logo
Unflinching story of a Falkirk title triumph from delivery gaffes, party plan KO & anniversary at risk

Unflinching story of a Falkirk title triumph from delivery gaffes, party plan KO & anniversary at risk

Daily Record18-05-2025
Jamie Sweeney's in-tray as a Premiership CEO does not care for the details of how this came to pass
Back-to-back titles ... an end to 15 years of confinement in the lower leagues ... and saving their chief exec's wedding anniversary.
Falkirk's squad checked off a lengthy list on the first Friday night of May to leave Jamie Swinney compiling another come the Tuesday.

His in-tray as a Premiership CEO does not care for the details of how this came to pass but details matter.

Like the gold embroidery on the players' strips when they re-emerged to lift their trophy.
Those, of course, had to be ordered four weeks before winning the league, a feat that swung from certainty into the balance on the final night.
Nothing worth having comes hassle-free as Swinney said: 'Before they had even arrived, a Livingston fan took a photo of a DPD delivery that says 'Falkirk FC Champions Kit, Jamie Swinney' and it's been put on a Livingston fans' Facebook page.
'That's then been sent on to me and I'm saying: 'Oh my God, the last thing I needed was a Livingston DPD driver to pick up this box.''
There was the 'end of season party' at the Maniqui nightclub which, given tickets had to go on sale while the Bairns' bottle was being questioned, became an 'end of season event'.
Before that was a spread

at the Inchyra for 250 that necessitated a commitment in advance. 'Nobody would have turned up,' said Swinney if there had been a Friday flop. 'I wouldn't even have been able to bring myself to go.'
Then, come half-time of a decider with Hamilton still dangling at 1-1, Scott Arfield produced two blown-up photos for the dressing-room wall – one of Ibiza, the other a sodden Falkirk Stadium.
'He had a good chat to them, 'Where do you want to be on Monday guys?'' said Swinney. 'I love Falkirk as a town but I know what I'm picking.'

From losing at Firhill in the 97th minute to trigger a title jangler – 'I was considering walking home from Glasgow to get my head right' – to the 'greatest night in the stadium' in its 21-year history.
The club tumbled out of the Championship – sparking a five-year absence – the day he wed fellow Bairn Natalie in 2019.
Invincible League One success ensued on their anniversary last year.

'This year it was two days before our sixth anniversary,' he said.
'I'm so glad we got the job done because I would have been a very depressing person to be around come Sunday – Natalie wouldn't have been much better.'
And yet, no sooner had one party started than another had to be prepared for. Come the Tuesday he was at a table with boss John McGlynn and No.2 Paul Smith finalising the football budget. Memories to last a lifetime ... a few days to revel in them.

'All things being equal, we started the season probably with a sixth or seventh-placed budget in the Championship,' added Swinney.
'I know that with a pretty high level of confidence because you speak privately with other chief executives and chairmen.
'I know for a fact there were four or five teams with budgets ahead of us. So to go from that to a competitive Premiership budget, it's safe to say we're talking about more than doubling it.'

Throwing money around as a fan-owned club isn't an option but he said: 'We will make sure John has every chance to compete.
'It's hard to put an exact position on where you want to finish – you'd love to just survive – but I think we're actually good enough, with the squad we've got plus the recruitment we do, to be better than just a survival team.'
VAR – 'one part of the Premiership I can safely say I don't look forward to because it kills the game' – has been found a space while a safe standing section is an installation Swinney is more enthusiastic on.

'We started the relationship with the ultras two years ago as a three-game trial and got bombarded with negativity from our own fans, saying, 'Don't bring a drum in, don't do this,'' added the 38-year-old.
'Fast forward two years, ultras are one of the best things we've ever done and we now want to give them their place properly, which is give them a safe standing section. Longer-term, with a four-sided stadium, we'll probably consider some more safe standing on the fourth side as well.'
That almost 4500 season tickets are already sold – Swinney's mum has even bought her first – suggests longer-term may not be all that long.

The first day of sales last year saw 750 sold – this year it was 1800.
Amid relentless bickering over away allocations in the top flight, the message remains the same irrespective of which club is pitching up at Falkirk's place.
'They might only get half a stand (about a thousand seats),' said Swinney as he predicts racing through 5000 season tickets in a stadium with around 7800 capacity.

'Our priority has to be our fans and our season tickets are the most affordable in the Premiership. Our gate prices are the most affordable – our fans and away fans will pay less at the Falkirk Stadium than any other ground in the Premiership.
'Our priority has to be fan growth. Our under-12s are still going free.

'Last year we had 650-odd free under-12 season tickets. This year it will be 700-800 and that's the future of the football club.
'We will need to keep at least 500 tickets available for walk-ups.
'If families who are moving into the area think, 'We'll go to the Falkirk Stadium' but can't get a ticket, they're never going to become Falkirk fans.'

The day after silverware was secured was spent circling the local boozers with those mates he went to games with before slipping into the shirt and tie four years ago.
'You have to behave in a certain way and enjoy the privilege of being chief executive of Falkirk in different boardrooms... but that Saturday I was just a fan,' said Swinney.
And from the brink of oblivion when he'd barely had time to unpack his office to posting a profit for the season just past, his mantra isn't for changing: 'Don't put the club at risk.

'We had two years, up to last year, when it was very close.
'In February, both in 2022 and 2023, we were going to run out of money, not be able to pay wages and have to put the club into administration.
'One year, the Falkirk Supporters' Society and the patrons bailed the money out and bought the club over as a fan-owned club. The second year, we got a Scottish Cup semi-final.
'If either of those things didn't happen, this club would have run out of money and not been able to pay its salaries in February and March. We can never allow that again.'
Orange background

Try Our AI Features

Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:

Comments

No comments yet...

Related Articles

Motherwell handed away tie in Premier Sports Cup last-16
Motherwell handed away tie in Premier Sports Cup last-16

Daily Record

time8 minutes ago

  • Daily Record

Motherwell handed away tie in Premier Sports Cup last-16

Jens Berthel Askou's side travel to Perth to face St Johnstone in their second round tie in August Motherwell have been drawn away to Championship newcomers St Johnstone in the Premier Sports Cup last 16. ‌ The Lanarkshire side crashed out of the Scottish Cup fourth round to former player Simo Valakari's Saints in January. ‌ St Johnstone have since crashed out of the Premiership, however, and Motherwell will go into the clash as favourites. ‌ Jens Berthel Askou's side progressed as Group G winners on 11 points, while Saints' record 8-0 win over Elgin City saw them through. The tie will played on the weekend of August 16/17. The full draw was: Celtic v Falkirk Kilmarnock v Dundee United ‌ Rangers v Alloa Livingston v Hibernian St Johnstone v Motherwell Morton v Aberdeen Partick Thistle v Ayr United St Mirren v Hearts

Oscar Piastri breezes past Lando Norris to claim Belgian Grand Prix victory
Oscar Piastri breezes past Lando Norris to claim Belgian Grand Prix victory

The Independent

time9 minutes ago

  • The Independent

Oscar Piastri breezes past Lando Norris to claim Belgian Grand Prix victory

Lando Norris' world championship bid was dealt a blow in Belgium after he allowed rival Oscar Piastri to breeze past him and win Sunday's rain-hit Grand Prix race. The start of the 13th round in Spa-Francorchamps was delayed by one hour and 20 minutes due to heavy rain in the Ardennes. But when it eventually got under way – following four precautionary laps behind the safety car – Norris was found wanting when a sloppy exit at the opening La Source corner provided Piastri with a race-winning opportunity too good to turn down. Despite being in Norris' spray, Piastri held his nerve and kept his foot on the accelerator at 170mph up through Eau Rouge and into Raidillon before jinking to his left and sailing clear of his McLaren team-mate on the Kemmel Straight. It was brave and superb in equal measure from Piastri but one Norris will be disappointed after seeing the his rival's championship advantage increase from nine points to 16 ahead of the final round before the summer break in Hungary next weekend. Norris crossed the line 3.4 seconds behind Piastri with Charles Leclerc third for Ferrari. Red Bull's Max Verstappen finished fourth, one place clear of Mercedes driver George Russell with Alex Albon an impressive sixth in his Williams. Lewis Hamilton started 18th and finished seventh following a string of fine moves in the early inclement conditions. At one point, there were fears the race – initially pencilled in for a start time of 3pm locally – could be abandoned after it was suspended following the formation lap due to poor visibility. Verstappen described the decision as 'silly' and 'too cautious'. However, there have been 49 fatalities at this track in the last 100 years – most recently Dutch 18-year-old Dilano Van 't Hoff in 2023. And race director Rui Marques could be excused for taking that grizzly statistic into his consideration. The drivers returned to their respective garages, and as the rain lashed down, memories were cast back to the event in 2021 – one which was abandoned after only two laps behind the safety car. But the grey skies parted, the sun broke through, and at 16:20, pole-sitter Norris emerged on track, albeit behind the safety car, to huge cheers from the record-breaking crowd with 389,000 spectators over the last three days. With visibility quickly improving, the safety car peeled in after four laps, and Norris bunched up the pack before attempting to put distance between himself and Piastri. The advantage was in Norris's hands with Piastri having to navigate his team-mate's spray. But a scrappy exit at La Source from the Briton provided Piastri with the momentum and he soared past Norris and into the lead. Piastri was 1.5 seconds quicker than Norris on the first racing lap leaving the Englishman – who arrived here hoping to claim a hat-trick of wins – facing a mammoth and improbable task. Further back and Hamilton, armed with a new engine, passed both Carlos Sainz and Franco Colapinto in only a handful of corners before breezing clear of Nico Hulkenberg on lap eight for 14th. That became 13th a lap later following a fine move on Pierre Gasly. On lap 11, Hamilton, who had described his Q1 elimination on Saturday as 'unacceptable', was then the first of the major players to move to the slick tyres. A slingshot manouvere on Liam Lawson in the moments after he left the pits promoted him to a net seventh when it all shook out. In came leader Piastri for dry tyres on lap 12, with Norris in on the next lap. Norris took on the hardest tyre compound – the only driver to do so – in the hope that Piastri's medium rubber would not make it to the end. But in a blow to Norris, Piastri's rubber lasted all 44 laps as he claimed his sixth win of the season – two more than Norris – with the championship momentum swinging back to Australia.

DOWNLOAD THE APP

Get Started Now: Download the App

Ready to dive into a world of global content with local flavor? Download Daily8 app today from your preferred app store and start exploring.
app-storeplay-store