Campbell Christie, the Falkirk chairman, has fiercely rejected suggestions of a cash crisis and insists the club does not have to sell Darren Barr and Scott Arfield.

Campbell Christie, the Falkirk chairman, has fiercely rejected suggestions of a cash crisis and insists the club does not have to sell Darren Barr and Scott Arfield.

Christie was reacting to weekend radio reports which claimed the club's finances are "in a mess", insisting he is confident about the financial position.

Falkirk, sitting second bottom in the league, have been hit hard by the credit crunch, with sponsors pulling out and manager John Hughes being told he has no money to strengthen his squad in the current transfer window.

Christie insists Falkirk are simply working within their budgetary means. He said: "It's absolute nonsense to say our finances are in a mess and it's made me very angry. It was a really irresponsible comment.

"We are not in financial difficulties, we have just re-adjusted our finances to compensate for the loss of sponsorship and hospitality income that is below what we had hoped to achieve. They have not reached budgeted levels, but we're talking small amounts here. We have to make savings, but we're not in trouble, far from it."

Hearts were credited with an interest in Barr and Arfield, but Christie says there is no need for the club to sell.

He added: "We are a selling club, but we want to keep them, especially as we don't want to weaken the squad given our league position."

Meanwhile, the SFA have confirmed that James McArthur will be free to play for Hamilton in Saturday's SPL clash with Inverness Caley Thistle, despite his sending-off at the weekend.

The 21-year-old midfielder, who was red-carded after picking up a second booking in the closing minutes of Saturday's 1-0 win over Ross County in the Scottish Cup, will serve his automatic one-match suspension in the fifth-round clash at home to Dundee United next month.