The Official Airdrieonians Thread - 2019/20 and beyond

[Airdrie76]

Does anyone know the last time the club has organised a supporters bus to an away game?

If Gary does continue to run his buses to away games I'd imagine most folk (myself included) that has used his bus previously will continue to do so. I do feel when Gary was struggling to get a hold of bus companies someone from the club should of stepped in and tried to help him out.

Obviously the timing of the club running a supporters bus to the away games isn't great but at least they are trying to do something now (albeit late than never). I also feel the club should make this bus available for everyone, not just season ticket holders and 1924 members.

The club should just overturn his ban as this is getting incredibly petty and the club should try and work with Gary not against him to try and get more fans to away games.

Honestly I think we should all lay off the plaudits. It’s good it’s happening. But we know why (spite and to prove a point). Hopefully they continue to run it and prove me wrong in the long term.

[cb_diamond]

8 hours ago, Passionate said:

Can someone please explain what the club are doing wrong on this occasion...

Being at worst petty, immature children who literally don't give a crap about their fan base. Being at best tone deaf and truly, truly awful at fan PR with a chairman who both simultaneously manages to appear completely absent but also completely arrogant (which is no mean feat). 

Neither are ideal are they?

People know I regularly mock the state of that fans Facebook page and some of the knuckle draggers who lurk there, but on this occasion a LOT of their criticisms are pretty valid. 

[ShineOnYouCrazyDiamonds]

Lyness would’ve been my man of the match pick today which says a lot, although Gallagher was probably my second pick. Worse performance than last week but getting the result is the main thing. There’s a good player in McMaster but just a bit raw at the moment. Still not convinced by Telfer.

[David Fernández]

That was a massive 3 points today, only 3 points behind second place!!! That game was torture to watch, We really needed that though.

[She who dares gins]

Wasn’t pretty but big three points. Stopped the rot that had set in, hopefully the confidence will come back more as I still feel that’s lacking a wee bit.

[Rhys McCabe Hype Train]

Felt busier than normal in the stand & concourse today, wonder what the official attendance will be.

[Chapelhall chap]

Posted on game thread. Back in the mix and although it was close and Lyness did stop us going behind and Gal rescued us again, I'll take the three points and move on, even if it was still a nervy view. My Curry was a tad spicy post match but it's a happy Saturday.

[diamondman]

Not a great watch but pleased with 3 points..

[She who dares gins]

Felt busier than normal in the stand & concourse today, wonder what the official attendance will be.

BBC normally have it post match in with the line-ups. Can take a day or two to appear

[Diamonds are Forever]

Hard to know what to make of that. On one hand we were saying a few weeks back that we weren't able to grind out results and in the last 3 games we've dug out two 1 nil wins and salvaged a late draw. On the other hand those 3 games are against the bottom 3 sides and struggling to 7 points out of 9 against them (with 2 home games) is a bit worrying.

 

Edited November 19, 2022 by Diamonds are Forever

[Jack Reed]

5 minutes ago, Diamonds are Forever said:

Hard to know what to make of that. On one hand we were saying a few weeks back that we weren't able to grind out results and in the last 3 games we've dug out two 1 nil wins and salvaged a late draw. On the other hand those 3 games are against the bottom 3 sides and struggling to 7 points out of 9 against them (with 2 home games) is a bit worrying.

 

Great 3 point's, pressure off next week, go and play the football we can play, 

[Mr November]

7 minutes ago, Diamonds are Forever said:

Hard to know what to make of that. On one hand we were saying a few weeks back that we weren't able to grind out results and in the last 3 games we've dug out two 1 nil wins and salvaged a late draw. On the other hand those 3 games are against the bottom 3 sides and struggling to 7 points out of 9 against them (with 2 home games) is a bit worrying.

 

I think we’ll have a better understanding of these three games once we’ve played the next four, if that doesn’t sound too daft. Really it’s three games you should be looking to get maximum points from but a late equaliser and two narrow wins, without putting in any particularly good performances, isn’t the worst for a team we all consider to be quite soft. The next four league games look very tough though but if we can keep up the clean sheets we’ll have a great chance of pushing up the table. I do think we’re still very open though and better teams could have punished us over the last few weeks. I do feel a bit more confident in McCabe than I did prior to the Montrose game though.

I think the most telling thing this season is we’re still so reliant on the first goal. We’ve now played 21 games in total and our record when scoring the first goal is W9 D1 L0. However, when we concede the first goal it’s W0 D4 L7. That partially comes from a lack of options to change things but it’s unsustainable if we want to make the top four. 

[Passionate]

36 minutes ago, Mr November said:

I think we’ll have a better understanding of these three games once we’ve played the next four, if that doesn’t sound too daft. Really it’s three games you should be looking to get maximum points from but a late equaliser and two narrow wins, without putting in any particularly good performances, isn’t the worst for a team we all consider to be quite soft. The next four league games look very tough though but if we can keep up the clean sheets we’ll have a great chance of pushing up the table. I do think we’re still very open though and better teams could have punished us over the last few weeks. I do feel a bit more confident in McCabe than I did prior to the Montrose game though.

I think the most telling thing this season is we’re still so reliant on the first goal. We’ve now played 21 games in total and our record when scoring the first goal is W9 D1 L0. However, when we concede the first goal it’s W0 D4 L7. That partially comes from a lack of options to change things but it’s unsustainable if we want to make the top four. 

Last season we had exactly the same issue,  we never came back from a goal down all last season until the crazy Montrose playoff game.. 

[Chapelhall chap]

2 minutes ago, Passionate said:

Last season we had exactly the same issue,  we never came back from a goal down all last season until the crazy Montrose playoff game.. 

I'll bow to your memory of that point if only to glory in picturing that Montrose game.

[David Fernández]

There's only one Calum Allagher [emoji1]

[Mr November]

7 minutes ago, Passionate said:

Last season we had exactly the same issue,  we never came back from a goal down all last season until the crazy Montrose playoff game.. 

I think we did it in the semi final against Cove the year before too but looking back, I think the last time we won a league game after conceding the first goal was that 4-1 win at Forfar when big Nat came off and we went on to score four goals. That was over three years ago!

[Diamonds are Forever]

59 minutes ago, Mr November said:

I think we’ll have a better understanding of these three games once we’ve played the next four, if that doesn’t sound too daft. Really it’s three games you should be looking to get maximum points from but a late equaliser and two narrow wins, without putting in any particularly good performances, isn’t the worst for a team we all consider to be quite soft. The next four league games look very tough though but if we can keep up the clean sheets we’ll have a great chance of pushing up the table. I do think we’re still very open though and better teams could have punished us over the last few weeks. I do feel a bit more confident in McCabe than I did prior to the Montrose game though.

I think the most telling thing this season is we’re still so reliant on the first goal. We’ve now played 21 games in total and our record when scoring the first goal is W9 D1 L0. However, when we concede the first goal it’s W0 D4 L7. That partially comes from a lack of options to change things but it’s unsustainable if we want to make the top four. 

 

I'm oversimplifying it obviously but that's effectively like winning half your games and losing half, assuming that you score first 50% of the time. Our points tally backs that up. 1.5 points a game after 16 matches puts you on 24 points, we are on 25. Carry that on for the season and we'd get 54 points. That would generally get you 4th place however there is more quality around the play-off positions this season so we'd probably need more than that.

Interestingly we are only 1 point worse off than at the same point last season, and 3 points off our finishing position last year. That doesn't tell the full story as we were pretty average for the first few months last season, it was around this time last year that we started our excellent run of form. But I do think our great form at the end of last season has meant that people are perceiving this season to be a lot worse than it is so far. Clearly our current position ultimately isn't good enough if that continues no matter what spin is put on it, but we're still in a position where we can have a good season.

The thing I keep coming back to is the squad depth, for me it would be near impossible to reach the play-offs without adding another 3 or 4 players. Today our bench was effectively ATS (who doesn't seem to be fully fit) and our manager with a cold. We cannot change a game or mix it up, and it's inevitable that we'll get more injuries and suspensions. My hope is that we can hang around mid-table until January and then hope we get some players from somewhere.

Edited November 19, 2022 by Diamonds are Forever

[Mr November]

9 minutes ago, Diamonds are Forever said:

 

I'm oversimplifying it obviously but that's effectively like winning half your games and losing half, assuming that you score first 50% of the time. Our points tally backs that up. 1.5 points a game after 16 matches puts you on 24 points, we are on 25. Carry that on for the season and we'd get 54 points. That would generally get you 4th place however there is more quality around the play-off positions this season so we'd probably need more than that.

Interestingly we are only 1 point worse off than at the same point last season, and 3 points off our finishing position last year. That doesn't tell the full story as we were pretty average for the first few months last season, it was around this time last year that we started our excellent run of form. But I do think our great form at the end of last season has meant that people are perceiving this season to be a lot worse than it is so far. Clearly our current position ultimately isn't good enough if that continues no matter what spin is put on it, but we're still in a position where we can have a good season.

The thing I keep coming back to is the squad depth, for me it would be near impossible to reach the play-offs without adding another 3 or 4 players. Today our bench was effectively ATS (who doesn't seem to be fully fit) and our manager with a cold. We cannot change a game or mix it up, and it's inevitable that we'll get more injuries and suspensions. My hope is that we can hang around mid-table until January and then hope we get some players from somewhere.

I think the season so far being fairly clearly divided between five good results, seven bad ones (Clyde 5-0 aside) and then four decent ones doesn’t help. Fans are fickle (myself included) and we’ve went from a brilliant start straight into a dreadful run which hopefully we’re slowly coming out of. If that was spread out over the season then we’d probably see it as inconsistent but maybe not quite as bad.

Top four would be a good achievement and as you allude to, I think last season has made the idea of a title challenge a bit more of an expectation for some rather than something we need to punch above our weight to do. I don’t see this team going on a similar kind of run at all, even with a few additions, but I think the next run of games will be a decent indicator how we cope against the better teams when not on a brilliant or horrendous run.

[KD1711]

There's only one Calum Allagher [emoji1]

Delighted he has scored so I can keep up my Gallagher propaganda [emoji23]

[Sarahs Uncle]

On 19/11/2022 at 10:52, cb_diamond said:

Being at worst petty, immature children who literally don't give a crap about their fan base. Being at best tone deaf and truly, truly awful at fan PR with a chairman who both simultaneously manages to appear completely absent but also completely arrogant (which is no mean feat). 

Neither are ideal are they?

People know I regularly mock the state of that fans Facebook page and some of the knuckle draggers who lurk there, but on this occasion a LOT of their criticisms are pretty valid. 

Absolute nonsense.

Again, let's look at facts instead of hysteria.

Gary Cunningham during his initial attention seeking exercise on Facebook states he is finished with it all. He won't be running any more buses. He specifically mentions he won't be running a bus to Dundee as the club gets a share of the gate. Gary Cunningham publicly states his desire to inflict financial harm on Airdrieonians. Hardly a surprise the club decide to act on this threat. Remove the power, remove the threat. 

Once the latest round of online cuddles fade away Gary changes his story (not for the first time during this sorry saga).  Gary remembers that buses to away games are good for his business and decides, after all his public wailing, he's going to run a bus to Dundee after all. 

Club subsequently email season ticket holders about running a bus for families. Gary heads straight to Facebook looking for yet more sympathy despite having already announced his bus is full.   

Usual Facebook tirade ensues. Some if getting ugly and personal. It's the same names as before and the time before that. Most of them haven't been to an Airdrie game in years. 

Most depressing of all is grown women posting about defecating on a bus full of families and children with an actual schoolteacher endorsing it.

Grim.