McKinnon sets Bairns benchmark with first two signings of the summer

Ray McKinnon believes more high quality players will be tempted to join Falkirk after seeing the standard of his first two signings of the summer.
Both new recruits will be a part of Ray McKinnon's two-year plan. Picture Michael Gillen.Both new recruits will be a part of Ray McKinnon's two-year plan. Picture Michael Gillen.
Both new recruits will be a part of Ray McKinnon's two-year plan. Picture Michael Gillen.

Michael Tidser and Gregor Buchanan both joined the Bairns yesterday after the expiry of their contracts with Morton.

And boss McKinnon is keen to add to his squad – he has to with only five fit outfield players in his senior squad ten days before pre-season begins – but he’ll only do it with quality.

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From season ticket to centre-half for Gregor Buchanan
Michael Tidser and Gregor Buchanan started last season with Ray McKinnon at Morton and have followed the manager to The Falkirk Stadium. Picture Michael Gillen.Michael Tidser and Gregor Buchanan started last season with Ray McKinnon at Morton and have followed the manager to The Falkirk Stadium. Picture Michael Gillen.
Michael Tidser and Gregor Buchanan started last season with Ray McKinnon at Morton and have followed the manager to The Falkirk Stadium. Picture Michael Gillen.
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He told The Falkirk Herald: “There is no point in signing players who don’t bring quality to your team and I will never rush into anything. “I’ve been in these situations before and I understand the fans want to hear about new signings. I could have gone out and signed three, four, five new players by now but I think is really important for a long-term view of the club that I get out players here and of a certain quality and that takes time.”

Tidser’s move has been in the pipeline for months and Buchanan has been heavily rumoured in recent weeks. Both played with McKinnon at Morton and he reckons they are pivotal signings for his ambition of back to back promotions from League One and the Championship.

He added: “We need to build a core group who can get us out of this league and then be very competitive in the division up because we don’t want to rip things out again next summer and have to sign another 20 new players so it is important that we get this core group of good football players who can play.

“Michael and Gregor have proven themselves that they can do it. They have both been at Morton with me before and understand how I work. Once I got in front of the two of them and told them how I wanted to build the club – that we had a real opportunity to basically start from scratch to build a fantastic football club – I think they bought into and wanted to be part of it.

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“It is important that you come in with a purpose and I think we have a purpose to win promotion and then went promotion again – that is our aim and they’ve shown great commitment to step down a league and play for us.

“There are other good players out there who want to come but there are a lot of other teams interested in them too.

“We have had to work very hard with both Bucky and Michael but I think anyone there looking in from the outside will see the calibre of players who can see the potential of this club. It is important that these players know the ambition of the club and know the sort of players who will be joining them.

“They can see these two who have bought into our vision and hopefully that alleviates any concern of some other players when they see the quality that we are signing for Falkirk Football Club.”