Airdrieonians 23/24 Championship Thread♦️

[Mybitchunderprotest]

15 minutes ago, Kenny_m said:

Interesting comment from Morton manager!

Not buying that for a minute. 

11 minutes ago, AJ77 said:

 

Not sure how concrete it was but I did hear they offered Frizz a deal and the fact he’s stayed on with us would maybe tell you they haven’t matched what we offered him.

Or maybe they did offer the same or even just a bit more which when weighed up with being happy where he is didn't tip the scales in their favour.

[AndyDD]

I'm assuming he's comparing the three teams who have joined the league with the three teams who left it, so he's arguing Dundee United are bigger than Dundee, Dunfermline bigger than Cove and us bigger than Hamilton. That those three clubs are bigger draws and tougher competition for players than Dundee, Accies and Cove were respectively. 

I think that's what he's trying to say, rather than saying Morton cannot hope to compete financially with Airdrie. 

I don't know enough about the relative comparable finances to know if he's right, mind you. I suppose we're central belt, so might be more tempting to central belt based players than Cove were? Who knows. 

Maybe he's just talking nonsense.

[Rossm25]

1 hour ago, AJ77 said:

 

Not sure how concrete it was but I did hear they offered Frizz a deal and the fact he’s stayed on with us would maybe tell you they haven’t matched what we offered him.

To be fair I know nothing of mortons financial state but I would be surprised if our budget was bigger than an established championship team with bigger attendances...as much as it pains me to say. 

I think this will be another lean season for a lot of clubs on the signing front. 

[AndyDD]

I know it has hardly been the longest summer ever, (especially since I was out in Oslo last month ripping the backside out it) but I'm really looking forward to the league cup getting started and the competitive stuff kicking off. 

Massively excited for the season. 

[Kenny_m]

20 minutes ago, AndyDD said:

I'm assuming he's comparing the three teams who have joined the league with the three teams who left it, so he's arguing Dundee United are bigger than Dundee, Dunfermline bigger than Cove and us bigger than Hamilton. That those three clubs are bigger draws and tougher competition for players than Dundee, Accies and Cove were respectively. 

I think that's what he's trying to say, rather than saying Morton cannot hope to compete financially with Airdrie. 

I don't know enough about the relative comparable finances to know if he's right, mind you. I suppose we're central belt, so might be more tempting to central belt based players than Cove were? Who knows. 

Maybe he's just talking nonsense.

The quote did say "offer more" although I understand the point which was similarly made on the Morton thread..

Perhaps it was simply that we did offer Frizz more than them which I'm absolutely fine with. As I've previously alluded to, we might have to pay a little more for quality.

[AndyDD]

2 minutes ago, Kenny_m said:

The quote did say "offer more" although I understand the point which was similarly made on the Morton thread..

Perhaps it was simply that we did offer Frizz more than them which I'm absolutely fine with. As I've previously alluded to, we might have to pay a little more for quality.

Yeah, could well be that's what he meant, hard to tell. 

Whatever it took to get Frizz back, I'm definitely delighted we did it. An outstanding bit of work to retain him. 

[airdrieman]

He’s clearly talking about Airdrie the town and it’s culture, cuisine, places of interest and educational institutions offering more than Greenock. 

[Chapelhall chap]

Back reading posts and great  to catch up on the chat after holiday break,  and got little to add. 

[Glenmavis Diamond]

9 hours ago, AndyDD said:

Yeah, could well be that's what he meant, hard to tell. 

Whatever it took to get Frizz back, I'm definitely delighted we did it. An outstanding bit of work to retain him. 

Think Frizz's re-signing coinciding with him linking up with Prunty has a lot to do with it as well. Opportunities both on and off the park so a good package to retain him. 

[cb_diamond]

8 hours ago, airdrieman said:

He’s clearly talking about Airdrie the town and it’s culture, cuisine, places of interest and educational institutions offering more than Greenock. 

The podium at Caldervale smelt better than Greenock town centre and the podium was HOWLING

[Mr November]

42 minutes ago, Glenmavis Diamond said:

Think Frizz's re-signing coinciding with him linking up with Prunty has a lot to do with it as well. Opportunities both on and off the park so a good package to retain him. 

I think this is one of the main reasons we managed to sign Ballantyne too given his coaching job is based at the stadium. It might just be because a few of our players do that sort of thing as well as playing (I think Watson, Devenny and maybe another do it together as well elsewhere?) but it seems like it’s becoming more common these days, so having lots of pitches in a central location might be useful for attracting players going forward. We’re up against it in terms of budget so any small things that we can use to our advantage can only help.

[Diamonds_Are_Forever]

21 hours ago, airdrieman said:

Not sure if he’s still there but I noticed Caolan McAleer who was with us briefly under Bollan is listed in the Dungannon Swifts squad on their website. 

He rejoined them in the summer 

[David Fernández]

1 hour ago, Mr November said:

I think this is one of the main reasons we managed to sign Ballantyne too given his coaching job is based at the stadium. It might just be because a few of our players do that sort of thing as well as playing (I think Watson, Devenny and maybe another do it together as well elsewhere?) but it seems like it’s becoming more common these days, so having lots of pitches in a central location might be useful for attracting players going forward. We’re up against it in terms of budget so any small things that we can use to our advantage can only help.

Gabby McGill does coaching along with Cammy Ballantyne at the stadium, quite interesting but Robbie Neilson is also a coach for the company that they do coaching for too.

It's definitely a lot more common these sorts of coaching academies nowawdays, I'm sure Joe Cardle and Kevin Thomson have ones too.

Sam Wardrop (remember him) runs a player programme designed to help and coach professional footballers.

I don't really know what our training schedule looks like or how many hours that the players train or on what days, but I imagine some will do it for the extra income, and others to have another interest outside playing football or to get their coaching badges.

[Passionate]

Airdrie defeated Dungannon Swifts 4 - 2 with a Gallagher hat trick and Todorov getting on the scoresheet again,  bringing an end to their pre season training week in Northern Ireland...

[Diamond1924]

When do we start worrying about the squad? Can’t help but feel the momentum of last year dwindling before we even get started. 
 

I think it’s great that we’ve kept most of the squad from last year but this was a squad that just about scraped past Hamilton who were absolutely honking in the championship. 
 

I’m looking for another CB, LB, and two CM’s at least and possibly a RW before I even think about the emotion of optimism 

Edited July 7, 2023 by Diamond1924

[thediamonddude]

1 minute ago, Diamond1924 said:

When do we start worrying about the squad? Can’t help but feel the momentum of last year dwindling before we even get started. 
 

I think it’s great that we’ve kept most of the squad from last year but this was a squad that scraped past Hamilton who were absolutely honking in the championship. 
 

I’m looking for another CB, an LB, and two CM’s at least and possibly a RW before I even think about the emotion of optimism 

Was talking to someone about this the other day and, while I’d love us to add 4/5 ‘Championship quality’ players to what is a settled and competent squad, I don’t see us doing as much.

Assuming we stick with the 4-3-3 we used last season, the general positional cover looks like this…

GK - Rae, Hutton

RB - Ballantyne, Janny

LB - 

CB - Dycey, ATS 

DM - McCabe, McMaster

CM - Frizz, Deveney, Telfer, Aitken

RW - McGregor, O’Connor

LW - Gabby, Dunlop

ST - Gal, Todorov, Kavanagh

It’s worth pointing out that I’m only issuing each player one position (I know some can cover others), and I haven’t included anyone beyond the ‘senior’ guys listed on the site (it may be that Fellows is a regular feature in the squad this year as an example) but what I think it illustrates is that we need defenders above and beyond anything else.

I’d love another CM and winger but unless it’s a promising loan (still praying we go to Killie about McInroy after the League Cup), I really don’t see us signing anyone in any of those positions. Our squad won’t be a considerable size and when you’ve got at least two players for each position, why would you?

A must, however, is that we need a natural LB and one ‘quality’ CB. At this stage, as long as we get those in the next couple of weeks, I’ll be comfortable and happy if we can then add a loan or two to complete the squad.

I would also like a GK, as noted on here a couple of weeks back, but that does seem to be increasingly unlikely at this stage.

[GoalForAirdrie]

14 minutes ago, Diamond1924 said:

When do we start worrying about the squad? Can’t help but feel the momentum of last year dwindling before we even get started. 
 

I think it’s great that we’ve kept most of the squad from last year but this was a squad that just about scraped past Hamilton who were absolutely honking in the championship. 
 

I’m looking for another CB, LB, and two CM’s at least and possibly a RW before I even think about the emotion of optimism 

I would say we can start worrying if we don’t have anyone in by the Dundee game. But as I’ve said before, McCabe and the board aren’t daft. They’ve worked this hard to get us here, and they’ll be working just as hard to keep us here! So I’m sure plenty of negotiations will be going on behind the scenes. 

[AJ77]

20 minutes ago, Diamond1924 said:

When do we start worrying about the squad? Can’t help but feel the momentum of last year dwindling before we even get started. 
 

I think it’s great that we’ve kept most of the squad from last year but this was a squad that just about scraped past Hamilton who were absolutely honking in the championship. 
 

I’m looking for another CB, LB, and two CM’s at least and possibly a RW before I even think about the emotion of optimism 

We’ve already got 6 cm a doubt we’ll be signing another 2, defence should be a priority 

[Rossm25]

I still think we're only 3 players short LB , CB and maybe a CM. 

O'connor is here to play and I reckon he's a straight swap for Smith. 

I want more depth but ultimately I'm not overly worried the now. If we don't bring in a left back and a speedy CB I'll be worried , that's my main areas of concern.

[Kenny_m]

4 minutes ago, AJ77 said:

We’ve already got 6 cm a doubt we’ll be signing another 2, defence should be a priority 

 

1 minute ago, Rossm25 said:

I still think we're only 3 players short LB , CB and maybe a CM. 

O'connor is here to play and I reckon he's a straight swap for Smith. 

I want more depth but ultimately I'm not overly worried the now. If we don't bring in a left back and a speedy CB I'll be worried , that's my main areas of concern.

Defence definitely the priority and note that another who has been mentioned, Darren Brownlie has signed with Dundalk.