Falkirk

Grant Heaney
Fan writer

The curtain came down on our first season back in the top flight for 15 years at the weekend, and what a campaign it has been.

Survival was the primary objective, but to finish inside the top six - and do so with a degree of style and relative comfort - exceeded all expectations.

It's been a truly remarkable three years for everyone connected with the club, but it now feels like the end of an era.

The group of players who delivered an invincible season in League 1 and immediately followed it up with promotion from the Championship now looks set to be dismantled for one reason or another this summer.

It brings mixed emotions, as the past three years have been a golden period in the club's history - one that will be remembered fondly for years to come.

On the flip side, it also presents an opportunity for the club to evolve and embark on a new journey as we look to establish ourselves in the top flight.

There will still be a core of players who have climbed through the divisions together, but a number of new faces will inevitably arrive at the Falkirk Stadium over the close season as the club enters its next chapter.

Watch the best of the action as Rangers won their first post-split fixture with a 5-2 victory at Falkirk. Available to UK users only.

Falkirk fans, we asked for your views on the 5-2 loss to Rangers on the final day of the Premiership season. Here's what you had to say.

John: We just succumbed some poor defending yet again. Refereeing both on and off field was poor. Onto next season.

David: Typical end of season game with nothing at stake. Defences were both suspect, loads of goal chances. It made it entertaining for fans, as it could have been about five or six each.

Our season has been better than anyone expected and I for one have no complaints. We move on to next season .

Falkirk have received "fair offers from two or three clubs" for striker Barney Stewart, with manager John McGlynn saying any fee for the 22-year-old will go towards a grass pitch and training facilities. (Falkirk Herald), external

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Folling his side's final Premierhisp game of the season, Falkirk manager John McGlynn reflected on their first season back in the top flight.

He said: "There's no doubt we will have raised expectation levels, we have done it all season, that's the nature of the beast.

"It will be difficult but that is the challenge but it's about getting recruitment right which we have done the last few years.

"It doesn't get any easier. We know the market where we can go and we'll try to get the best we can."

Youssef Chermiti's hat-trick helped Rangers sign off for the summer with a Scottish Premiership victory, as the visitors enjoyed a 5-2 final day win over Falkirk.

Read the full match report here.

Have your say on the game here.

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Falkirk manager John McGlynn reflected with pride on their contribution to the Premiership season as the Bairns prepare to close their campaign at home to Rangers.

Falkirk's sixth-place finish was confirmed in midweek but Saturday is set to be a celebration of the progress they have continued to make.

The Bairns have gone from League 1 to the top six in three years and will be looking to finish another memorable campaign on a high.

McGlynn told Falkirk TV: "We are obviously so delighted with where we are in the league table, what we've done, the way we have played, the entertainment we have produced.

"I think we have been a great addition to the Premiership overall.

"We have one game to go, a bit of a dead rubber. It will be nice to finish at home in front of the fans, get a nice break and hit the recruitment drive and come back ready to go next season."

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Skipper James Tavernier is departing at the end of the season and will not play again for Rangers after having an injection on an ankle problem.

Nicolas Raskin remains out with a hamstring issue. Falkirk's artificial pitch poses problems for Dujon Sterling while Ryan Naderi and Bailey Rice remain unavailable.

Lewis Neilson returns for Falkirk but Filip Lissah (ankle), Leon McCann (hamstring) and Scott Bain (ankle) are set to remain out along with Louie Marsh and Ethan Williams (both thigh).

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• Rangers have lost four consecutive league matches for only the second time in the club's history, after a run of five successive defeats from October to November 1983.

• Including the curtailed 2019-20 campaign, Rangers have only lost their final league game in one of the past 17 seasons (W9 D7), a 2-1 defeat at Kilmarnock in 2018-19.

• Falkirk have lost just one of their past five home league games against Rangers (W2 D2), although that was their most recent, a 6-3 defeat in April.

• Rangers have only lost one of their past 48 top-flight matches against Falkirk (W39 D8), a 1-0 defeat in December 2006 under Paul Le Guen.

• Falkirk have lost four of their past five league games (W1), including both of their latest two. They are yet to lose three in a row in the league this season, last doing so in the top flight in March 2010.

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Falkirk have turned down a seven-figure offer from West Bromwich Albion for forward Barney Stewart, 22. (Daily Record), external

We asked for your views on Falkirk's 3-0 defeat against Hearts.

Here's what some of you said:

Nathan: I thought we started off quite well, Calvin Miller gets a goal chopped off then we concede from a corner again like we've not learned anything from Saturday. John McGlynn really needs to bring in a defensive stalwart in the summer who can deal with crosses and set-pieces alongside Liam Henderson. From then on Hearts went into the ascendancy and deservedly won the game. I wish them all the best at Parkhead and hopefully they win for the sake of Scottish football.

David: We definitely need a central defender. I am sure John has ideas and guys in mind already. Losing Filip Lissah, Ben Broggio and Kyrell Wilson will be hard, but we will come back stronger.

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Hearts will be Scottish champions for the first time since 1960 if they avoid defeat at Celtic Park on Saturday after sweeping aside Falkirk at a raucous Tynecastle.

Read the full match report here.

Have your say on the game here.

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Falkirk manager John McGlynn told BBC Sportsound: "I thought we started the game well. We created openings and made it nervy for Hearts for a good 20 minutes, I would say.

"Hearts came into it and put us under pressure from a corner kick, which is our Achilles heel right now. Then Hearts have their tails up, are rampant and the place is buzzing.

"We just couldn't get to half time at 1-0.

"Overall Hearts deserved their win. They're top of the league for a reason, have good players and are all playing together.

"They've got a good manager and the place is bouncing. It's hard coming here on a night like that and for some of our players it was a game too far.

"We're not going to criticise our players, who have been magnificent all season. I'm proud of them for the season.

"We'll get a break after the last game, go on a recruitment drive and go again next season."

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• Lawrence Shankland has scored in both of Hearts' past two home league games; the last Jambos player to score in three successive home Scottish Premiership appearances was Shankland himself in May 2024.

• Hearts have won their past five top-flight matches against Falkirk, including all three this season without conceding, although the Bairns won the sides' Scottish Cup fourth-meeting in January on penalties after a 1-1 draw.

• Falkirk have only scored in one of their past seven top-flight matches against Hearts (D2 L5), netting twice but still losing in February 2010 (3-2).

• After beating St Johnstone 2-1 last season, Hearts could win their final home game in back-to-back top-flight campaigns for the first time since 2005-06/2006-07.

• In Falkirk's 17 away league games this season, they have never had the same result twice in a row (W7 D2 L8), losing 3-1 at Celtic last time out.

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Hearts have lost key duo Marc Leonard and Craig Halkett to ruptured Achilles but Harry Milne is set to return after a calf issue.

Goalkeeper Craig Gordon is back in training after a shoulder problem but midfielders Oisin McEntee, Calem Nieuwenhof (both hamstring), Tomas Magnusson and Ageu (both thigh) are still out.

Falkirk have issues in defence. Filip Lissah (ankle) and Leon McCann (hamstring) hobbled off on Saturday and on-loan Hearts centre-back Lewis Neilson is ineligible.

Goalkeeper Scott Bain (ankle) is set to remain out along with Louie Marsh and Ethan Williams (both thigh).

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Falkirk attacker Calvin Miller vowed his side will give their all to keep their slim hopes of European qualification alive when they face title-chasing Hearts at Tynecastle.

The focus will be on the home team, who will clinch the Scottish Premiership title for the first time since 1960 if they beat Falkirk and Celtic lose to Motherwell.

But the Bairns still have their own ambitions to strive for, despite seeing fifth spot – and a potential European place – drift from their grasp on Saturday.

Falkirk set out to leapfrog Hibs in the table but a 3-1 home defeat left them five points behind with two games left.

With Hibs holding a 20-goal advantage, Falkirk's European hopes depend on them finishing the season with wins over Hearts and Rangers while hoping David Gray's side lose twice, and Dunfermline win the Scottish Cup.

Miller told Falkirk TV: "Mathematically it's not done yet so we just need to go and give a good account of ourselves on Wednesday.

"I'm sure Tynecastle will be electric considering what they are going for so we really need to roll the sleeves up and get a big performance from ourselves."

Grant Heaney
Fan writer

Like a number of Premiership clubs, we are facing a pretty big rebuild over the close season.

Several loan players will return to their parent clubs, while some of our standout performers will inevitably attract interest elsewhere.

There are also a handful of players nearing the end of their contracts who, for one reason or another, are unlikely to stay on.

However, Saturday's 3-1 home defeat to Hibernian again highlighted that bringing in a centre-half must be high on John McGlynn's list of priorities for next season.

Conceding from set-pieces continues to plague us, a flaw that dates all the way back to our League 1 days. It remains a glaring weakness and was exposed again early in Saturday's loss.

We found ourselves behind almost immediately when conceding a cheap goal from a corner, leaving us with a mountain to climb and, ultimately, seeing our European hopes go up in smoke.

While they are a rare breed in today's game, we're in need of a proper old-school leader beside Liam Henderson - someone capable of organising the backline and bringing the aggression needed to deal with this ongoing issue from set-pieces.

Given the level of detail McGlynn puts into his work, you would imagine he is already exploring ways to solve this problem, but hopefully it is near the top of his summer shopping list.

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Hearts' Claudio Braga could win an awards double after he was shortlisted for the Scottish Football Writers' Association player of the year award.

The Portuguese forward is nominated alongside teammate Lawrence Shankland and Motherwell duo Elijah Just and Tawanda Maswanhise.

The manager of the year award could also go to Tynecastle or Fir Park, with Derek McInnes and Jens Berthel Askou both nominated.

Falkirk boss John McGlynn and Celtic interim manager Martin O'Neill are also on the shortlist.

Four Scottish players are in the running for young player of the year - Falkirk striker Barney Stewart, Kilmarnock's on-loan Rangers winger Findlay Curtis, Dundee defender Luke Graham and Dunfermline's Andrew Tod.

The winners will be announced on Sunday, 17 May.

Falkirk fans, we asked for your opinions after the 3-1 loss to Hibernian on Saturday. Here's a taste of what you had to say...

John: Pathetic defending the first goal. Naive for the second. The third he took it well. Room for improvement on that performance.

Nathan: The game against Hibs and our semi-final against Dunfermline were two huge matches with very high stakes and we've failed to perform to the standard we know we are capable of.

Some terrible goals conceded and it looks like conceding free headers from corners is a bad habit we'll never get out of. Ben Broggio scored a brilliant goal and the subs did well off the bench considering the circumstances, but the game was unfortunately well done by then. Now we have two free hits against Hearts and Rangers.

Gary: Really poor, I think the guys are looking at their summer break rather than the games.

Pabs: Proud of the players. Top six is just incredible. In John McGlynn we trust. Thanks to all the players for a wonderful season.

David: Bad start, with all three goals the result of slack defending. Played better in the second half but needed Brian Graham or Ross MacIver to put some pressure on the Hibs defence.

Two games to go, can't complain. We achieved the aim - staying up - and the top six was an unexpected bonus. Let's be kingmakers in the last two games.

Hibernian moved closer to claiming European football for next season with a dominant win at Falkirk, arresting a run of three straight Scottish Premiership losses.

Have your say on the game here.

Read the match report here.