Falkirk

Former Scotland captain Scott Brown assesses Falkirk's prospects in the Scottish Premiership this season.

Martin Dowden
BBC Sport Scotland Senior Reporter

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Falkirk defender Lewis Neilson insists Premiership points will come if they maintain the sense of togetherness that has been a feature of their rise through Scottish football under manager John McGlynn.

The Bairns fell just short in a 2-1 defeat away to Celtic having fought back after falling two goals behind, with goalkeeper Scott Bain's blunder handing Celtic an early head start.

Despite just one point from their opening three fixtures, the former Hearts centre half believes results will follow despite a tough run of fixtures.

"The early goal's a killer, especially at Celtic Park," Neilson told BBC Scotland.

"If you go 1-0 down in that sort of manner, early doors, it's always going to be an uphill battle, but we came in at half-time, had a good chat and I think the boys had a really good performance in the second half, played some good football, got after them and I think made them a bit nervy."

"We've not got a massive budget, we need to have that togetherness," he continued.

"We need to fight, that's the basics. It's the first and foremost at Falkirk and the gaffer instills that in all the players. He doesn't just sign good players, he signs good characters that are going to come and buy into that and I think we've seen that with the new signings.

"It's a really close-knit group and the boys have come in and blended in brilliantly and I think we'll see that throughout the course of the season."

Falkirk host Rangers midweek before a trip to Tannadice to face Dundee United next weekend. Despite that, Neilson remains confident that they are capable of picking up valuable results.

"I think if we do the basics right and stick to what we're good at, I think the points will definitely come.

"It's a tough start to the season, a tough few games in a short period of time coming up, but if we stick to doing the right things, play how we play in that second half, I think we'll not have any worries whatsoever."

Watch the best of the action as Celtic rebound from Champions League play-off failure by maintaining their 100% Premiership start with a 2-1 win over Falkirk. (Available to UK users only)

Falkirk fans, we asked for your views after Saturday's 2-1 defeat to Celtic at Celtic Park.

Here's what some of you said:

Nathan: Scott Bain's horror show after five minutes really killed the chances of us being able to keep Celtic at bay but I'm proud of the performance. In the end we started off poorly but grew into the game in the second half. Could've possibly had a penalty along with our goal with good fortune. On another day you never know we could've nicked a point.

Celtic maintained their winning Scottish Premiership start as Camilo Duran's double ended a bruising week on a positive with a narrow win over Falkirk.

Read the match report.

Have your say on the game.

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Falkirk boss John McGlynn tells BBC Scotland: "Worst possible start to lose a goal so early. You're hoping to keep them at bay and let nerves kick in. That goes out of the window.

"We hung in the game, showed we can play, but then we lose the second goal. It's an offside decision taken very quickly - they always do things quickly here and before we know it, they're flying down the left wing and we're 2-0 down.

"We started the second half so well and clawed our way back into the game. We just didn't quite have enough to get another good opportunity. Loads of encouragement there.

"We showed great character and team spirit.

"We've made 16 changes and there might be one more to come. Very difficult bringing so many players in. Brad [Spencer] was outstanding today off the back of transfer speculation. I can see signs that we are getting there."

Dundee United are weighing up another approach for 30-year-old midfielder Brad Spencer after being undeterred by Falkirk manager John McGlynn's angry reaction to the Tangerines' latest offer. (The Courier, external)

Read Saturday's Scottish Gossip in full.

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Celtic captain Callum McGregor missed training on Friday with a stomach bug but manager Martin O'Neill hopes he will be fit.

Jota and Alistair Johnston remains out for the hosts.

Falkirk are without seven first-team players.

Keelan Adams, Joe Gardner, Ethan Laidlaw, Tom Lang, Aidan Nesbitt, Craig Sibbald and Finn Yeats miss out.

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Leon McCann aims to complete Celtic's miserable week by helping Falkirk to a shock win at Parkhead on Saturday.

Martin O'Neill's side are still reeling from their calamitous Champions League play-off exit to LASK.

"It's the hardest place in Scotland you can go for a game," said 26-year-old full-back McCann.

"And it's kind of trying to frustrate them, frustrate the people in the stadium. Obviously not a great result for them the other night.

"We're taking it at 10-minute stages. Just get through the first 10 minutes, 20 minutes, stay compact.

"Try and get a goal and then obviously as the game gets further on - and hopefully they've not scored - then the nerves start to build around the stadium and we kind of need to try to pounce on that.

"Every team's got areas that you can exploit. Don't get me wrong, they're a top team with top players and they've been playing really, really well and scoring a lot of goals as well.

"We're kind of hoping that we can nullify them as much as possible and go there and get a shock result."

John McGlynn kept the core of his Falkirk side together having brought them up through League One to the Premiership where they finished sixth last season.

However, the departure of several players - including Barney Stewart, Calvin Miller, and Dylan Tait - necessitated a revamp and American winger CJ Fodrey joined on a season-long loan from MLS side Austin as Falkirk's 16th summer signing.

McCann insists that McGlynn's easy-on-the-eye football philosophy, which brought so many admirers last season, will remain strong.

He said: "Obviously, we've been a tight-knit group for three, four years now and it's been a big turnover. It's good to get fresh faces and play with different players with different styles.

"I don't think he [McGlynn] will ever change the way he wants to play, which is great for me. I love the way we play.

"He has kind of drummed it into you that he's got standards and he's got specific ways he wants you to play and if you can't commit to that or work as hard as he needs you to work, then he'll find somebody else who can."

Dundee United have made a six-figure bid for Falkirk midfielder Brad Spencer. (Daily Record, external)

Read the rest of Thursday's Scottish gossip.

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Falkirk have signed winger CJ Fodrey from MLS side Austin FC on a season-long loan

The 22-year-old becomes the second American to join the Bairns this week following Jacob Murrell and is the club's 16th summer recruit.

Fodrey was drafted by Austin in 2023 and went on to make 58 appearances, scoring three goals and providing two assists.

"CJ is an attacking player who can play across all four attacking positions," Falkirk head coach John McGlynn said.

"He's a tall, quick, physical player, with a tremendous attitude to work hard for the team and we look forward to working with CJ over the course of this season.

"As the fans will have noticed, we have spread our net far and wide to capture our two latest signings.

"This is due to the competition for players in the UK becoming increasingly difficult and it shows how far we will go to get the right type of player to for us."

Falkirk are targeting a loan deal for Austin winger CJ Fodrey. (Record), external

Read the rest of Wednesday's Scottish gossip.

Grant Heaney
Fan writer

After almost three weeks without a competitive game, Falkirk are finally coming out of cold storage this weekend.

Unfortunately, we couldn't have asked for a much tougher way to get back into the swing of things, with a trip to Glasgow to face Celtic.

And that's only the beginning of what looks an incredibly challenging couple of weeks. We host Rangers the following Wednesday, travel to Dundee United three days later and then return home for midweek action against Hearts.

It's a brutal run of fixtures, particularly when you consider we're still finding our feet with a squad that's undergone such a significant overhaul during the summer.

There is no doubt in my mind we're capable of picking up points during this run, but equally, we have to be realistic enough to recognise it will be difficult.

The next few weeks are likely to test us considerably, but we can't allow ourselves to become too downbeat. One of the biggest reasons we've gone from League One to the top flight in such a short time is the togetherness at the club.

We've seen what can happen when the supporters, manager and players all pull in the same direction, and that unity is going to be every bit as important now as it has been throughout the journey to get here.

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Falkirk have signed Wolves winger Conor McLeod on a season-long loan deal.

McLeod, 19, is yet to make a senior appearance for Wolves, but has impressed for the club's youth sides, while also being capped by England at under-16 level.

"Conor is a winger, and he's one that Allan Fraser watched towards the end of last season and he caught his eye, so we've followed him since then," manager John McGlynn said.

"He's been doing really well in pre-season with Wolves. He scored a couple of goals against Burnley, which is great from his point of view.

"He's a skilful player that will take opposition players on in one vs one situations, and we feel he's someone who will complement the team.

"He's coming in to push for starts and to try to make a name for himself, like a lot of the players we've brought in in these positions have done.

"He's one that we've been doing a good bit of work on. We're delighted to get him, we're looking forward to working with him, and we welcome him to the football club."

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Jacob Murrell offers "something different" to Falkirk, says manager John McGlynn, after the American striker joined from DC United.

Murrell, 22, has signed a two-year deal, with the Bairns holding the option of a further 12 months.

He made 65 appearances, the majority as a substitute, for MLS side DC United, scoring four goals.

"We're delighted to get Jacob in. He's a player we've been aware of for a wee while and one that we feel can bring something different to the group," said manager John McGlynn.

"He's a big, strong boy, he's 6ft 2in, but he's also very mobile. He likes to get in behind and he's got a real eye for goal. He's still only 22, so we think there's a lot more to come from him as well.

"He's been playing at a good level with DC United in the MLS, so he's coming in having had experience in a very competitive league."

Grant Heaney
Fan writer

Having been eliminated from the League Cup during the group stages and with this weekend's game against Hearts postponed due to their continental commitments, fixtures have been thin on the ground for Falkirk fans of late.

For some supporters, the wait to see the Bairns in action again will stretch even further.

When we resume the weekend after next, we'll be away at Celtic. It's obviously going to be a limited allocation for our support, but even those tickets are unlikely to be snapped up given they cost an eye-watering £37 for adult supporters.

If you're willing to settle for a restricted view, you can knock three quid off that.

It's not a surprise this fixture was boycotted by our supporters last season, and if the same happens again this time, you can't blame anyone for taking that stance.

This isn't simply about having a go at Celtic. They're not the only club charging what feels like an excessive amount to watch a game of football, and the wider issue of ticket prices needs to be taken more seriously across the Scottish game.

The Scottish FA is due to hold a "critically important" summit around the future of the national game next month, and this is surely something that needs to be part of that conversation.

England has had an away ticket price cap in place for more than a decade, meaning travelling supporters cannot be charged more than £30.

Uefa also caps away ticket prices in the Champions League and Europa League, while travelling supporters in major European leagues such as Germany and Spain can generally expect to pay less than they do in Scotland, where there is no equivalent protection.

To put that into perspective, a Coventry City supporter can travel to the Emirates on Friday night and pay less to watch their team than a Falkirk supporter will be asked to part with at Celtic Park eight days later.

I won't be making the trip to Parkhead and there are plenty of other Bairns supporters who have made the same decision.

Following your football club is becoming an increasingly expensive commitment and supporters are being asked to shoulder more and more of the cost. Surely it's time the governing bodies stepped in and did more to make fairer ticket prices a reality.

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Falkirk have confirmed the departure of winger Alfredo Agyeman.

The 26-year-old former Kelty Hearts player scored 15 goals in 109 appearances for the Bairns during their rise through the divisions.

Agyeman spent the second half of last season on loan with St Johnstone before he made his final two Falkirk appearances in the Premier Sports Cup group stage.

A club statement read: "We can confirm that Alfredo Agyeman has moved on from the club. Another Invincible, back-to-back champion, and legend departs. Everyone at Falkirk FC wishes Alfie all the very best for the future."

Grant Heaney
Fan writer

After enduring a difficult start to the season in both the League Cup and Premiership, Sunday's 0-0 draw at Motherwell has steadied the ship somewhat and brought a sense of optimism back to the Falkirk Stadium.

The draw was a fair result in the end, with the Bairns looking the more likely victors in the second half.

The biggest positive, and certainly something to build on, was the fact we managed to keep a clean sheet - something we failed to do in nine of our final 10 league matches of last season.

However, the one cause for concern remains our lack of cutting edge up front.

We've failed to score in each of our opening two league games and haven't looked overly creative in the final third.

John McGlynn now has the best part of three weeks to get to work on the training ground, given that we don't have any fixtures until the end of August.

He has also hinted he's looking at bringing in at least another two new arrivals.

I think I speak for most Bairns fans when I say we'd like to see both a striker and a winger to be the two types of players he's targeting.

Falkirk fans, we asked for your views after Sunday's goalless draw away to Motherwell.

Here's what some of you had to say:

Nathan: A great point to gain at the end of the day and I'm glad to be off the mark. It seemed that both sides cancelled each other out with no chances really clear cut. A lot of good individual performances from the whole defensive line to Ben Krauhaus and Ethan Ross in attack, Finley Barbrook looks a fantastic addition to the squad as well.

Hugh: Much better performance from Falkirk, particularly the second half. I thought Barbrook had an outstanding game and looks a real find. Krauhaus was very lively too. I hope Joe Gardner's injury isn't too bad as he was one of the few successes against St. Mirren. I think we're getting towards a quality squad again but need games to fine tune the squad. Still looking for a natural striker but Ben Parkinson is showing some signs.

Andy: Much better performance from Falkirk after the opening game, better fight and energy from the team and a point against Motherwell at Fir Park not to be sniffed at. The new players will take time to gel with the players from last season and up to speed with the style but hopefully a steady season ahead, consolidating our status as a premiership team is the minimum.

Ian: Transition is the phrase being used to describe Falkirk, that is what I see. A great point yesterday, togetherness as a team, just need a cutting edge, against a very good team in Motherwell.

Watch all the action as Motherwell and Falkirk play out a goalless draw at Fir Park to maintain Alfred Johansson's unbeaten start to life at Motherwell. Available to UK users only