ShineOnYouCrazyDiamonds
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Posts posted by ShineOnYouCrazyDiamonds
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When I started going to the games regularly it was the 2002-03 season and I was 6 years old. Vareille was far and away my favourite player and I don’t think anyone came close until Prunty. I think Gow was probably the best player we had in that era, and obviously Coyle was great even if not what he once was. I think what makes Gallagher stand out compared to good strikers we’ve had since that period is not just the longevity but also the progress that both he and the club made during his time. And in fairness, I think Gallagher last season had as good a season as Andy Ryan or Allan Russell had in the same division for us. Both him and Fordyce are club legends as much as the guys from my childhood imo.
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Impossible to say really when I’ve only watched one of the teams every week. I’d say the Airdrie players that should be considered are Megwa, Fordyce, Hancock and Telfer. Based only on the games I’ve seen Anton Dowds is Pele so he’d in too.
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11 minutes ago, Passionate said:
A dying breed a consistent year in year out Goalscorer, the club has outgrown Gall and as stated it feels the right time to move on, he needs to play started the season well and drifted out the side around December, to be fair Todorov, Strav and McGill when fit have done fine...
Moving forward I cannot see us for the foreseeable future signing Part Time players Gall was the last bastion of that era, so the Hybrid has been and gone, delving deeper we train Tuesday and Thursday nights which was created for the P T players in the hybrid, with that now gone will we from next season go back to Full time day time training, this freeing up the stadium for more hires etc, and more coaching nights for players coaching schools...
I remember when Leon McCann left us for Falkirk he stated one of the reasons he was keen on the move was that they were fully full time so there was no nighttime training. Far from the biggest contributing factor for players choosing a club to sign for but feels like a step in the right direction given where the club are right now. Gallagher’s been great for us and I’ve always been a fan, but continuing the hybrid model for one part time player who never starts obviously wasn’t going to make sense. Wish him all the best at Arbroath.
I’m excited by the prospect of next season. Obviously promotion would be exciting but if we miss out and keep hold of McCabe and all our best players (and have this season’s additional income to add to the squad) it could be a very good season.
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Serious question (although maybe I’m getting carried away): who was the last player we had with the cult hero status amongst the fanbase that Todorov has at the moment?
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No idea how the officials bottled the decision after that brawl in the box. A Morton player on top of Hancock with hands at his neck and somehow we get three bookings and they get two because some of our boys had the audacity to drag the man off him. Atrocious decision.
As for Morton more generally, what an embarrassing shambles of a team. Biggest hammer throwers we’ve played all season and crap at football too. One of our best performances of the season imo.
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5 hours ago, Diamonds Are Red said:
Great posts above. We might fall down due to lack of squad depth, but great to think we are talking about the promotion play offs rather than the relegation (mathematically still possible but looking unlikely now).
I am sure Rhys will be pushing and encouraging the players to think on the possibilities of promotion rather than looking over our shoulder at the teams below, and as said if Hamilton and Livingston can do it, and Arbroath and Queen's Park nearly in seasons gone by...
Still a bit to go, and it will be tough. However if there's any chance we can be in the mix then what an opportunity it is...
Obviously we probably do lack the squad depth compared to other teams but I was actually thinking last night about how much better our depth is now than it’s been for years. The rotation we’ve had for midweek games recently would have been unthinkable for us in past seasons and Arbroath must have been jealous that we were able to bring guys like Telfer, Frizz, McGill and Gallagher on from the bench.
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Thought Michael Stewart was out of order on commentary after that McMaster challenge. Definite red card and Scott Brown had every right to be angry about the tackle and the referee’s decision, but Stewart as an impartial commentator spending the last 10 minutes of the match repeatedly calling a young laddie a coward left a bad taste in my mouth.
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1 hour ago, Sub Parr said:
Ridiculous that we’re talking about trying to keep out of the relegation battle with a win in the same breath as taking us up to 4th and promotion play offs. I thought league 1 was generally pretty tight, but championship is mental.
It’s wild isn’t it? A couple of results can be the difference between 9th and 4th which can then mean ending up back in League One or in the Premiership. The difference between facing Stirling Albion and Stenhousemuir or Rangers and Celtic.
I’ll be honest, after being in playoff finals every year I was kind of looking forward to the prospect of a break from them. Obviously I’ll be delighted if we finish in the top 4, but it’d be nice to have a relaxing end to the season.
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Frizz got away with that one imo, don’t think there was any malice in it but if we had VAR he’d be off.
Lovely ball from McStravick down the wing for the goal, think he’s having a very good game.
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On 03/03/2024 at 07:57, Diamonds are Forever said:
I've been wanting this for a while. He was a wide player coming through at Killie and it shows at this level where he simply doesn't have the touch, awareness and close control in those congested areas that a natural attacking midfielder has. Last season ended well but I thought for chunks of last season he was poor in there as well. When he's out wider there's not as much pressure on his touch as he has more space and he can go by a man and put good crosses in. His best season for us was his first under Murray when he played in the wider role in a diamond, he would get the ball in wider areas on the half turn in space and drive up the pitch.
His goals/assists return from his attacking midfield role isn't good enough and I think he's had a long enough run to show it, I'd move him a bit deeper and wider and put McStravick or Lyall in there.
Agree with much of this. I still think he’s wasted in too much a wide role like he played at Dumbarton and there’s a reason he kicked on so much with us after moving more central but he played his best football when Easton was the 10 and he was playing a deeper role. I think he’s best used as an 8 that can drive the team up the park rather than as the central playmaker. Would McStravick, Lyall, Donnell be any better as the 10 though? I’m not sure. I think Lyall seems a fairly similar player to Frizzell that would be better driving from deep. Donnell looked good when he came on at the weekend I thought but he really struggled against Ayr. Not sure how he’d do in that role. McStravick might make the most sense but he’s maybe more likely to struggle physically in the middle than against a full back and I thought he got a bit bullied on Saturday although he had decent flashes.
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5 hours ago, AJ77 said:
Not sure how accurate but i'm pretty sure Hancock, Mcmaster and McStravick are signed up for next season.
The club are notorious for not advertising contract lengths so it’s anyone’s guess really. We know Ballantyne signed a 2-year deal when he joined so unless he’s extended that he’s definitely out of contract. I’d be surprised if McStravick only signed for one season considering we paid a fee for him so I’d expect he’s signed up for next season. Based on his tweet in the summer it looks like Watson is signed up for next season as well.
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That is an absolutely massive win. Dundee Utd have been far from impressive this season but I didn’t think we had it in us to beat them if I’m honest. Huge 3 points and a massive confidence boost going into the next few games (although Saturday’s opponents will have felt a similar boost after their result tonight).
Hope Hancock’s injury isn’t as bad as it looked but at least we’ve got Megwa now and Ballantyne to give us that extra cover at the back. I thought Megwa was fantastic today, I can’t remember the last time I’ve seen an Airdrie player that is so consistently good with his tackling.
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20 minutes ago, She who dares gins said:
We do also still have Watson. Yes a mistake against Ayr but that was also in an odd pairing with McCabe.
I like Watson enough at right back but I’ve never been too convinced by him at centre back. He is certainly more experienced there than Hancock or Megwa but I am keen to see those two plus Ballantyne play. Watson (or McCabe) definitely options to partner Fordyce but that likely means one of Ballantyne, Megwa, Hancock missing out which seems such a waste.
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For me when a team gets in a rut the most important thing is to get back to the basics of what you do well and work from there. Don’t overcomplicate things. Questionable whether or not we can call this a rut yet but it’s three losses in a row (including Hearts game in the cup) and while I generally like to remain positive it is most likely going to become four losses on Tuesday night when we go away to the league leaders.
Three of our best players are full backs, that leaves two options: leave one on the bench or play one out of position. You could argue that a back 5 means playing all three out of position, and it’s also a change away from the system we’ve been most successful with. I think we’ve either got to have Hancock partner Fordyce at centre back in a 4, or potentially Megwa although he’s not the tallest, or push one of them into midfield. I was surprised to see McGregor dropped yesterday as I think he’s been doing well but we’re now left with very few options out wide with him picking up an injury. I think Gallagher deserves a run in the team over Toddy as well.
Rae
Megwa Fordyce Hancock Ballantyne
Telfer McCabe Frizzell
McGill Gallagher Lyall
I think something like that could work. Not entirely keen on limiting Hancock since he’s been so effective down the wing but Fordyce needs a centre back partner and he might be the player best-suited to that. Could try Megwa at centre back but I’ve no idea how that would go. McCabe could drop back to let Ballantyne come inside and Hancock overlap in theory, but that might be overcomplicating things (especially considering since I’m trying to emphasise not doing that and instead getting the basics right). I thought Lyall looked good taking a man on when he came off the bench against Ayr so a wide role could work, but could just as easily drop him into a midfield diamond and play a front two to maintain the shape we’d been using recently.
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Looks like it's a back 5 and interesting to see both McCabe and Watson dropping to the bench. My guess would be something like
Rae
Fordyce ATS Hancock
Megwa McMaster Ballantyne
Telfer Frizzell Lyall
Todorov
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32 minutes ago, cb_diamond said:
Hancock would maybe make more sense tbf. Wouldn't want either of them there for ability on the flanks reasons mainly
Hancock probably better going forward than Megwa imo and Megwa the better defender but I'm inclined to agree with you given that Hancock's got the height advantage over Megwa. Having three (and that's not including Watson) quality full backs to choose from isn't a bad problem to have but there is the question of who should play at centre back if Fordyce is still out. Watson and McCabe both look good next to Dycey but we've seen the drop-off in quality when he's out.
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2 hours ago, LeodhasXD said:
There's a limit of 5 domestic loans. International loans don't count to your quota but can't be made outside the regular transfer window which closed at the beginning of February.
Would leave us two available domestic loans then since Donnell is on loan from Fulham
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2 hours ago, ElDiamondo said:
If we have 1 loan space left I would be going all out to get someone who can put the ball in the net for the last 3 months. Easier said than done I know but we must have a few quid spare from the cup runs. Someone scoring 5-8 goals would be the difference between getting dragged into a relegation scrap and comfortably finishing the season anywhere 8th and above.
I don’t think there’s a limit to how many loan players we have in the squad. We have four at the moment and if Wikipedia is right Dunfermline have six and Inverness have eight. Obviously the limit is whatever we can afford but I’d still be jumping at any good players we can get and if Megwa’s available he’s worth getting. I would say though that the priority should probably be a centre back (I think Hancock was maybe planned to be a centre back for us but has done so well at left back he has to stay there) and a striker.
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At times played some of the best stuff we’ve played all season. Hancock excellent, McMaster excellent, McGregor excellent. All three goals conceded from very basic errors and it becomes a game lost that we should have won at a canter.
Mr McCabe, please start Lyall next week, he’s excellent.
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Only very loosely Airdrie related but has anyone seen what’s happening at Willie McKay’s latest project “Doncaster City FC”? 11th level of the pyramid in England and they’ve just signed Charlie Mulgrew and Ross McCormack, and on top of that former Airdrie man Scott McLaughlin. I don’t think we’ve got any players still represented by a McKay since Paul, Jack, Thomas Robert etc left. At any rate, our relationship with Consilium does seem to have benefited us more.
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Should add to that, I completely get that Toddy’s scoring form has been pivotal in our recent form but Gallagher looked a big improvement when he came on. Will be good to have both fit and fighting for a place
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We weren’t bad but they were clinical and we weren’t. They were quicker and had more quality up top which us expected, but we still caused some problems and on another day and with a bit of luck the scoreline could’ve been much closer, but no complaints really.
Thought Hancock had an excellent first half and deserved his motm award. McMaster also done well and I really like the look of Lyall, tidy and confident player on the ball that’s not afraid to put a tackle in. I’d expect him to start a lot of games as we see the rest of the season out.
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1 hour ago, Passionate said:
Who is the mystery guest....
I’ve narrowed it down to Willie Henderson or Sir Alex. It’s probably Willie Henderson
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While we’re all on a high - who would you consider your POTY so far? I imagine there could be varied responses because we’ve had different standouts at different times. Megwa certainly a standout but at the club for too short a time to be considered. Aiken was a standout early on but has obviously been injured for a long spell. Todorov certainly on form now and if he keeps that up he could be considered. I’d imagine Fordyce and Telfer would be popular shouts but I’d go for Rae personally. Could see how much we improved last season when he came back in and he’s maybe not always had lots to do but I feel so confident watching him deal with balls into the box and playing with the ball at his feet (and he’s had a lot less dodgy moments so far than last season and hasn’t even been sent off yet). I’d probably go for Hancock as YPOTY so far.
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Airdrieonians 23/24 Championship Thread♦️
in Scottish Championship General Chatter
Posted
He wouldn’t sign for us and a lot of our fans wouldn’t be happy with it.
But I think it would be a laugh, so I’m voting yes.