The Official Airdrieonians Thread - 2019/20 and beyond

[Chapelhall chap]

12 minutes ago, Eric the half a b said:

Like yourself don't like to see anyone loose their job however the interview is concerning wouldn't expect him to slate the team but seems there is no acceptance of how bad today was particularly the 2nd half and if the manager can't see the problems he sure can't fix them

Will watch it later : takes me back to the days of Findlay/Wilson when it was largely the same Qld "disappointing" tales get me concerned as well. 

[Passionate]

1 hour ago, Peter LaFleur said:

How was Paton? He has two pieces of play in his locker; either crab like movement to make a simple pass or to hoof it in the air in the direction he’s facing to absolutely nobody?

He was our best player a country mile today,   

[Passionate]

1 hour ago, G_H said:

I've questioned before the value of Murray as a manager and that he is very unlikely to take us up.

At the moment I'm actually quite worried that he is going to take us down.

Edit: So where are all the happy clappers to tell us how great the dressing room atmosphere is, and how the team reported back from the break in top shape?

I have tried to  be objective regarding Murray during his tenure, it's getting tough now and in my opinion  he must be gone at season end....   But that team which was lets not forget given to Murray by StuartMillar,  whether Murray wanted them or not...  Let's break these p!Ayers down...

 

Currie...  Highly rated by a relegated team,  Much better keepers in this league..

JMacKay......   Don't know how he ends up at right back?????

McCann......   Started greatseason on loan from accies, since we signed him his regression has been alarming..

Crighton.....  Captain marvel,  poor distribution,getting found out, no real leader

Fordyce......  Having a poor season, fans favourite, limited , poor distribution

McKay.....    Should havebeen playing as a midfield 2 with Paton, wandered everywhere where he shouldn't ,headless chicken

Robert.....  Gutless, spineless totally unable to beat a man and even put in a bad cross...a media whore

Paton......  Only player who seemed to have fight and have a  real idea of how to play football,  this is a 33 yo who plays lowland league.

Gallagher.....  Held the ball  all up well enough, no real goal threat

Carrick....   Playing in the no 10 role or is 10 the number of minutes he can muster before he blows out his arse these days,  Good player when you are riding teams..

O Reilly.....  Holy f**k... Well he can run with the ball and wait to be fouled, which he does consistently,  crossing the ball seems being him, no idea of tracking back or pressuring an opponent ...   I don't think he is even junior level....

 

Subs....  Roy......give me a break,  scored,    would be know where near a good side

  Mbayo.......Tuesday will be fun to watchside

Thomson........ See O Reilly

Connell......  See Gallagher...

 

Focussing on a must win game on Thursday at Dumbarton, we win there we could have a chance if not, can you see this ragtag bunch digging us out...   Oh and Tuesday in Cove could be a sore one I don't see Meggisonand co !osing  much sleep over facing Mbayo and co

 

 

 

[Roger Thornhill]

1 hour ago, airdrieman said:

There's Ian Murray saying 'we were as good as we've been' in his post-match interview. Guy's a clown. I know you can't take much stock in these things but if that's the standard he's setting as good enough then he doesn't belong as a manager at this level. Looks like we'll be stuck with him for another week at least. 

For the first 30 odd minutes there was nothing in it between the sides but once Thistle scored their first, the bottle crashed and game was the inevitable bogie. As for Murray saying "the scoreline didn't reflect how well we played and how hard we worked" - it sure didn't reflect the scoreline because Thistle could have scored at least 3 more - and that's before we went down to 10 men. Let's be blunt, the scoreline flattered Airdrie big style.

Promotion play offs - not a chance unless there is some kind of miracle turnaround. And I can't see it.

Regarding a change of manager this season - I don't think it will make a difference. It's too late for a change in personnel.

Next season - the board has a choice. Say ta ta to Murray or keep him on.  

Murray has several "excuses"  for him to be kept on - covid-19 disrupting another season, him not having control of the signings made by Millar in charge of recruitment and him not having an assistant with the club binning Colin Cameron.

However, his selections and tactics are questionable to say the least (I am being kind) and the mere fact that he has been allowed and not fought his corner in getting an assistant (Murray has always worked  better with an assistant by his side - ie with Jack Ross at Dumbarton) for the remainder of this crucial season, makes him look weak tactically and personality wise.

Based on what I witnessed this afternoon - we aint going anywhere and at the very best we will be staying in this league - if we are lucky.

Next season - my guess - Ian Murray will be allowed to build his "own team" before  being gubbed several times, and with  Airdrie  languishing in the bottom half of the league,  he is given the heave ho. 

The joy of being an Airdrie fan..

 

 

 

Edited March 27, 2021 by Roger Thornhill

[Ballboy]

37 minutes ago, Eric the half a b said:

Like yourself don't like to see anyone loose their job however the interview is concerning wouldn't expect him to slate the team but seems there is no acceptance of how bad today was particularly the 2nd half and if the manager can't see the problems he sure can't fix them

I think a manager has to come out and say it as it is.   Were as poor as we have ever been.    The managers style seems to be "unlucky boys" after games when they need to get the finger out.    

Shambles at the back and yet another home game ends with a defeat.    I was also an advocate of the manager being given time.   I think he will be given till the end of the season but if no play offs then it's back to square 1. Then new manager,  squad rebuild just like the last 3 seasons.  

[Ballboy]

16 minutes ago, Passionate said:

I have tried to  be objective regarding Murray during his tenure, it's getting tough now and in my opinion  he must be gone at season end....   But that team which was lets not forget given to Murray by StuartMillar,  whether Murray wanted them or not...  Let's break these p!Ayers down...

 

Currie...  Highly rated by a relegated team,  Much better keepers in this league..

JMacKay......   Don't know how he ends up at right back?????

McCann......   Started greatseason on loan from accies, since we signed him his regression has been alarming..

Crighton.....  Captain marvel,  poor distribution,getting found out, no real leader

Fordyce......  Having a poor season, fans favourite, limited , poor distribution

McKay.....    Should havebeen playing as a midfield 2 with Paton, wandered everywhere where he shouldn't ,headless chicken

Robert.....  Gutless, spineless totally unable to beat a man and even put in a bad cross...a media whore

Paton......  Only player who seemed to have fight and have a  real idea of how to play football,  this is a 33 yo who plays lowland league.

Gallagher.....  Held the ball  all up well enough, no real goal threat

Carrick....   Playing in the no 10 role or is 10 the number of minutes he can muster before he blows out his arse these days,  Good player when you are riding teams..

O Reilly.....  Holy f**k... Well he can run with the ball and wait to be fouled, which he does consistently,  crossing the ball seems being him, no idea of tracking back or pressuring an opponent ...   I don't think he is even junior level....

 

Subs....  Roy......give me a break,  scored,    would be know where near a good side

  Mbayo.......Tuesday will be fun to watchside

Thomson........ See O Reilly

Connell......  See Gallagher...

 

Focussing on a must win game on Thursday at Dumbarton, we win there we could have a chance if not, can you see this ragtag bunch digging us out...   Oh and Tuesday in Cove could be a sore one I don't see Meggisonand co !osing  much sleep over facing Mbayo and co

 

 

 

Absolutely savage scout report there mate.  Fancy doin the team talk on Tuesday?

[Passionate]

9 minutes ago, Ballboy said:

Absolutely savage scout report there mate.  Fancy doin the team talk on Tuesday?

I notice you are not disagreeing with my assessment...

[Ballboy]

2 minutes ago, Passionate said:

I notice you are not disagreeing with my assessment...

Pretty much how I'd describe the squad also.  Their are capable players in the squad but if the manager doesn't like who we have or would rather players played out of position than even give young squad players a go like the end of last season then the shambles goes from top to bottom.  

[Chapelhall chap]

Where are people seeing the Murray interview. I don't do Twitter or whatever that is. Old IT guy sorry.

Edited March 27, 2021 by Chapelhall chap
spelling error

[Eric the half a b]

2 minutes ago, Chapelhall chap said:

Where are people seeing the Murray interview. I don't do Twitter or whatever that is. Old IT gut sorry.

Go on the club website scroll down and you will get it at the twitter section 

[Chapelhall chap]

Thanks for pointing me to that bit. Hope my IT skills work.

[Chapelhall chap]

5 minutes ago, Chapelhall chap said:

Thanks for pointing me to that bit. Hope my IT skills work.

I now know how to view these words and it almost leaves me speechless. It did show how windy the day must have been as I sat on the couch indoors. Full of excuses about getting knocked about-maybe we need a beastie boys reunion. The best football we have seen? Yes a 2-0 lead would have been deserved at that stage but why the collapse after half time? We appear to have been dominating and also counter attacking! He is not complaining about the Ref but then does.  Being the usual 2 faced football fan I will change my mind about him when we start winning ,but I fear the worst is to come.

[Eric the half a b]

11 minutes ago, Chapelhall chap said:

I now know how to view these words and it almost leaves me speechless. It did show how windy the day must have been as I sat on the couch indoors. Full of excuses about getting knocked about-maybe we need a beastie boys reunion. The best football we have seen? Yes a 2-0 lead would have been deserved at that stage but why the collapse after half time? We appear to have been dominating and also counter attacking! He is not complaining about the Ref but then does.  Being the usual 2 faced football fan I will change my mind about him when we start winning ,but I fear the worst is to come.

There could well be worst to come Falkirk Cove Montrose East Fife Dumbarton and Forfar an Airdrie team should be capable of winning 4 out of 6 which is probably minimum requirement but can this team ... I have my doubts

[airdrieman]

I still think we're better than the bottom three, although I don't say that with any degree of confidence. And being the only side above them now is scary viewing. Those Clyde games are masking a lot though. 2/5 of our victories, 1/2 home wins and 9/19 goals have been against them. Include Forfar and that's 3/5 victories and 12/19 goals. Grim. 

[Eric the half a b]

11 minutes ago, airdrieman said:

I still think we're better than the bottom three, although I don't say that with any degree of confidence. And being the only side above them now is scary viewing. Those Clyde games are masking a lot though. 2/5 of our victories, 1/2 home wins and 9/19 goals have been against them. Include Forfar and that's 3/5 victories and 12/19 goals. Grim. 

When you break it down like that it is bit alarming and the way we folded today not good 

[Diamond10]

Would say I’ve been pretty patient with Murray over the time he’s been here but for us to be sitting 7th in league one is a real low for us, every excuse aside. We now have to be looking down the way as well as up. I’ve said all along that our squad is average at best and our league position proves that . Too many passengers and not enough quality. If we had pushed the boat out for Andy Ryan in the summer and maybe started the season with Paton and Turner things may have looked different but instead we go for youngsters and squad players to pad out the team. The summer signings have all turned out to be utterly shambolic. Currie is no better than Hutton. Mbayo, Sabatini & stokes are obviously not good enough to play As for Robert I seriously don’t get the hype - Mostly anonymous in the games I’ve seen. We don’t have a squad capable of winning the league but the bare minimum should be 4th and unless we win the next 3 games (an extremely hard ask) we have no chance imo and Murray should go. 

[++Ammo - Airdrie++]

I'm afraid I'm in agreement with most recent posts above, I've been patient with Murray, affording him more time than most, but it's now a case of "thanks for your efforts, bye". The question we need to ask yourself is now, not "can this man get us up" it's now sadly "can he keep us up" and that answer is still in the wind!

Constant line up changing, triple subs, post match interviews all point to desperation moves on Murray's part and alarm bells from a club POV. I honestly don't think I can bring myself to buy the PPV anymore, if we were allowed to go to the stadiums, if still be going with the wee man, but even he doesn't want to watch Airdrie on TV anymore and I don't blame him, lasted 52 mins yesterday before going to paint the back fence and turning it off.... How many others will be the same?

Boy in my work was telling me how great it must be having Robert at that level, couldn't believe it when I told him he's pish. Hopefully he gets a move, we get some cash and it can go towards an EXPERIENCED manager who knows what it takes to get promotion at this level, or build a "horses for courses" team for L1.

#murrayout

[Passionate]

1 hour ago, ++Ammo - Airdrie++ said:

I'm afraid I'm in agreement with most recent posts above, I've been patient with Murray, affording him more time than most, but it's now a case of "thanks for your efforts, bye". The question we need to ask yourself is now, not "can this man get us up" it's now sadly "can he keep us up" and that answer is still in the wind!

Constant line up changing, triple subs, post match interviews all point to desperation moves on Murray's part and alarm bells from a club POV. I honestly don't think I can bring myself to buy the PPV anymore, if we were allowed to go to the stadiums, if still be going with the wee man, but even he doesn't want to watch Airdrie on TV anymore and I don't blame him, lasted 52 mins yesterday before going to paint the back fence and turning it off.... How many others will be the same?

Boy in my work was telling me how great it must be having Robert at that level, couldn't believe it when I told him he's pish. Hopefully he gets a move, we get some cash and it can go towards an EXPERIENCED manager who knows what it takes to get promotion at this level, or build a "horses for courses" team for L1.

#murrayout

Didn't worry about it w e are still with Umbro next season and no doubt  a rehashed 95 cup final strip (rumoured) will keep us all happy as we go for League 2 glory.......

like yourself and as my previous posts state,  we have gone ....Dumbarton on Thursday is a MUST not lose.....  Cove first though and damage limitation is on the cards....He has to play Walker at RB,  and Sabatini and Ritchie giving Paton a hand in midfield, don't even bother putting O Reilly or Robert on the coach....

[Diamonds are Forever]

10 hours ago, Diamond10 said:

Would say I’ve been pretty patient with Murray over the time he’s been here but for us to be sitting 7th in league one is a real low for us, every excuse aside. We now have to be looking down the way as well as up. I’ve said all along that our squad is average at best and our league position proves that . Too many passengers and not enough quality. If we had pushed the boat out for Andy Ryan in the summer and maybe started the season with Paton and Turner things may have looked different but instead we go for youngsters and squad players to pad out the team. The summer signings have all turned out to be utterly shambolic. Currie is no better than Hutton. Mbayo, Sabatini & stokes are obviously not good enough to play As for Robert I seriously don’t get the hype - Mostly anonymous in the games I’ve seen. We don’t have a squad capable of winning the league but the bare minimum should be 4th and unless we win the next 3 games (an extremely hard ask) we have no chance imo and Murray should go. 

 

Currie is a weird one. He rarely makes obvious handling errors (mainly because he's rooted to his line when crosses come in) but there is a general feeling of chaos in defence that wasn't there last season. The issue I was moaning about of us sitting too deep I'm sure is linked to the goalkeeper. He never comes for any crosses so I think is happy for the defence to drop into the 6 yard box and defend crosses that he should be dealing with. A confident, commanding keeper would be screaming at the defence to push out and clear the way for him claiming anything that comes in. We didn't drop that deep last season with the same defence with Hutton and Gallacher in nets, so you have to look at the goalie.

The way he rushed out for the 1st goal yesterday was also poor, and was very similar to an East Fife goal earlier in the season. He commits too far out his box making it an easy finish for the striker. Unless he'd managed to pull off a Maldini-esque tackle on Tiffoney yesterday he was either getting sent off or conceding a goal. I'm not a goalie but would seem holding your ground, narrowing the angle and making the striker actually beat you is a better option than sliding out like that.

With goalies I think there is a lot of unseen influence and I just get the feeling with Currie that the unseen side of his game - positioning, organisation etc isn't quite there yet. It's the biggest worry of all positions for me because we have no other options.

Edited March 28, 2021 by Diamonds are Forever

[airdrieman]

I still think there’s a kernel of a good squad there. Maybe more fool me, and I wouldn’t argue strongly for any player apart from Carrick, but we’ve seen over the last 1/2/3 seasons and at various points throughout their careers that a lot of these players can play well at this level. I think the issue is primarily the manager not getting the best out of them and it’s been well documented by all on here the reasons why. But I think a possibly overlooked issue is the fundamentally amateurish coaching set-up we’ve implemented this season. Even if he was the best coach in the world, there’s no way having only one proper full-time coach was ever going to be successful. I know Sean Crighton is a ‘first team coach’ but I just can’t see how he can seriously actually offer anything in that role while he’s still a player (and I’m not sure if he’s even full-time?). I’m no expert but it must surely be impossible to coach the goalie and the defence, the strikers, develop and work with to get the best out of raw talents like Connell, Robert and even a guy like O’Reilly (steady on now) and work on things like shape, tactics and style of play all of the time all by yourself? The regression in the defence from last season points to a lack of fundamental coaching IMO. A well-drilled team is at the very least difficult to beat and does not concede sloppy goals like that yesterday on a regular basis and certainly not 4 in the one match. I don’t think Cameron was the panacea many people claim he was, but a bigger effort should have been made to either retain him or recruit somebody else to take that position. If Murray didn’t fight for that, and presumably he didn’t, then a lot of the blame for that also has to lie with him. Any half-decent team has a manager and at least one assistant and/or coach. Totally amateurish to think we could get away with having only one, especially seeing as we have a hybrid structure in place.