DiamondDownSouth

I remember a game in the 70s like you describe. It was either Sandy Clark's debut, or maybe just the first time I saw him play. I went with my usual crew (me, my dad, my dad's friend and my friend) but we also met up with my dad's friend's son with his friends from Glagow Uni who had adopted Thistle - I think they were mostly from different parts of England. As the fog got worse they kept yelling "abandon" at the ref because we were winning, and the game did end 1-0, possibly with S. Clark being the scorer. Happy days!

I think "early doors" crept into the lexicon maybe 15-20 years ago and is a mispronunciation of "early days", but that may be completely wrong.

I agree, apart from Airdrie United 0 Albion Rovers 0 in 2002.

Tommy Walker was the creative genius to Derek Whiteford's beating heart of the Airdrie team of that era. When we were on song, Walker was the one pulling the strings in the centre of midfield. I remember he went to Arbroath, and playing against us (in mauve? maroon?), whilst he was studying for his degree at Dundee University and then he rejoined us when he had completed his studies. Great memories from a fantastic era...

https://www.airdriefc.com/2021news/200825/Pat-McCluskey Very sorry to hear this. I still tell the story to this day that McCluskey's outstanding reading of the game when he was with us meant he was always in the right place despite having lost some mobility since his Celtic days. RIP to an Airdrie legend.

That was precisely what I was thinking except for Kerr & McKay, two of O'Reilly/Robert/Thomson on the wings and Carrick playing behind Gallagher in the no.10 role.

4-2-3-1? Back four, two to protect back four plus set up attacks, two wingers & a no.10, and a striker.

The one game I recall seeing Vinnie Moore, in the mid-eighties, he was absolutely outstanding and won the game for us. It was a 1-0 win against Dumbarton who, iirc, had a very young Owen Coyle playing for them in midfield. Moore was giving the Dumbarton full back hell but was being kicked out of the game until the ref booked his oppo. Moore was then free to run at him again and he set up the winning goal by skinning him and then delivering an absolute peach of a cross which was headed home.

And managed by Gary Mackay...

CC - Ian Murray actually wanted to keep McDonald but was prepared to listen to offers (same for Sandy Stewart). Raith then made one that both Airdrie & McDonald himself were willing to accept.

Ok...so now I feel rather stupid, but thanks for all your response.

When did we start wearing the diamond? I think I saw from a web-site that it was 1912, in which case why aren't they on the strips in this photo from 1924?

Arguably Ryan Donnelly could be in both lists because he did have one brilliant season but was an absolute liability thereafter.

Texaco Cup Final 1st leg? In those days in Scotland the home team changed their strip if there was a clash. My favourite strip is our diamond top with white shorts and black, red & white socks. I don't think we have had black socks since our reincarnation?

However, on the plus side, the first sentence after welcoming Airdrieonians to Balmoor begins "Founded in 1878..."!

Are you seriously writing off the season after 53 minutes?

The first game of the 2002/03 season was the first following our reincarnation, and was a home win against Forfar. I wasn't there but I believe our captain of that era, Stephen Docherty, was the scorer.

Or Rangers...; )

Thanks to you also. As I said I wasn't in the know, so that is a real shame that we went under for such a small amount. I seem to remember the domino effect was begun by one of David Murray's businesses, a printer in Airdrie, who we owed money to?

I wasn't aware of that, so thanks for letting me know - maybe I need to soften my stance towards these clubs then...!

Our financial implosion can't be compared to Leeds whose business model was based on a massively risky strategy of having to qualify for Europe. Airdrie's owners went bust because of a chain of events in building a new stadium that complied with the Taylor report. Remember Falkirk had been denied a place in the SPL because they didn't have a compliant ground at the start of the season when they won what is now the Championship. I won't go into the ins and outs of what happened that led to our liquidation, not that I am particularly in the know, but planning delays and a temporary move to Cumbernauld that lasted 5 years and led to a decline in the fan base and left us crippled with debt and no chance of paying it off. You imply that Airdrie needed to be punished for taking the "easy option" of declaring bankruptcy to get out of our debts and then simply waltzing back into the league, but I don't know a single Airdrie fan who had hoped that would be the outcome. I agree that if the situation happened now, rather than taking Clydebank's place we could work our way back into the league, but the pyramid system, which I was long an advocate of, didn't exist back then and we would have gone the way of Third Lanark, aided by the Chairmen of the clubs who voted against us. I really don't have anything against the fans of these clubs, but as I said we wouldn't be here if your Chairmen had had their way, and that was after the Airdrie fans, led by Jim Ballantyne, had worked their socks off to resurrect Airdrie. Finally, I can understand why you think my apparent bitterness is tragic, and I would agree if I poured over the results every week hoping that the teams who voted against us would lose. However, that is not the case, I only really care about Airdrie, but at the weekend I was pleased, as I am guessing you as a Morton fan were, when I saw that Hamilton had beaten St Johnstone.

The three teams that voted against Airdrie that are now gone from the SPFL are Clydebank, East Stirlingshire & Berwick Rangers. The other 13 are: Alloa Athletic, Arbroath, Ayr United, Clyde, Cowdenbeath, Dumbarton, East Fife, Greenock Morton, Inverness Caley Thistle, Queen of the South, St Mirren, St Johnstone & Stranraer. For balance the goodies were: Albion Rovers, Brechin City, Falkirk, Forfar Athletic, Hamilton Accademicals, Montrose, Queens Park, Raith Rovers, Ross County, Stenhousemuir & Stirling Albion. It was Airdrie's league place and had we not been denied it then we wouldn't have had to take Bankies' spot - remember there was no pyramid at the time. When Rangers went bust I noticed that they weren't required to compete against anyone else to rejoin the league, although denying them would have been just as wrong as it was to deny us. I know it is 17 years ago, but it that time I had already been an Airdrie fan for over 30 years and had these teams had their way I would have had no team to support since 2002. I still always want the teams in the first list to lose, even if they are playing against the ugly sisters.

On a completely separate point, with Cove winning the battle of "the wee Rangers" at the weekend, Berwick become the third of the 16 teams that voted against our league status in 2002 to lose theirs. At this rate all 16 will be gone by around 2120...

What are you on about? Two cracking goals from outside the box from young Roberts...the first from about 25 yards with his left foot and the second from about 35 yards with his right. How many Airdrie players have you seen do that last season?

Whether we wanted him or not, Wallace has now signed for another club so we move on. We need to be interested in signing players who want to play for Airdrie, and in particular for Ian Murray.