IF ANYONE harboured doubts about Eddie May being his own man, they must have been dispelled this week. Quiet he may be but he can still verbalise an assassination. In a flurry of not-so-friendly fire, the man who has been promoted from within at Falkirk suggested he had not been impressed with much of what he has witnessed at the club over the past few years and claimed he was delighted with the timely expiration of a clutch of first-team players' contracts.
A spy within, he says he is delighted his former position in charge of the Falkirk youngsters allowed him to keep tabs on the first-team players and was happy to be off-loading a number of them this summer.
"It's a blessing in disguise. Without go
ing into too much detail, if some people had been in contract I'd have been scratching my head but I've been very fortunate. One or two will be retained but there's a lot who will not," he said when he was unveiled as Hughes' successor earlier this week. The new man at the helm, he wasn't exactly preoccupied with the notion of playing it safe.
"Football's about opinions and I've been very fortunate because our under-19s train alongside our first team and I see these guys – I see them every day. They act differently when the manager's there and they act differently when I'm there. I know exactly what they're about. That's what I'll make my decision on."
While Hibs target Dani Mallo and one or two others will be courted in the hope they will sign new deals, a number have already been told to start seeking employment elsewhere. Steve Lovell has been told he will not be offered a new deal, while Kevin McBride, Mark Staunton and Scott Gibb have also been shown the door.
Dutchman Gerard Aafjes has decided to remain in the Netherlands for family reasons, Dean Holden has signed for Shrewsbury and Michael Higdon has joined Scottish Premier League rivals St Mirren.
"Stevie (Lovell] could only train twice a week and play on Saturday. That hampered him and his confidence," said May. "It's my job to find a better player, and I'm confident I can do that."
Refusing to honour the gentlemen's agreements reached by his predecessor with some of those seeking new terms, he said he had no qualms about discarding them.
"I've made an attempt to keep the people I think are appropriate to the football club. So we'll see what their answer is. I'm quite positive about the ones I want to keep. The ones I don't want to keep will already know so they're now looking for other football clubs.
"Maybe John will take them to Hibs, and that would be appropriate. If John's offered them something verbally, then he's no longer the manager of Falkirk Football Club, he's the manager of Hibs, so we'll see if he takes them there! Any players who, under the previous manager, received a verbal agreement, it doesn't matter, he's different from me. I've got my opinions on players."
A lot of opinions on a lot of things and none of them wishy-washy. A man who said he took a few days to mull over the pros and cons of foregoing the relative security of his role as Academy director for the precarious position of SPL manager and claimed that his desire to remain out of the spotlight was another factor in that indecision, he had no qualms in setting out his stall. There was no pulling his punches.
Having written off many of the players brought into the club by Hughes, he also criticised the impotency of the football produced last term which saw Falkirk avoid relegation on the final day of the season. The problem was the team didn't get in enough crosses, didn't score enough goals, didn't defend well enough and didn't play to their capabilities.
"I don't think the league table lies. The position we finished in is the position we deserved to finish. It's a hard job, a difficult job. If it was that easy I'd be laughing but it's not. It's a hard, hard job I'm going to take over. There are a few challenges in there but I'm a positive person and I'm sure we can go to a decent level."
It was surprisingly big talk for a man two minutes into the job. Especially as all clubs will be cutting budgets to cope with the recession as well as the lack of Setanta revenue. It will mean May seeking new personnel on a budget far smaller than last season. The man who brought Scott Arfield, Tam Scobbie et al through the ranks is unperturbed. "I believe in what I do and what I've already put in place, structure-wise and football-wise at the club. I'll just enhance that again. I did that when the under-19s first came into the first-team environment and they were better for it so I'll go back to the training which I think's appropriate for professional footballers. There is no use in having a facility if you're not going to use it."
Egged on to take the job by Owen Coyle, his real role model will not be any of his former team-mates or gaffers, it will be Saint-Etienne, a club he visited as part of his Academy Directorship course. "I went to Saint-Etienne and met a guy called Damien Comolli who used to be at Tottenham. A fantastic person and a fantastic football club. It inspired me. That's how a football club should be run.
"Not like the old style management that one manager runs a club from top to bottom. What does he know about business – not a single thing? He's got a hard enough job doing the football part, then all of a sudden he wants to interfere with every single thing. I don't think that's appropriate. The only thing that should ever change at a football club, and which will change at Falkirk, is the manager and his two assistants. That way you have continuity consistently."
