Falkirk FC AGM: Bairns face summer venue switch amid £1.6m pitch and training centre plans
Falkirk FC AGM: Bairns face summer venue switch amid £1.6m pitch and training centre plans.
The Bairns face the prospect of playing next season’s Premier Sports Cup group stage home matches at a neutral venue, it has been revealed as the club push on with plans to replace the Falkirk Stadium’s artificial surface.
The Scottish Premiership side have been forced to make the switch to grass this summer following a vote taken by top flight clubs back in 2024 to ban them.
And company shareholders were informed during Thursday night’s annual general meeting that club will spend £1.6m to transition to a state-of-the-art hybrid surface over the summer.
Pitch switch may impact Falkirk fixtures
Completing the first phase of a training ground complex for John McGlynn’s squad to use is also included in that spend. A location for the training centre has not yet been disclosed with a lease agreement close to being agreed.
Providing an update at the AGM, chief executive Jamie Swinney outlined Falkirk’s pitch plans and confirmed that the club may need to follow in the footsteps of Kilmarnock.
The East Ayrshire side - who switched to a grass surface over the summer - played their Premier Sports Cup group stage home fixtures at Auchinleck Talbot’s Beechwood Park.
“You may have noticed that Kilmarnock played away from home during the Premier Sports Cup,” he said. “This is something we may need to consider, potentially playing our first couple of Premier Sports Cup fixtures away from home.
“Graham Glen (Falkirk’s new head groundsman) has come in early to support Bob Leishman (club director), myself and the board with the transition to a grass pitch. His role will be to help ensure we make the right decisions at every stage of the process.
“We have now received three tender bids, so we know which contractors are involved. Over the next week, OBI Sports, our pitch consultants, will work alongside Bob, the board and myself to analyse the submissions, with a view to appointing a contractor within the next week.
“We are doing this at a very early stage compared to most clubs, but getting ahead of the process is important. It allows us to lock in a price, which is crucial in the event of any further cost inflation. It also means the appointed contractor can begin working with Graham and ourselves to ensure the pitch is in the best possible condition from day one.
“The growing process is expected to take approximately 10 weeks. We are also upskilling our existing ground staff. I think that's important in supporting the wider infrastructure of the football club.
“In terms of costs, we are firmly in the region of £1.1 million for the pitch project. The hybrid element alone costs approximately £250,000 for the stitching process, so there is very little scope to reduce that figure. We are not going to cut corners. We want to get this right.”
Swinney then explained that phase one of the training complex plans was simply about getting grass pitches down for McGlynn’s squad to use, and that things like offices and on-site gym facilities would need to come later down the line.
“The first phase of the training ground project is essentially about securing exclusive-use grass pitches for the club, with appropriate irrigation and drainage,” he said.
“We would love to have our own buildings, gym facilities and offices at the training ground, but these are unlikely to be achievable in phase one. They may form part of phases two or three.
“Our immediate priority is to establish a couple of really good grass pitches that allow our players to train on the best possible surfaces. That is our ambition for the first phase.
“We are still at the lease stage with this project, so we cannot go into any further detail at this point. Ideally, we would like to get this project started as early as possible. If we can do that, it would allow us to move onto grass pitches in time for pre-season.
“The estimated cost is approximately £500,000, bringing the combined investment for both projects to around £1.6 million.
“Getting both projects right is crucial when it comes to attracting players. Earlier this year, we were in discussions about bringing a player on loan from down south. Ultimately, that player signed for another club in the SPFL.
“Although it wasn't explicitly stated at the time, that club had a grass pitch and a dedicated training ground. When you are competing closely with another club for a player's signature, you can understand why those facilities might make their offer more attractive than ours.
“We have still managed to recruit some fantastic players, but it highlights just how important it is to get these facilities right.
“If we can demonstrate that we have the best pitch in the Premiership and an excellent training ground, we may win a couple more of those recruitment battles. That's the ambition.
“Finance remains the barrier, not ambition. To be absolutely clear, our ambition to deliver these projects remains unchanged.”
Meanwhile, the chief executive also told shareholders that the club’s ambition to ‘complete the stadium’ was still unwavering.
Falkirk’s fourth stand ambition still unwavering
Swinney previously told the Falkirk Herald that any fourth stand project must “drive commercial income on matchdays and non-matchdays” to be viable.
And he explained that the Bairns are now looking a “more modest development” after first looking at a £35m project that was simply too ambitious.
He said: “The feasibility study we undertook last year included a hotel as part of a wider development estimated at around £35 million.
“In hindsight, that was perhaps a little too ambitious for us. There is nobody likely to provide us with that level of funding. We are now moving into the second stage of the process, looking at a more modest development in the region of £12 million to £15 million.
“If achievable, this would still allow us to complete the stadium to a very high standard, incorporating a strong commercial element, but without the hotel.
“We are currently exploring those options and going through a process to establish whether we can secure a further feasibility study.
“The key point is that if we have a completed feasibility study and can subsequently unlock the necessary finance, whether through capital raising or other means, we will already have something tangible to present and take forward.
“The ambition to deliver the stadium development remains. However, the reality is that there are other projects and priorities that we need to focus on right now.”
In his update, Swinney also said that the club are speaking to Graeme High School, the Scottish FA and Falkirk Council regarding the possibility of running a football performance school programme.
A youth development review last year led the Scottish FA to end its performance schools programme, with Graeme High one of seven Scottish schools that has been involved since 2012.
The likes of Celtic, Rangers, Hearts, Dundee and Dundee United already run their own performance schools - and the Bairns hope to follow in their footsteps as the club’s academy rebuild continues.