New face for Falkirk by weekend

Paul Hartley will soon have a new man in place. Picture Michael Gillen.

However the Falkirk boss plans to have a new face in place at the club by the time the Bairns meet Livingston.

Since Jimmy Nicholl’s move to Rangers last month the Bairns have been seeking an assistant manager to step in and help boss Hartley and fitness coach Tam Ritchie.

Alex Smith has been a matchday help to Hartley in the interim, and as usual has been around the ground on training days in his role as technical director. But a new man is expected in place at Westfield by the weekend.

Mick McArdle helped in the Hartley handover, and assisted the boss when Nicholl was on Northern Ireland duty. Picture Michael Gillen.

Hartley said: “We’re there, we should have an appointment by the end of the week, we’re fully confident we can have our man in place.”

It’s expected the new man will not be someone who has acted as Hartley’s assistant before, which would rule out Gerry McCabe, his number two at Dundee and Paddy Connolly who was his right-hand man at Alloa.

The boss explained: “That will be the case. We have had to do a lot of homework on who we want to bring in. It wasn’t just a rushed job but it’s important that the person we do bring in is the right one for the club, myself and the team.

“Hopefully we can have an announcement by the end of the week.

Jimmy Nicholl went back to Rangers. Picture Michael Gillen.

“We’ve done okay without Jimmy and an assistant. I’ve had a lot of help from Alex in terms of someone to talk to at games but it’s been tough in the past few weeks. There’s been a lot of work to be done on the training ground.

“When we have someone else in it’ll be better for the club, myself and for the players just to see a fresh face in again.”

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