Home is where the Championship is for John Baird

The Scottish football media are slowly waking up to the form of Falkirk in this season’s Championship. It’s taken the TV and newspaper-men a while to notice, but having only lost twice in the league (to Hibs and Rangers) the Bairns sit in second place. While their defence has been impressively stingy – at 15, the joint-lowest – their promotion challenge has been augmented by the form of striker who has similarly often gone under-appreciated.

With 13 goals in the league so far, John Baird sits between Martin Waghorn and the much-vaunted Jason Cummings in the top scorers charts. Hat-tricks in 5-0 routs of Dumbarton and Alloa have helped, but many of those 13 goals have been crucial in maintaining Falkirk’s challenge at the top; not least the recent penalty against Rangers and the winner at the Indodrill at the weekend.

While his current scoring record hints at a 20+ season for the first time since 2008, Baird has been close to this level of performance for much of his Championship career. There have been fewer consistent performers in the second tier.

For those that have not seen much of the striker, Baird is a wily, bustling forward. A lack of real pace has meant that, like a budget Dimitar Berbatov, he’s had to rely on intelligent movement and an ability to see a few steps ahead of play to find space. A player that sweats exuberance, he’s also regularly been used by managers to push his team higher up the pitch; chasing lost causes and harassing defenders until exhaustion (his and theirs).

30 now, Baird may be at the peak of his powers.

Although he made his breakthrough at St Mirren, it wasn’t until a successful spell at Montrose that Baird rose to prominence. Following a move to Airdrie and another promising season where he netted 11 times in the old First Division, he came to the attention of John McGylnn at Raith Rovers, where he signed in 2010.

His first season at Stark’s Park saw the Kirkcaldy men beaten to the title – and promotion to the Premier League – by Fife rivals Dunfermline. In a relatively low-scoring side which finished with a goal difference 23 less than the Pars, Baird ended it third top scorer with 13, having formed a fruitful partnership with Gregory Tade. Indeed, given the functional nature of Rovers’ midfield under McGlynn, Baird and Tade often had to create their own chances and the combined haul of 21 was no small feat in the circumstances.

The following season, the club’s formed dipped drastically and finished a disappointing seventh, only six points from demoted Ayr, but Baird’s final tally of 10 was still more than respectable in a struggling team.

Given his performances for Rovers, it was no real surprise when Dundee, who had been promoted to the Premier League the same season, signed him.

It’s fair to Dundee gave him a decent crack of the whip in the Premier League; Baird started 29 league games over the season, with eight more as a substitute. However, Barry Smith’s decision to play him play him out wide or behind Colin Nish, allied to a struggling team and plummeting confidence as each week passed without a goal, meant that Baird’s Dundee career never got off the ground. By the time he finally scored in the league, in January, it seemed like his chance at the Premier League was prematurely over.

Although Partick Thistle ultimately extended his stay in the top flight, it was short-lived. Arriving mostly from the bench, Baird failed to score in any of his 17 appearances. He was released in January 2014 and made his way back to Raith Rovers.

Seven goals in 14 starts for Raith in the second spell cemented his status amongst the Stark’s Park support as he helped a stuttering team win a national trophy and stay in the Championship. His winning goal at Easter Road against Rangers in the Ramsden’s Cup Final was emblematic of Baird at his best; reacting quickest in the box to tuck away the most important Raith Rovers goal in 20 years.

Baird’s lack of impression on the Premiership may have you believing that he’s no more than a B-list striker and, in a way, his impressive form in the level below bolsters that argument. However, his form throughout his time in the Championship and the mitigating factors surrounding his time in the top league means he deserves more credit and, perhaps, the benefit of the doubt.

Now a senior player in Houston’s young Falkirk squad, Baird’s movement and ability to drive his side on has been invaluable. A confidence borne of his importance to the club, as well as a midfield behind him creating chances has seen him mixing it with the best strikers in the league again. If he and Falkirk can continue their form for the rest of the reason, he may yet get one final shot at the Premiership.

By Andy Harrow (@andyharrow)