AndyDD

That's a good shout, actually. Gives us an in-game flexibility as well to change tack without necessarily having to make one or two subs if things don't go to plan.

https://www.airdriefc.com/2021news/200708/Striker-Hughes-signs-up James Hughes joins the first team squad, 17 year old striker. Good to see another young, homegrown player coming through. 'One of our own' as well.

Would add an extra flavour to it, for sure. Poor Tom. He thought he'd be shooting down Neil Doncaster with bullets of fairness from the Smoking Gun. Now all indications are that he's got some medicine of his own to take in the not too distant future.

‘This arbitration won’t really have any time for morality or perceived fairness’ How Tom must have felt when that was uttered hahaha. Superb.

At any rate, a signing will be most welcome. Squad looks decent, but we all know the midfield is priority 1. Here's hoping we get a grafter and a creator. Never really had much creativity from the centre last season. Wide men would be handy as well; Thomson had some good games, injury didn't help him, and Roy at least has pace (you'd rather him out wide than up front, as things stand) but we need more and better options there than those two you'd expect.

Hahaha, aw there it is. Was only a matter of time.

Just so we're clear; going bust is karma for saying they'd vote for reconstruction, then not voting for it? That would be balance, in your view? Not getting pumped all season and relegated, not losing key players to a lower league side, not being demoted due to the arbitration, but going bust? Interesting take.

Thought yous could do with a wee change up after obsessing over the chairman of Raith Rovers.

Exactly. Not saying Falkirk fans should have sympathy for Raith and flock to their fundraiser like it was fucking Live Aid, but it is unedifying to see fans salivating over their issue, claiming going bust is 'karma' for not supporting an obviously doomed reconstruction proposal.

Hearts and Partick are not asking for null and void in their legal case though, are they? Nobody would have been treated unfairly in a null and void scenario? Tell that to Dundee United and Cove. That that to Celtic, Rangers, Motherwell and Aberdeen, who would then be in hot water with regards their UEFA competition entry. The SPFL did not need or get someone else at all, Hearts and Partick Thistle named the winners of the 3 lower leagues as respondents in their court paper. They didn’t name Celtic. It is those two clubs who dragged DU, Raith and Cove into the legal proceedings, not the SPFL or anyone else. I agree it is a red neck to ask other clubs to help them out at this stage, but bear in mind they are only facing any legal costs at all because they were named as respondents by Hearts and PT. Raith and Falkirk, hell the entire lower leagues, had no chance of forcing reconstruction through. The top tier weren't having it. Simple as that.

Correct. And yet one falkirk fan said ' if raith goes bust its nowt to do with anything we've done but will be seen very much as karma to a lot of falkirk fans. ' Karma? Really? For what? Not changing the losing vote for reconstruction from 16 to 17?

What are you talking about? Of course it was rushed through. The SPFL asked clubs to consider it on the 10th of June. Being mentioned by fans and Jim McInally is one thing, but 14-10-10-10 was first put to the member clubs on the 10th of Jun, with barely any, if any at all, prior consultations done with the other member clubs to see how they'd feel about it. This is long after Ann Budge’s reconstruction proposal of 3 14s had been rejected and even longer after the reconstruction committee the SPFL set up, with hearts at the head, ended without having put any agreed proposal forward in the first place. The fact any falkirk fan seems to feel it is Raith Rovers who have stopped them coming up, beyond simply due to having done better up to that point in the season, speaks volumes. Had he kept his word, the raith chairman voting for 14-10-10-10 to rescue Falkirk from League 1 would have made sweet f**k all difference because it would have meant 17 voted for it rather than 16. The suggestion that Falkirk have until now been more concerned with the interests of other clubs than their own is also hilarious. What a riddy of a claim that is.

Aye, he seems to be a prat. That's ultimately irrelevant though, isn't it, because him sticking by his initial claim rather than changing his mind would have made absolutely zero fucking difference to the vote. The top flight clubs weren't having Ann Budge's rushed through reconstruction, even after Neil Doncaster asked them to pretty please consider it. licking ones lips over Raith being cited as respondents by Hearts and Thistle in a dispute they had with the SPFL is moonhowler stuff. They cited Dundee united, raith and cove, but funnily enough didn't cite Celtic. Weird, that. Falkirk fans only give a f**k because they hadn't managed to catch Raith and because 14-10-10-10 would have promoted them from a playoff position. It's transparent and cringey as f**k.

Dry yer eyes.

Irrelevant to the conduct of some in here over the appeal from the 3 promoted clubs, aye. It wasn't those three clubs who kiboshed the league, shot reconstruction in the foot by failing to put together any sort of appealing proposal and declared the standings on PPG. It was Covid-19, Hearts and the 42 SPFL clubs, in that order. Kelty and Brora are not irrelevant, but they are irrelevant to what I was saying, which is that many of you, actually no a few of you, have been beyond pleased to see Raith in potential financial bother, out of sheer malice. Yes, we didn't get the chance of the playoffs and that was annoying as we had a decent shout (especially having been unbeaten against Falkirk all season) but in the grand scheme there were always going to be winners and losers, pros and cons, in any of the various 'proposals' put forward for responding to the Governmental enforced halting of the football due to the pandemic. So I'm certainly not holding any other club responsible for the fact that the playoffs didn't happen, nor am I wishing them ill. Because that is small-minded, petty, bitter nonsense.

Haha, did we accidentally get triple the amount of James Anderson money we were supposed to get, or something? Forgive me the holding of my breath...

Dundee United, Raith and Cove have been subjected to further hardship by dint of the action of two other clubs, who cited them in their legal dummy spit dispute with the SPFL, and the entire body of clubs who voted with a significant majority to declare all leagues on PPG. That decision, taken by the clubs, meant Celtic, Dundee United, Raith and Cove were champions of their divisions and those at the bottom relegated. Falkirk don't need to defend themselves in court, nor do Airdrie or anyone else. Despite saying no club should be punished, Hearts and Thistle have damaged those three by forcing them to court and intend on damaging them further by overturning their promotions, or to hurt all the other 40 clubs by seeking compensation. Raith are looking for help because they were cited by Hearts and Thistle, whose fight is really with the SPFL as a whole. Nobody is wishing any financial hardship on them? Read over the last few pages. Aye they are. Every club voted out of self interest. Every director and board member has a duty to put the club interest above all other considerations. Hearts and the SPFL board both tried to get an ill-conceived a poorly though through reconstruction rushed through which would have helped Hearts and Thistle and ICT and Falkirk, but which most other clubs decided would do them more harm than good. Which is their call. That the Raith chairman seems a bit of a prat is neither here nor there. That Kelty and Brora missed out on a playoff, like every other playoff positioned side, is similarly irrelevant to the lip licking in here over Raith Rovers. And that is what many of you have been doing. It's unedifying.

It's a bit of a red neck, all this crowdfunding lark from the promoted 3, who I don't really think had to take their legal fight further and could have left Arbitration to the SPFL. It is very hard to see the panel awarding anything other than some token compensation for Hearts and Partick (a portion of which i'm sure they will donate to Stranraer... ) so I think they can rest assured that their promotions won't be overturned. That being said, what an unedifying read the last couple of pages of this thread is. Baying, glorying, in the potential for another club to encounter financial difficulty, a club who merely had the audacity to be above Falkirk and the rest of us in the League at a time that the leagues were brought to a halt, makes you look like a bunch of bitter sore-losers who would rather revel in schadenfreude and cringe worthy conspiracy theories than focus on the fight for the League One title next season. You come across like a bunch of dicks.

Another clue please.

He just keeps on going doesn't he? What a red neck he has been all these weeks.

'However, we believe (and our external legal advisors have confirmed same) that there is too much at stake to not defend our position' Aye well of course they fucking have.

Hahaha, tickled me as well. The writer of the piece is none other than Graham Spiers.

https://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/dundee-united-cast-net-wide-in-manager-hunt-slftcn7qq Dundee United will have spoken to as many as 20 candidates by the time the club makes its decision early next week about who will replace Robbie Neilson as manager. The club admitted yesterday it was taken aback by “the sheer diversity” of coaches who had shown an interest in the job. The SFA director of performance, Malky Mackay, remains a contender for the position but the club will not be pursuing Tommy Wright.

Aye, we were all expecting this over the last couple of weeks now but to have it confirmed (so long as progress vis a vis virus continues) is a big step. As you say, it can allow the club greater clarity in their planning and it might mean some movement on getting season tickets sold, too. Will be great to have it back and the stadium is large enough that we ought to be able to get some sort of crowd in even if distancing is in place.

In theory, perhaps, but I do think there is a distinct danger of some of us assuming getting better quality midfielders will be a lot easier than it could be. We shall also still need solid squad players who can be used as substitutes or in the event of injuries, still a significant possibility in a shortened season. I'd have wanted better signings than Millar, Roberts and Wedderburn for starting XI, but we will also now to bring in first team midfielders and midfielders to play a part from the bench. A lot of work to do and the better players will be courted by multiple clubs, from our league, the championship and even league 2. We've already been unable to compete with Stirling Albion for a signing target. The club wanted Andy Ryan and we were unable to match the offer. The idea that we can quite handily get a handful of superior midfielders than we already had, then, in a season we were third and fighting for the top spot through much of it, seems quite optimistic. Releasing players we know are good enough for the promotion playoff places, in a season where surely most if not all clubs in the country expect to be weaker rather than stronger on the whole, is in itself a considerably risky strategy, one which we obviously all hope will payoff. Maybe they couldn't match the Albion money because we had long decided our priority was midfielders rather than a striker. Maybe we already have targets in mind. Maybe, though, we will fail to get them, as well.