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Airdrieonians 23/24 Championship Thread♦️


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1 hour ago, Rhys McCabe Hype Train said:

Just wonder how long the Megwa saga is going to drag on for. I realise he is a Hibs player but do feel that we are being messed around a bit here with the constant “will/wont they recall him” that’s being played out at the moment.

Hopefully it won’t come to this but can foresee a situation where the days keeps ticking away while Hibs don’t make a decision, all the while leaving us less and less time in the registration window to sign a replacement.

 

I don't think we have any right to feel messed around to be honest. That's the issue with using the loan players, when it works well you get access to a quality of player that you normally might not, but there are downsides like we are finding out. Hibs have to do what is best for them and until they get another right back in they'd be stupid to let him go back out on loan. If we don't want messed around then we are entitled to cancel the loan and move on to someone else, it's our choice to wait and see.

To me it shouldn't make any difference regarding us trying to get players in. Ballantyne will still be out for a few weeks and will need a few weeks to get up to speed. If we end up in a situation where we sign a defender, Megwa comes back and then Ballantyne gets fit then that's a great problem to have and we have enough flexibility with Watson and Hancock that we could still get our best players playing and switch from back 4 to back 3 if needed. If we're delaying signing someone to wait for him then that's daft, but I don't believe we are.

As I've said before though I don't expect us to sign anyone of note. I didn't to begin with but with ICT, QP and Ayr all desperate that will drive the price of any potential signing up and we'll be out-bid. It would have to be a loan signing or someone pretty left-field.

Edited by Diamonds are Forever
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3 hours ago, Diamonds are Forever said:

As I've said before though I don't expect us to sign anyone of note. I didn't to begin with but with ICT, QP and Ayr all desperate that will drive the price of any potential signing up and we'll be out-bid. I

I agree with this, and would add Arbroath in as well in terms of looking for signings in the same market as us, if we manage 8th it will be a great achievment with the current squad but I hope we're already looking at targets for next season as I can't see us getting away with this squad two seasons in a row.

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1 minute ago, moses1924 said:

I agree with this, and would add Arbroath in as well in terms of looking for signings in the same market as us, if we manage 8th it will be a great achievment with the current squad but I hope we're already looking at targets for next season as I can't see us getting away with this squad two seasons in a row.

8th yes I suppose is the target,  we are currently 4 th on merit,  why not strive for 4th place there is a difference of 140k between 4th and 8th,  that would surely help with next season's budget or ploughed into the academy ....

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6 hours ago, DiamondDownSouth said:

A few years back Dunfermline made an illegal approach to at least one of our players (Joe Cardle?). When the then manager Kenny Black found out he understandably blew a gasket and dropped the player(s) in question due to their lack of commitment to Airdrie and they eventually left before the season end.

In the meantime we obviously reported DAFC- can anyone on here remember this and what the outcome was?

 

It was Cardle and MacDougall we signed on pre-contracts. The act of signing them was absolutely allowed but ourselves or the agent should've informed Airdrie we were going to offer them a contract. 

McIntyre told Black after we beat Airdrie in the Scottish Cup. I beleive McIntyre said "Glad we won't have to play against him next season!" It didn't effect Cardles performance, he was Airdries best player, won a penalty and we subbed our right back after about half an hour. And while it angered Black, he would start Cardle next week who after getting in a bust up with another Airdrie player was then released. He trained with Dunfermline for the rest of the season. 

McDougall on the other hand played in pretty much every game until the end of the season before joining Dunfermline the following season. 

AFAIK Airdrie complained, nothing happened. 

https://www.heraldscotland.com/default_content/12392351.dunfermline-investigated-tapping-allegation/

The rule about informing the parent club sounds a bit of a nonsense tbh. You'd think the agent would inform the club in an effort to get more money. 

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13 minutes ago, HoBNob said:

 

It was Cardle and MacDougall we signed on pre-contracts. The act of signing them was absolutely allowed but ourselves or the agent should've informed Airdrie we were going to offer them a contract. 

McIntyre told Black after we beat Airdrie in the Scottish Cup. I beleive McIntyre said "Glad we won't have to play against him next season!" It didn't effect Cardles performance, he was Airdries best player, won a penalty and we subbed our right back after about half an hour. And while it angered Black, he would start Cardle next week who after getting in a bust up with another Airdrie player was then released. He trained with Dunfermline for the rest of the season. 

McDougall on the other hand played in pretty much every game until the end of the season before joining Dunfermline the following season. 

AFAIK Airdrie complained, nothing happened. 

https://www.heraldscotland.com/default_content/12392351.dunfermline-investigated-tapping-allegation/

The rule about informing the parent club sounds a bit of a nonsense tbh. You'd think the agent would inform the club in an effort to get more money. 

Is it actually a rule? I thought it was more a case of good conduct rather than an actual enforceable rule. 

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7 minutes ago, D'Jaffo said:

Is it actually a rule? I thought it was more a case of good conduct rather than an actual enforceable rule. 

It was at the time, don’t know about now.

Our punishment for breaking that rule was censure which is just lawyer speak for please don’t do that without actually affecting anything.

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6 hours ago, Diamonds are Forever said:

I don't think we have any right to feel messed around to be honest. That's the issue with using the loan players, when it works well you get access to a quality of player that you normally might not, but there are downsides like we are finding out.

Reasoned comment.. Sadly true.

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Thinking about how well a lot of the young players who have come in to the team are doing now. These are the "kids" who people were moaning about during previous transfer windows. Think back to the pelters Hancock was getting and McMaster and even Aitken when he was signed on loan. What do we think of them now after just half a season in this division? If we can stay in this league for next year and hold on to them just imagine how much better they will be with a year of playing in the Championship behind them. These "kids" are on the way up and not old jobbers seeing out their last few years and cashing in on former reputations.

Look at Devenney and his trajectory. McCabe has the superpower of bringing out the best in these youngsters and making them better players. The idea that we won't be good enough next season with this group of players is nonsense as at least half of the squad will better as they get into their 20's. In McCabe's superpower we trust.

Having said that it would be great to see a real quality signing come in and take us up a notch going forward.

Edited by Diamonds on the Windshield
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2 hours ago, Diamonds on the Windshield said:

Thinking about how well a lot of the young players who have come in to the team are doing now. These are the "kids" who people were moaning about during previous transfer windows. Think back to the pelters Hancock was getting and McMaster and even Aitken when he was signed on loan. What do we think of them now after just half a season in this division? If we can stay in this league for next year and hold on to them just imagine how much better they will be with a year of playing in the Championship behind them. These "kids" are on the way up and not old jobbers seeing out their last few years and cashing in on former reputations.

Look at Devenney and his trajectory. McCabe has the superpower of bringing out the best in these youngsters and making them better players. The idea that we won't be good enough next season with this group of players is nonsense as at least half of the squad will better as they get into their 20's. In McCabe's superpower we trust.

Having said that it would be great to see a real quality signing come in and take us up a notch going forward.

Funny time to want plaudits for young players,    lots of twists and turns to go yet,  The moaners may well be right, who knows .   But if you want a score card see below....

 

McMaster ...  Good player, a little too safe with his passing at times..

Hancock....  Another impressive performer at lb,  attacks well,  probably better at going forward than defending..

O Connor....    Probably playing a league or 2 ahead of his ability at this time,   Disappointing

G Gallagher....  Not played much due to his indiscretions,   looks as if he could make it , yet again though a safe passing centre midfielder.

Dunlop ...     Hard to tell, only seen him come on once..

Cassidy ...  Played once at Univ cup tie and I thought he struggled, if he is our future,  then we have to question do we have one..   

Aiken...   An energetic box to box midfielder,  probably chases a game too much,  One of our top performers prior to injury..

 

Onto the cup tie, is anybody slightly disappointed that we haven't done anything for this game,  one off limited 1924 winners strip etc would have been nice(Partick did it a few years back).    It could well be our last venture on the cup this season and I think we have missed the boat on this one,  has anybody heard of anything else happening.

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32 minutes ago, Passionate said:

Onto the cup tie, is anybody slightly disappointed that we haven't done anything for this game,  one off limited 1924 winners strip etc would have been nice(Partick did it a few years back).    It could well be our last venture on the cup this season and I think we have missed the boat on this one,  has anybody heard of anything else happening.

Good point.

Any of SLO members aware of anything?

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I've not heard anything directly from them, but I think they are doing some things.  For instance I remember one of the SLO folk asking on the Facebook group what sorts of things they'd like them to raise with the club, and one of them was getting them to announce matchday attendances, which they didn't used to do and do now.  There might be other things as well, but I did notice that.

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1 hour ago, A Diamond For Me said:

I've not heard anything directly from them, but I think they are doing some things.  For instance I remember one of the SLO folk asking on the Facebook group what sorts of things they'd like them to raise with the club, and one of them was getting them to announce matchday attendances, which they didn't used to do and do now.  There might be other things as well, but I did notice that.

There’s definitely something happening in regards to honouring the 1924 and also in regards to the history of the club being visible around the stadium (I think) too.

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9 hours ago, Diamonds on the Windshield said:

Thinking about how well a lot of the young players who have come in to the team are doing now. These are the "kids" who people were moaning about during previous transfer windows. Think back to the pelters Hancock was getting and McMaster and even Aitken when he was signed on loan. What do we think of them now after just half a season in this division? If we can stay in this league for next year and hold on to them just imagine how much better they will be with a year of playing in the Championship behind them. These "kids" are on the way up and not old jobbers seeing out their last few years and cashing in on former reputations.

Look at Devenney and his trajectory. McCabe has the superpower of bringing out the best in these youngsters and making them better players. The idea that we won't be good enough next season with this group of players is nonsense as at least half of the squad will better as they get into their 20's. In McCabe's superpower we trust.

Having said that it would be great to see a real quality signing come in and take us up a notch going forward.

I think we are only 7 points above the relegation zone in a very tight division and we have seen this season that the manager can spout something like "we can win the league" in the press, followed by getting complacent and going on a bad run, which is more likely with a team of youngsters than it is with more experienced players (hypothetically at least).

4th is fabulous for the squad we have, but it's starting to look like our ceiling this season unless plastic whistle start dropping points and we could still pretty much finish anywhere else below that in the table - it remains a risky business having a squad with not a lot of depth and only filling it out with unproven kids.

In short, it would be great to be able to count the proverbial chickens, but there's still quite a long way to go.

Edited by G_H
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7 hours ago, Passionate said:

Funny time to want plaudits for young players,    lots of twists and turns to go yet,  The moaners may well be right, who knows .   But if you want a score card see below....

 

McMaster ...  Good player, a little too safe with his passing at times..

Hancock....  Another impressive performer at lb,  attacks well,  probably better at going forward than defending..

O Connor....    Probably playing a league or 2 ahead of his ability at this time,   Disappointing

G Gallagher....  Not played much due to his indiscretions,   looks as if he could make it , yet again though a safe passing centre midfielder.

Dunlop ...     Hard to tell, only seen him come on once..

Cassidy ...  Played once at Univ cup tie and I thought he struggled, if he is our future,  then we have to question do we have one..   

Aiken...   An energetic box to box midfielder,  probably chases a game too much,  One of our top performers prior to injury..

 

Onto the cup tie, is anybody slightly disappointed that we haven't done anything for this game,  one off limited 1924 winners strip etc would have been nice(Partick did it a few years back).    It could well be our last venture on the cup this season and I think we have missed the boat on this one,  has anybody heard of anything else happening.

I’d heard last season that they were producing a commemorative kit but like you say, disappointing not to have it out and ready for the team and fans on Saturday. Getting it in time for the final will be dandy though 😉

The club’s new year tweet suggested that there will be events/occasions/memorabilia to mark the centenary. Hope we make a big deal of it as we certainly should celebrate what was a historic time for the club and town. 

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