The Official Airdrieonians Thread - 2019/20 and beyond

[Diamonds are Forever]

1 hour ago, Mr November said:

I think most Airdrie fans would happily see him leave at this point, though I'm still a bit unsure whether that would be a good thing or not. 

I was really excited when we appointed Ian Murray. He obviously had a very poor spell at St. Mirren but the job he did at Dumbarton was outstanding and I hoped he could have a similar impact at Airdrie. When he joined us we were sitting 6th after the first round of fixtures, albeit only two points off bottom and 11 points off top. We were a bit of a mess at the time, Stevie Findlay had signed a new team of average League One jobbers on seemingly decent contracts but they never really clicked. When Murray came in we had lost four of our last five games and were generally a bit of a mess. The football under Murray that season was pretty awful, there were a few games where we were fantastic but on the whole it was pretty stodgy, solid at the back but nothing going forward. After a mixed start he consistently stuck to a 5-4-1 formation that season given how poor we were defensively, the aim generally seemed to be keep things tight and sneak a goal rather than going out to attack teams. We almost snuck into the play-offs but ultimately we just weren't good enough and lost far too many games at home, generally without scoring. 

He had a pretty poor start to the 2019/2020 season. Whereas previously he'd staunchly stuck to the same system he flipped between a back five and back four for the first quarter and the team were a bit all over the place as a result. Eventually things clicked in a game up at Forfar where Nat Wedderburn had to come off injured, Kurtis Roberts came on and suddenly we looked a much better team. I'm not sure whether Murray had actually planned this when he made the change or it was just a fluke but either way, we finally looked like a good team. Including that Forfar game, we went on to win six games in a row, playing some great football throughout and even going top of the league at one point. The rest of the season was pretty much a mixed bag, some good performances, some not so good but we were on course to finish in the play-offs with a reasonable chance of going up given our record against Falkirk that season. 

Unfortunately, there hasn't really been any progress this season. It's very much been a case of continuing where last season left off, a mix of great performances but also some very poor ones. Overall, I think Murray's done a decent job at Airdrie, albeit not as good as I had hoped. The club had been a mess for a good few years before he came in. We've had seasons of having a very young (and not very good) full-time squad, a team of youth players and then experienced League One jobbers but Murray has turned us into a solid play-off level team, which is more than can be said for most of our recent managers. However, he's also been well backed by the board with a move to a hybrid setup, the biggest squad in the league two seasons in a row (albeit a lot of those players are young players who never played) and a new contract last season at a point where he didn't really deserve one yet. It's hard to judge him in terms of recruitment given we've had a Director of Football throughout his time here and more recently links with certain agents but our recruitment has very much been a mixed bag.

We've consistently had the same issues under Murray which I think is the most frustrating thing. He's still very young for a manager but he's pretty experienced now and should really be learning from his mistakes. We've lost 14 home games throughout his time here without scoring a goal, 10 of which we lost 1-0. It's generally always the same story of being ok defensively but being completely unable to break teams down. This has been the case for teams lower down the league as well as teams at the top and ultimately is what has cost us in all three seasons, Raith beat us 1-0 three times last season but only finished 5 points ahead of us. 

I'm not necessarily against Airdrie keeping him on for next season but I can't say I'd be upset if he left. In each of his seasons he's pretty much performed to the minimum level expected but nothing more than that, though on paper that's certainly more than a lot of other managers have achieved. I think he'd do fine at Ayr, he'd certainly keep you up but I'm not convinced he'd do much more beyond that. I don't think he'd take it but in terms of managers in this league Stewart Petrie would be a much better choice.

 

Really good post, and I pretty much agree. It's hard to judge him fairly because quite bizarrely, due to the circumstances, he's now been here for 3 seasons but has yet to actually complete a full season. It's also unclear what is going on with the signings so hard to properly judge his recruitment. It has been mentioned by Dumbarton fans that he needed a strong assistant, and it may be a coincidence but our form improved noticeably last year when Colin Cameron arrived.

I am (or perhaps 'was' is the correct tense now given how things are going) worried about this season though. Our competitive record this season is played 15, won 6, drawn 1 and lost 8. Including two 1-0 home defeats to Edinburgh City. Given that we kept most of the squad from last season (so should have had some continuity that others didn't) and made a few signings - including Robert, I think that is really poor. It is thanks to Clyde seemingly enjoying gifting us points and goals that we aren't near the bottom of the league.

Like you I'm not really fussed either way whether he stays or goes next season. Part of me would still like to see him get a full season with a team that he recruits by himself, with a good assistant, and see what he can do. But would also understand the argument that he's had time (albeit with seasons broken up) and hasn't shown enough. Either way I think that most Airdrie fans would agree that, at best, the jury is still out on his time at Airdrie therefore it would seem a bizarre appointment for a club in a higher league to take him at this point, in my opinion of course.

 

Edited March 1, 2021 by Diamonds are Forever

[Mr November]

16 minutes ago, Diamonds are Forever said:

 

Really good post, and I pretty much agree. It's hard to judge him fairly because quite bizarrely, due to the circumstances, he's now been here for 3 seasons but has yet to actually complete a full season. It's also unclear what is going on with the signings so hard to properly judge his recruitment. It has been mentioned by Dumbarton fans that he needed a strong assistant, and it may be a coincidence but our form improved noticeably last year when Colin Cameron arrived.

I am (or perhaps 'was' is the correct tense now given how things are going) worried about this season though. Our competitive record this season is played 15, won 6, drawn 1 and lost 8. Including two 1-0 home defeats to Edinburgh City. Given that we kept most of the squad from last season (so should have had some continuity that others didn't) and made a few signings - including Robert, I think that is really poor. It is thanks to Clyde seemingly enjoying gifting us points and goals that we aren't near the bottom of the league.

Like you I'm not really fussed either way whether he stays or goes next season. Part of me would still like to see him get a full season with a team that he recruits by himself, with a good assistant, and see what he can do. But would also understand the argument that he's had time (albeit with seasons broken up) and hasn't shown enough. Either way I think that most Airdrie fans would agree that, at best, the jury is still out on his time at Airdrie therefore it would seem a bizarre appointment for a club in a higher league to take him at this point, in my opinion of course.

 

I think the assistant manager issue is a really good point. His best spell at Dumbarton was when he had Jack Ross as his assistant. People like to claim that Jack Ross was the brains there but that Dumbarton team were awful before Ian Murray was appointed (even worse than a truly dreadful Airdrie team), including Jack Ross' spell as caretaker. The way he managed to turn them around and just miss out on the promotion play-offs the following season was remarkable.

The impression I get from the way they worked was that Ross would take a lot of the coaching while Murray focused on the management side of things, which is something I feel he hasn't been able to do at all here, particularly last season when he seemed to be coaching about 20 full-time players himself a few days a week. Dealing with that while also integrating part-time players in and managing the team can't be easy and I still think that's one of the main reasons we improved when Colin Cameron joined, rather than some of the ideas the usual conspiracy theorists have. At the very least he clearly seems to need someone to challenge him and bounce ideas off though. 

I agree that I'd be happy enough to see him get a full season with him as the main man in terms of recruitment and a proper coaching set-up, as I think there is definitely a good manager in there. Saying that, I can't say I'm fully convinced we will ever be more than play-off contenders under him, which possibly means it's time for a change. I suspect the board will probably give him another season anyway, as given the uncertainty over the last year or so, keeping someone who's done an ok job is much less of a risk than bringing in someone new who might not work out. 

[Jack Reed]

The Roberts substitution was the only good one he made, started using three subs at a time,has not a clue how to change a game , football has been stopped for too long,and home results no longer speak for the manager, please Ayr make him your manager, 

[++Ammo - Airdrie++]

so if Murray does go, that begs the next question....... who comes in?

I'd be tempted to offer Cameron a wee stint as manager on a season deal, to see how we go maybe?  Don't know of any "older pro's" (34 - 38 year old) coming to the end/already ended their playing  career and looking to cut their teeth in management.  I'm just aware for every Jack Ross or Paul Hartley (Alloa version) there's a Liam Fox or a Colin Nish.

[Diamonds are Forever]

24 minutes ago, ++Ammo - Airdrie++ said:

so if Murray does go, that begs the next question....... who comes in?

I'd be tempted to offer Cameron a wee stint as manager on a season deal, to see how we go maybe?  Don't know of any "older pro's" (34 - 38 year old) coming to the end/already ended their playing  career and looking to cut their teeth in management.  I'm just aware for every Jack Ross or Paul Hartley (Alloa version) there's a Liam Fox or a Colin Nish.

 

I thought the thinking behind appointing Murray was the right one - someone with a bit of experience who has shown potential before and needed another chance to prove himself (Cameron would maybe fall into that bracket too). I'd go for something similar again even though Murray hasn't done brilliantly. Any appointment is a gamble, but to me going for a completely untested senior player is a gamble that doesn't need to be taken - would much rather go for someone with a CV and some experience to draw upon. No-one with a perfect record will be managing at this level so have no issue with someone who has had the odd disaster - like Murray did at St Mirren. Often those can be the best learning experiences for a manager.

[Diamonds Are Red]

3 hours ago, Jack Reed said:

The Roberts substitution was the only good one he made, started using three subs at a time,has not a clue how to change a game , football has been stopped for too long,and home results no longer speak for the manager, please Ayr make him your manager, 

Wishful thinking on your part - Murray won't be going anywhere anytime soon.

[Passionate]

1 hour ago, ++Ammo - Airdrie++ said:

so if Murray does go, that begs the next question....... who comes in?

I'd be tempted to offer Cameron a wee stint as manager on a season deal, to see how we go maybe?  Don't know of any "older pro's" (34 - 38 year old) coming to the end/already ended their playing  career and looking to cut their teeth in management.  I'm just aware for every Jack Ross or Paul Hartley (Alloa version) there's a Liam Fox or a Colin Nish.

Unfortunately it would probably be a Sean Crighton \ Bryan Prunty mash up

[Jack Reed]

4 minutes ago, Passionate said:

Unfortunately it would probably be a Sean Crighton \ Bryan Prunty mash up

You have seen the way Sean captains and organises the team on match days, never ever have questioned his effort, Kerr  better option at centre back all day long, if we do have any ball players they are very seldom in the game due to the big punt, maybe Mr Murray will be off the leash now and able to make his own decisions, 

[++Ammo - Airdrie++]

1 hour ago, Diamonds are Forever said:

 

I thought the thinking behind appointing Murray was the right one - someone with a bit of experience who has shown potential before and needed another chance to prove himself (Cameron would maybe fall into that bracket too). I'd go for something similar again even though Murray hasn't done brilliantly. Any appointment is a gamble, but to me going for a completely untested senior player is a gamble that doesn't need to be taken - would much rather go for someone with a CV and some experience to draw upon. No-one with a perfect record will be managing at this level so have no issue with someone who has had the odd disaster - like Murray did at St Mirren. Often those can be the best learning experiences for a manager.

At the time I was 100% behind the appointment of Murray, like you I thought it might be the springboard he needed to prove himself (again!). I do have a degree of sympathy for Murray, its not been plain sailing since he's been here, inheriting an absolute basket case team, then covid etc but the period in between, his selections have been scatter gun to say the least and the constant changing of first XI week to week is an absolute ball ache and no-one can take the flack for that more than Murray. I'd love him to be a success and have a decent team on the park but how long do you give someone especially when they aren't helping themselves with selections etc.

46 minutes ago, Passionate said:

Unfortunately it would probably be a Sean Crighton \ Bryan Prunty mash up

I'd be HOPEFUL the owners clear ambition would extend to a bit more thought than the easy option........ but this is Airdrie!

[airdrieman]

19 hours ago, D'Jaffo said:

Evening guys

Just wanted to ask your take on Ian Murray? Seems like he’s in the running for the Ayr gig.

One of your posters was on the Ayr thread talking about him and it seems he’s not exactly set the heather alight with you. Just wanted to see what the wider opinion on him was.

 

17 hours ago, Mr November said:

I think most Airdrie fans would happily see him leave at this point, though I'm still a bit unsure whether that would be a good thing or not. 

I was really excited when we appointed Ian Murray. He obviously had a very poor spell at St. Mirren but the job he did at Dumbarton was outstanding and I hoped he could have a similar impact at Airdrie. When he joined us we were sitting 6th after the first round of fixtures, albeit only two points off bottom and 11 points off top. We were a bit of a mess at the time, Stevie Findlay had signed a new team of average League One jobbers on seemingly decent contracts but they never really clicked. When Murray came in we had lost four of our last five games and were generally a bit of a mess. The football under Murray that season was pretty awful, there were a few games where we were fantastic but on the whole it was pretty stodgy, solid at the back but nothing going forward. After a mixed start he consistently stuck to a 5-4-1 formation that season given how poor we were defensively, the aim generally seemed to be keep things tight and sneak a goal rather than going out to attack teams. We almost snuck into the play-offs but ultimately we just weren't good enough and lost far too many games at home, generally without scoring. 

He had a pretty poor start to the 2019/2020 season. Whereas previously he'd staunchly stuck to the same system he flipped between a back five and back four for the first quarter and the team were a bit all over the place as a result. Eventually things clicked in a game up at Forfar where Nat Wedderburn had to come off injured, Kurtis Roberts came on and suddenly we looked a much better team. I'm not sure whether Murray had actually planned this when he made the change or it was just a fluke but either way, we finally looked like a good team. Including that Forfar game, we went on to win six games in a row, playing some great football throughout and even going top of the league at one point. The rest of the season was pretty much a mixed bag, some good performances, some not so good but we were on course to finish in the play-offs with a reasonable chance of going up given our record against Falkirk that season. 

Unfortunately, there hasn't really been any progress this season. It's very much been a case of continuing where last season left off, a mix of great performances but also some very poor ones. Overall, I think Murray's done a decent job at Airdrie, albeit not as good as I had hoped. The club had been a mess for a good few years before he came in. We've had seasons of having a very young (and not very good) full-time squad, a team of youth players and then experienced League One jobbers but Murray has turned us into a solid play-off level team, which is more than can be said for most of our recent managers. However, he's also been well backed by the board with a move to a hybrid setup, the biggest squad in the league two seasons in a row (albeit a lot of those players are young players who never played) and a new contract last season at a point where he didn't really deserve one yet. It's hard to judge him in terms of recruitment given we've had a Director of Football throughout his time here and more recently links with certain agents but our recruitment has very much been a mixed bag.

We've consistently had the same issues under Murray which I think is the most frustrating thing. He's still very young for a manager but he's pretty experienced now and should really be learning from his mistakes. We've lost 14 home games throughout his time here without scoring a goal, 10 of which we lost 1-0. It's generally always the same story of being ok defensively but being completely unable to break teams down. This has been the case for teams lower down the league as well as teams at the top and ultimately is what has cost us in all three seasons, Raith beat us 1-0 three times last season but only finished 5 points ahead of us. 

I'm not necessarily against Airdrie keeping him on for next season but I can't say I'd be upset if he left. In each of his seasons he's pretty much performed to the minimum level expected but nothing more than that, though on paper that's certainly more than a lot of other managers have achieved. I think he'd do fine at Ayr, he'd certainly keep you up but I'm not convinced he'd do much more beyond that. I don't think he'd take it but in terms of managers in this league Stewart Petrie would be a much better choice.

 

16 hours ago, Diamonds are Forever said:

 

Really good post, and I pretty much agree. It's hard to judge him fairly because quite bizarrely, due to the circumstances, he's now been here for 3 seasons but has yet to actually complete a full season. It's also unclear what is going on with the signings so hard to properly judge his recruitment. It has been mentioned by Dumbarton fans that he needed a strong assistant, and it may be a coincidence but our form improved noticeably last year when Colin Cameron arrived.

I am (or perhaps 'was' is the correct tense now given how things are going) worried about this season though. Our competitive record this season is played 15, won 6, drawn 1 and lost 8. Including two 1-0 home defeats to Edinburgh City. Given that we kept most of the squad from last season (so should have had some continuity that others didn't) and made a few signings - including Robert, I think that is really poor. It is thanks to Clyde seemingly enjoying gifting us points and goals that we aren't near the bottom of the league.

Like you I'm not really fussed either way whether he stays or goes next season. Part of me would still like to see him get a full season with a team that he recruits by himself, with a good assistant, and see what he can do. But would also understand the argument that he's had time (albeit with seasons broken up) and hasn't shown enough. Either way I think that most Airdrie fans would agree that, at best, the jury is still out on his time at Airdrie therefore it would seem a bizarre appointment for a club in a higher league to take him at this point, in my opinion of course.

 

Can't really add much else to the above assessments, both of which I completely agree with. I think Murray has probably taken as far as he can, and I'm sure Murray knows that as well so I wouldn't be at all surprised if he fancies another gig, especially in a league above albeit possibly not for much longer. Most Airdrie fans, including myself wouldn't be sorry to see him go but I think he has a worse reputation than he really deserves. If you look at it from a purely objective standpoint, Murray has taken a club who in the proceeding years were perennial mid-table finishers, then on the brink of going bust and potentially getting relegated to genuine play-off and promotion contenders, with the caveats of never actually getting to complete a full season or compete in a promotion play-off. He has also implemented a progressive hybrid structure and brought in transfer fees for Josh Edwards, Kyle MacDonald, Cammy Russell, nominal fees for Scott Stewart and Kieran MacDonald and most probably a decent sum for Thomas Robert. All of this has happened during his tenure at the club and are facts he could use to paint a good picture of himself to other clubs and/or potential suitors. How much of any of this is down to him rather than our previous Director of Football Stuart Millar (who barring a few months had almost exactly the same tenure as Murray) and how much we would or could have achieved as well had it not been for Murray's foibles (of which there are a fair few) remains up for debate. 

Probably the most frustrating thing about Murray's time at Airdrie has been the real lack of consistency him and his team(s) have been able to produce. Lack of consistency in team selection, performance and results. As has been mentioned above I think you would almost struggle to find any 2 weeks where the starting XI has remained the same from one week to the other. Murray has never known his best team or how to get the best out of the players at his disposal. Likewise if you looked at our set of results over Murray's time in charge I think you'd struggle to find more than two wins in a row at any given time. As also mentioned, the only time Murray picked his best team over a sustained period of games, and even then it was only by accident/due to an injury to Nat Wedderburn, was our best run of performances and results which even saw us go top of the league. As great a run as that was even that only lasted about half a dozen games. Murray's teams have been at their best when they've been able to sit tight, defend and hit teams on the break. And when we do that and when we play well we do tend to win (I don't remember many games where we've played well and didn't win). The problem with that though is as one of the 'better' teams in League 1 we tend to have the ball a lot more than the opposition and we desperately struggle to break teams down. If a team goes 1-0 up that's it pretty much game over. That's happened more often than is acceptable for a club of our size/a team challenging for promotion and has led to some proper grim games of football. It makes us pretty easy to play against, best exemplified by Edinburgh City beating us 1-0 twice in cups this season by taking the lead then sticking 10 men behind the ball knowing full well that we wouldn't score. Our home form is disgraceful. That's a problem that predates Murray but he hasn't shown any sort of inclination that he knows how to fix it. He's also completely unable to change a game. That is partly because we don't have any decent options off the bench but as the manager he has to take responsibility for that also. He'll usually throw Sean Crighton upfront, make like-for-like subs or make a desperate triple sub, none of which have unsurprisingly ever worked. He also makes the odd bizarre decision like playing a centre-half in midfield, not playing any central midfielders or he'll shoe-horn 5 strikers into the team and things like that where he would clearly benefit from an assistant manager's advice or second opinion. 

As has been said, apart from Colin Cameron's brief spell as assistant manager he's largely done most of the coaching and managing himself which considering how hard that must be, he does deserve credit for having us in as good a position as he does. Like I said above, I'm not convinced he's the man to take us further forward but he is a decent manager with some albeit fairly large deficits. I also think he would keep Ayr up but how much further he would take you than that I'm not sure. 

Incidentally, when did Mark Kerr last play? He's an Airdrie boy and even if he hasn't played in a couple of years he'd still be our best centre mid by a considerable margin... 

[Diamonds are Forever]

9 minutes ago, airdrieman said:

 

 

Can't really add much else to the above assessments, both of which I completely agree with. I think Murray has probably taken as far as he can, and I'm sure Murray knows that as well so I wouldn't be at all surprised if he fancies another gig, especially in a league above albeit possibly not for much longer. Most Airdrie fans, including myself wouldn't be sorry to see him go but I think he has a worse reputation than he really deserves. If you look at it from a purely objective standpoint, Murray has taken a club who in the proceeding years were perennial mid-table finishers, then on the brink of going bust and potentially getting relegated to genuine play-off and promotion contenders, with the caveats of never actually getting to complete a full season or compete in a promotion play-off. He has also implemented a progressive hybrid structure and brought in transfer fees for Josh Edwards, Kyle MacDonald, Cammy Russell, nominal fees for Scott Stewart and Kieran MacDonald and most probably a decent sum for Thomas Robert. All of this has happened during his tenure at the club and are facts he could use to paint a good picture of himself to other clubs and/or potential suitors. How much of any of this is down to him rather than our previous Director of Football Stuart Millar (who barring a few months had almost exactly the same tenure as Murray) and how much we would or could have achieved as well had it not been for Murray's foibles (of which there are a fair few) remains up for debate. 

Probably the most frustrating thing about Murray's time at Airdrie has been the real lack of consistency him and his team(s) have been able to produce. Lack of consistency in team selection, performance and results. As has been mentioned above I think you would almost struggle to find any 2 weeks where the starting XI has remained the same from one week to the other. Murray has never known his best team or how to get the best out of the players at his disposal. Likewise if you looked at our set of results over Murray's time in charge I think you'd struggle to find more than two wins in a row at any given time. As also mentioned, the only time Murray picked his best team over a sustained period of games, and even then it was only by accident/due to an injury to Nat Wedderburn, was our best run of performances and results which even saw us go top of the league. As great a run as that was even that only lasted about half a dozen games. Murray's teams have been at their best when they've been able to sit tight, defend and hit teams on the break. And when we do that and when we play well we do tend to win (I don't remember many games where we've played well and didn't win). The problem with that though is as one of the 'better' teams in League 1 we tend to have the ball a lot more than the opposition and we desperately struggle to break teams down. If a team goes 1-0 up that's it pretty much game over. That's happened more often than is acceptable for a club of our size/a team challenging for promotion and has led to some proper grim games of football. It makes us pretty easy to play against, best exemplified by Edinburgh City beating us 1-0 twice in cups this season by taking the lead then sticking 10 men behind the ball knowing full well that we wouldn't score. Our home form is disgraceful. That's a problem that predates Murray but he hasn't shown any sort of inclination that he knows how to fix it. He's also completely unable to change a game. That is partly because we don't have any decent options off the bench but as the manager he has to take responsibility for that also. He'll usually throw Sean Crighton upfront, make like-for-like subs or make a desperate triple sub, none of which have unsurprisingly ever worked. He also makes the odd bizarre decision like playing a centre-half in midfield, not playing any central midfielders or he'll shoe-horn 5 strikers into the team and things like that where he would clearly benefit from an assistant manager's advice or second opinion. 

As has been said, apart from Colin Cameron's brief spell as assistant manager he's largely done most of the coaching and managing himself which considering how hard that must be, he does deserve credit for having us in as good a position as he does. Like I said above, I'm not convinced he's the man to take us further forward but he is a decent manager with some albeit fairly large deficits. I also think he would keep Ayr up but how much further he would take you than that I'm not sure. 

Incidentally, when did Mark Kerr last play? He's an Airdrie boy and even if he hasn't played in a couple of years he'd still be our best centre mid by a considerable margin... 

 

Kerr is exactly the type of player we need, experienced, composed and can play. I wonder how fit he is and whether he fancies a wee run out for a couple of months.

Edited March 2, 2021 by Diamonds are Forever

[G_H]

19 hours ago, Mr November said:

I think most Airdrie fans would happily see him leave at this point, though I'm still a bit unsure whether that would be a good thing or not. 

I was really excited when we appointed Ian Murray. He obviously had a very poor spell at St. Mirren but the job he did at Dumbarton was outstanding and I hoped he could have a similar impact at Airdrie. When he joined us we were sitting 6th after the first round of fixtures, albeit only two points off bottom and 11 points off top. We were a bit of a mess at the time, Stevie Findlay had signed a new team of average League One jobbers on seemingly decent contracts but they never really clicked. When Murray came in we had lost four of our last five games and were generally a bit of a mess. The football under Murray that season was pretty awful, there were a few games where we were fantastic but on the whole it was pretty stodgy, solid at the back but nothing going forward. After a mixed start he consistently stuck to a 5-4-1 formation that season given how poor we were defensively, the aim generally seemed to be keep things tight and sneak a goal rather than going out to attack teams. We almost snuck into the play-offs but ultimately we just weren't good enough and lost far too many games at home, generally without scoring. 

He had a pretty poor start to the 2019/2020 season. Whereas previously he'd staunchly stuck to the same system he flipped between a back five and back four for the first quarter and the team were a bit all over the place as a result. Eventually things clicked in a game up at Forfar where Nat Wedderburn had to come off injured, Kurtis Roberts came on and suddenly we looked a much better team. I'm not sure whether Murray had actually planned this when he made the change or it was just a fluke but either way, we finally looked like a good team. Including that Forfar game, we went on to win six games in a row, playing some great football throughout and even going top of the league at one point. The rest of the season was pretty much a mixed bag, some good performances, some not so good but we were on course to finish in the play-offs with a reasonable chance of going up given our record against Falkirk that season. 

Unfortunately, there hasn't really been any progress this season. It's very much been a case of continuing where last season left off, a mix of great performances but also some very poor ones. Overall, I think Murray's done a decent job at Airdrie, albeit not as good as I had hoped. The club had been a mess for a good few years before he came in. We've had seasons of having a very young (and not very good) full-time squad, a team of youth players and then experienced League One jobbers but Murray has turned us into a solid play-off level team, which is more than can be said for most of our recent managers. However, he's also been well backed by the board with a move to a hybrid setup, the biggest squad in the league two seasons in a row (albeit a lot of those players are young players who never played) and a new contract last season at a point where he didn't really deserve one yet. It's hard to judge him in terms of recruitment given we've had a Director of Football throughout his time here and more recently links with certain agents but our recruitment has very much been a mixed bag.

We've consistently had the same issues under Murray which I think is the most frustrating thing. He's still very young for a manager but he's pretty experienced now and should really be learning from his mistakes. We've lost 14 home games throughout his time here without scoring a goal, 10 of which we lost 1-0. It's generally always the same story of being ok defensively but being completely unable to break teams down. This has been the case for teams lower down the league as well as teams at the top and ultimately is what has cost us in all three seasons, Raith beat us 1-0 three times last season but only finished 5 points ahead of us. 

I'm not necessarily against Airdrie keeping him on for next season but I can't say I'd be upset if he left. In each of his seasons he's pretty much performed to the minimum level expected but nothing more than that, though on paper that's certainly more than a lot of other managers have achieved. I think he'd do fine at Ayr, he'd certainly keep you up but I'm not convinced he'd do much more beyond that. I don't think he'd take it but in terms of managers in this league Stewart Petrie would be a much better choice.

Well, he's certainly not a failure on the level of Gary Mackay, but realistically, as a manager his approach to the game is very 2 dimensional, and pretty much everyone has him found out at this point other than Clyde for some reason.

[Diamond10]

In other news, I must say I’m surprised that league 1 & 2 are allowed to resume. At this point I had lost all hope/interest in this season. A lot of questions need answered before then though. If Murray does go to ayr, which I doubt, there couldn’t be a worse time. Also I’m led to believe part of the reason that Stuart millar took a more hands on role in the training/matchdays was the rule we have to have two sfa  qualified coaches. Not sure what qualifications prunts and crighton hold but maybe we’ll be forced to bring in another coach regardless. In terms of players, for us we haven’t been hampered too much. In keeping a hold of Robert and only really losing MacDonald I can’t say I’m too bothered if he returns on loan or not - I see he’s been starting for Dunfermline. A benefit to us is our playoff rivals east fife lost jack hamilton and I think Montrose have lost Mochrie and Cochrane back to their parent clubs. Will be interesting to see if we have any more players lined up or the impact millar having left on that front.

 

At least we’ll have football back on a Saturday though hopefully for good this time. 

Edited March 2, 2021 by Diamond10

[Chapelhall chap]

I like the phrase "The foibles of Murray". It would make an interesting blog-not that I want to revisit some of my moans over the last few years. I can't see him going to Ayr , nor getting in the interview roll, but my predictions are usually rubbish.  Interesting to see training can restart, if I have got that correct today.

[airdrieman]

5 hours ago, Diamonds are Forever said:

 

Kerr is exactly the type of player we need, experienced, composed and can play. I wonder how fit he is and whether he fancies a wee run out for a couple of months.

We’d be daft not to at least ask him. Could offer him a quick route back into coaching as well with a player coach/assistant manager role. Nothing against Crighton but he’s the captain so has a conflict of interest and his previous experience in coaching is all youth and academy based rather than coaching a proper first team. I’m sure Prunty too is more sports therapy/science based so no doubt Kerr, with his experience in management, could offer Murray a lot more on the coaching front. 

Edited March 2, 2021 by airdrieman

[Jack Reed]

On 02/03/2021 at 21:14, airdrieman said:

We’d be daft not to at least ask him. Could offer him a quick route back into coaching as well with a player coach/assistant manager role. Nothing against Crighton but he’s the captain so has a conflict of interest and his previous experience in coaching is all youth and academy based rather than coaching a proper first team. I’m sure Prunty too is more sports therapy/science based so no doubt Kerr, with his experience in management, could offer Murray a lot more on the coaching front. 

Aye we need a coach to make us a proper first team, Crighton can  hold Murray's and out the door, won't bother Sean getting beat he went the whole season without a win, 

[Spanish Armada]

Mark kerr ffs,Slower than half the folk on here

Edited March 5, 2021 by Spanish Armada

[TheBuckfastTriangle]

9 minutes ago, Spanish Armada said:

Mark kerr ffs,Slower than half the folk on here

I think the shouts are mainly as an assistant manager to help out Murray, but I was thinking the same thing - a 38 year old defensive midfielder who's completed 90 minutes once in the last year. Good grief.

[Jack Reed]

46 minutes ago, TheBuckfastTriangle said:

I think the shouts are mainly as an assistant manager to help out Murray, but I was thinking the same thing - a 38 year old defensive midfielder who's completed 90 minutes once in the last year. Good grief.

 

1 hour ago, Spanish Armada said:

Mark kerr ffs,Slower than half the folk on here

He would still show Crighton a clean pair of heels

[Spanish Armada]

2 hours ago, Jack Reed said:

 

He would still show Crighton a clean pair of heels

No bother mate forgot you played for Real Madrid ya p***k