BY IAIN COLLIN – @CCP_sport
David McCracken hopes Falkirk will be pitch-perfect against Raith Rovers today after the club’s new signings were forced to sing for their new team-mates.
Recent recruits Myles Hippolyte, Kevin McCann, Deniz Mehmet and Nathan Austin all went through the initiation ceremony following their arrivals during last month’s transfer window.
And McCracken is convinced their introduction to the Bairns squad will ensure Peter Houston’s men hit the right note on the pitch as well as off it.
Club captain McCracken explained: “We like any new boys to sing a song for the rest of the boys.
“It’s not a pressure thing. You don’t have to do it if boys feel uncomfortable. If they don’t do it that’s fine.
“It’s just an ice-breaker and there’s support, the rest of the boys will sing along and have a bit of banter.
“I’ve been at clubs before where I’ve done it and I think it does help, unless the player’s really nervous or uncomfortable.
“Generally, most players do it and after they’ve done it there’s a bit of relief and it breaks them into the squad a wee bit.
“We had a range of different songs this time. Nathan came out with a Shaggy song, Myles was pretty good, he had a bit of rapping going on. Big Deniz was pretty confident as well, he didn’t even need any background music or anything.
“You can see they’re confident boys anyway and that makes it easier to integrate into the squad.
“The group we’ve got here makes it very easy for the new signings to come in. That was commented on by the new boys, who have felt they’ve been welcomed very easily.
“That’s important, to integrate boys into the group very quickly, because it makes them settle down and helps them in training and games.”
McCracken has been forced to sit on the bench for much of this season but is set to start this afternoon after Peter Grant was ruled out for the rest of the campaign with a cruciate knee ligament injury.
However, the 34-year-old added: “Even though I’m the club captain, I still respect the fact that if other players are doing well they deserve to stay in the team. The success of the team is more important than myself.”
