In 1954/55, Motherwell and Stirling Albion were saved when the league was expanded. When the same thing happened in 1985/86, it was Motherwell and Clydebank who earned a reprieve. Thankfully, you can now add 2002/03 to our list of lucky let offs.
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The one difference between previous occasions and now is that the rules were not changed to keep us up – they were merely kept in place. Falkirk knew they did not have an SPL compliant stadium – or even access to one – but who would blame them for chancing it anyway? As it happens, they came very close to succeeding.
While the details of the vote were supposed to be kept secret, the morning papers suggest the Bairns lost 7-5. The clubs who kept them down were Motherwell, Thistle, Livingston, the Old Firm and both Dundee clubs. It’s a good job we didn’t succeed in getting the Old Firm kicked out the league earlier, isn’t it!
It is easy to feel sorry for the Falkirk players and fans but as a club, they knew they were not eligible for the SPL. Arguably, any hurt yesterday is down to Campbell Christie building up false hope when he knew that they were not going to win.
An interesting aside to the vote is to look at the people who wished us down. Given that it is perfectly clear Falkirk were not permitted promotion within the agreed rules, Aberdeen, Dunfermline, Hibs, Hearts and Kilmarnock must have been willing to tear them up to let the Bairns in. Cheers guys!
Still, there is no need to be petty or bitter. This was not a vote on whether we deserved to go down (we did), it was a vote on whether Falkirk deserved to come up. They didn’t, and justice was done.
See you next season in the SPL!