Falkirk manager John McGlynn reveals when fans can expect more signings as he details transfer window goal

Falkirk manager John McGlynn has revealed that he is hoping to add three players to his squad - but that he may not get them over the line for the start of the Scottish Premiership season.

Since joining the Bairns back in the summer of 2022, the 63-year-old gaffer has made it clear that he likes to get his summer signings in the door for pre-season starting, and although he has managed to get goalkeeper Scott Bain and striker Brian Graham over the line, McGlynn is playing a waiting game on his other top targets.

The top-flight newcomers face a significant step up from the Scottish Championship and the boss admits that patience is required to bring in the players he is hoping to secure with loan moves likely to happen closer towards the end of the transfer window.

McGlynn reveals when fans can expect signings

“We’re pleased with where we are at,” McGlynn said. “We’ve always tried to get all our players in for the first day of pre-season training. But I got the impression fairly early that wasn’t necessarily going to be the case this year, so I kind of accepted that. I still think there’s three players probably still to come in, that we’re working on. We know it’s going to be later in the window because they’re loan deals and the clubs are weighing up where to position the players, where they want them to go, so we’re having to be a little bit more patient than normal. But at the same time, we obviously hope we’re going to get these players but if we didn’t get them, sometimes it can work out that there are other players become available who you might never have thought would become available later in the window. So that’s where we’re at right now.”

The back-to-back title winning Bairns returned for pre-season training last Friday, and football-mad McGlynn admitted that he was “desperate” to return with the excitement of leading Falkirk into a Premiership campaign on the horizon after the Premier Sports Cup group stages. It is a quick start for the squad with the Stirlingshire Cup this weekend followed by a closed-doors friendly against Larne on Monday.

Pre-season swiftly turns to games for Falkirk

McGlynn added: “I was on holiday the last two weeks, which was good. But I was desperate to get back in the end. You are going to get players and agents sending players to you and trying to do things, so it’s not a complete break. We managed it well. Paul (Smith) was away for a couple of weeks and I was here. Then Paul came back and I went away for a couple of weeks. It wasn’t by design. So he managed to get Scotty Bain over the line back here, get the contract details and everything done to get him in the door. And then more recently, big Brian (Graham) has come in.

“We had come back in on Friday, got the fitness testing done, the usual kind of stuff. Saturday, we then had a good single session. The boys then got Sunday off. And then we’re full at it this week. We had a really good double session on Monday. The boys have come back in a very, very good way, they’re already looking sharp. But obviously we’ve still got a bit of work to do. For the time that we’ve been off, you’re getting this more and more now with the players, they’re coming back in good condition and they’re getting up to speed fairly quickly. We’ve got the Stirlingshire Cup ties to play and we’ve got a behind-closed-door game with Larne on the Monday. Then if we’ve being fortunate enough to get to the final, we’ve got the final of the Stirlingshire Cup on the Tuesday, so we are very quickly into games, which a good opportunity for us to get all of our players on the pitch.”