If Hearts go on and make history by winning the league title, then Derek McInnes will rightly be named PFA Scotland Manager of the Year.
No one would argue with that. If Hearts can get over the line, McInnes stands on the brink of a truly generational achievement.
Yet, in any other normal season, it would be John McGlynn who would be a shoo-in to make it a hat-trick after winning the award in each of the past two years.
He also won it back in 2011 with Raith Rovers after going close to winning promotion to the top flight. If he were ever to win it again, he should probably just take it home to keep.
The Falkirk boss is having another outstanding campaign, following on from back-to-back promotions from League One and the Championship.
The Bairns are now all but certain to finish in the top six and face Dundee United in the Scottish Cup tonight with a place in the semi-finals at Hampden at stake.
John McGlynn has worked wonders at Falkirk and surely deserves a chance at a bigger club
This is a road that Falkirk and McGlynn have already traversed. In his first season, they reached the semi-finals before falling short against Inverness.
But the picture now looks very different. With home advantage and form on their side, there will be an expectation to beat Dundee United tonight.
McGlynn has rebuilt the club and turned them into the surprise package across all of Scottish football since taking charge in 2022.
At 64 years of age, he is one of the most experienced managers in the game, whose teams invariably play attacking football and score a lot of goals.
He knows Scottish football inside out, has done a terrific job across a number of different clubs, and commands the respect of his peers.
All of which begs the question. With the greatest respect to Falkirk, why hasn’t a bigger club taken a chance on McGlynn? He has earned his chance at a big job.
With Aberdeen and Celtic both looking for new managers next season, what’s to stop them from appointing a proven operator such as McGlynn?
His name never comes up as a serious candidate in these conversations — and the only reason for that is snobbery.
Celtic would rather go and appoint the likes of Wilfried Nancy, an unknown entity from the MLS who proved to be an unmitigated disaster.
Aberdeen, meanwhile, continue to bumble around with no obvious plan or sense of urgency in terms of appointing a new boss.
Why is there such a reluctance from the big clubs in Scotland to look at managers on their own doorstep? It makes no sense.
McGlynn’s body of work over the course of his managerial career has been outstanding, but especially in these last few years at Falkirk.
On a very modest budget, he has built one of the most exciting and attacking teams in the country.
Languishing in the third tier, and on the back of so many off-field issues with the ownership and how the club had been run, they were a laughing stock.
But with smart signings, clever man-management, and an attacking style of play, McGlynn soon turned it around.
The Bairns won back-to-back league titles in League One and the Championship, going unbeaten in the first of those two campaigns.
McGlynn and his players celebrate their penalty shoot-out defeat of Hearts earlier this year
Barney Stewart was plucked from the obscurity of Heriot-Watt by McGlynn just two years ago
Now back among the big boys in the top flight, any fears of a relegation scrap in the were soon dispelled. They are not just surviving; they are thriving.
Falkirk have punched above their weight in brilliant style this season, with a 5-1 thrashing of Kilmarnock last weekend cementing their place in the top six.
Barney Stewart scored twice in that match and now has five goals in his last eight games.
Stewart was a student playing for Heriot-Watt’s football team when McGlynn spotted him and offered him a deal in 2024.
That speaks to another of his strengths as a manager; his eye for a player. McGlynn’s ability to find these rough diamonds and young talents is second to none.
Celtic actually employed him as a scout and he worked under Ronny Deila and Brendan Rodgers for the best part of three years before returning to management.
But it’s not his ability to spot talent they could do with now, although it certainly wouldn’t go a miss.
This is a man who has more than earned his stripes and would deserve a crack at one of the big jobs in Scotland.
McGlynn had a spell in charge of Hearts but the club was crippled by financial strife at the time
If Falkirk can clinch a place in the top six and reach Hampden in the Scottish Cup semi-finals, it would be a magnificent campaign.
Who is to say they can’t go all the way? Given their bold and attacking style of play, they will cause any team problems on their day.
They will also be fuelled by a slight sense of revenge tonight, given that they lost 3-2 at home to Dundee United only a couple of weeks ago.
McGlynn has proven himself to be one of the best managers in Scottish football over an extended period of time now.
The fact he continues to be overlooked for the top jobs is a strange business. Too old? Face doesn’t fit? Pigeon-holed as a lower-league manager?
It’s probably a mixture of all of that, with some snobbery in there to boot. Their loss continues to be Falkirk’s gain.
