The 12 teams in the Clydesdale Bank Premier League all have their own priorities. For Falkirk this season, it's a matter of preserving their top flight status: nothing more, nothing less.

A glance at the table after 2 games shows the Bairns have yet to pick up a point, and worryingly have conceded 7 goals. Yet there's no need to press the panic button. In Rangers and Hibernian, Eddie May's charges have faced a couple of stern opponents to begin the season. Dundee United away on Saturday will be no picnic either.

Having been on site at a sun-kissed Falkirk Stadium for our live ESPN coverage of the 3-1 defeat suffered at the hands of old boss Yogi Hughes and his Hibs team, I was fascinated to learn more about the building blocks in place at the Stirlingshire club.

May and managing director George Craig told me before Saturday's match that they're rightly proud of the fact that 16 members of the current first team squad have come through their own academy.

Scottish clubs have traditionally employed managers who supervised all aspects of the clubs from dealing with agents and the highest paid players on the staff, to making sure that the janitors and cleaners are doing their jobs.

The likeable May, previously director of the aforementioned youth academy, has ascended to the role of "head coach". In other words, his sole responsibility is to look after the first team, with assistance from former Falkirk and Scotland defender Steven Pressley and the highly respected Alex Smith.

In the innovative Ross Wilson, Falkirk have a new man in charge of football development. In Spain or Germany, Wilson would likely be described as "sporting director" but you get the point that his job is distinct from that of May. There's a strong element of the continental model about what the Bairns are doing.

They are helped greatly by an association with Stirling University, just a few miles up the road. The training facilities there are the envy of many a club in Scotland. Penning this blog en route to the USA makes me wonder if we might in the future see young, education conscious American players enticed by the prospect of combining a Scottish degree with the possibility of an SPL experience. Stranger things have happened!

Falkirk are a club hell bent on giving up and comers a chance. If you remove 35 year-old Jackie McNamara and 28 year-old Burton O'Brien from Saturday's starting eleven, you find an average age of 21.5.

They have already produced a Scotland player in club captain Darren Barr and it will be interesting to follow the development of Scott Arfield, Tam Scobbie and Saturday's scorer, Ryan Flynn, as the season progresses.

The harsh reality for the Bairns is that some of their own "bairns" (Scottish word for youngsters for those of you not from Scotland!) need to be sold on for the system to work. Arfield has been linked with a number of clubs south of the border, and it's surely a case of when, rather than if, Falkirk will have to let go.

The trim stadium now has a new south stand and I'm looking forward to returning for the visit of Aberdeen, when we broadcast ESPN matchnight live on Monday, 14 September.

At a time when Scottish football desperately needs a harvest of new homegrown football talent, there would be no harm in others examining the Falkirk way.