The Official Airdrieonians Thread - 2019/20 and beyond

[Diamonds are Forever]

6 minutes ago, 1320Lichtie said:

Aye fair enough. It’s a weird league. Last year so many clubs seemed to get it right in comparison to previous years where there was always a couple of clubs who had got it badly wrong. Hard game every single week and rough and tumble.
 

We’ve finished 2nd, 5th, 7th and 8th so kind of had the full range of experiences and for me it’s much more enjoyable. Every week feels like an occasion with a good crowd and a big match feel to it in comparison to League 1. 
 

Enjoy

 

Under no illusions that it's going to be more of a slog, a lot less multiple goal victories, a lot less victories full stop, and more likely to be at the wrong end of the table after 4 years of battling at the top. However I was utterly bored of League 1 so regardless of how it goes I'm looking forward to visiting a few places I've not been for a few years and seeing how we get on. If it's a fleeting visit then so be it, but the club really needed this shot in the arm after stagnating for the last decade.

[Kenny_m]

27 minutes ago, goodwin said:

hope McMaster and Justin D stay but wouldn't be surprised if the latter is on other radars. If the 2 Hibs boys are midfield too, and we have Rhys (occasionally), Telfer and Frizz, I think we need a bit of dig in there. 

Aiken is normally a central midfield although according to reports has also played wing & centre back.

O'Connor is a speedy forward. 

[Skyline Drifter]

1 hour ago, 1320Lichtie said:

Arbroath, Hamilton and Cove have been 3 of the worst Championship teams I have seen by far the last 5 year. We have all been absolutely stinking. That Hamilton team was so very bad for Championship level, ask their own fans.

The top 7 were actually all very good this year too up until a certain point when it’s the business end and the results matter more and pressure hits where everyone seems to go all over the place.

I think it’s a pretty big step up from L1. You’re basically playing teams better or probably similar to how Dunfermline were for you this year every single week.

A good back 4 and keeper for me is the most important thing. We survived on that alone 

Lot of truth in this with a couple of caveats. Looking from outside this year but having seen a lot of the games on tv plus played Accies in the League Cup and Morton in the Scottish, I'd say the Championship isn't as strong this past year as it has been in years before that. Certainly there were no outstanding sides in the way there have been previously. The standard at the top end was relatively even. At the bottom end I think Accies had a run from January for a month or two when they looked decent but otherwise weren't great. Didn't really see much of Arbroath or Cove last season. I also think Dunfermline were defensively very good and will likely not be a struggling Championship side when they return provided they can find a source for regular goals.

Airdrie are the very opposite. They score goals almost at will with fluid, hard working attackers but the defence isn't brilliant and has collapsed on occasion. We've probably seen the worst of them to be fair but shut down the front three and they're not Championship standard defensively. Josh Rae's a more than capable Championship keeper. Not convinced the rest of that backline will do though. Arbroath have got the success they've had in the last 2 or 3 years on the back of an outstandingly well organised and experienced back line and keeper. That they are all aging now isn't likely to help them. I'd say Airdrie need at least one, possibly two mobile centre backs and at least one better full back to avoid losing a lot of goals. A deep lying defensive midfielder too unless McCabe's going to play regularly (and if he is that will bring its own problems). They'll need a deeper squad than they've had too, but I'm sure they'll bring players in. McCabe's not daft.

[1320Lichtie]

2 minutes ago, Skyline Drifter said:

Lot of truth in this with a couple of caveats. Looking from outside this year but having seen a lot of the games on tv plus played Accies in the League Cup and Morton in the Scottish, I'd say the Championship isn't as strong this past year as it has been in years before that. Certainly there were no outstanding sides in the way there have been previously. The standard at the top end was relatively even. At the bottom end I think Accies had a run from January for a month or two when they looked decent but otherwise weren't great. Didn't really see much of Arbroath or Cove last season. I also think Dunfermline were defensively very good and will likely not be a struggling Championship side when they return provided they can find a source for regular goals.

Airdrie are the very opposite. They score goals almost at will with fluid, hard working attackers but the defence isn't brilliant and has collapsed on occasion. We've probably seen the worst of them to be fair but shut down the front three and they're not Championship standard defensively. Josh Rae's a more than capable Championship keeper. Not convinced the rest of that backline will do though. Arbroath have got the success they've had in the last 2 or 3 years on the back of an outstandingly well organised and experienced back line and keeper. That they are all aging now isn't likely to help them. I'd say Airdrie need at least one, possibly two mobile centre backs and at least one better full back to avoid losing a lot of goals. A deep lying defensive midfielder too unless McCabe's going to play regularly (and if he is that will bring its own problems). They'll need a deeper squad than they've had too, but I'm sure they'll bring players in. McCabe's not daft.

Don’t know if it’s because we’ve been so bad this year or what but I think at certain points this season Dundee, Ayr, Thistle, Inverness, Raith, Morton and QP have been brilliant. There’s not been any shit shows in regards to a Hopkins Ayr United or a Peter Grants Dunfermline or a Caldwells Thistle etc.

 

Most teams have had their shit together this year. 

[Diamonds_Are_Forever]

On 21/05/2023 at 09:56, cb_diamond said:

On another note, how nice is it to go into the close season without the customary fear that all the decent players will automatically disappear as we didn't get promoted again. Would be great to hold on to the spine of the team, Rae, Ballantyne, Friz, Smith, Gabby, Gall. Obviously Rhys and Dycey will still be playing. Who else would folk like us to keep/bring in?

Gabby would be brilliant to keep but apparently a good few teams down south want him 

[AJ77]

15 minutes ago, 1320Lichtie said:

Don’t know if it’s because we’ve been so bad this year or what but I think at certain points this season Dundee, Ayr, Thistle, Inverness, Raith, Morton and QP have been brilliant. There’s not been any shit shows in regards to a Hopkins Ayr United or a Peter Grants Dunfermline or a Caldwells Thistle etc.

 

Most teams have had their shit together this year. 

How do you think yous will fair next season? 

[Skyline Drifter]

16 minutes ago, 1320Lichtie said:

Don’t know if it’s because we’ve been so bad this year or what but I think at certain points this season Dundee, Ayr, Thistle, Inverness, Raith, Morton and QP have been brilliant. There’s not been any shit shows in regards to a Hopkins Ayr United or a Peter Grants Dunfermline or a Caldwells Thistle etc.

 

Most teams have had their shit together this year. 

Fair enough, you'll have seen a lot more of it this season than I have but I never saw anyone look "brilliant" and the fact Dundee almost backed into promotion with a reasonably average looking Queen's Park side absolutely throwing it away underlines that. To be fair I'm not sure it was an awful lot better the year before when us, Dunfermline and Ayr were all dreadful and Hamilton, Raith and Morton not an awful lot better. That let you guys have a real run at the title and an underperforming Kilmarnock still win it. Previous years usually saw at least one really good Championship side. It's fair though to say that whilst the bottom three were all well short of decent standards, none of them were a car crash either.

That said, IMO the present Airdrie squad with no changes (in or out) wouldn't stay up.

[Diamonds are Forever]

1 hour ago, airdrieman said:

I can't remember who it was but somebody mentioned how Gal tends to get the plaudits rather than Gabby. I think I've spoken about it on the podcast before, but I think it's worth bringing up how many times Gabby pops up with a big goal. His goal on Saturday was the most important Airdrie goal in years (maybe the most important in the last 20). But there was also the one away to Falkirk a couple of weeks ago (arguable how important the 7th goal in a 7-2 play-off final win is but you know what I mean ), the goal to put us 1-0 up v Cove, the 6th in the Montrose play-off which was actually the goal that won it even with Smith and Afolabi's heroics and I'm sure he got a lateish winner or equaliser v Clyde last season? There might be more too that I can't recall off the top of my head. He's some man. Lifetime contract please! 

 

It seems to have been removed now but on the BBC top scorers section they had goals per minute, and I'm sure Gabby's was almost identical to Gal's. If you added in the play-offs now it would probably be better.

I think in the big games Gal is such a marked man that he barely gets a sniff, that frees up space for Gabby to exploit and be in the right place at the right time like the play-off goals and his goal against Cove last year.

[1320Lichtie]

1 minute ago, Skyline Drifter said:

Fair enough, you'll have seen a lot more of it this season than I have but I never saw anyone look "brilliant" and the fact Dundee almost backed into promotion with a reasonably average looking Queen's Park side absolutely throwing it away underlines that. To be fair I'm not sure it was an awful lot better the year before when us, Dunfermline and Ayr were all dreadful and Hamilton, Raith and Morton not an awful lot better. That let you guys have a real run at the title and an underperforming Kilmarnock still win it. Previous years usually saw at least one really good Championship side. It's fair though to say that whilst the bottom three were all well short of decent standards, none of them were a car crash either.

That said, IMO the present Airdrie squad with no changes (in or out) wouldn't stay up.

A lot of the Friday night games have been terrible but Ayr and big Dipo have had their moments.
 

QP were probably the best team I saw up until they lost Murray.

 

Raith played some excellent stuff and tailed off massively.

Inverness started off slow but had a wee spell where they were very good in the last third of the season.

Morton absolutely battered us and we somehow drew 1-1 but they were on their longest unbeaten streak in a long time I am sure.
 

At the start of the season I thought Dundee would cruise it after they played us at Dens.
 

Partick Thistle have been hot and cold but right now I think they’ve got a very good side and have a good chance of going up. 
 

Not surprised that the top 6 places were all so close because they were 6 very good sides in my opinion and if Raith had beat Hamilton in their home game start of April I think they’d have finished much closer to that pack too instead of falling off.

 

Only saw Airdrie play Hamilton and on highlights throughout the year, we also played them in the League Cup where it was practically the same side that played the play off games but that’s hard to judge. Look a pretty team with some good ball players and agree they’ll need to add to that to stay up.

 

 

[Glenmavis Diamond]

Under no illusion that we need to strengthen the squad. Goes without saying. Every team who is promoted does that as standard and we will be no different. 

In general, I have been impressed with McCabe's recruitment this season. No manager gets it 100% right but in my opinion, McCabe knows the style of football he wants to play and the type of player required to achieve that. He's played at Championship level too so knows the step up required. 

It'll be an interesting close season, way better than recent years, as promotion opens up more possibilities in terms of players who'd join that would not touch us in league one. Quite exciting times ahead! 

[Kenny_m]

45 minutes ago, Skyline Drifter said:

That said, IMO the present Airdrie squad with no changes (in or out) wouldn't stay up.

Don't disagree with but we have already added 2 Hibs lads and whilst they seem highly rated it remains to be seen if they strengthen the side.

[ShineOnYouCrazyDiamonds]

Under no illusions about the Championship. The current squad without additions would go down. We wouldn’t dominate games often enough to get by on attacking strength as we have in League One. The squad also has nowhere near enough depth. The positive of that is that there is a lot of room within the squad. I think we can keep the vast majority of the squad that actually played a bit this season, and that will only amount to about 13-14 players, so there’s still room for plenty of better players to come in.

Goalkeepers
Rae
New backup

Defence
Ballantyne
Fordyce
New CB
New LB
ATS (backup)
Watson (backup)

Midfield
McCabe
New DM
Frizzell
Devenny
Aiken (new loanee)
New CM

Forwards
Gallagher
McGill
Smith
McGregor
O’Connor (new loanee)
New CF

 

The omissions there are Byrd, Deveney, Telfer, McMaster (loan ended), Stanway (loan ended), Prince and Dixon. Three of them were almost entirely uninvolved that season which shows how small our actual squad was. I expect Prince to be loaned out again or play with the U18’s. Heard a while ago McMaster was signing with us and I do like him as a player, but wouldn’t mind seeing us loan him out to a League One side if that’s something we can afford to do. I wouldn’t be against Telfer staying but I think he could make way for someone a bit better/more consistent.

[Kenny_m]

5 minutes ago, Glenmavis Diamond said:

Under no illusion that we need to strengthen the squad. Goes without saying. Every team who is promoted does that as standard and we will be no different. 

In general, I have been impressed with McCabe's recruitment this season. No manager gets it 100% right but in my opinion, McCabe knows the style of football he wants to play and the type of player required to achieve that. He's played at Championship level too so knows the step up required. 

It'll be an interesting close season, way better than recent years, as promotion opens up more possibilities in terms of players who'd join that would not touch us in league one. Quite exciting times ahead! 

Big test for Rhys as it's easy to get carried away in the promotion euphoria. Time to be ruthless and thank guy's for their efforts who may have got a contract in League 1 but not the Championship. 

[Mybitchunderprotest]

10 minutes ago, ShineOnYouCrazyDiamonds said:

Under no illusions about the Championship. The current squad without additions would go down. We wouldn’t dominate games often enough to get by on attacking strength as we have in League One. The squad also has nowhere near enough depth. The positive of that is that there is a lot of room within the squad. I think we can keep the vast majority of the squad that actually played a bit this season, and that will only amount to about 13-14 players, so there’s still room for plenty of better players to come in.

Goalkeepers
Rae
New backup

Defence
Ballantyne
Fordyce
New CB
New LB
ATS (backup)
Watson (backup)

Midfield
McCabe
New DM
Frizzell
Devenny
Aiken (new loanee)
New CM

Forwards
Gallagher
McGill
Smith
McGregor
O’Connor (new loanee)
New CF

 

The omissions there are Byrd, Deveney, Telfer, McMaster (loan ended), Stanway (loan ended), Prince and Dixon. Three of them were almost entirely uninvolved that season which shows how small our actual squad was. I expect Prince to be loaned out again or play with the U18’s. Heard a while ago McMaster was signing with us and I do like him as a player, but wouldn’t mind seeing us loan him out to a League One side if that’s something we can afford to do. I wouldn’t be against Telfer staying but I think he could make way for someone a bit better/more consistent.

About a month before the season ended I was hearing that Justin Devenny, Calum Smith and Gabby McGill had all pretty much decided that they were leaving regardless of how our season ended as they had offers from elsewhere. The only one which surprises me is Devenny as the other two have probably got offers from closer to their respective homes so Justin may have been tapped up by a club who will pay more than we do. That's three solid first team players who will (if the story is to be believed) need replaced and I can only hope that Rhys knows there are other options than just the Jackie Mac catalogue.

[ShineOnYouCrazyDiamonds]

Looks like Ian Murray is heading to Dundee so that might change the situation a bit. If he fancied any of our players for Raith would he think any of them capable of stepping up to Premiership level?

[Kenny_m]

8 minutes ago, Mybitchunderprotest said:

About a month before the season ended I was hearing that Justin Devenny, Calum Smith and Gabby McGill had all pretty much decided that they were leaving regardless of how our season ended as they had offers from elsewhere. The only one which surprises me is Devenny as the other two have probably got offers from closer to their respective homes so Justin may have been tapped up by a club who will pay more than we do. That's three solid first team players who will (if the story is to be believed) need replaced and I can only hope that Rhys knows there are other options than just the Jackie Mac catalogue.

Devenny is a particular favourite of mine and I'd be more gutted about him leaving than than the other 2 however strange that seems given the great seasons they've just had. Gabby and Smithy's work rate will be missed if indeed this is true but I honestly believe that Gabby could struggle going up a level as he does lack a bit of guile and class.

[CumbyDiamond]

1 hour ago, ShineOnYouCrazyDiamonds said:

Looks like Ian Murray is heading to Dundee so that might change the situation a bit. If he fancied any of our players for Raith would he think any of them capable of stepping up to Premiership level?

Would bet Easton & Smith join him there

[Glenmavis Diamond]

2 hours ago, Kenny_m said:

Big test for Rhys as it's easy to get carried away in the promotion euphoria. Time to be ruthless and thank guy's for their efforts who may have got a contract in League 1 but not the Championship. 

He had no issues benching players when they underperformed, so I am confident he won't let sentiment get in the way of deciding who he wants to keep and who he let's go. Doesn't seem the type. 

But it's a far better position to be in, trying to keep your best players, when in the Championship than in League One. Had we not won promotion, half our squad could've easily been picked off and nobody could have held it against players wanting to challenge themselves at a higher level. Now they have that opportunity with us. So McCabe's holding the stronger hand now. 

[airdrieman]

2 hours ago, ShineOnYouCrazyDiamonds said:

Under no illusions about the Championship. The current squad without additions would go down. We wouldn’t dominate games often enough to get by on attacking strength as we have in League One. The squad also has nowhere near enough depth. The positive of that is that there is a lot of room within the squad. I think we can keep the vast majority of the squad that actually played a bit this season, and that will only amount to about 13-14 players, so there’s still room for plenty of better players to come in.

Goalkeepers
Rae
New backup

Defence
Ballantyne
Fordyce
New CB
New LB
ATS (backup)
Watson (backup)

Midfield
McCabe
New DM
Frizzell
Devenny
Aiken (new loanee)
New CM

Forwards
Gallagher
McGill
Smith
McGregor
O’Connor (new loanee)
New CF

 

The omissions there are Byrd, Deveney, Telfer, McMaster (loan ended), Stanway (loan ended), Prince and Dixon. Three of them were almost entirely uninvolved that season which shows how small our actual squad was. I expect Prince to be loaned out again or play with the U18’s. Heard a while ago McMaster was signing with us and I do like him as a player, but wouldn’t mind seeing us loan him out to a League One side if that’s something we can afford to do. I wouldn’t be against Telfer staying but I think he could make way for someone a bit better/more consistent.

I'd largely agree with that although I'd like another new centre-half and probably swap Watson for Telfer. Would also loan out McMaster, even if only for a few months. 

[Diamond72]

14 hours ago, Diamonds are Forever said:

 

If Leon does think that I think he's mistaken, or looking for an excuse as to why he's not at a higher level. Nothing wrong with his physique at all, he's quick and strong. Yes he's small but that's not a major issue for a full-back, he's taller than Greg Taylor who plays for Celtic and Scotland. He's at this level because he has the ability of a decent League 1 full-back.

Not to drag this out but I believe we need height and physique in the side for next season, and I quote Leon when he joined us, "He said: “I feel that I’ve been overlooked in my whole career because of my height. If I was a bit taller then I’d have more opportunities elsewhere but there is nothing that I can do about that".