Falkirk 2 Ayr Utd 1
Football is a game of passion, history, hope, despair and fleeting triumph. Its scope and depth would test the powers of a poet. But sometimes, just sometimes, it is best told in numbers.
As the Bairns toddle towards their 150th anniversary in 2026, the numbers tell a tale of survival, a story of endurance in the face of what seemed overwhelming odds, and serve as a reminder of the hard miles travelled, the most desperate of them very recently.
The chroniclers of this tale are a young executive and fans, some of whom have spent 50 years supporting the club. They can be found in the pristine Falkirk Stadium which again has a story that concerns figures.
There are three occupied sides to the arena. The fourth is not yet filled. Falkirk were told they had to have a 10,000-seater to enter the top division. This rule has faded into history, meaning the fourth side did not have to be built.
Falkirk were also told they could not groundshare. This rule was waived for Gretna and Inverness Caledonian Thistle. Falkirk now have an artificial pitch that will be declared unfit for Premiership participation. There are numbers that challenge that ruling, too.
Jamie Swinney, the club chief executive, patiently explains the recent history of the club with an initial focus on the issue of an artificial surface.
Falkirk players celebrate Ethan Ross’s opener with the open expanse of Westfield behind them
Bairns supporters watch as Ross scores his second to complete a statement win over rivals Ayr
Falkirk chief executive Jamie Swinney has seen plenty promotion setbacks over the years
Asked if the club had formed any contingency plan for ascension into the Premiership without a grass pitch, he replies, somewhat reasonably: ‘We have spent the last three years making sure the club survived. Last year was the first year that we had no fear of running out of money.
‘My first year (as chief executive) we didn’t run out of money because the patrons (a group of supporters) chipped in. In year two, we got to the semi-final of the Scottish Cup, so that helped.’
He recounts the club’s history of winning titles and not being promoted. ‘I was there,’ he says, pointing to a precise spot in the Hope Street End at Brockville, ‘when we won the First Division in 2003.’
The SPL, as it then was, denied the Bairns entry over the terms of a groundshare. ‘We felt hard done by,’ he says with commendable restraint.
Falkirk now are joint top on points in the Championship with games in hand. The artificial pitch rule may soon come into play. They could be banned from the Premiership in 2026,
‘We have a brilliant surface that you can play Champions League football on but you can’t play against Ross County? It is absurd,’ says Swinney.
Falkirk never got round to building a fourth stand after the 10,000-capacity rule was scrapped
Numbers tell a considerable part of the story. ‘We spent £300,000 putting down this new pitch just a year ago. We would face a bill of £1.2m for ripping it up and laying down a grass pitch.’
With prize money in the Championship dwarfed by that in the Premiership, it is an impossible task to raise the money without grants or help from the football authorities.
‘In any other walk of life, an independent body could not enforce that move,’ says Swinney.
Numbers, though, tell a more cheering story over fan ownership. ‘The last three years have been a real journey down that road,’ he says. ‘Falkirk Supporters’ Society now owns about 26 per cent of the club. That’s an important figure. Any special resolution such as changing the name of the ground or whatever needs 75 per cent support, so you can appreciate the significance of the 26 per cent holding.’
The board is also democratically elected with three-year terms. ‘There was once no way to change the boards,’ says Swinney. ‘There is now.’
He points out that Falkirk have moved away from any danger of being owned by someone who takes the club as his or her pet project then leaves it in a mess. This is a familiar story in Scotland and beyond.
Ross celebrates his second goal as the Bairns franked their early title credentials in style
On a Saturday when Falkirk frank title credentials by beating their closest rivals in the Championship, Swinney says: ‘We have said we wanted to be in the Premiership for our 150th celebrations in 2026-27. That gave us two years at the start of the season. We want to be a sustainable club in the top tier, we would like to restart our academy fully and, yes, it would be great to have that fourth side of the stadium.’
THE recitation of certain numbers can be painful. ‘We’re five down at half-time,’ says Michael White, the Falkirk historian, referring to the 6-2 defeat to Airdrie in the first leg of the play-off for a Championship spot in 2023. ‘I have never heard such venom or hostility from the support. There were guys who I knew had been watching Falkirk for 30 or 40 years who were walking out in sheer disappointment.’
The second leg was also lost 1-0. The arithmetic of a 7-2 aggregate loss was deeply wounding.
Yet on Saturday there was another significant number. The precise figure of 6,753 enumerated the fans who sold out the Falkirk allocation for the match. They roared John McGlynn and his players after the victory. The manager could reflect pointedly later that ‘everybody loves a winner’ but White still recalls the despair of that play-off defeat and the bravery of board and manager going forward.
‘Given where we were, this is one of our biggest achievements,’ he says in reference to an unbeaten season in League One followed by the ascent to the top of the Championship. ‘The board stood behind John and allowed him to stand by his players and bring some more in. This team is a genuine unit who have gained confidence in playing with each other.’
As a supporter who can recall John White playing for the Bairns in 1958-59, he is attuned to the realities of being a Bairn. ‘You enjoy the ups because there have been a few downs,’ he says.
Rival bosses John McGlynn and Scott Brown shake hands in the dugout before kick-off
The mood is buoyant in the Brockville Bar at one end of the stadium. A group of seasoned supporters gathers at one table. Between the five of them, the season ticket tally stretches beyond 200 years.
Ronnie Speirs, Douglas Oliphant, John Campbell and Sandra and Ronnie MacKinnon are together for yet another Saturday watching the club they love. Spiers, at 78, recalls how he celebrated his silver wedding in 1996 with his wife at Brockville for a game against Aberdeen. He also points out that Falkirk FC seems to have him in an unbreakable grip. ‘There are some years when we all ask each other if we will renew our season tickets and the answer is a resounding no. But we do it anyway.’
There have been rewards. ‘Last season we had the Invincibles and how can you even dream of that?’ says Oliphant. ‘But if you are a supporter you are stuck with it through good and bad. You can’t change teams.’
Sandra MacKinnon has been a season ticketholder for 50 of her 62 years. ‘I even brought him along,’ she says of her husband sitting alongside her. He is a relative newcomer having watched the team for merely 20 years and only becoming a season ticket holder when he retired from working offshore.
‘You learn to expect the unexpected down the years,’ she says. ‘But we are very pleased to be where we are. The club is now more forward-looking, more transparent.’
Falkirk fans are dreaming of a long-awaited top-flight return… if SPFL rules allow this time
There is a turn to matters of geography rather than arithmetic. The group ponders the way to Amarillo and having Tony Christie singing what has become the unofficial club song live if the team wins the Championship.
Then there is a flag fluttering outside which proclaims the Jeddah Falkirk Supporters’ Club.
‘That’s the work of my son,’ says Gavin McLaren. ‘He never used to miss a game and ran a supporters’ bus but he now works in Saudi Arabia.’ Gavin Junior was over for the Celtic tie in the Premier Sports Cup and the Championship defeat to Raith Rovers. He is now back in the Middle East but his flag flies proudly at Falkirk Stadium.
‘He is away but the team is back now,’ says his father. ‘We have come out of the traps flying.’
This sentiment is franked by another piece of arithmetic hours later. Three points may just be the precise calculation for inducing happiness in fans.