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The Official Airdrieonians Thread - 2019/20 and beyond


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6 minutes ago, airdrieman said:

I’m a little worried the Jack McKay signing is a prelude to him signing a permanent contract with us. I know he’s not getting a game at Chesterfield but he literally can’t play for us at the moment. So why else would him and his agent (his old man) sign for us? He’s hardly going to be putting himself in the shop window. Especially when his old man could conceivably get him a move to a lower league side just about anywhere in the UK or even Europe. 

Aye, that's why he has joined us, not all clubs are as easy pleased as Airdrie   

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Looks like this season might be null and void soon enough.

To be sitting in 3rd 2 seasons running when the league is called would be unfortunate and I wouldn’t fancy owning a League 1 club at the moment given the hassle involved and seeing a model with limited cash flows being put under tremendous stress.

I’d be all for a reset in the club/trust relationship at this point and essentially the begging bowl coming round to try and make us competitive next year.

On recruitment, my view is that budget is the biggest issue.

The safest way to get out of this league would be to identify players that excel in it or at a higher level and give them the financial incentives to join Airdrie.

We saw it with Livi - who despite pleading poverty obviously could offer more than we could to Crichton, L*thgow, Watt and Cadden. It was similar when Ayr took Docherty and Boyle (club captain/player of the year so presumably happy with us - but money talks).

I get the impression the takeover has increased the playing budget from the end of the Wotherspoon era but not to the extent we can sign the guys we’d like to. Stirling taking Ryan shows that.

So you then have to come up with a strategy that you think might work which is going to be more risky. I don’t think Stuart Millar could have done anything else.

We’ve been forced to take a bit of a punt on Robert, Stokes and Sabatini.

Robert I’ve really enjoyed watching. He is raw and needs to be more consistent, but his contribution in November was amazing. I assume the club had and has exercised an option to extend his deal hence the revelation that his contract isn’t up at the end of the season. Even £100K for him might be vital at this stage in our history. Stuart Millar deserves credit for that.

Sabatini made an excellent first impression. Like Robert a first season in senior football. You’d question his consistency, but I think he’s good and could play at a higher level if he improves by being quicker on the ball- he could argue that more ball players around him in midfield would help.

Stokes has been a disappointment. He could point to having very little time to make an impression. The harsh reality is that he looks unlikely to have a career as a footballer at a good level. That must be hard to take when you were previously at Leeds and played at age level for RoI - but it’s a common story and I can’t draw any other conclusion.

Third place as it stands. 5 points off Falkirk (with a game in hand) but also 5 points from Dumbarton in 8th (who have a game in hand over us).

I’d imagine Jack McKay will be costing Airdrie nothing and just asking for a chance. The Club’s communication of the deal was awful (something they have previous for). Tell it as it is, if he’s desperate for a chance to show that he has something to offer say that. Don’t make him out to be a marquee signing. Find a fan you trust and bounce this stuff off them. Maybe.... I don’t know a rep from the Trust which owns more than 10% in the board and can tell you when something will go down like a cup of cold sick!

I think we need to find a way for the hardcore of us that are left to try and help the club survive this awful time and come out in a position of relative strength when it kicks off again and if we can do that, we’ll have an advantage in recruitment.

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On 10/02/2021 at 12:15, CapitalDiamond said:

Looks like this season might be null and void soon enough.

To be sitting in 3rd 2 seasons running when the league is called would be unfortunate and I wouldn’t fancy owning a League 1 club at the moment given the hassle involved and seeing a model with limited cash flows being put under tremendous stress.

I’d be all for a reset in the club/trust relationship at this point and essentially the begging bowl coming round to try and make us competitive next year.

On recruitment, my view is that budget is the biggest issue.

The safest way to get out of this league would be to identify players that excel in it or at a higher level and give them the financial incentives to join Airdrie.

We saw it with Livi - who despite pleading poverty obviously could offer more than we could to Crichton, L*thgow, Watt and Cadden. It was similar when Ayr took Docherty and Boyle (club captain/player of the year so presumably happy with us - but money talks).

I get the impression the takeover has increased the playing budget from the end of the Wotherspoon era but not to the extent we can sign the guys we’d like to. Stirling taking Ryan shows that.

So you then have to come up with a strategy that you think might work which is going to be more risky. I don’t think Stuart Millar could have done anything else.

We’ve been forced to take a bit of a punt on Robert, Stokes and Sabatini.

Robert I’ve really enjoyed watching. He is raw and needs to be more consistent, but his contribution in November was amazing. I assume the club had and has exercised an option to extend his deal hence the revelation that his contract isn’t up at the end of the season. Even £100K for him might be vital at this stage in our history. Stuart Millar deserves credit for that.

Sabatini made an excellent first impression. Like Robert a first season in senior football. You’d question his consistency, but I think he’s good and could play at a higher level if he improves by being quicker on the ball- he could argue that more ball players around him in midfield would help.

Stokes has been a disappointment. He could point to having very little time to make an impression. The harsh reality is that he looks unlikely to have a career as a footballer at a good level. That must be hard to take when you were previously at Leeds and played at age level for RoI - but it’s a common story and I can’t draw any other conclusion.

Third place as it stands. 5 points off Falkirk (with a game in hand) but also 5 points from Dumbarton in 8th (who have a game in hand over us).

I’d imagine Jack McKay will be costing Airdrie nothing and just asking for a chance. The Club’s communication of the deal was awful (something they have previous for). Tell it as it is, if he’s desperate for a chance to show that he has something to offer say that. Don’t make him out to be a marquee signing. Find a fan you trust and bounce this stuff off them. Maybe.... I don’t know a rep from the Trust which owns more than 10% in the board and can tell you when something will go down like a cup of cold sick!

I think we need to find a way for the hardcore of us that are left to try and help the club survive this awful time and come out in a position of relative strength when it kicks off again and if we can do that, we’ll have an advantage in recruitment.

Spoken like one of the management, 

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2 hours ago, Jack Reed said:

Spoken like one of the management, 

 

2 hours ago, CapitalDiamond said:

Looks like this season might be null and void soon enough.

To be sitting in 3rd 2 seasons running when the league is called would be unfortunate and I wouldn’t fancy owning a League 1 club at the moment given the hassle involved and seeing a model with limited cash flows being put under tremendous stress.

I’d be all for a reset in the club/trust relationship at this point and essentially the begging bowl coming round to try and make us competitive next year.

On recruitment, my view is that budget is the biggest issue.

The safest way to get out of this league would be to identify players that excel in it or at a higher level and give them the financial incentives to join Airdrie.

We saw it with Livi - who despite pleading poverty obviously could offer more than we could to Crichton, L*thgow, Watt and Cadden. It was similar when Ayr took Docherty and Boyle (club captain/player of the year so presumably happy with us - but money talks).

I get the impression the takeover has increased the playing budget from the end of the Wotherspoon era but not to the extent we can sign the guys we’d like to. Stirling taking Ryan shows that.

So you then have to come up with a strategy that you think might work which is going to be more risky. I don’t think Stuart Millar could have done anything else.

We’ve been forced to take a bit of a punt on Robert, Stokes and Sabatini.

Robert I’ve really enjoyed watching. He is raw and needs to be more consistent, but his contribution in November was amazing. I assume the club had and has exercised an option to extend his deal hence the revelation that his contract isn’t up at the end of the season. Even £100K for him might be vital at this stage in our history. Stuart Millar deserves credit for that.

Sabatini made an excellent first impression. Like Robert a first season in senior football. You’d question his consistency, but I think he’s good and could play at a higher level if he improves by being quicker on the ball- he could argue that more ball players around him in midfield would help.

Stokes has been a disappointment. He could point to having very little time to make an impression. The harsh reality is that he looks unlikely to have a career as a footballer at a good level. That must be hard to take when you were previously at Leeds and played at age level for RoI - but it’s a common story and I can’t draw any other conclusion.

Third place as it stands. 5 points off Falkirk (with a game in hand) but also 5 points from Dumbarton in 8th (who have a game in hand over us).

I’d imagine Jack McKay will be costing Airdrie nothing and just asking for a chance. The Club’s communication of the deal was awful (something they have previous for). Tell it as it is, if he’s desperate for a chance to show that he has something to offer say that. Don’t make him out to be a marquee signing. Find a fan you trust and bounce this stuff off them. Maybe.... I don’t know a rep from the Trust which owns more than 10% in the board and can tell you when something will go down like a cup of cold sick!

I think we need to find a way for the hardcore of us that are left to try and help the club survive this awful time and come out in a position of relative strength when it kicks off again and if we can do that, we’ll have an advantage in recruitment.

The trust are history.

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The trust are history.


Is “The Trust” not essentially just all of us who are members?

I think there’s always a role for a supporters’ trust at any club even if it’s just to poke the fans and ask sensible questions to make sure the club is being run sustainably (likely to be a challenge at the moment for every club).

Lots of fan bases are desperate for fan ownership. We have it! That’s an achievement that should be the basis for something....

A relationship needs to be built, but it shouldn’t be impossible.

We need to find an edge to allow us to compete with the likes of Falkirk and Thistle. Is utilising the talents within the supporter base is an option?
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On 10/02/2021 at 14:46, CapitalDiamond said:

 


Haha, I get my initials put on one Matchwinner jacket and then get that thrown at me 🤪

What would you disagree with?

 

On 10/02/2021 at 14:46, CapitalDiamond said:

 


Haha, I get my initials put on one Matchwinner jacket and then get that thrown at me 🤪

What would you disagree with?

 

To be honest it was a good enough post, I really don't know who signs who, would rather see a good scout, if they still exist, rather than DOF, can't see the need and any improvement  , 

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3 hours ago, CapitalDiamond said:

 


Is “The Trust” not essentially just all of us who are members?

I think there’s always a role for a supporters’ trust at any club even if it’s just to poke the fans and ask sensible questions to make sure the club is being run sustainably (likely to be a challenge at the moment for every club).

Lots of fan bases are desperate for fan ownership. We have it! That’s an achievement that should be the basis for something....

A relationship needs to be built, but it shouldn’t be impossible.

We need to find an edge to allow us to compete with the likes of Falkirk and Thistle. Is utilising the talents within the supporter base is an option?

 

I think the problem was the "Trust" outgrew the club... Who morphed into Diamonds in the community and all the " big hitters" went to them..

 

I think the "Trust" remains in name only don't remember much coming from them even pre covid....

 

Club 1924 has the potential to be a form of supporters club although due this pandemic nothing has came of it yet,   the club need a,but of imagination for this to work long term....

 

 

 

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7 hours ago, CapitalDiamond said:

Looks like this season might be null and void soon enough.

Possibly, hopefully our club are pushing To continue albeit an 18 game season..


To be sitting in 3rd 2 seasons running when the league is called would be unfortunate and I wouldn’t fancy owning a League 1 club at the moment given the hassle involved and seeing a model with limited cash flows being put under tremendous stress.

 

Not wanting to be controversial, I think the club has probably broke even at minimum this season, admittedly helped by furlough and 200k in handouts..

I’d be all for a reset in the club/trust relationship at this point and essentially the begging bowl coming round to try and make us competitive next year.

 

Not for me, let sleeping dogs lie

On recruitment, my view is that budget is the biggest issue.I

 

I don't think The budget is being spent wisely enough,  too big a squad of unproven squad players who offer nothing.

The safest way to get out of this league would be to identify players that excel in it or at a higher level and give them the financial incentives to join Airdrie.

 

We seemed to do that last season and seemed to be working, why change that policy....

We saw it with Livi - who despite pleading poverty obviously could offer more than we could to Crichton, L*thgow, Watt and Cadden. It was similar when Ayr took Docherty and Boyle (club captain/player of the year so presumably happy with us - but money talks).

 

Speculate to accumulate, for all livis faults, the club have always loved forward,  we seem to be treading water making the same mistakes year in year out.

I get the impression the takeover has increased the playing budget from the end of the Wotherspoon era but not to the extent we can sign the guys we’d like to. Stirling taking Ryan shows that.

If we really wanted Ryan we would have signed him and he would have got us 15 to 20 goals guaranteed,  we didn't sign him due to the signing policy......

So you then have to come up with a strategy that you think might work which is going to be more risky. I don’t think Stuart Millar could have done anything else.

 

Stuart Millar embarked on the most risky strategy which now seems I'll advised,  he has signed unknown overage pro youth players,   with no career starts to back up being signed.

We’ve been forced to take a bit of a punt on Robert, Stokes and Sabatini.

A self inflicted punt due to the reset of the signing policy ,  would think these 3 would. be on reasonable money for Airdrie..


Robert I’ve really enjoyed watching. He is raw and needs to be more consistent, but his contribution in November was amazing. I assume the club had and has exercised an option to extend his deal hence the revelation that his contract isn’t up at the end of the season. Even £100K for him might be vital at this stage in our history. Stuart Millar deserves credit for that.

 

The club will accept whatever his agent decides is an acceptable fee,   he is a long term cash cow for his agent, with his career mapped out...

Sabatini made an excellent first impression. Like Robert a first season in senior football. You’d question his consistency, but I think he’s good and could play at a higher level if he improves by being quicker on the ball- he could argue that more ball players around him in midfield would help.

 

Sabatini reminds of an old fashioned water carrier type, he is limited, although our style of play does not suit him, very defensive minded...

Stokes has been a disappointment. He could point to having very little time to make an impression. The harsh reality is that he looks unlikely to have a career as a footballer at a good level. That must be hard to take when you were previously at Leeds and played at age level for RoI - but it’s a common story and I can’t draw any other conclusion.

 

stokes looked half decent fleetingly in preseason,  then hardly featured , why were him, Mbayo and Sabatini signed.      All of our average players seem quite happy to sit on the bench t he3 mentioned,  OReilly, Thomson and Roy

Third place as it stands. 5 points off Falkirk (with a game in hand) but also 5 points from Dumbarton in 8th (who have a game in hand over us).

 

Yes we are, are we going up though.....no

I’d imagine Jack McKay will be costing Airdrie nothing and just asking for a chance. The Club’s communication of the deal was awful (something they have previous for). Tell it as it is, if he’s desperate for a chance to show that he has something to offer say that. Don’t make him out to be a marquee signing. Find a fan you trust and bounce this stuff off them. Maybe.... I don’t know a rep from the Trust which owns more than 10% in the board and can tell you when something will go down like a cup of cold sick!
 

Just another signing for the sake of it,  is it to keep Willie McKay happy, hoping he is going to throw a couple of Shillings our way,  I would much rather sign Mark McGuigan from stenny on a precontract

I think we need to find a way for the hardcore of us that are left to try and help the club survive this awful time and come out in a position of relative strength when it kicks off again and if we can do that, we’ll have an advantage in recruitment.

I think the club have squeezed the pips as much as they can, we need something back to re generate i interest ,  surely PH can see his investment being spunked,  does he need a DOF and a head coach, surely an old fashioned management team can galvanize a team of Hard working players into a successful team, I just think we over complicate everything,   we have the faci!ities, the rest is very similar to the ill fated TW and EWB er a.         

onwards and upwards

Just a couple of points above..

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14 hours ago, Passionate said:

Just a couple of points above..

How was last season's signing policy anymore successful than this season's? We're in exactly the same position as we were in last shutdown - 3rd and 5 points off the top of the league with a team who are as inconsistent, terrible at home and who get pretty much the same results/put in the same mixed performances as last season's. It's also almost exactly the same team except swap Currie for Hutton, Robert for Smith and Kerr for Millar. The main issues this season are the same as last season's and they are to do with Murray's management and inability to know his best team (especially in midfield) or get the best out of his players. I don't think this season or last season's team are world beaters or ultimately good enough to go up, but I think they are capable of more than Murray gets out of them. I would rather sign guys like Robert and Sabatini and potentially make a bit of money out of them than perennial jobbers like Kieran Millar and Kurtis Roberts. What's hurt us more this season has been retaining muck like Craig Thomson, Ally Roy and Euan O'Reilly and Murray picking a an unbalanced and disjointed midfield of almost exactly the same player, but again that's down to his baffling team selections more than anything else. 

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How was last season's signing policy anymore successful than this season's? We're in exactly the same position as we were in last shutdown - 3rd and 5 points off the top of the league with a team who are as inconsistent, terrible at home and who get pretty much the same results/put in the same mixed performances as last season's. It's also almost exactly the same team except swap Currie for Hutton, Robert for Smith and Kerr for Millar. The main issues this season are the same as last season's and they are to do with Murray's management and inability to know his best team (especially in midfield) or get the best out of his players. I don't think this season or last season's team are world beaters or ultimately good enough to go up, but I think they are capable of more than Murray gets out of them. I would rather sign guys like Robert and Sabatini and potentially make a bit of money out of them than perennial jobbers like Kieran Millar and Kurtis Roberts. What's hurt us more this season has been retaining muck like Craig Thomson, Ally Roy and Euan O'Reilly and Murray picking a an unbalanced and disjointed midfield of almost exactly the same player, but again that's down to his baffling team selections more than anything else. 


I agree with you. I don’t think we are any better than last year. Cup results have been worse.

Performances at home against Edinburgh City,Dumbarton and Montrose were really hard to watch. Arguably the only shock result this year was the win v Falkirk.

Can’t see that changing unless we can spend a bit more on quality players with a track record. If the club doesn’t have the cash to do that, then I don’t see an obvious way to outfox Falkirk,Thistle and arguably Cove if this season is Null and Void.

I’d change the coach. Appoint Sandy Clark and hope it makes a difference but it would be more in hope than expectation.
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29 minutes ago, airdrieman said:

How was last season's signing policy anymore successful than this season's? We're in exactly the same position as we were in last shutdown - 3rd and 5 points off the top of the league with a team who are as inconsistent, terrible at home and who get pretty much the same results/put in the same mixed performances as last season's. It's also almost exactly the same team except swap Currie for Hutton, Robert for Smith and Kerr for Millar. The main issues this season are the same as last season's and they are to do with Murray's management and inability to know his best team (especially in midfield) or get the best out of his players. I don't think this season or last season's team are world beaters or ultimately good enough to go up, but I think they are capable of more than Murray gets out of them. I would rather sign guys like Robert and Sabatini and potentially make a bit of money out of them than perennial jobbers like Kieran Millar and Kurtis Roberts. What's hurt us more this season has been retaining muck like Craig Thomson, Ally Roy and Euan O'Reilly and Murray picking a an unbalanced and disjointed midfield of almost exactly the same player, but again that's down to his baffling team selections more than anything else. 

I think the frustration from my perspective would be that while last seasons signing policy was more or less a full rebuild (Hutton, Crighton, Millar and Carrick being the only regulars kept on) and was seen as generally positive and a platform to build from, this seasons should have been about fine tuning and/or correcting errors. When was the last time we went from the end of one season to the start of the next with the same back 4? We also retained our top two scorers, who both hit double figures. 

I fully understand the mentality from yourself and @CapitalDiamond that we're not going to sign superstars for peanuts and looking at "outside the box" options is well worth doing despite being inherently riskier, but I think it's left us with zero drive or energy in the middle of the park and as a result Murray doesn't have the type of player(s) needed in the middle of the park. For me, that's because in too many cases the players being offered aren't actually what we need/want. We've got two entirely different recruitment models operating in a squad of 20. Without a much clearer idea of what we actually want it's never going to work. 

I don't know if that's the fault of Millar as DoF, the McKay link (which as I've said I don't think has helped because there doesn't seem to be an overall "plan") or of Murray not being clear about - or not knowing! - what he wants/needs, but while there's always going to be flops when we make signings, we haven't helped ourselves over the last year. 

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On 11/02/2021 at 12:39, TheBuckfastTriangle said:

I think the frustration from my perspective would be that while last seasons signing policy was more or less a full rebuild (Hutton, Crighton, Millar and Carrick being the only regulars kept on) and was seen as generally positive and a platform to build from, this seasons should have been about fine tuning and/or correcting errors. When was the last time we went from the end of one season to the start of the next with the same back 4? We also retained our top two scorers, who both hit double figures. 

I fully understand the mentality from yourself and @CapitalDiamond that we're not going to sign superstars for peanuts and looking at "outside the box" options is well worth doing despite being inherently riskier, but I think it's left us with zero drive or energy in the middle of the park and as a result Murray doesn't have the type of player(s) needed in the middle of the park. For me, that's because in too many cases the players being offered aren't actually what we need/want. We've got two entirely different recruitment models operating in a squad of 20. Without a much clearer idea of what we actually want it's never going to work. 

I don't know if that's the fault of Millar as DoF, the McKay link (which as I've said I don't think has helped because there doesn't seem to be an overall "plan") or of Murray not being clear about - or not knowing! - what he wants/needs, but while there's always going to be flops when we make signings, we haven't helped ourselves over the last year. 

Could be the reason Murray still has a job, he has to play players others are signing, You would think Murray who played at a good level would have the knowledge not to sign most of the players we have their track record must be ringing warning bells a mile away, 

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1 hour ago, Jack Reed said:

Could be the reason Murray still has a job, he has to play players others are signing, You would think Murray who played at a good level would have the knowledge not to sign most of the players we have their track record must be ringing warning bells a mile away, 

I suspect he's still got a job because, objectively, he's done an alright job. We finished 5th in his first (part) season and the message then was that we wanted to improve every year so playoffs was the minimum expectation. We finished 3rd last year and while I don't think we were realistically in the title race towards the end we were in the top 4 all year. This season we've generally been a bit underwhelming but, if the season is to resume, we're a game in hand away from 2nd. Sacking Murray based purely on the results he's had would be ridiculous.

That said, I'm aware that I'm sounding like a Murray fanboy. I'm not. The "style" of football has been fairly grim a lot of the time, the middle of the park has never looked right (which as a former central midfielder I'd have expected Murray to rectify) and we don't score enough goals, particularly from non-strikers. Overall I'd keep him, we've chopped and changed far too much on and off the park over the last few years, but a more attack-minded approach and sorting out the middle of the park really are needed.

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1 hour ago, TheBuckfastTriangle said:

I suspect he's still got a job because, objectively, he's done an alright job. We finished 5th in his first (part) season and the message then was that we wanted to improve every year so playoffs was the minimum expectation. We finished 3rd last year and while I don't think we were realistically in the title race towards the end we were in the top 4 all year. This season we've generally been a bit underwhelming but, if the season is to resume, we're a game in hand away from 2nd. Sacking Murray based purely on the results he's had would be ridiculous.

That said, I'm aware that I'm sounding like a Murray fanboy. I'm not. The "style" of football has been fairly grim a lot of the time, the middle of the park has never looked right (which as a former central midfielder I'd have expected Murray to rectify) and we don't score enough goals, particularly from non-strikers. Overall I'd keep him, we've chopped and changed far too much on and off the park over the last few years, but a more attack-minded approach and sorting out the middle of the park really are needed.

Murray doing alright job, the level we are at any half decent team would walk the league, to get beat by a lower division team can be excused once but for a manager to let a carbon copy happen the next  time they meet, there is no excuse , 

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12 minutes ago, Jack Reed said:

Murray doing alright job, the level we are at any half decent team would walk the league, to get beat by a lower division team can be excused once but for a manager to let a carbon copy happen the next  time they meet, there is no excuse , 

Well, last season Murray had us in 3rd place with 14 wins (48 points). In the 6 seasons before that in this division we finished 5th, 7th, 3rd, 5th, 5th and 6th.

The season we matched Murrays 3rd place from last year we won 16 games and finished with 52 points, so short of a massive collapse in the last 8 games, Murray was on course to take us to our "best" season in 6 years.

It's a low bar, and there's plenty to improve on, but given that those last 7 years I've given above takes in 3 ownership regimes, about 10 different folk picking the team and at least 150 players I'd be inclined to go for playoff level stability at the minute.

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19 minutes ago, TheBuckfastTriangle said:

Well, last season Murray had us in 3rd place with 14 wins (48 points). In the 6 seasons before that in this division we finished 5th, 7th, 3rd, 5th, 5th and 6th.

The season we matched Murrays 3rd place from last year we won 16 games and finished with 52 points, so short of a massive collapse in the last 8 games, Murray was on course to take us to our "best" season in 6 years.

It's a low bar, and there's plenty to improve on, but given that those last 7 years I've given above takes in 3 ownership regimes, about 10 different folk picking the team and at least 150 players I'd be inclined to go for playoff level stability at the minute.

Aye it is a low bar, to play in league 1  for the foreseeable future, take away Falkirk game and our performances are dire, 

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4 hours ago, TheBuckfastTriangle said:

Well, last season Murray had us in 3rd place with 14 wins (48 points). In the 6 seasons before that in this division we finished 5th, 7th, 3rd, 5th, 5th and 6th.

The season we matched Murrays 3rd place from last year we won 16 games and finished with 52 points, so short of a massive collapse in the last 8 games, Murray was on course to take us to our "best" season in 6 years.

It's a low bar, and there's plenty to improve on, but given that those last 7 years I've given above takes in 3 ownership regimes, about 10 different folk picking the team and at least 150 players I'd be inclined to go for playoff level stability at the minute.

I am sorry w e cannot try and paper over the cracks, apathy reeks in our support and throughout the club, it is now ingrained in the dna.

 

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On 11/02/2021 at 11:40, CapitalDiamond said:

 


I agree with you. I don’t think we are any better than last year. Cup results have been worse.

Performances at home against Edinburgh City,Dumbarton and Montrose were really hard to watch. Arguably the only shock result this year was the win v Falkirk.

Can’t see that changing unless we can spend a bit more on quality players with a track record. If the club doesn’t have the cash to do that, then I don’t see an obvious way to outfox Falkirk,Thistle and arguably Cove if this season is Null and Void.

I’d change the coach. Appoint Sandy Clark and hope it makes a difference but it would be more in hope than expectation.

 

Ideally, you want a mix of your quality players with a track record and your young players with potential - the likes of Robert, MacDonald, McCann, Kerr, Sabatini etc. I suspect they are out of our price range but (a fit) Ross Docherty or Morgaro Gomis type in midfield would be perfect. I (perhaps naively) genuinely think a player like that would transform our team. It is difficult to get that mix at our level - you don't just want to sign players with experience for the sake of it, but who are middle of the road like Findlay did. But we have done it before. 03/04 when we won this division was that perfect mix and components of Bollans' teams had it too. We actually have it in our defence at the moment. I'm sure playing beside Crighton and Fordyce (and in front of Hutton and even Currie to an extent) has helped develop the games of MacDonald and McCann. We really don't have that anywhere else on the park though and it shows. I think our most experienced midfielder is Paul McKay. And he's A) possibly not even really a midfielder. B) His only senior experience is playing two sort-of seasons with us. Gallagher and Carrick are 26 and 27 respectively but the rest of our strikers have barely kicked a professional league football between themselves. 

On 11/02/2021 at 12:39, TheBuckfastTriangle said:

I think the frustration from my perspective would be that while last seasons signing policy was more or less a full rebuild (Hutton, Crighton, Millar and Carrick being the only regulars kept on) and was seen as generally positive and a platform to build from, this seasons should have been about fine tuning and/or correcting errors. When was the last time we went from the end of one season to the start of the next with the same back 4? We also retained our top two scorers, who both hit double figures. 

I fully understand the mentality from yourself and @CapitalDiamond that we're not going to sign superstars for peanuts and looking at "outside the box" options is well worth doing despite being inherently riskier, but I think it's left us with zero drive or energy in the middle of the park and as a result Murray doesn't have the type of player(s) needed in the middle of the park. For me, that's because in too many cases the players being offered aren't actually what we need/want. We've got two entirely different recruitment models operating in a squad of 20. Without a much clearer idea of what we actually want it's never going to work. 

I don't know if that's the fault of Millar as DoF, the McKay link (which as I've said I don't think has helped because there doesn't seem to be an overall "plan") or of Murray not being clear about - or not knowing! - what he wants/needs, but while there's always going to be flops when we make signings, we haven't helped ourselves over the last year. 

Linked to the above but I completely agree that it's bizarre a manager who played at a high level in centre-mid, can't seem to build an effective one or identify the sort of midfielder that we need. We are reasonably good pretty much everywhere else on the park which makes it all the more frustrating, especially as you say this was also the case last season. 

4 hours ago, David W said:

It must be slightly troubling (for both teams) that you've scored more goals against us in two games than in the 8 other games.

I've noticed that as well. We can't break down teams very well at all so it seems to be the case that Falkirk and Clyde are the teams that we suit playing best. Falkirk because we can sit and hit them on the break and, oddly, score from set pieces, and Clyde because they seem to have a revolving cast of comedy characters in defence which means we never have to work particularly hard to score against them. It also helps David Mitchell seems to have a memory lapse of what a goalkeeper actually is and chucks in two or three himself every time he plays Airdrie. 

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