Readers of the Yorkshire Evening Post have started to take an interest in the IRN-BRU SFL Second Division title race in Scotland between leaders Cowdenbeath and second placed Arbroath and more particularly, the role that Gayfield’s live wire midfielder Josh Falkingham is playing in it.
The 21-year-old will shortly complete two years of playing away from his Yorkshire homeland and the odds are good that football fans nearly 300 miles away will read more of his exploits.
Falkingham arrived at the Red Lichties via Leeds United’s Elland Road and St. Johnstone’s McDiarmid Park as he explained: “I started with Leeds when I was only eight and I stayed with them until I was 19. My family and I lived in Rothwell which is just outside Leeds and we are all massive fans of the club.
“I was in their youth sides alongside Fabien Delph, who is now at Aston Villa, as well as Tom Lees and Aidy White, who are now in the first team squad at Leeds. Unfortunately, after progressing well at the club. I never featured after Simon Grayson came in as Manager and my deal with them was not renewed.”
Falkingham is far from bitter at leaving saying, “It was great that one of the guys I played with has went on to play in the Premiership and it is great that some of the guys have went on to play for the first team there. I was lucky to be playing in a great Youth team down there and it is always good to see your mates do well.”
Falkingham headed north to join St. Johnstone at the request of former manager Derek McInnes and he said, “Although I was only there for a short time I enjoyed my spell with St. Johnstone and it led to me joining Arbroath. I have had a brilliant time there and really enjoyed it and of course being part of their first ever team to win a trophy was fantastic.”
His stay at McDiarmid was only for a few months as Falkingham explained, “The plan when I went up there was to get a deal from the March until the end of the season and then do enough to earn a deal to stay in the SPL. I trained well and played in one game but it never turned out that way.”
Arbroath Player/Manager Paul Sheerin was a team-mate at Perth and his appointment to a Gayfield club that had just been relegated to the Third Division has proven to be a catalyst for Falkingham who said, “Paul was a fine player at St Johnstone and he left at the same time as me. He got the job at Arbroath and asked to talk to me about staying in Scotland and playing with them.”
Sheerin was persuasive with Falkingham saying, “That summer he laid out his plans for his side and where I would fit in. He said I would be playing first team football for him and I knew I needed to start doing that. The thought of doing that week in, week out appealed to me so I agreed to give it a go.”
Despite his short time in Scotland, Falkingham was well prepared for the Third Division saying, “I try and keep up to date with football everywhere it is played and whilst I went to a few places where I had never played before I knew a bit about all the teams.”
“It was proper football with 3 points being up for grabs and I had to grow up as a person and a player. There is a gap between playing for a Youth team to playing for a First team in competitive games and I needed to fill that gap.”
Another reason that Falkingham was keen to sign up in Angus was that he would be playing with experienced players who could teach him as he said, “When Paul talked through his plans he spoke about the squad he wanted to assemble. He had been a footballer for a long time and there guys like Gavin Swankie, Steven Doris and Kieran McAnespie had all been full timers as well. Stuart Malcolm also came in and was another good solid experienced player I could learn from.”
“Brian Kerr has come in this season and he has played for Scotland so again I am picking things up from him.”
Last season saw Arbroath win their first silverware in 133 years and the triumph was secured against local rivals Montrose with a 4-1 success with two League games to go and it was a special time for Falkingham and his family.
“The Yorkshire Evening Post had picked up what was happening by this time and did a piece on me and the chances of Arbroath winning the League. My mum and dad come up and see me playing fairly frequently but that day a minibus came up from Leeds with 16 people in it. I scored and it was a brilliant day for me and for all the people that had come up to Gayfield.”
An IRN-BRU Young Player of the Month Award had been earned in January of last year and to cap a phenomenal first full season in Scottish football Falkingham was awarded the IRN-BRU Young Player of the Season honour for the entire SFL.
Falkingham beamed, “That was a massive achievement for me. Winning a monthly Award was great but to win the overall Prize was amazing. I was up against Craig Forsyth who ended getting a move from Dundee to Watford so to beat him was quite special. Being nominated was great and winning it was the icing on the cake.”
“The Yorkshire Evening Post did a bit about that as well,” joked Falkingham before adding, “and they have been back in touch a couple of times this season especially for the Rangers Scottish Cup game.”
The newspaper may need to reserve some more space for their Scottish correspondent if Arbroath secure back to back promotions with Falkingham saying, “What was expected from us was not really known at the start of the season but we have kicked on from and done really well again. It has been a case of so far and so good but we have a massive couple of months ahead of us.”
“If we keep on doing the business we could well be in with a shout of doing something quite special.”
Despite Arbroath starting the season well Falkingham experienced a sluggish goal return in the opening three months of the season but he has found his shooting boots and he is keen to keep using them.
Falkingham said, “I had only scored one until November and then I grabbed four in 7 games. There is nothing better than scoring a goal and I am closing in on the target I set myself.”
“I got 9 last season so the target had to be ten this time out. That is not a bad return for a midfielder and now that we have games coming thick and fast I can get there.”
The next game up for Falkingham and his Arbroath team-mates is the second versus first meeting with a Cowdenbeath side who sit 4 points ahead of them after this week’s midweek games.
Such is the importance of this game that Falkingham’s Dad, Paul, is heading north to take it in with Falkingham Junior saying, “My Dad was up for the Rangers game and he is certainly coming up for this one. Cowdenbeath are a good footballing side and have a good Player/Manager in Colin Cameron. The two games between us have been really tight this season and Saturday’s game will be a great one for us to win.”
“It is a huge game, we are not at the run in stage yet but winning this game would set us up nicely for the run in.”
It will be a busy time with Falkingham saying, “We have 7 games in 4 weeks across February so it is a really busy time. If we can come through it in a good place then we can have an exciting end to the season. We had a great win at Forfar and then drew away to Brechin in another Derby so to get 4 points from these 2 games is acceptable.”
Falkingham finished by saying, “Hopefully I will be in the Yorkshire Evening Post again before the end of the season.”
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