Eddie May became the third casualty of the season, following Jim Jefferies and Jim Gannon as he resigns from struggling Falkirk. His appointment was always filled with a certain degree of risk. A youth coach, responsible for setting up and running Falkirk's relatively successful youth academy, May was thrust into senior management after the hugely (no pun intended) popular John Hughes moved on to Hibs.
It's not been an easy ride for May. Falkirk has won only three of their 25 domestic matches and their performances of late showed little of the spirit seen under Hughes. Wins where becoming increasingly hard to come by, and with 15 games left to save their place - and financial future - May fell on his sword (there seems to be no hint he was pushed down onto it) and did the honorable thing by stepping aside and letting someone else take over to save the club from relegation.
So Eddie May has been replaced with Steven Pressley, a former Falkirk player, and a man himself a relative novice to league football management. At first glance it's a strange move, one fraught with danger, because there's a lot more at stake for teams like Falkirk if they don't start winning a few games: Falkirk are rooted to the bottom of the table where they've been for most of the season, and there's little sign of that improving, even allowing for the 'new manager' syndrome'. But it's the cheap option as the Scottish football blog correctly points out, one forced upon them by the ravages of the economic climate we all find ourselves in. A short-term contract (he's got till the end of the season) covers all bases in case it all goes horribly wrong, allowing the club to get rid of Pressley without incurring Rafa Benitez-esque costs.
Pressley will be assisted in his Herculean labours by Alex Smith, a wily veteran of the Scottish football management merry-go-round, and formerly Falkirk's Director of Football. Having at various times managed teams with similar infrastructure and finances (Stenhousemuir, Stirling Albion, St Mirren, Aberdeen, Clyde, Dundee United and Ross County), Smith may well be the ideal man to help Pressley achieve safety, something Pressley had (perhaps unwisely) promised the Falkirk fans during his first press conference.
Pressley and Smith have got their work cut out for them. Sadly, I just can't see them surviving, and I worry for their financial future should they find themselves in the First Division come next August. Their only hope is that Hamilton returns to their losing form. The Bairns are only three points from safety at the moment, but with the likes of Celtic, Hibs and Dundee United to come before the split, that gap may well have become unbridgeable.
Here's what the other Scottish Football blogs had to say about it:
May Day → [Scottish Football Blog]
Now Or Never → [Scottish Football Blog]
Elvis is in the building → [Scotzine]
Elvis gets his way → [We Love Fitba]
Eddie Leaving Falkirk → [We Know SFA]
It's not been an easy ride for May. Falkirk has won only three of their 25 domestic matches and their performances of late showed little of the spirit seen under Hughes. Wins where becoming increasingly hard to come by, and with 15 games left to save their place - and financial future - May fell on his sword (there seems to be no hint he was pushed down onto it) and did the honorable thing by stepping aside and letting someone else take over to save the club from relegation.
So Eddie May has been replaced with Steven Pressley, a former Falkirk player, and a man himself a relative novice to league football management. At first glance it's a strange move, one fraught with danger, because there's a lot more at stake for teams like Falkirk if they don't start winning a few games: Falkirk are rooted to the bottom of the table where they've been for most of the season, and there's little sign of that improving, even allowing for the 'new manager' syndrome'. But it's the cheap option as the Scottish football blog correctly points out, one forced upon them by the ravages of the economic climate we all find ourselves in. A short-term contract (he's got till the end of the season) covers all bases in case it all goes horribly wrong, allowing the club to get rid of Pressley without incurring Rafa Benitez-esque costs.
Pressley will be assisted in his Herculean labours by Alex Smith, a wily veteran of the Scottish football management merry-go-round, and formerly Falkirk's Director of Football. Having at various times managed teams with similar infrastructure and finances (Stenhousemuir, Stirling Albion, St Mirren, Aberdeen, Clyde, Dundee United and Ross County), Smith may well be the ideal man to help Pressley achieve safety, something Pressley had (perhaps unwisely) promised the Falkirk fans during his first press conference.
Pressley and Smith have got their work cut out for them. Sadly, I just can't see them surviving, and I worry for their financial future should they find themselves in the First Division come next August. Their only hope is that Hamilton returns to their losing form. The Bairns are only three points from safety at the moment, but with the likes of Celtic, Hibs and Dundee United to come before the split, that gap may well have become unbridgeable.
Here's what the other Scottish Football blogs had to say about it:
May Day → [Scottish Football Blog]
Now Or Never → [Scottish Football Blog]
Elvis is in the building → [Scotzine]
Elvis gets his way → [We Love Fitba]
Eddie Leaving Falkirk → [We Know SFA]
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