Airdrieonians vs. Peterhead

[Cooper81]

Lot of respect for EWB and the guy is a fighter and a true diamond and is doing exceptionally well when you consider he had a massive stroke nothing but admiration for Eddie. 

[thediamonddude]

Noticed in today's programme that EWB is no longer listed in the club directory on the first page. This seems to be the clearest indication yet that he won't be coming back.

I've not had the chance to watch back his interview from tonight but as others have said, his situation puts things very much in perspective. I hope he makes a full recovery in time, so horrible to see a man and his family go through such an ordeal.

[Wasps1]

The interview was heartbreaking he has a good football brain but struggling to tie his shoe laces 

Must be life changing for him and his family  

Football am sure is the last thing on his mind at present 

Am not sure if he will ever be able to manage a side again 

I hope he will in time 

[waysider]

At the start of the season we were a decent attacking team with our front 3 scoring goals. We were trying to play football but the whole thing was wasted by having a rubbish defence. Now we have degenerated into a rabble. We still have a rubbish defence but have lost our attacking ability. We can hardly string 2 passes together. I don't know the answer but there is a complete loss of any confidence. Once this happens to a team it is almost impossible to turn things around. Something has to be done quickly and we have to start by appointing a manager who can organise and build some confidence. It wasn't McBride's fault that he got put in charge before he was ready. We can't afford to wait for a review if we want to avoid dropping to the bottom of the league.

[Kennboy1978]

That was absolutely depressing. Left before the third one went in. Surprised to hear McBride managed to take his hands out his pockets. He really is out of his depth. Stewart's wasted at right back, he should be in the middle of the park, and we need at least three defenders. Gorman the only one worth keeping on in defence. Even then I'm not sure he'd cut it long term. Brown, you're a gutless, lazy posing shitebag. Not sure where Conroy was supposed to be playing started on the left and ended up in front of centre halves. Either way he did bugger all. Leitch, surprised he didn't get booked for persistent fouling and didn't find an Airdrie shirt with a pass all game. Fitzpatrick, I've always given the benefit of the doubt but no more, you can't run, pass or defend. Your times got to be up. Russell, not the player I thought we were signing. Unable to keep it simple and not really interested in creating a partnership with Ryan. Ryan, feel sorry for him. Would score a barrow load if he could get a supply. Ferguson,too much responsibility too soon, dirtibution is dross, decision making crap and hopeless with cross balls. We desperately need a manager, hope the Danny Lennon rumour started by Wasp1 is true but will need to be sooner or later. EWB and King appear to have sold Wotherspoon a dream and sold us down the river without a paddle.

I really hope you are Gordon Dalziel.

[falkirkwasp]

The interview was heartbreaking he has a good football brain but struggling to tie his shoe laces 

I was nearly in tears watching this aswell.

He was asked if he would return in the interview but i doubt he will for a long time anyway, which is a sin for a guy who is clearly passionate about the game.

[2lgm]

I really hope you are Gordon Dalziel.

I'm not Dalziel I'm glad to say. If I and a few hundred others can see it surely a guy of Dalziels experience in the game can see it. It's not rocket science - it's when you try and pretend the game is a complicated science that you look stupid. At our level anyway.

[Evil Jim Fenner]

12 hours ago, falkirkwasp said:

Watched tonights game, i was very touched when EWB was talking at half time..very upsetting, not a good situation to be in, i feel for you fans.

What were the strips on all the seats about?

The Supporters Trust have ran a Kit Amnesty in the Town for the last 3 years in conjunction with the KitAid charity. Basically, donate an unwanted piece of kit, and receive a free season ticket which the Trust pay for and raise cash throughout the season.

Yesterday saw us count over 6300 pieces of kit (only the tops were on show, there was socks, shorts boots etc already bagged up), which takes us to 10800 since we first started.

We have so far covered 2 and a half stands with strips alone, and hope to cover the remainder with next years campaign.

KitAid is a fantastic charity which all of us as football fans can relate to and help with. More details can be found here :-

http://kitaid.net/

 

 

 

[cb_diamond]

I like to think we're doing Scottish football a service here. By having this spineless joke of a team we are at least guaranteeing that most will never play full time football again thus having other clubs avoiding having wages stolen every week!

[peternapper]

Certainly a much needed win yesterday, we have played better in a number of games lately without gaining anything from them. It actually looked a bit better on TV than  it did sitting through it there. Both teams seemed to try & play far too many pointless short passes  across the back & when pressed end up punting the ball usually to the other team or giving it away putting themselves under pressure we have paid the price for this a few times this season we got away with it yesterday. 3 points were the main thing required but we are still far from our best. Think the Airdrie project will need a lot of patience from their support as there was little sign of the change to full time showing yesterday.

[2lgm]

That was absolutely depressing. Left before the third one went in. Surprised to hear McBride managed to take his hands out his pockets. He really is out of his depth. Stewart's wasted at right back, he should be in the middle of the park, and we need at least three defenders. Gorman the only one worth keeping on in defence. Even then I'm not sure he'd cut it long term. Brown, you're a gutless, lazy posing shitebag. Not sure where Conroy was supposed to be playing started on the left and ended up in front of centre halves. Either way he did bugger all. Leitch, surprised he didn't get booked for persistent fouling and didn't find an Airdrie shirt with a pass all game. Fitzpatrick, I've always given the benefit of the doubt but no more, you can't run, pass or defend. Your times got to be up. Russell, not the player I thought we were signing. Unable to keep it simple and not really interested in creating a partnership with Ryan. Ryan, feel sorry for him. Would score a barrow load if he could get a supply. Ferguson,too much responsibility too soon, dirtibution is dross, decision making crap and hopeless with cross balls. We desperately need a manager, hope the Danny Lennon rumour started by Wasp1 is true but will need to be sooner or later. EWB and King appear to have sold Wotherspoon a dream and sold us down the river without a paddle.

Forget what I said about Gorman. Just seen the third goal, wha was he thinking? Whole new defence needed.

[Blootoon87]

Yay, a win! I remember them.

[Diamonds are Forever]

Have a look at the starting line-up for our last game of last season against Ayr and compare it to yesterday. I know this is over simplified but compare each position then to what we have now, I have us being weaker in about 6-7 positions, the same in 2 (Fitz and MacDonald) and better in 2-3 (although even then apart from Ryan over Mackin they are debatable).

Not only that, look at the subs bench yesterday and against Ayr. Last season we had Prunty, Brown, O'Neil and Ferguson on the bench - all good options for a bench - and McLaughlin and McIntosh making up the numbers. This season McLaughlin and McIntosh are basically first options off the bench (after Schmidt), and then there's a bunch of kids.

Basically, by going full-time we have a worse starting 11 and a smaller/weaker squad. The question then becomes why is this? Is it just poor recruitment and that our youth players are worse than the club imagined? Or is it that recruitment has just been terrible? Or can we just not attract any decent full-time players based on what we can pay? These are the only questions that need answered to explain why we are where we are. I'm not sure why we need someone like Gordon Dalziel to come in and review this though when he hasn't been here during the process. There needs to be an honest discussion between all those who've been involved in the last year and know what the recruitment process has been and why certain players were signed/let go. That is the only way we can move forward and make sure the same mistakes don't happen again.

I obviously have huge sympathy for EWB for what has happened to him. And from a footballing perspective I do feel for the club in that that horrible event threw their plans and meant that they had to promote a guy on the cheap. There is no doubt that McBride is struggling, but the club can't really do much because their manager's wage is still paying EWB, getting rid of McBride and bringing in someone else means paying for 2 managers, where do we get money from for that for what is presumably the biggest footballing salary at the club? And would we not be better using that money - if we have it - on adding to the squad?

From the beginning of this 'project' I was always hopeful but always had the fear that the club were being very naive. And as it's turning out that word fits virtually everything that is going on at the club just now - from the playing style, to promoting youngsters, to recruitment, to the off the field 'influences'. There is still enough time to turn it round if people are willing to be self-critical and look at the mistakes that have been made. However if our way of 'reviewing' this is by asking Dalziel for the answers who doesn't know the process of what has happened and who is never going to criticise his mates, then we are in trouble.

[falkirkwasp]

I don't think danny lennon would be a good appointment for you, i think you would regret that one imo.

The reason you cant build a good enough full time squad is because the people you have lost will make more money playing part time and keeping a job, the guys you've kept can live off the very small amount you'll be paying.

[dextermorgan]

Several people are in agreement over the problems we have, particularly in relation to the quality and maturity of the first team squad. Most of us would agree however that dealing with the defense is the priority. The back line are at U20 standard playing against seasoned pros and will always concede. A mature commanding keeper would be the start, and therein lies our problem.

The business model is about playing promising U20s and putting them in the shop window. Couple that with an inexperienced manager and we have what we have. That is why I believe Dalziel is in the mix. I am still mystified however as to how someone who doesn't attend games can have a valuable input.

Look at us over the past ten years as a club, we have had three managers who have been cutting their teeth on the job and look at their results. Gary Bollan for me was the best of the lot having a proven track record and working well with limited resources. I'm sure most of us would welcome him back if that was a possibility.

I might add that the lack of experience does not only come from the manager but the chairman as well. I'm sure that given time he will sort things out, unfortunately we are paying sixteen quid every week to watch him and his employees tryng to get it right.

 

[DestroyedByMadness]

Dexter,  the business model you say is playing u20s to put them in the shop window.    Why would Bollan be the man for that job?   Seriously?

[waysider]

Reluctant to agree with TBM but Bollan is totally unsuited to our present set up. In fact such was his reluctance to buy into the idea T W made him an offer he couldn't refuse to get rid of him.

[Tulloch Gorum]

8 hours ago, dextermorgan said:

Several people are in agreement over the problems we have, particularly in relation to the quality and maturity of the first team squad. Most of us would agree however that dealing with the defense is the priority. The back line are at U20 standard playing against seasoned pros and will always concede. A mature commanding keeper would be the start, and therein lies our problem.

The business model is about playing promising U20s and putting them in the shop window. Couple that with an inexperienced manager and we have what we have. That is why I believe Dalziel is in the mix. I am still mystified however as to how someone who doesn't attend games can have a valuable input.

Look at us over the past ten years as a club, we have had three managers who have been cutting their teeth on the job and look at their results. Gary Bollan for me was the best of the lot having a proven track record and working well with limited resources. I'm sure most of us would welcome him back if that was a possibility.

I might add that the lack of experience does not only come from the manager but the chairman as well. I'm sure that given time he will sort things out, unfortunately we are paying sixteen quid every week to watch him and his employees tryng to get it right.

 

Did he, though?  Did he not get a full-time Livi to win the third and second divisions?  Did he do much apart from that?  Granted, better than what we've got now, but he's hardly Ian McCall.  
People might welcome him back, but I think they'd soon tire of him again.  I remember games last season under him that were at least as bad as what we've got now.  The back-to-back defeats to Dunfermline (2-0 at home) and Ayr (3-0) away stick out as being eye-bleedingly bad.  Granted, those teams were promoted, but his last game in charge, the 3-0 defeat at Cowdenbeath was honestly about the most depressing Airdrie game I have ever seen.  He'd pretty much chucked it by then, but even so.  Certainly toward the end of his time at Airdrie, there was little love for him from the stands.  There's maybe a touch of the Berti Vogts about it - some of the dire stuff that's come since his time as Scotland manager makes you forget about the draws in Moldova and the Faroe Isles etc.

Likewise, people talk about the players who have left against the ones we have now, and while there's some substance to that, the fact is the ones we had were no great shakes.  All the stuff people say now about the worst Airdrie team they've ever seen they said last year as well.  And the year before that, and the year before that.  Those players took us to third-teir mid-table finishes three years running.  With the exception of Cadden, who wanted out, I don't think I was really bothered about losing any of them at the time (Lister and Prunty had been a good partnership, but weren't really the future.  I was - and am - on board with being a youth-based full-time team.  It can be done better than what we have).  People talk about Watt, but honestly he can hardly pass water never mind a football.  The only surprise is that we somehow - somehow! - have a worse central defence than we did last year.  

Personally, I don't think this is the worst Airdrie team I've seen.  But it is certainly the worst full-time Airdrie team I've seen.  We're a quarter of the way through the season.  There's still time to change things round and have a good run and it may very well be that at the end of it all, we'll look back on this as a good year.  But things have to change, because we're nowhere near good enough right now. 

[Diamonds are Forever]

9 hours ago, Tulloch Gorum said:

Did he, though?  Did he not get a full-time Livi to win the third and second divisions?  Did he do much apart from that?  Granted, better than what we've got now, but he's hardly Ian McCall.  
People might welcome him back, but I think they'd soon tire of him again.  I remember games last season under him that were at least as bad as what we've got now.  The back-to-back defeats to Dunfermline (2-0 at home) and Ayr (3-0) away stick out as being eye-bleedingly bad.  Granted, those teams were promoted, but his last game in charge, the 3-0 defeat at Cowdenbeath was honestly about the most depressing Airdrie game I have ever seen.  He'd pretty much chucked it by then, but even so.  Certainly toward the end of his time at Airdrie, there was little love for him from the stands.  There's maybe a touch of the Berti Vogts about it - some of the dire stuff that's come since his time as Scotland manager makes you forget about the draws in Moldova and the Faroe Isles etc.

Likewise, people talk about the players who have left against the ones we have now, and while there's some substance to that, the fact is the ones we had were no great shakes.  All the stuff people say now about the worst Airdrie team they've ever seen they said last year as well.  And the year before that, and the year before that.  Those players took us to third-teir mid-table finishes three years running.  With the exception of Cadden, who wanted out, I don't think I was really bothered about losing any of them at the time (Lister and Prunty had been a good partnership, but weren't really the future.  I was - and am - on board with being a youth-based full-time team.  It can be done better than what we have).  People talk about Watt, but honestly he can hardly pass water never mind a football.  The only surprise is that we somehow - somehow! - have a worse central defence than we did last year.  

Personally, I don't think this is the worst Airdrie team I've seen.  But it is certainly the worst full-time Airdrie team I've seen.  We're a quarter of the way through the season.  There's still time to change things round and have a good run and it may very well be that at the end of it all, we'll look back on this as a good year.  But things have to change, because we're nowhere near good enough right now. 

 

Bollan's recruitment over the 2 summers he was here was awful, resulted in us starting the seasons poorly and then needing bailed out by good loan signings. However once he got better players in he was good at setting the team up to play to our strengths - get it into the channels early, turn the opposition and press them in their own half. Our recruitment is still an issue but we no longer are playing to our strengths, although quite honestly that's because I don't think we have any.

One thing I always defended him on though was not playing youth players, because quite clearly he thought they weren't good enough. I think he's been proven right on that one.

[DestroyedByMadness]

5 minutes ago, Diamonds are Forever said:

One thing I always defended him on though was not playing youth players, because quite clearly he thought they weren't good enough. I think he's been proven right on that one.

Bollan is a manager not a teacher.   Lamie, O'Neill, Watt, Cadden all playing above our level were good enough.