Falkirk assistant Paul Smith opens up on 'surreal' heart attack and John McGlynn moment that brought a tear to the eye

Daily Record

2 days ago

Smith was rushed from the stadium to hospital as he prepares for the Bairns' Premiership return just over six months on
Paul Smith felt the stinging frustration of crashing out the Scottish Cup to Raith Rovers in extra time. As always, it hurt.
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But unbeknown to the Falkirk assistant a far worse crushing pain was about to hit within half an hour of the full time whistle on that January cup epic.
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A frightening sequence of events that left John McGlynn 's right hand man in agony in the club doctor's room at the Falkirk Stadium before being blue lighted to hospital and having a stent inserted after suffering a heart attack
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The 62-year-old is full recovered now. Remarkably he was back with his team - in the director's box rather than the dug out - six days later to see the Bairns dish out revenge on Raith in Kirkcaldy on their sensational march to the Championship title.
Today, 27 weeks on from that traumatic evening, Smith will be by McGlynn's side at the Falkirk Stadium as they lead their side out in front of a sell-out crowd against Dundee United for the club's first top flight campaign in 16 seasons.
And for that the former Bairns midfielder will be forever grateful to the NHS heroes at St John's Hospital in Livingston and Edinburgh Royal Infirmary who worked wonders to clear a severely blocked artery just two hours after he had delivered his usual post match debrief to his players following their cup exit.
Smith told Record Sport: 'They told me if it had been the main artery on the other side of my heart that had been blocked then I might not have made it.
'Frightening? To be honest it was all just surreal. It happened so quickly, At one point I felt like someone was sitting on my chest.
'But there had been no warning signs, I felt absolutely fine during the game other than the pressure you'd feel during any Scottish Cup tie that you're desperate to get through.'
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Even when the final whistle blew on that 120 minute cracker, Smith had no idea what was about to follow. In many ways, the father of four was lucky that when it did arrive, he was surrounded by medical experts.
He said: 'My dad had had a heart bypass at 55 so I knew there was a chance at some point I might have heart problems.
'But nothing leading up to that day, or that moment, suggested any problems.
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'We had gone through bits and pieces with the players for 15 minutes as usual in the changing room after the final whistle.
'Then I was heading through to the office, John was away to do TV and press, and I remember feeling really sweaty and clammy.
'I asked the others if it was warm in the office. It's not normally the warmest building in the world particularly in January.
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'I said I was going to go through to see the club doctor Calum Fraser and, to be fair to Blair Doughty our sports scientist, he clicked straight away that something wasn't right.
'Five minutes later I was on the treatment table and the feeling was getting worse - that's when it started to feel like someone was sitting on my chest.
'It was tightening up and that's when the doc realised I had to get to the hospital as soon as possible.
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'He was actually working at St John's so we jumped in his car and floored it to Livingston.
'They stuck an ECG machine on me and right away they were pumping blood thinners into me, getting me into an ambulance and blue lighted all the way to Edinburgh.
'There was a team waiting on me there and straight away I went in and got a stent put into the main artery that was blocked.
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'This was all within two and a half hours of full time in the game.
'I was lying there watching them do it all on a 60-inch TV screen in front of me. It was just surreal.
'The staff at the Royal Infirmary and at Livingston as well as the club medics were fantastic. I really can't thank them enough.'
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Smith had a second stent inserted three days later and was allowed home on the Wednesday.
McGlynn, of course, was one of the first to visit his trusted lieutenant in the aftermath of the cup defeat.
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'He came to see me in hospital in Livingston before I got rushed to the Royal Infirmary,' Smith said. 'But I honestly can't remember if I saw him, my wife Karen spoke to him there.
'He then visited on the Tuesday. But we were on the phone constantly. We were picking the team for the Raith league game while I was still on my hospital bed!
'John told me to take as much time as I needed. But I was feeling great. I was itching to get out on the Wednesday and by Friday I said I was either going to watch it on the TV or come through and watch it live.
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'My son drove me through, I went to see the players before kick off and sat in the directors' box during the game.
'We won which was great. We were desperate to keep ourselves top of the Championship.
'John waved me down at the end of the game and I got a round of applause from the fans which was emotional.
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'It brought a tear to the eye.
'We have a great bond with the supporters and it was a great reception.
'The Raith fans were clapping aswell, John and myself had a good time there previously, so that was fantastic.
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'I've been brand new since I got the stents in. I got a check up three months ago and they are happy with the way I am.
'I was back in the dug out within weeks.'
The minor wobble that saw the Championship title race go to the final minutes of the season might not have been the best recovery.
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But Smith said: 'The last two seasons, back to back titles, have been unbelievable.
'We've done it with the same core group of players with some important additions along the way.
'It's credit to them. Sunday will be really special. John and I will be too focussed on the game to really take it in.
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'But it's for the fans who have waited 15 years for this.
'Ask any Falkirk fan three years ago, before we came in, if they believed we'd be playing in the Premiership by now then I think they'd probably have laughed.'
He may be the second oldest manager in the SPFL but McGlynn's knowledge of the modern game is second to none according to Smith.
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The Falkirk assistant reckons the 63-year-old is still one of the league's most under-rated bosses - despite winning back-to-back PFA Scotland Manager of the Year awards.
As McGlynn's assistant for two spells at Raith, and the last three years at Falkirk, few have had a better insight into the man who has led the Bairns' charge from League One back to the Premiership playing some stunning football on the way.
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Smith credits a spell working for Brendan Rodgers as a scout and opposition analyst at Celtic for opening up a whole new coaching world to the former Hearts and Livingston boss.
He said: 'We might be older - but we are certainly not old school. We are always willing to learn.
'John's knowledge of the game has always been unbelievable. Second to none.
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'But I think he learned so much working under Brendan Rodgers at Celtic as analyst and scout.
'Going to watch PSG, Man City, Barcelona, before Champions League games I think opened up a new world to John.
'He was able to transfer that knowledge into what we went on to do at Raith, as well as we could.
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'It was a hell of a learning curve for me as well!
'John is massively under-rated. Even from what he did at Raith, winning League One in his first season, then finishing third and just missing out on promotion to the Premiership with one of the smallest budgets in the league.
'At that time John deserved a big move.
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'Lots of times his name gets thrown into conversations for jobs. But it's never happened for one reason or another.
'But we got a move to Falkirk. I'd played here and knew how big a club they can be.
'It just hadn't happened for the four or five managers before us.
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'But I said to John that I thought Falkirk could be absolutely huge. And so far so good.'
McGlynn might come across as the quiet man of Scottish football but he's a different beast when it comes to the day to day coaching of his players.
Smith said: 'Listen, John likes a laugh with the boys. We are very close to the players. We know all their backgrounds, their families, we go in depth.
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'The players know not to cross a line. They know there's a time to work and a time to play.
'But we have a laugh with them at the right time.
'Everybody has so much respect for John. That goes back to players we had at Raith Rovers, some will still phone and ask us for advice be it on a move to another club or life in general.
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'The last two seasons have been so special.
'To go and win League One unbeaten and follow that up with a second title .. it's been unbelievable.
'It's nice to get plaudits for our style of football.
'We will tweak things for certain games. But we will still try to play the way we have done since we first walked through the door.'