Are Falkirk going to rub Scottish football's face in its own faeces?

The National

3 days ago

Utter woke nonsense? Not really. The practice is now believed to be ineffective, inhumane and unhygienic. Positive reinforcement methods, such as lavishing Fido with praise and treats for answering the call of nature outdoors instead of inside, are recommended these days.
But could Scottish football benefit greatly from having its face shoved into its own faeces in the season ahead?
If Championship champions Falkirk flourish in the Premiership using predominantly homegrown players and deploying an attacking brand of football in the coming months, will our elite clubs realise their actions have been wrong, learn invaluable lessons, be shamed into making changes and reconsider their strategies going forward?
That very much depends on how John McGlynn's side, who achieved a second successive promotion and clinched a long-awaited return to the top flight after a 15 year absence amid scenes of mass euphoria in Forth Valley back in May, fares during the coming months.
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McGlynn, the vastly-experienced former Raith Rovers, Hearts and Livingston manager who is now in his 64th year, has shown no signs that he is going to abandon the laudable philosophies which have served him and his club so well in the past couple of campaigns in recent weeks.
His starting line-up in the Premier Sports Cup group game against Spartans at the Falkirk Stadium last weekend contained no fewer than 10 Scots and one Canadian – Dechmont-born Scott Arfield.
Taking on Dundee United, who finished fourth in the Premiership last term and qualified for the Conference League, at home tomorrow in their league opener will be, even with a bumper crowd roaring them on, a far more difficult outing for his men than that encounter with fourth tier opposition.
Still, he is sure to once again put his faith in the local lads who have served him so well in the past after refusing to go down the route which so many of his fellow managers do and swell his squad with foreign imports during the summer.
He has brought in Scott Bain and Brian Graham on free transfers after the goalkeeper and striker departed Celtic and Partick Thistle respectively. He has also landed Lewis Neilson on loan from Hearts.
(Image: Craig Williamson - SNS Group) Henry Cartright, an English midfielder, has joined from Leicester City until May. But the promising 20-year-old is one of just three non-Scots in the Falkirk squad. Arfield and Ghanian forward Alfredo Agyeman are the only others.
The contrast with United couldn't be any greater. The make-up to the Tayside club's XI in their European qualifier against UNA Strassen of Luxembourg last week was alarming and depressing in equal measure.
Jim Goodwin fielded footballers from Ukraine, Australia, Moldova, Hungary, the Netherlands, Croatia, Ghana, the Republic of Ireland and North Macedonia. But not a single Scot made it into his side.
Goodwin, who brought on young Owen Stirton and Craig Sibbald in the second half of the 1-0 win over Strassen, has done a phenomenal job as manager at Tannadice and only a fool would bet against him replicating the success which he has savoured to date this season with the overseas acquisitions he has brought in
To a large degree, his reliance on professionals from his homeland, mainland Europe, Africa and further afield is understandable. Academies here are having their outstanding prospects plundered at an early age for a pittance by English rivals who are unable to sign kids under the age of 18 from the Schengen Area because of Brexit. There is no longer the same quality coming through the youth ranks.
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The Irishman is not alone in turning to foreigners in an attempt to achieve his ambitions. They are far more readily available and much more affordable than Scots. All of his contemporaries have taken an identical approach. To do anything else would be nothing short of lunacy. Wouldn't it?
If McGlynn succeeds in keeping Falkirk up in the Premiership this season it will show that homegrown talent is undervalued, unappreciated and underused and underline that clubs and managers should be promoting native footballers far more than is currently the case.
Of course, if the promoted side, as many observers are predicting, bomb spectacularly, quickly become embroiled in a relegation dogfight in the bottom half of the table and ultimately suffer relegation then it will have entirely the opposite impact.
(Image: Craig Williamson - SNS Group) It will, too, be interesting to see how the promoted side get on if, as looks very likely on the evidence of their competitive run-outs of late, they continue to try and dominate possession, create scoring opportunities using intricate passing combinations and clever movement and place a major emphasis on entertaining paying punters.
Most teams of their size and stature defend in numbers and seek to score on the counter when they come against the likes of [[Celtic]], Rangers, Hearts, Hibernian and Aberdeen. Will [[Falkirk]] pay a high price for throwing caution to the wind? Will they be rewarded for their bravery? Will it end up leaving them right in the s***? It will be fascinating finding out.
Every dog, so the old saying goes, has its day. Anyone who cares about the future of the game in this country and the national side should be hoping that Falkirk are able to stick to their guns and maintain their upturn in fortunes this season. It will maybe give Scottish football a little food for thought if they do.