria for Sheerin's replacement. Availability and affordability, a record of promotion from the lower leagues, a progressive style of football, a record of youth development and experience of the SPFL Premiership were all on there.
'I was told to come back the next day with a shortlist and there was only one name on it; John McGlynn.
'John was the only one met all five.
'I have never had a higher degree of conviction over anything than I did over the fact that John was the right manager for Falkirk. In any decision I have ever made. I was absolutely convinced.'
(Image: Ross Parker - SNS Group) In his first season McGlynn kept the bailiffs from the door by leading the Bairns to the semi-finals of the Scottish Cup. They went 36 games unbeaten to wrap up League One last season, winning 90 points after 27 wins and nine draws. That run only ended last September against Raith Rovers when they were cutting a swathe through the Championship and giving Celtic a bit of a fright in the Premier Sports Cup at Parkhead.
While McGlynn failed to get the better of Brendan Rodgers that day, he still pipped his old Celtic boss Manager of the Year at the PFA Scotland awards on Sunday night.
'I would go as far as to say that I think John is obviously the manager of the year,' says Swinney with some conviction.
'With all due respect, Celtic could win a treble when they are currently far and away the biggest and best club in the country with the most resources is an achievement for sure. But it's relative to the fact that they have the most of everything.
'Hibs have been on a great run. But Hibs finishing third or fourth is where Hibs should be every season. David Gray has done brilliantly, but got Hibs to where they probably should be.
'We entered the Championship after five years in League One. Several clubs outspent us and we didn't have the biggest budget in the league, yet we became the first club since Gretna to win back-to-back promotions. And we all know how Gretna did it…
'John and Paul Smith have not only recruited well, but they have made players better as well. That's proper coaching.
'They produced a team which has consistently played the best football in the most competitive league over 36 games.'
Managers who win back-to-back promotions inevitably attract the attention of other clubs, and McGlynn's history with Hearts makes him an obvious contender for the post vacated by Neil Critchley.
Tynecastle Chief Executive Andrew McKinlay and Technical Director Graeme Jones need to get this one right and, while they'll spread the net far and wide with the help of Jamestown Analytics, McGlynn's homespun consistency deserves a mention in despatches.
'Listen, I would be very surprised if people didn't speculate over the future of John,' Swinney acknowledges.
'If anybody gets an opportunity to go to a considerably bigger club on a lot more money in football, then I think the vast majority of people can understand it. But I hope it doesn't happen. And I am hopeful now we are in the Premiership.
'In the Premiership, we hope John can achieve his ambitions with us and we can hopefully do what we wanted to do for a long time by being competitive in the top flight.
'We extended John and his assistant Paul Smith by another three years, so they got four seasons at the club and that was way before we had confirmed the league.
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'So we have already rewarded the management team with a longer-term contract and they love it here.
'The squad love John, the fans love him. While he has had bits of success in his career what he has done at Falkirk trumps everything he has done before by a long, long way.
'If we can now go to the Premiership and be competitive in year one, I don't see what we can't go on and aspire to compete for the top six like St Mirren.
'I'm not saying we do it immediately, but there is nothing to say that Falkirk as a club can't do it.'
There were bumps along the way because there always are. Self-doubt began to creep in after they crashed out of the Scottish Cup and lost main striker Callumn Morrison to Linfield. The timely arrival of Scott Arfield was like a shot of adrenaline into a blood vein.
'The top goalscorer wanted to leave, we were out the cup and our recent league results had been a little bit uninspiring," Swinney recalls.
'Fast forward a week, Scott Arfield is in the door and brings a wave of euphoria.
'He was 38 seconds into his second debut and he hadn't touched the ball and when the ball rolls to him in the 18-yard box he did what he has done his whole career.
'Composure, quality and his first goal before he goes on to score a hat-trick. It was Roy of the Rovers stuff.
'He is a hero to fans, what he has brought in terms of goals speaks for itself.
'And what he added off the park is probably more valuable still.
'We have an option on Scott and I think we would be absolutely crazy to not do everything we can to keep him here next season.
'We have a ton of work to do for the Premiership. We have just spent five years in League One and our infrastructure is closer to League One than it is to the Premiership.
'There is so much that needs done. But, listen, it's a brilliant problem to have….'