Mr November
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Posts posted by Mr November
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Thistle looked knackered towards the end of both games last week and I think that’s showing tonight. Raith look much sharper, most notable with two clinical finishes. I was hoping for some Murrayball semi final play-off drama but that might have to wait for the final.
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https://www.airdriefc.com/2324-news/240514/end-of-season-awards
End of season awards voting is up on the website.
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I'm sure Hibs are very aware of McCabe but I can't see them going for him just now. Hibs fans seem pretty unhappy, can you imagine the reaction (particularly from the yer da types) if after several failed appointments in a row they go for a 31 year old who has never managed above the Scottish Championship? I think they'll either go for a reliable appointment (McInnes, Robinson etc.) or a big name to spend the Bournemouth millions.
Dundee United are the Scottish team I worry about with McCabe. I could easily see Goodwin being punted in November and them turning to McCabe. You do have to take these opportunities when they come along (if they feel right) or risk ending up missing your chance, Billy Reid turning down the Swansea job only for things to end up going a bit stale at Hamilton a prime example (though his career worked out ok in the end!). I think England could be McCabe's next move too. Obviously he played down there for a few years so he'll know a few people and I could easily see an ambitious League One team coming in for him.
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45 minutes ago, moses1924 said:
See Morton have released their list of players in negotiation / released list, not sure there's anyone there that we would be interested in, wonder where our old friend Quitongo will end up...
Players who are in contract discussions with GMFC:
• Kirk Broadfoot
• Grant Gillespie
• Cameron Blues
• Michael Garrity
• Robbie Muirhead
• George Oakley
• Darragh O’Connor
• Lewis StrappPlayers who have rejected new deals to stay at GMFC:
• Robbie CrawfordPlayers who will be leaving the club this summer:
• Calum Waters
• Jai Quitongo
• Lewis McGrattan
• Alan Power
• Jamie MacDonaldPlayers returning to their parent clubs:
• Tyler FrenchHe seems such an East Kilbride signing.
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I thought Hamilton won it in spite of Rankin. They were ok throughout, and did deserve the win overall, but rarely anything above that and didn’t seem to have much of a plan during the last 10 minutes. There is the basis of a decent team there but improvements are definitely required for the likes of Lyness, Williamson/Davidson and O’Hara. They might have enough to squeeze past Inverness, don’t think there’s a huge amount between the teams, but doubt either of those games will be classics.
Alloa started well but fell out the game a bit once Accies equalised, though they definitely picked up a bit again in the second half once Sammon came on. Hetherington and Steven were the standouts for me, I haven’t seen Hetherington play since he left Falkirk but he looked back to his usual self and Steven was great fun to watch, always looking dangerous and was really unlucky with that free-kick. I didn’t think they tested Lyness too much but obviously that’s harder to do with 10 men. Lots for them to look forward to next season though, seem a much improved team under Andy Graham.
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I’d keep the same contingent as most but would definitely keep Watson and McGregor around too. We do need to improve on Watson as a starter but he’s had a much better season than I expected and he’s absolutely fine as a backup right back/centre back. McGregor has improved massively too and I think his best games have came playing through the middle. There’s still a lot to work on but his pace is a really useful asset in a fairly slow team.
I’d probably keep Gavin Gallagher around too. Definitely not as a starter but he’ll be cheap enough and generally does a job whenever he has to fill in.
Of the loanees, I suspect Aiken might return on loan and I’d be happy to keep Lyall permanently too. Lyall still has a lot to work on with his decision making but that should come with game time. O’Connor goes with best wishes and I think Megwa will be at a bigger club than us next season unfortunately.
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Just now, cb_diamond said:
Bizarrely I think this might be quite cagey, particularly the first leg.
If it’s anything like our two play-off semi finals under Murray, then a cagey first leg followed by a ridiculously dramatic second leg is on the cards.
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This is especially impressive when two of his five seasons were shortened. I think he’s only missed nine league games since he joined.
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I’ve always felt quite relaxed about these play-offs, with little expectation of getting through three rounds, so not too disappointed with last night. It feels a lot easier to take than the 8 other play-off defeats I’ve seen, there’s a lot to be said for not having the threat of being stuck in League One. It’s never fun to lose a play-off but it was two fantastic games and as we saw over the season, two good teams with not much between them but Thistle just having the edge. Said it elsewhere but if you put Brian Graham in that Airdrie team they win that game.
I enjoyed the McMillan/Hancock and Megwa/Milne battles over both games, for me they’re the best full-back pairs in the league. Megwa and Hancock were the clear winners on Tuesday night but I thought Milne was excellent last night, particularly in the first half.
Interesting stat that Thistle never had a corner over both games, that probably doesn’t happen too often. We had loads and while most didn’t go anywhere a few were pretty close, Ballantyne in the first leg and Fordyce rattling the bar in the second. Suppose that’s the fine margins you get in tight games.
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It’s never nice to lose a play-off, we know that more than anyone, but hard to feel too down about tonight. Ultimately we saw what we’ve seen all season, not a huge amount between two good teams but Thistle just having a slight edge on us. Put Brian Graham in our team and we win that.
Ultimately it’s been a fantastic season, literally the best in the 21 years I’ve been supporting Airdrie. Making the promotion play-offs, winning the Challenge Cup, beating multiple top flight teams in the cup, a decent run in the Scottish Cup and the only team in the country to win all their League Cup group stage games and only narrowly losing out in the next round. Hard to argue with that being anything other than a huge success for our first season in this league in a decade. I didn’t expect this last August but it’s been really fun supporting Airdrie this season to be honest. It has been for a few years now, I’ve said it before but I don’t think there’s been a more fun club to support in Scotland in the 2020s.
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McStravick’s not been at any games since his injury (as far as I’ve seen) and is presumably back home in Northern Ireland, is that disrespectful? Obviously not. I hope Josh Rae enjoys his holiday, he’s clearly not fit to play in them whatever happens so I don’t see why it matters at all.
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4 hours ago, Doolan9 said:
I’m surprised to see how few have mentioned neilsons performance. Fitzy was poor also but I thought neilson probably had has poorest performance in a thistle shirt or certainly one of. Was totally lost in midfield, not aware of free men around him and lost several 50/50s and headers to smaller airdrie midfielders. Eventually composed himself on the ball later in the game.
I thought Neilson’s early booking was a large part of that. He hadn’t started well anyway but a really daft booking to get so early on and seemed a bit all over the place after that. McBeth seemed to win a lot more balls in that area than Neilson did.
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Really enjoyed the game but frustrated not to win. I said before the game I felt we had to win tonight and that feels especially apparent given we dominated large spells.
It feels like often start big home games at a high tempo and we did that tonight, great early goal and then plenty of pressure. Mitchell’s treatment killed our momentum though and I thought Thistle were very much in the game for the rest of the half. McBeth’s goal was ridiculous, one of those strikes that’s either hitting the corner or the car park, sadly it wasn’t the latter
I thought Doolan killed Thistle a bit in the second half. Airdrie were perhaps slightly on top but we dominated as soon as Thistle changed to a back three, as it allowed us to always have a spare man when building from the back. I suppose they got the draw out of it though and it’s a better result for them. I expect they’ll start quickly on Friday night and look to get an early goal.
Telfer had an excellent game but I thought Megwa was phenomenal tonight. Enjoyed him being bundled over yet still managing to keep control of the ball, get up and run past a Thistle player at least twice.
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12 minutes ago, Diamond Oracle said:
I think our only chance of getting through this tie is getting a result at home tonight. McCabe-ball just isn’t as effective on Thistle’s tattie field.
I’m expecting us to go pretty direct (by our standards anyway) on Friday night whatever happens tonight. Agree on tonight though, a draw and it’s still up for grabs but I think we really have to get a win tonight.
Looking forward to the game. Don’t feel anywhere near as nervous as I did last year but there’s a lot to be said for not having the fear of an 11th year stuck in League One looming over us. It’s set up for a good occasion tonight, two teams who play decent football and based on the league tables and games so far there’s not a huge amount between them.
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This next appointment feels like a huge one for Queens. Get it right and there’s no reason why they can’t be challenging next season, or at least a strong play-off team. Another disaster though and an Airdrie style decade in League One with part-time football looks increasingly likely.
No idea who it would be but I think an Ian Murray type when we appointed him in 2018 would be ideal here. Someone with a bit of experience and success, has learned from mistakes but is still fresh enough to offer something new. He doesn’t always get the credit he deserves for it but through generally decent recruitment and raising the standards and professionalism at the club Murray steadily rebuilt a slow, average squad and improved us every year. From the outside that seems like exactly what Queens need after several years of declining.
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11 minutes ago, diamondman said:
Alistair Spalding is a new name for me. Can such as Arran fill me in on his credentials?
He’s from the youth team. Think he came on in the cup game at Dundee last season and has been on the bench a few times too.
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4 minutes ago, Kenny_m said:
Who's playing the McMaster/McCabe role?
Aiken and Donnell sitting a bit deeper and Frizzell further forward maybe? Thought Gavin Gallagher might have been given a shot there tonight but guessing he’s injured as he’s not even on the bench.
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No idea how that Airdrie team lines up. Back three with McGregor and maybe Lyall at wing-back? Hopefully Fordyce gets a rest at some point tonight too.
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18 minutes ago, moses1924 said:
Did someone put the dates for the playoffs up, cant see them now?
On 25/04/2024 at 15:06, Mr November said:Play-off dates confirmed, nothing unexpected
CINCH PREMIERSHIP PLAY-OFFS
Tuesday May 7
cinch Premiership play-off quarter-final, 1st leg
4th in Championship v 3rd in Championship
Live on BBC Scotland, kick-off 7.45pmFriday May 10
cinch Premiership play-off quarter-final, 2nd leg
3rd in Championship v 4th in Championship
Live on BBC Scotland, kick-off 7.45pmTuesday May 14
cinch Premiership play-off semi-final, 1st leg
3rd or 4th in Championship v 2nd in Championship
Live on BBC Scotland, kick-off 7.45pmFriday May 17
cinch Premiership play-off semi-final, 2nd leg
2nd in Championship v 3rd or 4th in Championship
Live on BBC Scotland, kick-off 7.45pmThursday May 23
cinch Premiership play-off final, 1st leg
2nd or 3rd or 4th in Championship v 11th in Premiership
Live on Sky Sports, kick-off 8.00pmSunday May 26
cinch Premiership play-off final, 2nd leg
11th in Premiership v 2nd or 3rd or 4th in Championship
Live on Sky Sports, kick-off TBC1 -
Ayr 2-1 Dunfermline
Dundee United 2-1 Partick Thistle
Inverness 1-0 Morton
Queen’s Park 1-1 Airdrie
Raith 5-0 Arbroath0 -
3 hours ago, Diamonds are Forever said:
That's the key thing, both managerial appointments they've made have been a success - to varying degrees. There's a bit of Murray bashing sometimes on here (myself included in that) but if you look where we were when he came in to when he left it was night and day - a relegation threatened team to a side fighting at the top end each season. And he signed the basis of the team that eventually got us promoted. And McCabe's appointment speaks for itself. I think the team has been steadily improving over the past 3-4 years, which was also down initially to Murray and the work done behind the scenes by board. Therefore I'd hope when McCabe leaves the club will make another sound appointment and manage to maintain a decent level in the Championship.
I think it’s an attractive job for these reasons too. There were plenty of times (arguably most of his tenure) when a majority of fans were at best unconvinced by Murray but he was rightly given time to progress us and build his own team. Even McCabe had a couple of very sticky spells last season which might have been enough for an impatient board to pull the trigger. I suppose even going back to Findlay, he was incredibly well backed that summer (two year deals for jobbers like Scott Robertson and a transfer fee for Jonathan Page!).
Who knows what calibre of manager would actually be interested but I think plenty of managers would be keen to work in the current set-up.
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1 hour ago, Kenny_m said:
Scott Walker was a pet hate of mine but will be strutting his stuff in the Junior Cup final with Darvel. Kyle Hutton and Dean Cairns also there.
Scott Walker playing as an attacking midfielder and taking corners. I can’t believe my eyes!
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19 minutes ago, Kenny_m said:
Scott Walker was a pet hate of mine but will be strutting his stuff in the Junior Cup final with Darvel. Kyle Hutton and Dean Cairns also there.
I’ve came along to this, a sensational midfield three. Those three or McMaster, Frizzell and Telfer?
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13 minutes ago, Diamonds are Forever said:
I don't think it will be that extreme, mainly because that side would get hammered and although a defeat doesn't matter he's not going to want the negative attention that would bring. QP have had a poor season but they have the firepower on their day to take a few goals off a side like that. Doesn't sound like McCabe or Aiken will be fit enough to start either so I'd imagine they'll get 30 odd minutes in 2nd half to build themselves up.
I think the starting 11 won't look too bad, it's more the finishing 11 that will look like a reserve side. Would expect Todorov, Frizz, Ballantyne all to get 45 minutes as they didn't play this week, or last week in the case of Frizz and Ballantyne. I think Hancock has looked like he needs a rest recently so would be leaving him at home.
Yeah that’s fair and probably the realistic outcome. Even with the current injuries I think there’s enough depth in the squad to rest four or five key players and still put out a competitive team and as you say, they’ve had a really poor season but Queen’s Park aren’t a bad team and every game so far has been very tight. We’ve both mentioned them before but I think the end of season Edinburgh City game will be a better comparison than the Peterhead one.
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The Ultimate Super Ayr Thread
in Scottish Championship General Chatter
Posted
Feel like he went too big too soon with the move to Kilmarnock. He was outstanding in his few months at Airdrie and then obviously did very well at Ayr for the rest of that season. It’s perhaps hard to turn down a two-year deal at a team in the Premiership but sticking around for another season at Ayr or another Championship club would have been a much better career move. From what I’ve seen he’s had a few nice moments for Thistle but hasn’t consistently played well anywhere since that season with Airdrie and Ayr.