BB_Bino

If this is indeed Smart Osadolor (Ex Albion Rovers, Elgin & Annan) then I've always found him a little bit of an enigma, he looks to have every aspect to run a mock at this level and be a really good player, but he simply isn't and doesn't and has bobbed from club to club to club.

Thank you for clarifying this @The West Stand, it's much appreciated and I'm delighted to hear there is nothing to worry about and it goes without saying that I hope his wedding and honeymoon have been a success and I look forward to seeing him back playing soon.

Thought that about Dale Hilson as well, have been very impressed with what you can see of him in the goals videos on YouTube and what I watched against Arbroath on Saturday, let's hope it's a sign of things to come. Seems like it, with Darren Young pointing out that Ross McGeachie is the only one back. That's Part Time football I suppose and one of those things, I do have concerns about Ross Davidson though, missed last pre-season and a large chunk of the start of last season through injury. When he came into the side, I think it would be fair to say his performances were very up and down, however knowing what he can do from his time at Albion Rovers and what we heard about his time at East Fife, you think to yourself, if he has a good pre-season he could hit the ground running....however I've yet to see his name mentioned in the Twitter updates and what have you. The other is Josh Cooper but from memory he was injured in the opening pre-season game. Obviously trust Darren Young's judgement, but if it is a case that Davidson hasn't had a pre-season then I do wonder what kind of player we will have when he does return. Obviously I could be totally wrong and everything is fine and I have just missed something....it's happened before.

I thought exactly the same. A rough scan of our West Stand and I would hazard a guess of that being around about our season ticket numbers last season and we can not fund Full Time football on that income. Has to be one of my all time favourite music videos.......but I've never quite known why...I better keep watching it until I can work it out!

I've not been in since Colin Rowley left in October/November last year, however assuming not much has changed with regards to the quality of food etc etc and with absolutely no bias at all, I can honestly say you will struggle to find better, genuinely mean that. I have done hospitality at various clubs across the country (although i've not done Falkirk yet) and in comparison you just can't fault ours and in some aspects ours is better. My old manager now goes with his pals at least once a season, they're all Rangers season ticket holders, and have done for a few years now and I have a couple of non-Stirling supporting friends who always ask when we are doing it again, I think that speaks volumes to those involved.

There is absolutely no doubt that Arbroath have done fantastic since their promotion into the Championship (and before that under the Campbell's) and they're a example to all Part Time clubs in what can be achieved when you run your club right, on and I'm guessing off the pitch. However in a Championship that's been full of Scotland's traditional "big clubs" over the past 5 seasons and the resources that Arbroath have, then surely you start every season as underdogs?? As I say, hats off to you, you've done excellent but I'm sure if I speak to anyone at the club, they would tell me that first and foremost staying in the league is an achievement.

Just back from the game, Arbroath won 2-1 however the score line doesn’t reflect the game. Everyone was given a run out (with the exception of Ross Davidson & Josh Cooper who were absent) including the 4 players from the Development Squad. I thought for large periods of the game, especially the First Half, I thought the football we played was fantastic. At times we over played, but we moved the ball around well and Spence and Hilson were causing problems to the Arbroath Defence and were linking up well. In comparison to the Arbroath number 9, Dick Campbell must have been questioning if he made the right choice. When the first set of subs were made, we looked like it was only a matter of time before Arbroath were swept aside, Carrick looked sharp and could have had a double, one of which was a tremendous save by Adams. Then when the second round of subs happened, we seemed to loose our rhythm really, and looked less threatening and an Arbroath trialist rifled the ball in to make it 2-1. It was nothing more than a pre-season friendly, but I thought Spence, Hilston, Carrick, McLean looked excellent. Some meaty fouls and tackles went in, but it wouldn’t a dirty game, and some linesman abuse was given out by players and fans. On today’s display, we’ll do ok this season, the players look like they are nearly up to speed. I think Arbroath may have a few alarm bells ringing. I know they are massive underdogs again this season but they didn’t look like a Championship side and Mark Stowe and Trialist 39 aside, looked pretty toothless in attack. Looking forward to getting the proper stuff started now, great to be back!

From first hand experience at Forthbank, having these youngsters in with the natural crowd is a disaster. Many long suffering...I mean long supporting, Stirling fans had to put up with being overtaken by a large number of young ultras when they first started to attend games. The lads were obviously drawn to the Morrisons End of the ground and they simply p'd off a large number of older supporters in that area. Moving them and giving them their own section was the right thing to do and I think the more ultra groups you get the more having their own segrated area for them is the best thing, as they are not driving people away from the ground due to their behaviour, language or whatever the issue might be. For what it's worth, I'm personally all for them and have been young and daft at football myself, however being older, I don't want to be sitting listening to their "bantz" every second week.

Said it above but I don't want to read too much into the 2 friendlies against lower league opposition but it looks like we have done well, and I'm sure if the scores had been reversed I would be one of the first starting to worry. Yip, we are where we are in the season and we've faced 2 teams we would be expected to do well against but I think the pleasing thing coming from the dressing room is that they are kicking on from last season and everybody is getting an opportunity, including 6 or so of the youngsters. I'm sure the test on Saturday will give us a better indication to where we are at the moment and hopefully the cup games will get is better tuned for the season starting. Yes, early days but probably the kind of pre-season you want. 2 wins against lower opposition to get the legs going, and the squad in place early doors.

Snap!

Actually, scrub that

Assuming the fans momentum continues next season, then we’ll bring more than that through. It’s a hard one to gauge because last season, in about October our crowds started to go crazy (for our standards), a lot of old faces returned, the Junior Academy started to come along and the young ultras grew in numbers. Not saying we’ll bring through enough to open the Away Stand, but I suspect the first game against us will be extremely busy at least.

There doesn’t seem to be, however the League Cup games start a week on Saturday so there should be a couple of opportunities to get along whilst you are here

We launched our new Away kit tonight……I’ll certainly buy it

Well this is rather nice

Fair play to See, it'll be a good experience for him and although I've never watched an episode of Love Island in my life, it could lead to increased popularity and money for him, so can't say I blame the lad. However, if I was Alan Maybury then i would be absolutely seething at this, despite it being League 1 in Scotland you still want professionalism from your players and them available to be involved.

I never get too excited when the fixtures are released but August is looking good, opportunity to get points on the board and Away trips to Alloa and then Falkirk, lovely!

I received an email last night so you should have it now mate, if not then it's maybe worth contacting the club as the club are only going to hold seats until "mid July".

Nothing yet @unitedbino

Good shout @gmca, was forgetting about the Left Back position and with only having 1 in the squad then we do lack cover there.

It sure was a peach, and some nice goals all in. It'll be an interesting season ahead for Spence, obviously a player that has done very well at this level historically, but maybe it just hasn't happened for him over the past 2 or 3 seasons. I thought he looked positive at the end of last season, so with a pre-season behind him and everything else, it'll be interesting to see how he does. I think the options we have in attack now are a big strength in the side, if they can all it the ground running. Edit to add: Darren Young also saying that he is hopeful of bringing 1 more player in, assuming the board can fund it. I assume the funds will be found for 1 more, maybe a loan deal of sorts. Can't say we are really crying out for a position, but would still like to see another Right Wide player come in.

Absolutely. Obviously I wasn't at the game but going by the score line and the twitter updates, it seemed like the perfect game to start getting the legs moving again. I never read anything into pre-season as I've been here so many times before and very rarely does the season pan out the way that pre-season does. Noticed from the clubs Twitter that a good number of the youngsters were given an opportunity. That's pleasing to see and maybe 1 or 2 will be deemed worthy of an established opportunity over the season. Godwin obviously impressed the support in his couple of substitute appearances at the tail end of last season, so maybe he can kick on. A supporter at the Albion Rovers game seemed to think he had an opportunity at Hearts, but if there is anything in that then it looks like nothing came of it. I always think it's important for clubs at this level to give opportunities to youngsters in the game and to "produce our own" and it's always great to see a Ross McGeachie, Kyle Banner, Lee Hamilton, Cammy Binnie etc etc, come in, establish themselves as a regular, assuming they are good enough.

Your supporters will obviously know better than me, but even though he has maybe not fulfilled the potential that saw him get his Swansea move, I do genuinely think there’s a good (lower league) player in Biabi. In the games I’ve seen him play for Stenny, Kelty and Brechin (probably all against us on this occasion) he always seemed to do well, look like a handful with his power and pace and he always looked likely to score.

Greig Spence starting the season with a bang, 2 goals in the opening 5 minutes. That’s what you want, Strikers blowing the cobwebs off early doors.