ShineOnYouCrazyDiamonds

If we still have a decent relationship with Celtic for loans I think Ewan Otoo could be worth a punt. Thought he looked good against us for Dunfermline in the two games at Airdrie.

Surprised to see some unsure about Smith. He’d be one of the first I’d be trying to keep along with Frizzell. He maybe hasn’t been as good as last season, but towards the end of last season he was ridiculous. One of the best grafters we’ve got and never leaves anything on the pitch. He might not be as prolific as Gallagher or McGill but his overall play has been so so important to this team.

Says a lot that he’s on free kicks when McCabe isn’t on and shares corner taking responsibilities with Telfer. Not something you normally see with such young players. Easy to see he’s got the hunger and desire to play at his young age, but he’s got technical ability on a level with anyone else in the squad as well.

Amazing to think Justin Devenny has already made 50 appearances for Airdrie and is still only 19. Easy to forget he was around for the latter part of last season and made a few appearances off the bench. I think he’s been outstanding this season and is definitely one of our best prospects.

Assuming we plan to play Ballantyne at right back I’d definitely say we should be looking to bring in a left back, and a centre back is definitely needed too. Think we should be trying to bring in a couple of real quality midfielders as it will be required to continue our style of play a league up. Agree that we should be keeping as much of the squad as possible around even as squad players while adding improvements. If you look at the bench from Saturday I think you’d agree there’s room in the squad for around 5 additions without anyone actually leaving, especially considering 5 subs are now allowed in the modern game.

Does anyone have a decent guess about when we’ll start hearing about plans for next season? I’d imagine we won’t hear about contract renewals or any player releases until after the players have had their holidays so maybe 2-3 weeks away still. For the record I think everyone who played more than a handful of games has earned their stay, and while some might have interest from elsewhere I’m hopeful that promotion will convince them to stay. I think there should be room for quality players to be brought in without many leaving since we ran with such a small main squad this season.

Go get the Consilium Sports Group list

Not sure how it started, but I’m only 27 myself so my earliest Airdrie memories are the early 2000s. There may be others with a better knowledge of it’s origins. It’s maybe not to the same extent but someone a bit more cynical than myself might call Albion Rovers fans Celtic fans without the bus fare. Most Airdrie fans I know like to see the Rovers do well (as long as they don’t do better than us!) and were sad to see them get relegated yesterday. I grew up in Coatbridge with a dad originally from Airdrie and my whole life the two towns have definitely felt like part of the same larger community, and I’m sure most people from Airdrie or Coatbridge would agree with that. The majority of people in Coatbridge are Celtic fans, and a lot of them would see Albion Rovers as their “wee team”. A lot of people from Coatbridge were suddenly interested in the Rovers as a result of being in the relegation playoff and you can see that by the fact Cliftonhill was sold out yesterday when attendances throughout the season have been very low, as they have been for years. I’m not having a go at those people for turning up for the big game, but you do wonder if the Rovers would be in the position they’re in if those people went more regularly. As far as I know the Rovers crowd aren’t waving tricolours, so I suppose it isn’t the same, but they definitely have that association I suppose as a result of Coatbridge’s largely Irish Catholic population and also the Jock Stein connection. The way I see it I’d prefer if the fans of all the clubs in Scotland didn’t get involved in what is more associated with the Old Firm, and if the Old Firm gloryhunters (especially in the towns surrounding Glasgow) instead favoured their local “wee team” on a more regular basis, we’d all be a lot better off as clubs.

First 20 or so minutes when we were on top before their goal Telfer was outstanding I thought, then later on Devenny replaced him and also done very well. McGregor’s a great option from the bench to use his pace against tired legs, and yesterday he was brilliant.

I personally don’t like them and I’m obviously not alone in that as an Airdrie fan, but it’s a bit of an awkward one because there’s obviously nothing actually wrong with the flags. There are others that like them and like having it as part of the club’s identity, and others that don’t really care and aren’t bothered much about it either way. It probably works out that those that like that aspect are the loudest section of the support, and they’re brilliant for loudly getting behind the team as they did last night - of course them being the loudest means our fanbase gets the reputation of all being that way. The majority of fans are either like myself, don’t like them but accept them as it’s an unchangeable aspect of our support, or just aren’t bothered about them at all. There’s a lot of fans that support the SNP and independence (including an SNP MP) that are just a less vocal section of the crowd. I’m not an SNP supporter personally and not particularly passionate about independence but I’m a socialist that’s very wary of British nationalism. Hopefully that clears it up a bit. I’d say it’s very much a mixed fanbase but that one side of it is more vocal which means they play a bigger role in shaping the reputation of the club with others.

I’d imagine the club were already aware of this Salim situation to some extent, so the fact he’s been on the bench and played a couple of times isn’t great. Might be they didn’t actually know the full story or much of the details, but who knows. Whatever they’d know would be what Salim has told them. I do wonder if him being sent out on loan at the start of the season had anything to do with it, I remember at the time a lot of us were surprised since our squad was so light then. If the club have been playing him with full knowledge of what was going on, then it’s very possible he’ll be on the bench on Saturday. I wouldn’t be happy about that at all, and judging by the other comments on here I think most of you would feel the same as me. Releasing him from his contract early is probably the right thing to do, but the very easy thing to do (and what I suspect the club might do) is to simply not select him on Saturday and release him at the end of his contract, which is obviously very soon. Whether or not that’s a cowardly way out, especially given that Salim has hardly played and would have been leaving the club shortly anyway, I don’t know. I wish the woman involved all the best and hope she gets what she’s looking for and is able to move on as swiftly as possible from what would have been a horrible experience.

I usually park there when we visit NDP but I’d imagine it will fill up very quickly tomorrow

Usually takes a while for the attendance to be released for our home games compared to other clubs. Will probably find it on BBC Sport at some point later in the day

When you put it like that it does sound a bit crazy I'll admit. I don't like it but I'm not convinced at all by Deveney defensively, especially when he hasn't played much recently other than brief cameos. Fordyce has played right back before and I'd have no worries about him playing there again, other than the fact he would be missed at centre half. I don't think McCabe and ATS have ever played together at centre half but on individual levels both are comfortable there (although that has been next to Fordyce). For me the main alternative to that would be ATS at left back with Ballantyne over to the right and McCabe dropping back into defence. I think some version of those four has to be the defence that starts on Saturday.

Fair play to Telfer, a player I’d criticised earlier in the season for being too soft but he was throwing himself into challenges tonight. McCabe’s turned him into an animal.

It’s a good point. I think the most important thing is that it’s McCabe who moves into defence though and not one of the guys that hasn’t been playing. That would probably mean ATS or Dycey moving to full back which means we will lose height at centre back. If there’s a late aerial bombardment from the Accies because we’re still leading I think all of that goes out the window anyway as both would be in the middle to defend that regardless with wingers covering the full back areas.

Said it on the match thread already but I think best thing would be to move Dycey to right back on Saturday, McCabe to centre back and bring in McMaster. Obviously could move Ballantyne to right back and bring in Deveney or move ATS to left back but I think Dycey at right back keeps defence shuffling at an absolute minimum and is probably the most solid back four available to us.

Dycey at right back and McCabe at centre half for me with McMaster coming in for the second leg. No offence to Euan Deveney or Lachie Byrd but they haven’t played enough to come in for a game of this magnitude. Could obviously go for ATS at left back with Ballantyne coming over to the right but I’m not sure he’s got the legs to play there anymore and defend against a winger.

I don’t think I’ll feel at ease unless we repeat what we done to Falkirk in the first leg, which I suppose you can’t expect to happen again in the final, although we can hope. Hamilton won’t know much about us, and that could work in our favour, but I’ve absolutely no idea if they’re as capable of a complete collapse like we knew Falkirk were, as we’ve seen them fall apart on more than one occasion since they joined us in League One. Still haven’t really got over last year’s playoff final so on a personal level I’m trying really hard not to get carried away. Whatever happens I think we’ll be in good hands next season. Last year’s defeat was so heartbreaking because it felt like our big chance and we’d blown it. We knew how difficult the league was going to be and that we’d lose Murray and at least Easton. We kept more of that season’s squad than I expected, and even though League One will be hard again next season (Falkirk, Cove, QOTS, Alloa) and players might leave if we fall short, I think we’ll be in a good position to challenge at the top end once again. And if we go up I think we can have a good go at it in the Championship. The state of calmness that I’m trying to force myself into will go out the window tomorrow by the way.

As much Rae’s two red cards (should’ve been 3 as he should’ve walked in the 4-3 loss to Dunfermline before eventually getting sent off the following week at East End Park) have been frustrating and possibly show some poor decision making from him, I think he’s the best keeper we’ve had in years by a distance. Would be massive to keep him for next season imo. Can’t blame him for the bad injury and hopefully it was just a one time thing and nothing recurring.

Unsure if we’ll have Rae next season and it might depend on what league we’re in but I’d be delighted if we could get Jamieson in as a backup for next season. Really impressed with him.

Was probably at least the third bookable offence he got away with as well

Ballantyne and Frizzell were absolutrly colossal out there. Fordyce was superb in the first half but that mix up with Rae that led to the red card probably took any potential motm award away from him.

This post will get lost in the thread no doubt as I’m sure there will be so many many comments filing in. That may seem unbelievable to neutrals and Falkirk fans, but everything about that game was typical of Airdrie this season, and it’s what many of us were saying on here before the game. We are utterly chaotic, and at our best we can absolutely blow away anyone in this division. But the fear of bottling it is always there. At 3 and 4-0 everyone around me was obviously delighted but still quite nervous. The fifth did ease things a bit, but 5-1 brought it back and the red card was very worrying. I said if the free kick went in we’d be really up against it but for once the team proved me wrong and held out. Agent Allan’s red card and the later penalty were absolutely massive by the way. I feel good about a four goal lead, but three goals with Rae suspended still had me nervous.