John McGlynn's Falkirk FC Prepare for Scottish Cup Semi-Finals
- On 29th April, the Scottish League One side will go up against Inverness Caley Thistle to compete for a place in the Scottish Cup finals
John McGlynn is on the cusp of a Scottish Cup Final with League One Falkirk — and even he admits he never dreamed that would be a reality this season.
The 61-year-old Football Careers client raised some eyebrows in his native land when he elected to leave Championship club Raith Rovers to take over the Bairns in the tier below.
John saw the potential at Falkirk, though, and now they will face Inverness Caley at Hampden in the Scottish Cup semi-finals. Falkirk are 90 minutes away from returning to the national stadium to face either Celtic or Rangers in the final.
Not only that, but McGlynn has guided his side into the playoffs with a big chance to take them back into the Championship. John admitted:
“Who would’ve believed this time last year Falkirk would be in a Scottish Cup semi-final with a realistic opportunity? We’re not playing Celtic, Rangers, or Aberdeen, Hibs, Hearts. We’re playing Inverness, who are a Championship team in really good form, but we do have a chance.”
It’s a thrilling end to the season for the Football Careers client, who counts Raith Rovers, Hearts, and Livingston among the clubs he has previously managed.
John is a hugely respected figure in the Scottish game and in his time out of management, he worked as a key scout for champions Celtic under the likes of Ronny Deila and Brendan Rodgers. Veteran McGlynn is relishing every second of the season’s finale and he reasoned:
“We’ve got loads to play for. We have the playoffs and the opportunity to get to the Championship, which is our bread and butter. We’d probably swap that for a Cup Final place – or certainly I would, I’m not so sure the board would with the money that comes with this!
“That’s a bit in jest. It’s massive, the opportunity to get to a Scottish Cup Final. I’m 61 now but I’m still ambitious. Who knows when it will happen again?”
“I know we haven’t won the league and we have to compliment Dunfermline on doing that, but when you speak to fans, they’ll tell you how much they are proud this club is heading in the right direction.
“That means a lot to us. The icing on the cake would be getting to a cup final and going up, we would go up with so much momentum that it would give us a chance. The football club is big enough to go up and up.
“I’m not getting carried away because we still have to do Saturday before we can go any further forward, but the potential is here to really kick on. We’ve got to believe we can do that.”
When you study John’s Football Careers CV, he has a solid record in Cup football. He won two Challenge Cups with Raith and got Hearts to a League Cup Final.
Taking a team from the third tier of Scottish football all the way to the season’s showpiece game would top all that though. McGlynn confessed:
“That’s a motivation. We’re very proud to be here as a League One team. Falkirk shouldn’t be in this division but they’ve been in it for four years now. The longer you’re there, the more the budget depreciates and everything goes back, so it’s a great achievement to get to Hampden in a semi.
“Now we need to grasp the chance to get to a final.”
