The Official Airdrieonians Thread - 2019/20 and beyond

[airdrieman]

Interesting premise for an interview though doesn't tell us anything we don't already know unfortunately. A genuine and honest deep-dive interview with McBride (and others) about this whole time period would be fascinating though. How was it working under Wotherspoon, Iain King and EWB? How did they sell the club to you? Did you ever at any point think the '3-year plan' was going to be successful? What was training at Ravenscraig like? What were the 'politics' of the regime? Why is/was Airdrie one of the 'hardest clubs to go into'? Did Dalziel actually have any day-to-day involvement at the club (at least before 2017/18)? Was his 'football review' genuine or was it just it a stitch up to get his pal in the door the whole time? And maybe hear more about a whole parade of characters (chancers) like Alan Love, Seref Zengin, Colin Hamilton, Wotherspoon (and his obsession with reading P&B and travelling on the supporters' bus), Hugo Faria, Willie Aitchison and the dying days of the Ballantyne regime. Definitely some podcast and/or book worthy content in here 

https://www.dailyrecord.co.uk/sport/local-sport/ex-airdrie-boss-opens-up-21785312?fbclid=IwAR1gqx9HFFhBgZHnoKI2sxPGZLyiy3CTWR7Lf8M7W4vafbi60xLohuMv660 

[airdrieman]

Should have been pumping Falkirk on their own patch (again) on national television this evening  

[Spanish Armada]

Should have been pumping Falkirk on their own patch (again) on national television this evening [emoji20] 

Would’ve been 3-1 Airdrie Andy Ryan with 2 and Carrick with one

Miss the football on a Saturday [emoji815]️[emoji22]

[Yoda8]

On 03/04/2020 at 15:54, airdrieman said:

Interesting premise for an interview though doesn't tell us anything we don't already know unfortunately. A genuine and honest deep-dive interview with McBride (and others) about this whole time period would be fascinating though. How was it working under Wotherspoon, Iain King and EWB? How did they sell the club to you? Did you ever at any point think the '3-year plan' was going to be successful? What was training at Ravenscraig like? What were the 'politics' of the regime? Why is/was Airdrie one of the 'hardest clubs to go into'? Did Dalziel actually have any day-to-day involvement at the club (at least before 2017/18)? Was his 'football review' genuine or was it just it a stitch up to get his pal in the door the whole time? And maybe hear more about a whole parade of characters (chancers) like Alan Love, Seref Zengin, Colin Hamilton, Wotherspoon (and his obsession with reading P&B and travelling on the supporters' bus), Hugo Faria, Willie Aitchison and the dying days of the Ballantyne regime. Definitely some podcast and/or book worthy content in here 

https://www.dailyrecord.co.uk/sport/local-sport/ex-airdrie-boss-opens-up-21785312?fbclid=IwAR1gqx9HFFhBgZHnoKI2sxPGZLyiy3CTWR7Lf8M7W4vafbi60xLohuMv660 

Would be interesting.

if memory serves me right McBride walked off training after Dalziel came on with a whistle. Think GD coming on pitch was overstepping the mark legally.

To think Dalziel was actually wanting to help pick side while he sat in Radio Clyde studio. Absolute shambles. 
What was TW thinking at that time. Made him look totally clueless.

[AFC1878]

TW was totally clueless. It was a game to him. When he got bored he fucked off!

[Passionate]

1 hour ago, Yoda8 said:

Would be interesting.

if memory serves me right McBride walked off training after Dalziel came on with a whistle. Think GD coming on pitch was overstepping the mark legally.

To think Dalziel was actually wanting to help pick side while he sat in Radio Clyde studio. Absolute shambles. 
What was TW thinking at that time. Made him look totally clueless.

Lucky that McBride had his second job to fall back on, selling fags out the back of a transit at the barras..

[Spanish Armada]

Thought Wilson was bad till we got Findus,Guy couldn’t find a decent player if it came up and slapped him in the face,a midfield that consisted of Conroy a defence with Robertson page O’Neil and McDonald with Duffy and Macintosh as your strikers gives me shudders typing about it [emoji52]

 

[ShineOnYouCrazyDiamonds]

Thought Wilson was bad till we got Findus,Guy couldn’t find a decent player if it came up and slapped him in the face,a midfield that consisted of Conroy a defence with Robertson page O’Neil and McDonald with Duffy and Macintosh as your strikers gives me shudders typing about it [emoji52]
 

Not really a surprise that almost every player released at the end of last season dropped down to League Two or Stranraer who are arguably a League Two team in League One.

[The clean living guy]

Pretty bored here and kind of stole from an other thread. Assuming most of us look at Motherwell as our derby and rivals, who ranks next? For me its Thistle. Plenty history and needle there. I look forward to playing the Rovers but don't dislike them and have about the same feelings towards Hamilton as forfar or stranraer. Zero. 

 

 

[Eric the half a b]

42 minutes ago, The clean living guy said:

Pretty bored here and kind of stole from an other thread. Assuming most of us look at Motherwell as our derby and rivals, who ranks next? For me its Thistle. Plenty history and needle there. I look forward to playing the Rovers but don't dislike them and have about the same feelings towards Hamilton as forfar or stranraer. Zero. 

 

 

Fair point .. I hate every other team except Hearts because the have a good song. ... old days Falkirk Thistle were good out with Motherwell.

[Skinheed]

Don't think Airdrie have any rivals.  

[Chapelhall chap]

1 hour ago, The clean living guy said:

Pretty bored here and kind of stole from an other thread. Assuming most of us look at Motherwell as our derby and rivals, who ranks next? For me its Thistle. Plenty history and needle there. I look forward to playing the Rovers but don't dislike them and have about the same feelings towards Hamilton as forfar or stranraer. Zero. 

 

 

Over my lifetime it would be Motherwell but since the mid 90s we have been well out of that rivalry. Since then it could be practically anyone in the central belt but tasty games against Ayr might feature. I bear no grudges to the Rovers but it still has the sense of a rivalry especially when we were in the same League. The season when we won L2 it never felt that Hamilton were derby rivals. If there is a team that we have played  a lot recently it might be East Fife and I would love to see us gain success against Raith Rovers in any game.  You could argue that Clyde might be  a derby rival since they went to Broadwood but I don't think we have played them that often, as they spent time in the bottom league. The 4 games a season has maybe weakened the idea of special local derbies. As I watch old football archives I hope you are all keeping well.

[Chapelhall chap]

1 hour ago, Eric the half a b said:

Fair point .. I hate every other team except Hearts because the have a good song. ... old days Falkirk Thistle were good out with Motherwell.

If we are to judge liking a team by the home song  I agree on Hearts but I have always liked Raith's Geordie Munro. There was a good updated version on View from the Terrace.  Atmosphere against the team you mention was better than many others, and we did have chances of winning. Take care

[Tory Boy]

13 hours ago, The clean living guy said:

Pretty bored here and kind of stole from an other thread. Assuming most of us look at Motherwell as our derby and rivals, who ranks next? For me its Thistle. Plenty history and needle there. I look forward to playing the Rovers but don't dislike them and have about the same feelings towards Hamilton as forfar or stranraer. Zero. 

 

 

Motherwell obviously number 1. After that?

It's always good to beat Albion Rovers when we meet. But I don't dislike them. As long as we're above them I like to see them do well.

Falkirk & Hearts were always 2 fixtures I looked forward to it. Some great tussles, especially in the 90's and a bit of needle but wouldn't say I disliked either club.

Hibs was always a bit of a venomous fixture. But we don't really meet that often.

I don't like Rangers and I despise Celtic but most Scottish football don't like them 2 so you can't really count them.

I guess for me the 3 obvious candidates would have to be Partick Thistle, Dunfermline & St Mirren. I think St Mirren just shade it. The amount of their fans that come across as self-righteous arseholes. I really can't stick them.

[Tulloch Gorum]

Probably Partick Thistle, Dunfermline and Ayr, in no particular order. 

Edited April 8, 2020 by Tulloch Gorum

[airdrieman]

On 05/04/2020 at 16:53, Yoda8 said:

Would be interesting.

if memory serves me right McBride walked off training after Dalziel came on with a whistle. Think GD coming on pitch was overstepping the mark legally.

To think Dalziel was actually wanting to help pick side while he sat in Radio Clyde studio. Absolute shambles. 
What was TW thinking at that time. Made him look totally clueless.

You could well be right! 

On 05/04/2020 at 17:02, AFC1878 said:

TW was totally clueless. It was a game to him. When he got bored he fucked off!

I think initially TW invested with good intentions and wanted the club to succeed (though I always thought more for his own ego than any altruistic intentions for the club and town). But ultimately his reign was a disaster, marred by countless bad decisions and appointing his pals to positions they were not good enough or qualified for. As you say, once he realised his plaything wasn't quite as easy as Football Manager he fucked off ASAP. I've always been curious though if he might have stayed had we won the play-offs and where the club would be now if we had. 

17 hours ago, The clean living guy said:

Pretty bored here and kind of stole from an other thread. Assuming most of us look at Motherwell as our derby and rivals, who ranks next? For me its Thistle. Plenty history and needle there. I look forward to playing the Rovers but don't dislike them and have about the same feelings towards Hamilton as forfar or stranraer. Zero. 

 

 

I can only echo what others have said. Definitely Motherwell though unfortunately in my time we've only played them the once in the Scottish Cup. I have taken some solace though in the fact that I have met several Motherwell fans in my professional and personal life they all still consider Airdrie to be their main rival. They don't give a f**k about Accies either. Albion Rovers is definitely a derby. Always a game you want to win and you are embarrassed to lose. I don't have any malice or ill-will towards them though and like to see them do well. Only teams I really truly hate are the Old Firm. Would definitely consider Ayr, Partick Thistle and Dunfermline (and maybe Falkirk) to be tasty fixtures. Morton too for a while around 03/04 but would say that's cooled off. 

In an unrelated note it looks like we'll be using Umbro kits next season (whenever that is) going by Stuart Millar's Facebook post. 

[airdrieman]

https://www.airdriefc.com/1920news/070420/Club-statement%3A-Colin-Cameron

A shame to see Cameron go. I wonder if his contract was due to expire anyway (hence no furlough) and it was decided it wasn't economical to renew in the current climate. Hopefully the door remains open for him to return once everything has settled down as whatever happens we will need someone to fill his position. I wouldn't be surprised to see the same happen with the out of contract players too though again hopefully there will be something on the table for the ones the club want to retain once normality resumes. 

[airdrieman]

25 years ago today! 

 

http://www.deadlinenews.co.uk/2020/04/07/team-spirit-and-tragedy-airdrie-legend-jimmy-boyle-reflects-on-stunning-hearts-in-the-scottish-cup-25-years-on-alex-macdonald-steve-cooper-celtic-final/?fbclid=IwAR1abpUXlHKe-SjEEzZ_J8iPkVy2babDgXioyr3t15SH1MWNnPyxXPJT3Gg

[Tory Boy]

1 hour ago, Tulloch Gorum said:

Probably Partick Thistle, Dunfermline and Ayr, in no particular order. 

Can't believe I forgot about Ayr. Must be losing it stuck in doors.

[Passionate]

4 hours ago, airdrieman said:

You could well be right! 

I think initially TW invested with good intentions and wanted the club to succeed (though I always thought more for his own ego than any altruistic intentions for the club and town). But ultimately his reign was a disaster, marred by countless bad decisions and appointing his pals to positions they were not good enough or qualified for. As you say, once he realised his plaything wasn't quite as easy as Football Manager he fucked off ASAP. I've always been curious though if he might have stayed had we won the play-offs and where the club would be now if we had. ...

I can only echo what others have said. Definitely Motherwell though unfortunately in my time we've only played them the once in the Scottish Cup. I have taken some solace though in the fact that I have met several Motherwell fans in my professional and personal life they all still consider Airdrie to be their main rival. They don't give a f**k about Accies either. Albion Rovers is definitely a derby. Always a game you want to win and you are embarrassed to lose. I don't have any malice or ill-will towards them though and like to see them do well. Only teams I really truly hate are the Old Firm. Would definitely consider Ayr, Partick Thistle and Dunfermline (and maybe Falkirk) to be tasty fixtures. Morton too for a while around 03/04 but would say that's cooled off. 

In an unrelated note it looks like we'll be using Umbro kits next season (whenever that is) going by Stuart Millar's Facebook post. 

I think another one of TWs mistakes was pumping his Hungarian Secretary (Right here, Right now) his missus found out and took home to the cleaners, after that money seemed to be in short supply and his interest waned somewhat,    I bet you wouldn't read that in the Tizer with our intrepid reporter......

 

 

Onto more serious matters,  I noticed also that we are going with umbro  next season,   a name from the halcyon past, are they still a big hitter in kit manufacturers these days,  I think Hearts are there only Scottish club at present,  back in the day everybody was umbro.....   Over the past few seasons we have had numerous kit makers and styles. Puma,  Macron, Under Armour, Hummel and Joma,  The one I think we could have milked further was Macron and have become very popular.. Do smaller clubs like ourselves get a lump sum to change manufacturers as often......