Scott Arfield on special Falkirk title win, Craig Gowans' legacy and 'surprising a few' in Premiership

Scott Arfield has dedicated Falkirk’s Scottish Championship title triumph to Craig Gowans - his former Bairns academy team-mate who tragically died after a training-ground accident back in 2005.

Falkirk hero Arfield, who returned to the club on deadline day in January, took on Gowans’ number 37 shirt after getting the blessing of Craig’s parents John and Sheila. Throughout his career - which has seen the midfielder star for the likes of Rangers, Burnley and Huddersfield Town - he has worn the 37 shirt with pride in memory of his close friend.

Last Friday night’s Scottish Championship-sealing final night win over Hamilton Accies was a joyous moment. But for Arfield it was also a time to reflect on the Gowans family and just why Falkirk is so special to him. When he returned to the club, he revealed that it was always his ambition to return to the Bairns and right the wrongs of the past by getting the club back to the top flight.

“It was personal and meant so much,” he said. “It’s not just me, it’s a special number on my back I wear. It means a lot to me but I think it means a hell of a lot to the Gowans family. When I spoke to the manager about the possibility of coming up and it was mentioned about taking the number out of retirement, the first person I phoned was John and Sheila Gowans. They gave me their blessing, so it was always a story. I’m not a religious man, I’m not mad on faith but it did mean a lot.

“There were so many sub-plots, I’m so delighted. I’m ecstatic. It’s not often in football things go full circle and you get the fairytale ending to a season like this. It’s up there with anything in my career, I’ve had some amazing nights and amazing memories over the years. What a special night it was. I’ve also had some heartbreaking experiences too, some tough nights to take.

“But this is the most content and fulfilling thing I’ve done on a football pitch because it was a story I was so determined to help make happen. On the second of February when I was driving back up the road from England, when I’d decided to come here, I felt this was going to be my story. I came to help the team and felt it was inevitable that it would happen.”

Arfield penned a six-month deal with an option to extend his stay for an extra year - and it is likely that the midfielder, who managed to score nine goals in 13 league outings, will be part of John McGlynn’s squad for the upcoming Scottish Premiership campaign. And the former Canadian international believes that the club’s top-flight return after 15 years will “drive the club forward” and help Falkirk reach its true potential.

Scott Arfield rates Falkirk’s chances in Scottish Premiership

He explained: “I was part of the team who got relegated here fifteen years ago and came back six or seven years ago, there was only a thousand people here. To see it from what it had been seven years previous to that or whatever it was, to where it was at that time - it was on its knees. Now the potential is there, it’s going to get back to the club it was. It’s back. Everything that’s going to happen now with the financial impact of getting back to the Premiership, it’s going to drive the club forward.

“The youth system is going to be set back up, there’s going to be players. For the next ten or fifteen years the fans are going to be watching players coming through the system which gave me my opportunity. You will see players coming through to play for Falkirk and that alone should be enough to get people excited. We had that on our back collectively and individually. The club’s in a better place now.”

On his future, Arfield added: “Do I want to be part of that future? Of course. Every club I played for, I always felt with my connections to Falkirk there would be a time I’d come back here. I wanted to give a wee bit back as thanks for everything this club did for me. We will be okay, we’ll shock and surprise a few people. The management team, the staff, are on it.

“Dundee United have showed it is possible. We’ll surprise a few with the calibre of player that comes in. The research and analysis they do, they know everything about every team and that will need to be ramped up as well. Every single thing this team has done has been through the management team. They work and work and work, they give everything to the team. We will surprise a few people next season with the way we play.”