Airdrieonians 23/24 Championship Thread♦️

[Passionate]

5 hours ago, airdrieman said:

Happy to have McMaster back as a squad option. Clearly he needs to develop physically and he should not be starting games every week at holding midfield in the Championship. If he is, that would be a real worry. But as a squad player, he’s a known and trusted quantity, suits our style of play and has plenty of development time in him. We’ve saw how players like Devenny and Scott McGill have grown in the last couple of seasons and McMaster too was no different last season. Going from a bit of a drip and a nothing midfielder to, while controlling things might be too strong a term, having a large influence in our best run of the season after becoming a regular in the midfield. 

Plus, we are going to have to have a much bigger squad generally. Last season there was the starting XI and then 2 of McCabe/McMaster/Devenny/Telfer to call on at any one time, plus Deveney or ATS as sub defender and McGregor the only trusted forward option. A squad of 15 essentially which isn’t going to cut it in the Championship. Have no problem with McMaster filling one of those squad roles. 

Remember a few months back St Mirre n fans saying this move had been agreed for expiration of Deans saints contract,  so it was a already in the chamber..whatever league we were in..

 

I expect more resigning in the next day or two,   Pre season starts on Saturday,  if Frizz et al, are missing then we should start panicking..

 

 

[airdrieman]

9 hours ago, Passionate said:

Remember a few months back St Mirre n fans saying this move had been agreed for expiration of Deans saints contract,  so it was a already in the chamber..whatever league we were in..

 

I expect more resigning in the next day or two,   Pre season starts on Saturday,  if Frizz et al, are missing then we should start panicking..

 

 

Yeah it seemed to be on the cards for a while. He’s obviously a player McCabe rates and trusts. Happy to go with his judgement on that. 

[ShineOnYouCrazyDiamonds]

A contract update or two today and a new signing modelling a new kit tomorrow please

[AJ77]

19 minutes ago, ShineOnYouCrazyDiamonds said:

A contract update or two today and a new signing modelling a new kit tomorrow please

I can't believe there teasing a new kit in June, completely forgot we had a temporary kit until about October last year lol

[++Ammo - Airdrie++]

20 hours ago, AJ77 said:

Usual wee guys from twitter, be the same guys that thought losing Smith was an absolute disaster. Much better opinion from guys in here rather than social media.

Just sitting have a twitter catch up on our recent activity.

Not even half way through ma steak bake and I've already read how Rhys has shown "no mercy" toward the championship by signing McMaster, the 2 Hibs boys and todorov.

Just, wow.

[ShineOnYouCrazyDiamonds]

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

Just sitting have a twitter catch up on our recent activity.

Not even half way through ma steak bake and I've already read how Rhys has shown "no mercy" toward the championship by signing McMaster, the 2 Hibs boys and todorov.

Just, wow.

It’s odd isn’t it? I’m happy enough with the business we’ve done so far but we haven’t really made any marquee signings that obviously improve our first team. I think Todorov is a good signing and will give us an alternative up front that we lacked last season, but he’ll start the season behind Gallagher in the pecking order. McMaster I like but obviously he’s behind McCabe at the moment and still needs to develop to be a regular in the Championship. The two Hibs boys are a completely unknown quantity but is Aiken likely to challenge Frizzell, Telfer (if we keep them) or Devenny for a place in the team? I hope so. Is he more likely to have a similar role in the squad to what Stanway had? Probably. Would O’Connor start over Smith if we still had him? Probably not.

I think all four could be very decent signings and they might all play a massive part in our season, but those signings hardly scream “no mercy” to the other Championship sides.

[Diamonds02]

51 minutes ago, ShineOnYouCrazyDiamonds said:

It’s odd isn’t it? I’m happy enough with the business we’ve done so far but we haven’t really made any marquee signings that obviously improve our first team. I think Todorov is a good signing and will give us an alternative up front that we lacked last season, but he’ll start the season behind Gallagher in the pecking order. McMaster I like but obviously he’s behind McCabe at the moment and still needs to develop to be a regular in the Championship. The two Hibs boys are a completely unknown quantity but is Aiken likely to challenge Frizzell, Telfer (if we keep them) or Devenny for a place in the team? I hope so. Is he more likely to have a similar role in the squad to what Stanway had? Probably. Would O’Connor start over Smith if we still had him? Probably not.

I think all four could be very decent signings and they might all play a massive part in our season, but those signings hardly scream “no mercy” to the other Championship sides.

To be fair a lot of the people on Twitter are probably too young to remember the last time we were in this position so i don't really mind them getting a bit carried away, it's only natural if not completely realistic.

 

 

We're winning the league btw.

[Diamonds_Are_Forever]

1 hour ago, ShineOnYouCrazyDiamonds said:

It’s odd isn’t it? I’m happy enough with the business we’ve done so far but we haven’t really made any marquee signings that obviously improve our first team. I think Todorov is a good signing and will give us an alternative up front that we lacked last season, but he’ll start the season behind Gallagher in the pecking order. McMaster I like but obviously he’s behind McCabe at the moment and still needs to develop to be a regular in the Championship. The two Hibs boys are a completely unknown quantity but is Aiken likely to challenge Frizzell, Telfer (if we keep them) or Devenny for a place in the team? I hope so. Is he more likely to have a similar role in the squad to what Stanway had? Probably. Would O’Connor start over Smith if we still had him? Probably not.

I think all four could be very decent signings and they might all play a massive part in our season, but those signings hardly scream “no mercy” to the other Championship sides.

O’Connor looks like he’s here to start boys very highly rated by hibs fans don’t know too much about Aitken but another highly rated prospect Plus Raith doubled Smiths wages apparently so might explain why he left 

[airdrieman]

Aye most of the posts that pop on Twitter are wee guys who won't remember the last time we played in the second tier. So I usually pay it no heed or at most have a chuckle at some of the more hyperbolic posts. Apart from when folk like Jamie Bain or Sean Crighton are called 'legends'. That cannot be tolerated. 

[AJ77]

16 minutes ago, airdrieman said:

Aye most of the posts that pop on Twitter are wee guys who won't remember the last time we played in the second tier. So I usually pay it no heed or at most have a chuckle at some of the more hyperbolic posts. Apart from when folk like Jamie Bain or Sean Crighton are called 'legends'. That cannot be tolerated. 

I swear I saw someone ask for Jamie Bain to "come home" this season since he's left Brechin.

[Diamonds are Forever]

14 minutes ago, Diamonds_Are_Forever said:

O’Connor looks like he’s here to start boys very highly rated by hibs fans don’t know too much about Aitken but another highly rated prospect Plus Raith doubled Smiths wages apparently so might explain why he left 

 

'Highly rated' is the most meaningless phrase in football though. It essentially means people think he's good despite no hard evidence at that level to prove it. Anyone on the books at a professional football club at that age gets the 'highly rated' tag, and we've seen first hand that plenty are pretty poor.

Not saying that will be the case with the Hibs boys at all, but it's impossible to have any accurate knowledge of how good they'll be when they've never played first team football. My hope is we have enough players to have a team of more established players, the Hibs boys will then be a no-lose bonus. They could turn out to be brilliant, but if they're not at least it wouldn't ruin our season.

[Glenmavis Diamond]

3 hours ago, ShineOnYouCrazyDiamonds said:

A contract update or two today and a new signing modelling a new kit tomorrow please

Now that'd be a nice way to go into the weekend. 

[AJ77]

Bit of sad news there Gordon McQueen passed away today Aged 70

[cb_diamond]

9 minutes ago, AJ77 said:

Bit of sad news there Gordon McQueen passed away today Aged 70

I was very young (10 or so) but remember being at the player of year night where he told the team that he was quitting, still remember the shock in the room. Some team he had back then.

[Jack Reed]

5 minutes ago, cb_diamond said:

I was very young (10 or so) but remember being at the player of year night where he told the team that he was quitting, still remember the shock in the room. Some team he had back then.

Aye,sad news remember Don Revie being at some games when Gordon was Manager,

[Kenny_m]

39 minutes ago, Diamonds are Forever said:

 

'Highly rated' is the most meaningless phrase in football though. It essentially means people think he's good despite no hard evidence at that level to prove it. Anyone on the books at a professional football club at that age gets the 'highly rated' tag, and we've seen first hand that plenty are pretty poor.

Not saying that will be the case with the Hibs boys at all, but it's impossible to have any accurate knowledge of how good they'll be when they've never played first team football. My hope is we have enough players to have a team of more established players, the Hibs boys will then be a no-lose bonus. They could turn out to be brilliant, but if they're not at least it wouldn't ruin our season.

I always believe that if you sign loan players, especially season long like we've done, then they are there to improve the starting 11 or at the very least make a major impact, otherwise there is no point.

[Diamonds are Forever]

9 minutes ago, Kenny_m said:

I always believe that if you sign loan players, especially season long like we've done, then they are there to improve the starting 11 or at the very least make a major impact, otherwise there is no point.

 

Yes, but you have to accept there is a larger element of risk than other signings who have more of a CV. Obviously you sign them with the hope they'll add to the team, but signing 2 players who've never played first team football (except a few minutes for O'Connor) and expecting them to go straight into a Championship starting 11 is a huge risk, to me anyway. All youth players at bigger clubs are 'highly rated' yet most never make it, so I'm reserving judgement until I see them.

It's not at all a criticism of the signings, the flip side of the argument is they'll potentially have a higher ceiling than a more established signing and could be brilliant. I'd just like to make sure we have a relatively experienced group of players for the Hibs boys to come into so that if they aren't as good as we've been told it's not a major issue.

[Kenny_m]

5 minutes ago, Diamonds are Forever said:

 

Yes, but you have to accept there is a larger element of risk than other signings who have more of a CV. Obviously you sign them with the hope they'll add to the team, but signing 2 players who've never played first team football (except a few minutes for O'Connor) and expecting them to go straight into a Championship starting 11 is a huge risk, to me anyway. All youth players at bigger clubs are 'highly rated' yet most never make it, so I'm reserving judgement until I see them.

It's not at all a criticism of the signings, the flip side of the argument is they'll potentially have a higher ceiling than a more established signing and could be brilliant. I'd just like to make sure we have a relatively experienced group of players for the Hibs boys to come into so that if they aren't as good as we've been told it's not a major issue.

Totally agree that it's a risk but obviously Rhys thinks they're up to it.

Depending on how much we're paying for them then it could be a major issue.

[Rossm25]

Love that we are at the "let's judge a player before we've seen them" part of pre season already

[Kenny_m]

36 minutes ago, Rossm25 said:

Love that we are at the "let's judge a player before we've seen them" part of pre season already

More "intrigued" rather than judging.