Falkirk academy could be back one year early as Premiership return puts Bairns ahead of schedule
Having achieved promotion ahead of schedule, the club stand poised to accelerate the return of their once-lauded academy setup
Falkirk return to the Premiership has raised the very real prospect of their renowned youth academy being revived a year early.
Fan favourite Scott Arfield and Hearts defender Stephen Kingsley were among a litany of talents to come out of Bairns' set-up.
But the plug was pulled on the then Forth Valley Youth Academy – which Stenhousemuir and East Stirlingshire also fed into – at the end of 2017 in an attempt to focus on getting back to the Premiership.
Only seven-and-a-half years on have the Bairns done so with back-to-back promotions, having spent five of the past six seasons languishing in the third tier.
The Under-16s and 18s have continued up to now, both winning their leagues this term as well.
Falkirk chief exec Jamie Swinney told Record Sport 12 months ago 'our aim is to try to be in the Premiership and introduce the full academy in 2026-27'.
And having achieved the first of those a year sooner, the club stand poised to accelerate the latter too.
Swinney, appointed CEO in 2021, said: 'Our ambition has always been to get the academy back up to what it was, which is a performance level.
'Getting to the Premiership allows us to consider accelerating that. We had always said 2026-27 but we're now giving serious consideration to going in a year early.
'And we do believe that, as part of our long-term strategy, it has been and will be a key focus. So we're in the process of looking at that just now.'
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