Shooter McGavin Posted June 18, 2023 Share Posted June 18, 2023 15 hours ago, D'Jaffo said: Airdrie have got the air of a team that are seriously underestimating this league. They might get a bit of a bounce after last season but I reckon they’ll still finish bottom two. Based on what exactly? We have retained the majority of our squad, punted the deadwood and signed 3 players with more to come. How does that equate to us underestimating the league? Ridiculous statement. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ayrunitedfw Posted June 18, 2023 Share Posted June 18, 2023 11 minutes ago, Shooter McGavin said: Based on what exactly? We have retained the majority of our squad, punted the deadwood and signed 3 players with more to come. How does that equate to us underestimating the league? Ridiculous statement. It's not a ridiculous statement at all, Shooter. Like you say you've retained the majority of a squad who finished 21 points behind Dunfermline. Who have you added two young loanees from Hibernian and Todorov who was released from Dunfermline. You looked pretty gash against a god awful Hamilton side and unless you add 4 or 5 quality additions you will be cannon fodder this season. Players like Callum Fordyce, Craig Watson and ATS aren't going to cut it at this level I'm afraid. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Zanetti Posted June 18, 2023 Share Posted June 18, 2023 27 minutes ago, ayrunitedfw said: It's not a ridiculous statement at all, Shooter. Like you say you've retained the majority of a squad who finished 21 points behind Dunfermline. Who have you added two young loanees from Hibernian and Todorov who was released from Dunfermline. You looked pretty gash against a god awful Hamilton side and unless you add 4 or 5 quality additions you will be cannon fodder this season. Players like Callum Fordyce, Craig Watson and ATS aren't going to cut it at this level I'm afraid. What Airdrie fans seem to be overlooking is that while retaining their best players is great for them, those players are on a par with the best that Accies had to offer last season as well. Guys like Connor Smith and Dan O'Reilly would absolutely waltz right into that Airdrie lineup no bother at all. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Shooter McGavin Posted June 18, 2023 Share Posted June 18, 2023 49 minutes ago, ayrunitedfw said: It's not a ridiculous statement at all, Shooter. Like you say you've retained the majority of a squad who finished 21 points behind Dunfermline. Who have you added two young loanees from Hibernian and Todorov who was released from Dunfermline. You looked pretty gash against a god awful Hamilton side and unless you add 4 or 5 quality additions you will be cannon fodder this season. Players like Callum Fordyce, Craig Watson and ATS aren't going to cut it at this level I'm afraid. It's a ridiculous statement at this point. Still got a couple of months to bring new faces in. And I would fully expect more signings. Rhys Mccabe will know what he needs to bring in. He's a pretty astute guy. Fordyce will be fine, as will Watson, ATS probably less so but he's also a coach now so a decent defensive option plus an added coaching element. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mr November Posted June 18, 2023 Share Posted June 18, 2023 40 minutes ago, Zanetti said: What Airdrie fans seem to be overlooking is that while retaining their best players is great for them, those players are on a par with the best that Accies had to offer last season as well. Guys like Connor Smith and Dan O'Reilly would absolutely waltz right into that Airdrie lineup no bother at all. I don’t think many people are hugely disagreeing with that though. We do need to improve on players like Watson and ATS, who probably aren’t capable of being regular starters at this level, while most of our better players are all generally unproven at this level anyway. We need a few players to improve the starting 11 if we want to compete, the squad as it stands is possibly the weakest in the league. I think the regular posters on the Airdrie thread are a pretty realistic bunch and we’re mostly all of the opinion that we need a couple of defenders and a stronger midfielder at least, as well as some other options to strengthen the squad. Equally though, it’s just nice to feel good about a team after being rubbish for so long. I’d probably take finishing 8th if you offered me it just now, and I think most fans are aware that it’ll be a tough season, but if you can’t be confident in June after winning promotion then when can you? Yes a few people are possibly a bit overconfident but that’s the case for every club in the country. 5 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
oneteaminglasgow Posted June 18, 2023 Share Posted June 18, 2023 16 minutes ago, Shooter McGavin said: will be fine, as will Watson Why is it then that Watson has never been a regular above the third tier of Scottish football, despite being nearly thirty, if he will definitely be fine in the Championship? 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
D'Jaffo Posted June 18, 2023 Share Posted June 18, 2023 Fordyce was absolutely honking the last time he was seen at this level and that was a good few years ago now. The biggest issue that promoted squads make when coming up is they remain too loyal to players. Guys like Fordyce, Taylor-Sinclair, McCabe, Gallagher, Watson and Telfer aren’t good enough for this level. My guess is they’ll start the season off poorly, realise they aren’t up to it and then panic sign on the last day of the season. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
D'Jaffo Posted June 18, 2023 Share Posted June 18, 2023 3 minutes ago, oneteaminglasgow said: Why is it then that Watson has never been a regular above the third tier of Scottish football, despite being nearly thirty, if he will definitely be fine in the Championship? He’s also Trump daft so you can file him in the fucking moron category. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Zanetti Posted June 18, 2023 Share Posted June 18, 2023 21 minutes ago, Mr November said: I don’t think many people are hugely disagreeing with that though. We do need to improve on players like Watson and ATS, who probably aren’t capable of being regular starters at this level, while most of our better players are all generally unproven at this level anyway. We need a few players to improve the starting 11 if we want to compete, the squad as it stands is possibly the weakest in the league. I think the regular posters on the Airdrie thread are a pretty realistic bunch and we’re mostly all of the opinion that we need a couple of defenders and a stronger midfielder at least, as well as some other options to strengthen the squad. Equally though, it’s just nice to feel good about a team after being rubbish for so long. I’d probably take finishing 8th if you offered me it just now, and I think most fans are aware that it’ll be a tough season, but if you can’t be confident in June after winning promotion then when can you? Yes a few people are possibly a bit overconfident but that’s the case for every club in the country. It's sometimes difficult to tell online whether people are being absolutely serious or just talk a good game for show, but I've certainly come across Airdrie fans here and elsewhere who truly do think you'll be pushing for a lot better than just 8th, sometimes citing our past season as an example of what can be done (despite the circumstances being very, very different). 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mr November Posted June 18, 2023 Share Posted June 18, 2023 Just now, Zanetti said: It's sometimes difficult to tell online whether people are being absolutely serious or just talk a good game for show, but I've certainly come across Airdrie fans here and elsewhere who truly do think you'll be pushing for a lot better than just 8th, sometimes citing our past season as an example of what can be done (despite the circumstances being very, very different). That’s fair, there’s certainly a bunch of wee guys on twitter who are very excitable and one or two on here as well. I can’t say I always share their relentless optimism but fair play to them for getting behind the club I suppose. As you say, our situation is nothing like Queen’s Park, so I’m not expecting anything like that at all. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
qpfc Posted June 18, 2023 Share Posted June 18, 2023 Tbf I think It’s mainly the Airdrie fans on Twitter who seem to think their squad is the 2nd coming of prime Barcelona. Seen some wild takes regarding how they’ll do in the championship this upcoming season 6 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
David Fernández Posted June 18, 2023 Share Posted June 18, 2023 I think at this moment in time I'd agree with posters from other teams about us finishing 9th/10th. I would certainly bite your hand off for 8th place but on the back of getting promoted I'm just buzzing to be in a higher league and having better games to go to. I watched quite a few of the Championship games on a Friday night and there wasn't a great deal between a lot of the teams. I definitely think Airdrie would struggle with the physicality against teams like Ayr and Morton etc. I'm certainly not underestimating the opposition we will be playing and the step up. We definitely need to sign at least 4/5 quality players to at least make us competitive. That being said I'm not going to go to the games this season completely dreading it either, I think any fan of any team would be looking forward to the new season on the back of promotion. So it's definitely an exciting time to be an Airdrie fan. We've had discussions on the Airdrie p&b page about some wild takes from Facebook/twitter etc but as it's already been pointed out, those are we guys who I'd imagine are around 13/14 years old. 4 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Shandon Par Posted June 18, 2023 Share Posted June 18, 2023 (edited) If it’s worth much, all the Pars players and management raved about Airdrie (probably just I get it up John McGlynn) last season. Praised their surface too. The playoff games showed they’d maybe learned a bit from us about game management in terms of dealing with red cards. Can definitely see Airdrie handing out a few scuddings. Edited June 18, 2023 by Shandon Par 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
diegomarahenry Posted June 18, 2023 Share Posted June 18, 2023 Ayr will be the hardest team to predict. We'll lose Akinyemi before the league starts, we don't gave Chalmers or Mullen so our creativity currently equates to around 10 goals a season. Our midfield has no balance, having two midfielders exactly the same means we are very one dimensional and concede a lot of possession. Defensively we have no full backs worth a starting championship place. So we are basically where we were at the end of last season and we finished second this season. So far, we have signed two squad fillers. We were hoping for Turner, Strapp or Docherty but it looks like we are getting Murphy. Bullen has serious questions to answer early on. Best case, we replace Dipo, bring in another 20 goal a season forward and compete for at least the play-offs. Worst case, We don't sign a goal scorer, Bullen is emptied in December and a new manager is brought in to save a relegation fight. Dundee United Inverness Partick Thistle Ayr (v1) Morton Dunfermline Queens Park Raith Ayr (v2) Arbroath Airdrie 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TxRover Posted June 18, 2023 Share Posted June 18, 2023 2 hours ago, Zanetti said: What Airdrie fans seem to be overlooking is that while retaining their best players is great for them, those players are on a par with the best that Accies had to offer last season as well. Guys like Connor Smith and Dan O'Reilly would absolutely waltz right into that Airdrie lineup no bother at all. On the other hand, a team of player familiar with each other will often outperform a newly crafted side. Look at the recent record of newly promoted sides, it’s pretty decent, and most didn’t make massive changes. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Heid_The_Baw Posted June 18, 2023 Share Posted June 18, 2023 Biggest prediction - Raith to finally beat ICT after 20 odd years. We usually play them off the park and get beat. Dundee Utd ---------------- Raith Dunfermline Partick ---------------- Morton ICT Ayr Utd Queens Park Airdrie ----------------- Arbroath 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
D'Jaffo Posted June 18, 2023 Share Posted June 18, 2023 2 hours ago, diegomarahenry said: Ayr will be the hardest team to predict. We'll lose Akinyemi before the league starts, we don't gave Chalmers or Mullen so our creativity currently equates to around 10 goals a season. Our midfield has no balance, having two midfielders exactly the same means we are very one dimensional and concede a lot of possession. Defensively we have no full backs worth a starting championship place. So we are basically where we were at the end of last season and we finished second this season. So far, we have signed two squad fillers. We were hoping for Turner, Strapp or Docherty but it looks like we are getting Murphy. Bullen has serious questions to answer early on. Best case, we replace Dipo, bring in another 20 goal a season forward and compete for at least the play-offs. Worst case, We don't sign a goal scorer, Bullen is emptied in December and a new manager is brought in to save a relegation fight. Dundee United Inverness Partick Thistle Ayr (v1) Morton Dunfermline Queens Park Raith Ayr (v2) Arbroath Airdrie The midfield is the biggest one for me. If we sort that out then we won’t need a 20 goal striker to bail us out. If we can add a number 6 and a number 10 to go alongside Dempsey then I’ll be delighted. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ayrunitedfw Posted June 18, 2023 Share Posted June 18, 2023 9 minutes ago, D'Jaffo said: The midfield is the biggest one for me. If we sort that out then we won’t need a 20 goal striker to bail us out. If we can add a number 6 and a number 10 to go alongside Dempsey then I’ll be delighted. Surely if Dipo leaves we'd still require a semi competent championship level striker to replace him? Someone like Danny Mullen. He wouldn't get the same amount as Dipo but like you say if we could add goals from midfield we'd be fine. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
D'Jaffo Posted June 18, 2023 Share Posted June 18, 2023 55 minutes ago, ayrunitedfw said: Surely if Dipo leaves we'd still require a semi competent championship level striker to replace him? Someone like Danny Mullen. He wouldn't get the same amount as Dipo but like you say if we could add goals from midfield we'd be fine. I think someone like that is ideal. I’d be happy if we can get someone who hits double figures and then someone else who’s not far behind him. The other area where we need goals from is out wide. O’Connors output is terrible but you’d imagine game time plays a part in that. If Murphy signs you’d hope he can get a few goals as well. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Glenmavis Diamond Posted June 18, 2023 Share Posted June 18, 2023 5 hours ago, D'Jaffo said: Fordyce was absolutely honking the last time he was seen at this level and that was a good few years ago now. The biggest issue that promoted squads make when coming up is they remain too loyal to players. Guys like Fordyce, Taylor-Sinclair, McCabe, Gallagher, Watson and Telfer aren’t good enough for this level. My guess is they’ll start the season off poorly, realise they aren’t up to it and then panic sign on the last day of the season. Delighted to be written off by experts like your good self. Look forward to coming up against such superior opposition in the season ahead. Fans understandably excited about playing in the Championship and you take that as us underestimating the league? We've barely started preseason and you've written us off before the majority of new signings have been made. Aye, nae bother. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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