Passionate

Silly season starting with transfer rumours, not heard this one but somebody on our thread mentioning our GK Josh Rae will be heading Tannadice way, decent keeper although your boy Walton is arguably the best in the league..

In the 90s we were getting decent crowds at old Broomfield, Home supports were never great we then as we do now rely on large away followings to swell our average.. I would say looking back maybe 2.5k max home support in those days in the Premier League, although the old firm games tended to be very busy with a fair few old firm ending up in our end swelling our numbers..

That crowd was quoted don't know if that was a turnstile number or. An online sold number , I had heard we had sold 7800 a couple of hours prior to kickoff, apart from North Stand and section at Centre stand for hospitality the rest was pretty well full, give or take a few randoms ..

The crowd debate comes up now and again, (don't mention Falkirk FFS) main reason is finance, we have the lowest crowd in the league 1814 ? ISH, good for us from where we have been, sniggers coming from the clubs who constantly post crazy losses and are in the same league, enough of the points scoring.. Airdrie can blame the old firm, why our crowds are low etc,I think it's irrelevant everybody has a choice , I would say most towns in Scotland could throw that line out it's been done to death. We had 650 or so diehards when we were struggling in L1 and even they were on the drift, crowds now being 1300est home fans and there is signs of a little apathy creeping in now as well IMO.. We are punching way above our weight and could still although unlikely be in the Premier next season,, and need to build again to compete next season Onto next season with Falkirk probably going to spunk OUR money like a drunken sailor and no Part Time possible ringer in the league it is going to be cut throat... Let's never forget what we have achieved this season, staying in the Championship year on year is going to be very tough for Airdrie moving forward ..

Looking like this will be our highest league attendance in our final league game, around 2k tickets sold to United, hopefully we can break 3.5k. Need home fans to turn up though.. Another live game on the TV , to be fair to the much maligned BBC they provide great coverage of our league and Falkirk cannot mean either.. they have the ALBA Saturday teatime slot pinned down..

How is the gate money split from the up coming playoffs are all games pooled or are they split gates per game... Hearing that both ties will be on BBC Scotland Airdrie home on the Tuesday 7th and return leg on Friday 11th at Firhill..

As I say target achieved, do we down tools and have half an eye on the beach, with the sun beating down yesterday, maybe a few did, Rhys is 100 %right in publicly calling out his players, he will no doubt get criticised for it, We are not a dirty side, but all season we have broke up play got organised, tackled and basically fought our corner, I will leave you with this damning statistic over the course of 90 minutes we committed 3 fouls and had no bookings...... Is it any wonder Partick Thistle rode us.....

Airdrie have qualified for the Premier League playoffs with 2 games to spare, let that sink in for a moment, I will be honest I never expected it, we are a team with plenty of weaknesses..... Now for the half assed autopsy, i will throw a couple of names out there, Graham, Dowds, Oakley, Muirhead, Diack they are the name's of big physical strikers who have had plenty of joy against our defence, every one of those players have used their physicality to bully our defence, The only ones who count now are Graham and Diack,, 37 year old Graham first to react to a spill by the keeper and could easily have had a hatrick, Diack who scored on his debut at Firhill last time put the fear on our eyes when he ran at us, Basic isn't it, not great at all, are we better in the playoffs bringing ATS back into the team, Our faults can be cruelly exposed at at times, Megwa who is a good player,.not as.good as people make out, he was got at second half by Fitzpatrick and Milne, where was his cover McGregor didn't do the hard yards, McMaster who should be able to see issues develop was knowhere and they ran through us at will, 2 young players who were schooled today..... Credit to Partick a side who man for man are a better side all over the park than us, which I can accept, that doesn't mean you cannot beat them if you excel on the day yourself...... Onto the playoffs we need McCabe, Frizzell and Ballantyne back, especially McCabe who is still one of the best players in this league, if we manage to progress further it will be on the back of Rhys, who will stand up to the challenge with him, after today not many.... Love to be proved wrong....

Is this years Player of the year presentation happening at the 1924 dinner or the usual on the park after the last home game.., not heard anything though..

MacCabe was my favourite as a boy, John Flood was a good partner he scored plenty as well ... What about Kenny MacDonald. Was he under rated..

Thanks looked at the wrong line, same logic applies... Still have to pinch ourselves things were looking pretty bleak at Half time at Hampden against QP at New Year....

As previously stated Gallagher is a top signing and will guarantee you 14 goals easy, my question is did this signing need to be announced now, is Gallagher's time left at Airdrie compromised, he could still be needed to score goals, even though he has been clearly off it recently.. Did Airdrie know this was being announced, normally there is a gentlemens agreement (can you still say that phrase these days) over timing etc, it just seems very random to announce a PCA.

We are on course for 299k at present for 4 th place (388k for third) which is a massive increase from last year's 104k in League 1.. figures look good remember though every season all clubs get their prize money split over the season, example 3 payments of 50k and the final figure decided on league placing, so a final prize money payment of 149k would be due, We are definitely in a much better place and get more value for money than Dunfermline and Falkirk who seem to constantly rack up debts with little reward... I expect the same signing structure to remain in place over the summer, however frustrating that may be..

A dying breed a consistent year in year out Goalscorer, the club has outgrown Gall and as stated it feels the right time to move on, he needs to play started the season well and drifted out the side around December, to be fair Todorov, Strav and McGill when fit have done fine... Moving forward I cannot see us for the foreseeable future signing Part Time players Gall was the last bastion of that era, so the Hybrid has been and gone, delving deeper we train Tuesday and Thursday nights which was created for the P T players in the hybrid, with that now gone will we from next season go back to Full time day time training, this freeing up the stadium for more hires etc, and more coaching nights for players coaching schools...

Have you guys not signed a striker from down south on a PCA, do you think Muirhead and Oakley will stay on for next year as well.

Todorov is a handful and a much better player than a lot give home credit for, Gall is /was an excellent striker who will still get goals although I think his level is League below now, i actually think he is working his ticket, be it Rhys has already had a chat with him about next season, who knows.. interested to see who we can bring in for next season in forward areas, who has impressed us.. Muirhead, Morton McCann, Dunfermline They are 2 that spring to mind that have impressed over the last few seasons. .. thoughts

I would think we would try and sign the majority, to be fair I am not considering promotion, 3rd has to be our next target.. Niggling injuries are starting to mount up, not much time for recovery now that will cost us big time, if any of our big players are out, Telfer went off with a calf, Ballantyne looked like a thigh injury, Watson went off limping as well as Rhys recovering from his injury, we will habe to really rotate the squad, but the drop off is pretty noticeable in some positions, The only players I think we will choose to move on at season end will be Gallagher, Dunlop, Cassidy and Fellows whether the rest of the players sign on again , we will have to wait and see because no doubt there will be interest..

Trying to stay.humble, it has been an unusual season for a number of teams lots of ebbs and flows of form and general shiteness, Getting to the play offs which is far from certain still, would be a tremendous achievement, going any further, well you never know, the teams finishing third or fourth are not supposed to prevail, with the cards firmly stacked in the 9th places teams favour.. Onto McCabe personally I think he will certainly be on the watch list of teams, although there will be little or no movement manager wise anyway IMO, he inherited a decent side from the now much maligned Murray, a side that failed at the the last hurdle against QP remember, that's taking nothing away from Rhys, I don't think Rhys is daft, he knows as soon as he gets a gig in the top league, he will be favourite for the chop and with the media saps and gutless chairmen worried more about the money, he would not get time to implement exactly his style, which would take time... It's alright beating Dundee and St Johnstone in cup games playing them 4 times a season is a different mantra all together, he will get there, I believe he has one more stop in a bigger championship side before the Premier teams come calling..

Rivalry aside, I wish you guys all the best,

How did zengen get on trying to purchase the stadium from McGowan, has it all went quiet.

The McCabe debate, I actually think he is still one of the best midfielders in the league and also a very good sweeper, , can he play 36 games absolutely not, not for putting him out to pasture yet, not counting chickens just yet, if we get into the playoffs and the pressure cranks up , I would much prefer him on the park than off it...

When it comes to the ladder to the higher leagues, do you not think Murray is a couple of rungs further up to get a bigger gig,

As an away supporter at Cappielow this season and enjoyed it mostly, First game we were in the wee Dublin end in the possing rain, The Trust Trophy game we were in corner of main stand (not great) although I went behind enemy lines that day and was in the shed and had a great time, I digress... Last time a few weeks back we were jammed in the corner of the main stand again, biggest issue was Morton were selling tickets for WDE as well but on arrival section was closed for some reason and we were all diverted into the stand, not great.....surely you cannot sell tickets for WDE and then shut the sectionnl off.....

He nutted 2 of our players at the weekend and got away with it, seems he was up to his old tricks last night as well.

For 30 minutes or so Airdrie were unplayable, they had Raith on a stick, nothing fancy just basic passing to an open teammate and moving the ball around, seems simple, but was very effective, The main difference between the sides and I have mentioned it before, Murray is a very predictable manager with a similar signing policy.. Airdrie played out from the back with Fordyce basically passing out by kicks all game, him, Watson, Ballantyne et al, comfortable with that proven philosophy, knowing that if they kept at it, the cumbersome Hamilton up top would struggle to close them down, flip that over to the Raith centre backs and full backs, they are all "siege" Murray type defenders the bigger and more physical the better, but are hopelessly uncomfortable with passing the ball around, add to that a committed high press by the Airdrie forwards, that gives opposing teams confidence, what's up with Dylan, a wonderful maverick player for Airdrie albeit in League 1, Championship is a massive step up as Falkirk will find also, Raith are a good side as their league position shows, we still Have United to play yet at home in a couple of weeks, if we are in the playoffs , do we play our strongest team or play the boys at that time... This is one crazy league and you have to love it..