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Might as well start one up early seeing as it’s set to be a cracker.

Image kindly borrowed from Airdrieonians' Twitter. I'd be content with fourth place, happy with third, delighted with second.

https://www.thepetitionsite.com/en-gb/415/633/338/we-demand-a-better-airdrieonians/ I am asking if all true Football fans could take a moment to sign this petition to help a club being dragged to the dirt by it's current owners return to better days. Why should you sign it, basically we have a club who's fans have achieved small miracles over the last few years building up projects which benefit the whole local community, meanwhile the owners of the club seem determined to run the club into the ground whilst alienating their own clubs fans and blocking an attempt from good Airdrie minded businessmen who are trying to get the club back to better days. The supporters in recent years have been involved in providing thousands of items of football kit to a Charity who sends them to underprivileged people around the world, they have provided around 2000 Free under 16s season tickets to local children, they helped fund and build the first Sensory Room in Scottish Football for children & adults with sensory processing disorders to be able to attend football matches in an environment they felt safe and secure in, they funded and built a shelter for wheelchair users to be able to enjoy matches even in the worst of Scottish weather, they run a children's football group called the Airdrie Aces where for only £10 they get free football training before every home game,transport & entry to selected away matches, numerous free parties and events throughout the season, meet and play with the players and much more. They have also been working with numerous local and national charities such as St. Andrews Hospice, Maggies Centre, Local Xmas toy appeal and foodbank, Poppy Scotland and Save the Children. They have started a Community Football programme providing Walking Football to all ages and football classes to pre-school children as well as 5-16 year olds. They have also introduced a large selection of club merchandise which the club have been unable to do so for a number of years and have generally improved the overall match day experience for fellow fans. Meanwhile over the same period the club has been mismanaged, and led into murky waters where no information has been forthcoming on the clubs financial position, who the people are who are trying to take control of it and a general feeling of contempt shown to the fans by those running it. Please help us get the numbers as high as we can on this petition to help the right people get control of our club.

https://www.thepetitionsite.com/en-gb/415/633/338/we-demand-a-better-airdrieonians/ I am asking if all true Football fans could take a moment to sign this petition to help a club being dragged to the dirt by it's current owners return to better days. Why should you sign it, basically we have a club who's fans have achieved small miracles over the last few years building up projects which benefit the whole local community, meanwhile the owners of the club seem determined to run the club into the ground whilst alienating their own clubs fans and blocking an attempt from good Airdrie minded businessmen who are trying to get the club back to better days. The supporters in recent years have been involved in providing thousands of items of football kit to a Charity who sends them to underprivileged people around the world, they have provided around 2000 Free under 16s season tickets to local children, they helped fund and build the first Sensory Room in Scottish Football for children & adults with sensory processing disorders to be able to attend football matches in an environment they felt safe and secure in, they funded and built a shelter for wheelchair users to be able to enjoy matches even in the worst of Scottish weather, they run a children's football group called the Airdrie Aces where for only £10 they get free football training before every home game,transport & entry to selected away matches, numerous free parties and events throughout the season, meet and play with the players and much more. They have also been working with numerous local and national charities such as St. Andrews Hospice, Maggies Centre, Local Xmas toy appeal and foodbank, Poppy Scotland and Save the Children. They have started a Community Football programme providing Walking Football to all ages and football classes to pre-school children as well as 5-16 year olds. They have also introduced a large selection of club merchandise which the club have been unable to do so for a number of years and have generally improved the overall match day experience for fellow fans. Meanwhile over the same period the club has been mismanaged, and led into murky waters where no information has been forthcoming on the clubs financial position, who the people are who are trying to take control of it and a general feeling of contempt shown to the fans by those running it. Please help us get the numbers as high as we can on this petition to help the right people get control of our club.

Hi guys, I'm new to this forum and just thought I'd introduce myself. I'm an Aston Villa season ticket holder but I also follow Airdrieonians as a result of a semi-serious Championship / Football Manager addiction as a younger man. I'm hoping to get to a game or two if possible this season as I now travel to Scotand occasionally for work. Looking forward to talking with you all.

A Hallowe'en ML5 vs ML6 showdown doubling as a 3rd vs 4th six-pointer...has there ever been more at stake in a Monklands derby? Rovers have made an unbelievable start to the season, but I'd call for some changes for this game. I understand why our manager has been starting Andy Barrowman consistently, but John Gemmell is our "big game" specialist and loves a goal against Airdrie- surely he has to play this one. I'd also suggest the addition of some experience and influence to the midfield- if not the player/manager then why not Mark Ferry to add some experience in front of the back four? As the bigger team and having asserted their superiority at Cliftonhill last month, Airdrie probably fancy themselves. They were the better team in that game but they only got that win because of a couple of uncharacteristic defensive errors, and we weren't a million miles away from a result. Comparing notes, there hasn't been much between us: both teams have scored and conceded the same number of goals this season - an unlucky 13 - and while they played well against us, the only other teams Airdrie have beaten in the league have been Brechin, Peterhead and Cowdenbeath. Our rationale should be that if Stranraer can go to Broomfield and get a win then we can too, as long as we stay on top of the schoolboy stuff and take advantage of any Neil Parry clangers. Getting the conversation started early; this is going to be a cracker.

My name is Colin Telford, I am a solicitor by profession and an Airdrieonians supporter (unlikely to be popular with many of you I know!). I am looking for your help for on a matter which I think potentially has a broad application to Scottish Football and our clubs. As you may be aware from previous press coverage, Airdrieonians Football Club has received correspondence with the office of the Procurator Fiscal to the Lord Lyon King of Arms and ultimately the club has been required to give an undertaking that it will cease using the club badge from 1 September 2015. This has nothing to do with the change from Airdrie United to Airdrieonians. A trademark application was made in respect of the badge which brought it to the attention of the Lord Lyon's Procurator Fiscal. The position of the Lord Lyon's office is that they do not take action unless a matter is brought to their attention. However, as Formartine United will testify, an anonymous tip-off (in that instance presumed to be from a jealous rival) is sufficient to lead t a prosecution. Airdrie's badge has been deemed to be "an heraldic device". What constitutes such a device is ultimately a matter for the Lord Lyon's office however in correspondence it has been confirmed the use of a simple shield would be sufficient. To further confuse matters, a shield does not require to be shield shaped, it can be square, circular, diamond, club, spade or heart shaped etc. You cannot use an heraldic device unless it is registered with the Lord Lyon's Office. The cost to register a basic shield is £2,500. For Airdrieonians, our rooster is taken to be a "crest" in heraldic terminology. That would cost an additional £800. The rooster would therefore be our record signing post the Bosman ruling!!!!!!! Some clubs in Scotland do have their badges registered with the Lord Lyon's office, others have badges which would not be considered as non heraldic (essentially they are corporate logos) but a large number of the badges are unregistered heraldic devices. A bigger problem for Airdrie is that you cannot have letters within the shield part of a badge if you are to register it. Heraldry is all about describing who someone is without using letters or numbers and therefore any device containing letters would not be admitted to the register. I am told the Lord Lyon's office that is "Bad Heraldry"... perish the thought. The best case scenario for Airdrieonians would be to apply to register an amended version of the badge at a cost of £3,300 and to have the stadium look like we the club has been through some sort of failed corporate rebranding exercise. Other clubs would be even less lucky. Certain symbols such as crowns (Hibernian's old badge), Lion Rampants (Dundee United's and Ranger's old badges) or Saltires (Formartine's old badge) cannot be used and so if you have those within the shield part of your badge, it is extremely unlikely that your badge could be registered an you would have to cease using it. Prosecution by the Lord Lyon's Procurator Fiscal pay allow for a fine of £100 per day and a visit from the "Dingers Doon" who are entitled to ding doon any unlicensed heraldry where it appears. The Lord Lyon's PF rarely prosecutes but arguably that is because when faced with the decision of whether to go to the Lyon Court, the prospects of success are almost non existent. It is likely that a period of time will be allowed in order to let a club cease using its badge (in Airdrie's case this was about a year). If a prosecution was to be brought, it would be under the 1592 Act Lord Lyon Act of the old Scottish Parliament. I would encourage everyone to have a go at reading that act as a test of your old Scots ability http://www.legislation.gov.uk/aosp/1592/29/paragraph/p1. I'm paraphrasing here and translating into modern English, but the act actually speaks of the common sort of people not worthy by the law ..... The Airdrieonians Supporters Trust believes that it is not in the public interest for such prosecutions to be brought. In the case of Airdrionians, it is a further expense for a club struggling to break even and it removes one of the assets which we believe we have available to us to rebuild links between the club and the community. While we could raise the £3,300 needed, we would rather use our funds on other incentives (e.g. last year we paid £9,000 to the club in order to allow us to hand out free season tickets to kids). I submitted a petition to the Scottish Parliament, but that was rejected. The Lord Lyon's role (despite applying solely to Scotland) is partly reserved to Westminster; I understand that this is connected to the Crown's ability to grant honours. The Scottish Parliament's view is that the required change in the law can only be made by Westminster. I appreciate that there are bigger problems in the world than football badges, but we wish to establish that this is something that the public cares about (I be confident that more people like football than heraldry). I would also submit that there is no need for heraldry to be applied to companies. These devices could be dealt with under the trade mark regime which applies and heraldry could be reserved to individuals, geographical locations and cases of clear bad faith. I also appreciate that you may not particularly like Airdrieonians. Some of you will point to events this weekend as evidence of why you don't. That incident was of course inexcusable, but I would point you in the direction of the Airdrieonians Supporters' Trust and ask you to consider the good work which is going on at the club https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-fs38gpA3ks Without a change in the law, the badges of many football clubs in Scotland are essentially sitting ducks. Even if your club own club's badge is safe, there will be a school, rugby club, bowling club etc near you which could be affected. Together with Supporters Direct, we are trying to show that evidence that this is an issue which people (particularly football supporters) care about. A change.org petition has been set up and we would ask that you sign that and spread the word on message boards, social media and any other way you can in order to protect football badges. For the petition please see https://www.change.org/p/scottish-parliament-recognise-and-protect-the-community-value-of-club-badges?just_created=true And for further details on our campaign please see www.savethebadge,co.uk If you feel that you might be able to assist with our campaign, please get in touch. Any help would be appreciated with this. We are particularly keen to try an obtain UK press coverage in order to try an gain support from the wider football community. Many thanks <> Colin <>

Airdrie are running a pay what you can at the gate for the match, will be screened live on BBC Alba. Also, loads of free pre match activities arranged by the Supporters Trust. No excuse for locals and lapsed fans not to come along... https://www.facebook.com/events/1391688767807101/?ref_newsfeed_story_type=regular