Airdrieonians 23/24 Championship Thread♦️

[++Ammo - Airdrie++]

2 hours ago, Passionate said:

This thread is going way off,  let's look at the facts,  we have gained promotion after an eternity in League 1,

 

If we do not score a goal or win a game, we will be 100k better off with prize money,  average crowds are going to increase to probably the 1500 AVG thanks to the bigger away supports, that and an increase of 2 quid a head admission fee means a lot more coming into the club...  

So if we don't score a goal or win a game, where will we end up? I'm not arguing btw just asking, did we get promotion to the championship just to balance the books, before whimpering off back into L1 again for another eternity?  I'm absolutely not advocating a "spend what you don't have" policy, but I'd like to be here to do more than make up the numbers and just pick up £100k before going full "Brechin".

2 hours ago, DiamondDownSouth said:

The point I was trying to make was that Watson & Taylor-Sinclair should remain as key players in the set up even if we recruit the additional couple of defenders we all recognise are needed - no need for them specifically to be labelled as squad players.

Watson and ATS should 100% be labelled as squad players.  If they are the quality of players you'd be happy being part of your key 11 starters, then I think you're in for a shock this year.

1 hour ago, Diamonds02 said:

All that matters is that they are here for the league which is still 3 and a half weeks away.

I really don't fancy a defence against Dunfermline who 50% - 75% of them, haven't played together before.

36 minutes ago, Diamond1924 said:

 there are people who are quite happy with that. 
 

That's the bit that I can't really comprehend.

[Diamonds02]

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

 

I really don't fancy a defence against Dunfermline who 50% - 75% of them, haven't played together before.

Can’t say I fancy it either but having a bit of a slow start while players gel hardly means we’re going straight back down.

I’d much rather wait for players who are up to the required level and risk not having a great start to the season than get worse players in quicker which is a far bigger problem in the long run.

[Rossm25]

i see Arbroath have signed a 21 yr who had played for stirling and Brechin today , and Partick are linked with a loan move for a 21 year CM from Rangers.

If that was us folk on here would be utterly raging. 

Not knocking the above players at all by the way, just highlighting the market at the moment. 

[KD1711]

8 hours ago, Diamond1924 said:

Never a truer word spoken.
 

I think some of the support are blinded by the success of promotion and think that your Watsons and ATS’s can cut it in the championship but it’s a whole other level. We need better players 

Sinclair played a full season in the Championship where he won the league, but you're right he won't be able to cut it.

[Mr November]

I think it is a tough market for defenders. Raith have signed Keith Watson and a teenager from Celtic, Ayr have signed Stanger from Alloa, Partick Thistle and QP have signed boys from down south etc., it’s not like we’re missing out on loads of quality players and even then, those teams all have bigger budgets than we do. Euan East was mentioned a while ago but seems to be training with Partick Thistle just now, I suppose he might be an option if that doesn’t work out.

I mentioned it a few pages ago but we did manage to keep Frizzell and McGill despite apparent interest from elsewhere and I imagine both received generous increases given how important they are to our style of play. I imagine most players received some sort of increase too given we’re now playing at a higher level. It’s annoying waiting on defenders signing (and a more physical midfielder but McCabe seems to disagree) but I don’t think it’s a lack of effort or ambition, just the reality of having the lowest budget and not many obvious quality options around.

Just now, KD1711 said:

Sinclair played a full season in the Championship where he won the league, but you're right he won't be able to cut it.

We could really do with the quick, marauding wing back that he was back then.

[cb_diamond]

Just now, KD1711 said:

Sinclair played a full season in the Championship where he won the league, but you're right he won't be able to cut it.

He also played as a left back. He isn't capable of that either now. 

You're absolutely one of the best Airdrie posters on this site but you're miles off the mark on playing up the fact that we could play ATS this season with anything other than disastrous results.

Edited July 12, 2023 by cb_diamond

[++Ammo - Airdrie++]

6 minutes ago, KD1711 said:

Sinclair played a full season in the Championship where he won the league, but you're right he won't be able to cut it.

 

1 minute ago, cb_diamond said:

He also played as a left back. He isn't capable of that eithe now. 

You're absolutely one of the best Airdrie posters on this site but you're miles off the mark on playing up the fact that we could play ATS this season with anything other than disastrous results.

KD, I respect yer opinion all the time on here, but come on man, that was 10+ years ago..... at LEFT BACK!!

[KD1711]

2 minutes ago, cb_diamond said:

He also played as a left back. He isn't capable of that eithe now. 

You're absolutely one of the best Airdrie posters on this site but you're miles off the mark on playing up the fact that we could play ATS this season with anything other than disastrous results.

I think he's been quite steady since coming in but as you say he doesn't have the pace as he did then and it was a few years ago, we will see what happens come August when the real stuff kicks off. 

I think that when it comes to our squad we have players who are capable of holding their own at this level - Rae, Ballantyne, McCabe, Fordyce, Frizzel, Todorov and Telfer.

We also have these two guys from Hibs who are apparently very good so it isn't as if we have a team full of jobbers. 

Gallagher is also proven scorer and if he produces a season as half as good as this we will surely stay up.

[Fuctifano]

Think you need to divide the career of ATS into pre-his knee exploding when he was at Doncaster and after, before he was a fantastic attacking full back with a tremendous engine who earned a move to the English Championship (albeit played more in league one), after that he's been nowhere near the same player.

When he was at Thistle I thought he was marginally better than O'Donnell but some players get the breaks and some don't, could easily have been ATS with 20+ Scotland caps if he'd avoided injury and we'd had a national dearth of left backs instead of right backs.

Edited July 12, 2023 by Fuctifano

[KD1711]

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

 

KD, I respect yer opinion all the time on here, but come on man, that was 10+ years ago..... at LEFT BACK!!

Would be good if he channelled his inner Paul Lovering and ran the show at left back, a needless red card for a 2 foot challenge at a nothing time of the game against Partick Thistle is more than welcome too. 

[KD1711]

Just now, Fuctifano said:

Think you need to divide the career of ATS into pre-his knee exploding when he was at Doncaster and after, before he was a fantastic attacking full back with a tremendous engine who earned a move to the English Championship (albeit played more in league one), after that he's been nowhere near the same player.

One of my mates plays for Plymouth and he was there when he was playing, said he was a cracking player absolutely devoid of confidence which is probably how he has ended up at this level.

[DiamondDownSouth]

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

Watson and ATS should 100% be labelled as squad players.  If they are the quality of players you'd be happy being part of your key 11 starters, then I think you're in for a shock this year.

In my original post I stated that in my view squad players = first team players and we need about 16 of them (excluding the keeper) due to injury, rotations etc.

[Passionate]

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

So if we don't score a goal or win a game, where will we end up? I'm not arguing btw just asking, did we get promotion to the championship just to balance the books, before whimpering off back into L1 again for another eternity?  I'm absolutely not advocating a "spend what you don't have" policy, but I'd like to be here to do more than make up the numbers and just pick up £100k before going full "Brechin".

Watson and ATS should 100% be labelled as squad players.  If they are the quality of players you'd be happy being part of your key 11 starters, then I think you're in for a shock this year.

I really don't fancy a defence against Dunfermline who 50% - 75% of them, haven't played together before.

That's the bit that I can't really comprehend.

Ammo,    That's not what I am saying and you know it, a bit of a fishing trip methinks.....  I will be even blunter. The club should make at least 250k est minimum from increased gates and league prize money,  not just our club all clubs so nothing confidential it's only simple addition.  So if people are thinking it's down to lack of budget or PH not investing , 250k est isn't a bad starting point in trying to keep us up,after what we have had to endure on recent years,  admittedly wages and costs increase quite rightly..

Let's be sensible Rhys has a competitive budget,  bringing up Chris O Neil on 30 quid wages allegedly (club denied) on the dark days is a nonsense, that and being compared to our current situation is shameful..

As has been mentioned further down the thread, other clubs are signing young players, taking a chance etc is this down to lack of finance , possibly , lack of bodies, possibly.. We had no trialists at the NLC ego massaging cup or indeed our training camp in Ireland.....

 

Our lack of recruitment is plainly down to the the Football dept,  it is there duties to spend what they have and get the numbers required and quality within the increased budget to compete in the league above,  and get them fit and introduced to the club, team shape etc a suitable amount of time before competitive games( used to be called preseason)

 

We were lucky with injuries last season, Frizz and Rae long term, the rest were a couple of week here or there, and Cammy's many suspensions,   Teams last season were operating with 5 or 6 first teamers out long term,  injuries you cannot control ,  so increased squad depth is imperative,  are we ok with playing russian roulette on that front,  the additional players may not be of the standard of Frizz etc,  but will be important members of the squad,   so let's not be gullible ...

 

Heard a rumour the Home Strips will be launched this week,  can anybody confirm...

[GoalForAirdrie]

7 minutes ago, Passionate said:

Heard a rumour the Home Strips will be launched this week,  can anybody confirm...

The rumour came from the club shop Twitter page getting mixed up with the 3rd strip in stock. Won’t be this week sadly. 

[Diamonds are Forever]

2 hours ago, Diamond1924 said:

There seems to be a general acceptance amongst fans in having the likes of Watson and ATS as first choice players (which they 100% are just now). Fair doos if folk think that they are squad players but at this moment, with weeks away from the first game of the season, they are our first choice defenders and there are people who are quite happy with that. 
 

 

 

 

No point me repeating myself (although I'm aware I have!) but I just don't see that anywhere. To me most people are quite happy they've signed up, but only on the basis that more and better players would be coming in on top of them, which is where I'm at. If our back 4 going into the league season is Ballantyne, ATS, Fordyce, Watson I think the majority of fans would be pretty disappointed with that rather than happy. Can only really speak for myself I guess and that's certainly the case with me anyway. But I'm prepared to wait until our squad is complete/the start of the league season, not least because we had the same panic last year and ended up getting promotion, so the club deserve the chance to get it right without us criticising before a ball is even kicked.

[Kenny_m]

3 minutes ago, Passionate said:

Ammo,    That's not what I am saying and you know it, a bit of a fishing trip methinks.....  I will be even blunter. The club should make at least 250k est minimum from increased gates and league prize money,  not just our club all clubs so nothing confidential it's only simple addition.  So if people are thinking it's down to lack of budget or PH not investing , 250k est isn't a bad starting point in trying to keep us up,after what we have had to endure on recent years,  admittedly wages and costs increase quite rightly..

Here's Queens Park's salaries for info. No coincidence their rise up the ranks and I'm not advocating we should be spending an equivalent amount.

4 minutes ago, Passionate said:

Let's be sensible Rhys has a competitive budget,  bringing up Chris O Neil on 30 quid wages allegedly (club denied) on the dark days is a nonsense, that and being compared to our current situation is shameful..

£30 per week was the differential that he and the club were arguing over.

6 minutes ago, Passionate said:

Our lack of recruitment is plainly down to the the Football dept,  it is there duties to spend what they have and get the numbers required and quality within the increased budget to compete in the league above,  and get them fit and introduced to the club, team shape etc a suitable amount of time before competitive games( used to be called preseason)

It is to an extent but when the market is tight then it comes down to dosh. 

 

[cb_diamond]

Just now, Kenny_m said:

Here's Queens Park's salaries for info. No coincidence their rise up the ranks and I'm not advocating we should be spending an equivalent amount.

 

Such a hateable club.

[Rossm25]

13 minutes ago, cb_diamond said:

Such a hateable club.

At least we can all agree on that 

[Passionate]

35 minutes ago, cb_diamond said:

Such a hateable club.

Queens Park are in a different world financially at the moment, is it  possible to keep it going mid to long term, NO,  but with 1.3 million quid prize money as the pot of gold at the end of the rainbow  , Teams will overspend and hope to get lucky look at Thistles apparent financial crisis and ICT money losses saved by the Scottish cup run....

 

We are where we are, and we are delighted to be there,  let's stay there...

[Diamond8]

Far too many good posts to quote.

I think a bit of context is needed here. We are now in a league where teams won't even think about losing 500k+ in order to achieve promotion- we just can't compete with that and we'd be raging if we did and it went tits up. While there are reasons for concern regarding the squad I just don't see us being here to make up the numbers, there's too much work went into getting us here. If it comes to the first league game and we are in this position then I'll be shitting my pants.