After 5 years of rage and mock, the Bairns may very well be forgiven for benefiting from their Championship opener on a Friday evening again in August.
From disco lights to fireworks, they pulled out all of the stops – and didn’t cease there.
Kicking off the marketing campaign with a five-game profitable run – which included the fist win at Dunfermline’s East Finish Park in 5 years – they made a seamless transition again to the second tier.
Landmarks within the season – worldwide breaks, first spherical of video games, festive fixture – got here and went with little fuss on the pitch however loads pleasure off it because the workforce remained on the high of the tree all through.
That exhilaration was taken up one more notch on 3 February when homegrown hero Scott Arfield, the previous Rangers, Burnley and Canada midfielder, made a shocking return, 15 years after his exit.
“It was full and utter Roy of the Rovers stuff,” McInally mentioned of the academy product’s re-signing.
“There had been murmurings, then I bought a few messages from individuals who know Scott saying ‘that is taking place’.
“I used to be like, shut up, no method. Then it occurred and it was such a buzz.”
With the quantity 37 on his again – a quantity that had been, and shall be once more – retired because the tragic passing of former team-mate Craig Gowans, Arfield marked his magical return with a hat-trick in opposition to Partick Thistle.
It proved to be the primary of an eight-game unbeaten run that had the Bairns heading into the ultimate six video games with an 11-point benefit.
Get the flowery champagne seemed out and the t-shirts despatched to the printer. Again-to-back titles began to appear a matter of when, not if.
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