The Official Airdrieonians Thread - 2019/20 and beyond

[Passionate]

3 minutes ago, cb_diamond said:

Good, seeing as 2 of your first 6 posts on the site were to insult your own teams fans maybe that's for the best.

Interesting discussion,  do you think that if Dumbarton signed Turner and Paton and both showed the same form playing for them in the run in, would you think the teams would swap positions Dumbarton going for promotion playoffs and us languishing at the bottom end, where we were before Turner and Paton arrived.

In that run in we played well and rode our luck in equal measure,   3 crazy own goals,  late goals etc... we played with the same team more or less , with the big summer signings rooted to the bench...

The team needed refreshed although some players i would have kept no one is irreplaceable at this level....

Murray has stated he wants to win the league don't we all,     Apart from winning  the league as Airdrie United when was the last time we lifted a League trophy...  

We still need 7 players or so and if the hybrid is to work effectively then the majority of which should be full time, hopefully this gets clarified in due course..

 

[Rossm25]

3 minutes ago, Passionate said:

Interesting discussion,  do you think that if Dumbarton signed Turner and Paton and both showed the same form playing for them in the run in, would you think the teams would swap positions Dumbarton going for promotion playoffs and us languishing at the bottom end, where we were before Turner and Paton arrived.

In that run in we played well and rode our luck in equal measure,   3 crazy own goals,  late goals etc... we played with the same team more or less , with the big summer signings rooted to the bench...

The team needed refreshed although some players i would have kept no one is irreplaceable at this level....

Murray has stated he wants to win the league don't we all,     Apart from winning  the league as Airdrie United when was the last time we lifted a League trophy...  

We still need 7 players or so and if the hybrid is to work effectively then the majority of which should be full time, hopefully this gets clarified in due course..

 

Happy clapping 

[cb_diamond]

6 minutes ago, Passionate said:

Interesting discussion,  do you think that if Dumbarton signed Turner and Paton and both showed the same form playing for them in the run in, would you think the teams would swap positions Dumbarton going for promotion playoffs and us languishing at the bottom end, where we were before Turner and Paton arrived.

If think it's a true testament to the enormous impact those two had that that isn't outside the realms of possibility. I also think as truly outstanding as Turner is it was that combination that was key.

[Kenny_m]

Ah perhaps Adam Frizzell is over his injuries and can produce something like this

 

[cb_diamond]

5 minutes ago, Rossm25 said:

Happy clapping 

To use your own terminology from earlier. Don't be a gibbering mess man. Maybe dig out your old log in as this alias is off to a rocky start.

[Rossm25]

6 minutes ago, cb_diamond said:

To use your own terminology from earlier. Don't be a gibbering mess man. Maybe dig out your old log in as this alias is off to a rocky 

Lighten up, if you look at paton,  how many folk on here were giving it 

"Signing a lowland league reject isn't going to do anything for our play off chances" etc etc 

As a fan base we are so quick to judge on boys we've not even seen play for us. 

Going by the logic of people on here we can't sign anyone from the teams that finished below us....so that leaves the championship or Partick as a pool for us to choose from and we just cant compete wages wise with that. And would we want to burst ourselves to try and get promotion if it meant risk the finances of the club on a gamble ? 

Like I've mentioned, but you ignored , am I over the moon/happy clapping about our signings,  not overly no. But am I going to wait to see them play before making a decision,  absolutely , cause its bloody mental to make an assumption like that. But then if you see someone as "attacking the fans" because they disagree with you I guess that speaks volumes of the mindset folk are in. 

 

Let's have a laugh with it , pint in the stadium bar (god willing) if we turn out to be honking ? 

[Jack Reed]

24 minutes ago, cb_diamond said:

If think it's a true testament to the enormous impact those two had that that isn't outside the realms of possibility. I also think as truly outstanding as Turner is it was that combination that was key.

John Butler would have had  a big impact on present team

[airdrieman]

He couldn’t do it again could he? 
 

 

[mike rankine]

He couldn’t do it again could he? 
 
 

Rumours are Falkirk but you never know!

[ShineOnYouCrazyDiamonds]

For the 19/20 season we basically needed to build an entire squad from scratch. Wedderburn, Eckersley, Thomson, and Gallagher had all played for League One clubs the previous season. From down south came Kerr, McKay and James Cowan (remember him?) none of which had really played much senior football. Kurtis Roberts came from League Two, Ally Roy and Callum Fordyce came from the Championship. Callum Smith, Leon McCann, Kyle MacDonald all came from higher divisions but like many others hadn't played much senior football, if any at all.

Last summer we signed Dean Ritchie, Euan O'Reilly, and Kyle Connell who were of the same mould as those last three - young guys from clubs in a higher division who had played next to no senior football before joining us. In came Eoghan Stokes from the League of Ireland, Harlain Mbayo from the Southern Premier League South (7th tier in England I believe), Griffin Sabatini on loan from the Ukrainian Premier League (one senior appearance before joining us) and Thomas Robert from Ligue 1 (zero senior appearances before joining us. Max Currie was the only signing from a League One club.

So far, this summer's signings have all came from teams that finished below us in our division. Over the last two summers we've only signed five players who had played the previous season in League One. This summer we've already signed six from League One sides. For better or worse it's quite a drastic change in signing policy, and the signings maybe haven't been the most exciting, but we're gaining some experience on the field that we've lacked the last couple of seasons which might prove to be beneficial. I think we'll struggle to bring in any stand out players in the summer unless it's a young player we take a punt on that turns out to be better than expected. The Turner signing only happened because of odd circumstances that saw him frozen out at Dunfermline and we won't get anything like that before a season starts. I would imagine there'll be a loan player or two that comes in but that won't happen until the League Cup games have started or are just around the corner. 

Actually looking at the signings so far - Watson should obviously be considered Crighton's replacement. I can't claim to know much about Watson but I think it was definitely time for Crighton to leave and if Watson is good on the ball as East Fife fans have said then I'm hopeful he'll be an upgrade.

Agnew fills a gap in the coaching staff and hopefully adds a bit of quality to the first team. He's obviously not Turner but surely he's a better midfield option than guys like O'Reilly and Carrick who aren't centre mids and guys like Sabatini and Ritchie who couldn't get a game over those non-centre mids.

Wardrop fills a gap at right back and you've to assume he's an upgrade an Walker, who is young and promising but was only in the first team because of such an obvious gap in that position since MacDonald left. Is Wardrop an upgrade on MacDonald? I think he could be, MacDonald was hardly the most consistent player and defensively he could be a bit dodgy. I think he seems a good signing.

Presumably Quitongo is McCann's replacement, and obviously it'll be disappointing to see McCann leave. However, since the club hasn't actually announced that he's away yet we're obviously still hopeful we can keep him, which makes me question why we'd sign his replacement before knowing if he's away or not. Could both potentially play in the same team if McCann ends up staying? It'll be hard for Quitongo to fill McCann's boots but I thought he looked pretty good in the game Dumbarton beat us 2-0 earlier in the season.

Frizzell seems a decent signing to me. He's still young and he's played plenty of games at a Premiership level, even though he was obviously at Dumbarton for a reason. Since he's a winger we'd have to consider him a replacement for Thomson or O'Reilly. Basically that means if he can occasionally come off the bench and run at players he's done as well as who he's replacing. If he becomes a first team regular he's already on upgrade on those two.

As for Allan, I've been mostly positive so far but I'm sorry, I just don't understand this one. Can we really expect him to be better than any of our outgoing strikers (Roy, Connell, Carrick) when he couldn't get a game for Forfar last season? I hope he proves me wrong and it does seem he done okay for Forfar when he actually played but I just can't imagine he's an upgrade on any of those three.

Overall I do quite like that we're bringing in players with experience at this level which is a change on previous seasons, but I'm still hoping we can bring in a few more exciting players before the season starts. There's still plenty time.

[ShineOnYouCrazyDiamonds]

2 minutes ago, mike rankine said:

Rumours are Falkirk but you never know!

Just out of interest is he any good? Interesting to hear Falkirk are shopping in the same "bottom end of League One markets" we've all been complaining about.

[Rossm25]

2 minutes ago, ShineOnYouCrazyDiamonds said:

For the 19/20 season we basically needed to build an entire squad from scratch. Wedderburn, Eckersley, Thomson, and Gallagher had all played for League One clubs the previous season. From down south came Kerr, McKay and James Cowan (remember him?) none of which had really played much senior football. Kurtis Roberts came from League Two, Ally Roy and Callum Fordyce came from the Championship. Callum Smith, Leon McCann, Kyle MacDonald all came from higher divisions but like many others hadn't played much senior football, if any at all.

Last summer we signed Dean Ritchie, Euan O'Reilly, and Kyle Connell who were of the same mould as those last three - young guys from clubs in a higher division who had played next to no senior football before joining us. In came Eoghan Stokes from the League of Ireland, Harlain Mbayo from the Southern Premier League South (7th tier in England I believe), Griffin Sabatini on loan from the Ukrainian Premier League (one senior appearance before joining us) and Thomas Robert from Ligue 1 (zero senior appearances before joining us. Max Currie was the only signing from a League One club.

So far, this summer's signings have all came from teams that finished below us in our division. Over the last two summers we've only signed five players who had played the previous season in League One. This summer we've already signed six from League One sides. For better or worse it's quite a drastic change in signing policy, and the signings maybe haven't been the most exciting, but we're gaining some experience on the field that we've lacked the last couple of seasons which might prove to be beneficial. I think we'll struggle to bring in any stand out players in the summer unless it's a young player we take a punt on that turns out to be better than expected. The Turner signing only happened because of odd circumstances that saw him frozen out at Dunfermline and we won't get anything like that before a season starts. I would imagine there'll be a loan player or two that comes in but that won't happen until the League Cup games have started or are just around the corner. 

Actually looking at the signings so far - Watson should obviously be considered Crighton's replacement. I can't claim to know much about Watson but I think it was definitely time for Crighton to leave and if Watson is good on the ball as East Fife fans have said then I'm hopeful he'll be an upgrade.

Agnew fills a gap in the coaching staff and hopefully adds a bit of quality to the first team. He's obviously not Turner but surely he's a better midfield option than guys like O'Reilly and Carrick who aren't centre mids and guys like Sabatini and Ritchie who couldn't get a game over those non-centre mids.

Wardrop fills a gap at right back and you've to assume he's an upgrade an Walker, who is young and promising but was only in the first team because of such an obvious gap in that position since MacDonald left. Is Wardrop an upgrade on MacDonald? I think he could be, MacDonald was hardly the most consistent player and defensively he could be a bit dodgy. I think he seems a good signing.

Presumably Quitongo is McCann's replacement, and obviously it'll be disappointing to see McCann leave. However, since the club hasn't actually announced that he's away yet we're obviously still hopeful we can keep him, which makes me question why we'd sign his replacement before knowing if he's away or not. Could both potentially play in the same team if McCann ends up staying? It'll be hard for Quitongo to fill McCann's boots but I thought he looked pretty good in the game Dumbarton beat us 2-0 earlier in the season.

Frizzell seems a decent signing to me. He's still young and he's played plenty of games at a Premiership level, even though he was obviously at Dumbarton for a reason. Since he's a winger we'd have to consider him a replacement for Thomson or O'Reilly. Basically that means if he can occasionally come off the bench and run at players he's done as well as who he's replacing. If he becomes a first team regular he's already on upgrade on those two.

As for Allan, I've been mostly positive so far but I'm sorry, I just don't understand this one. Can we really expect him to be better than any of our outgoing strikers (Roy, Connell, Carrick) when he couldn't get a game for Forfar last season? I hope he proves me wrong and it does seem he done okay for Forfar when he actually played but I just can't imagine he's an upgrade on any of those three.

Overall I do quite like that we're bringing in players with experience at this level which is a change on previous seasons, but I'm still hoping we can bring in a few more exciting players before the season starts. There's still plenty time.

Was Allan maybe injured at forfar? Agreed that is a strange one.

[Rossm25]

1 minute ago, ShineOnYouCrazyDiamonds said:

Just out of interest is he any good? Interesting to hear Falkirk are shopping in the same "bottom end of League One markets" we've all been complaining about.

As are cove 

[mike rankine]

Just out of interest is he any good? Interesting to hear Falkirk are shopping in the same "bottom end of League One markets" we've all been complaining about.

Definitely a talent but inconsistent. Capable of moments of magic (per the YouTube clip above) but often there's no end product. Murray may give him more freedom than Duffy's defensive system.

[airdrieman]

Rhys McCabe rumoured to be signing on the QOS thread. He’s Fordyce’s cousin I believe so would make sense from that perspective. I’d take Joe McKee from them as well. Plus McKee played for Dumbarton which fits in with our current signing policy. Great summer just swapping teams with QOS/Dumbarton/Stenny. 
 

 

[19QOS19]

McKee and McCabe are actually pretty similar. They are both comfortable enough on the ball and can pull off the odd cracking pass across the pitch but generally for about 85 minutes of games they are posted missing. McKee had one brilliant game for us against a shite Alloa side yet some still see him as some kind of mini-Pirlo. If McCabe didn't take every single throw-in for us there would have been games where I genuinely would have forgot he was playing.

[ShineOnYouCrazyDiamonds]

4 minutes ago, 19QOS19 said:

McKee and McCabe are actually pretty similar. They are both comfortable enough on the ball and can pull off the odd cracking pass across the pitch but generally for about 85 minutes of games they are posted missing. McKee had one brilliant game for us against a shite Alloa side yet some still see him as some kind of mini-Pirlo. If McCabe didn't take every single throw-in for us there would have been games where I genuinely would have forgot he was playing.

He's got a long throw? We've probably already offered him a four year deal in that case.

[Eric the half a b]

1 hour ago, Rossm25 said:

Lighten up, if you look at paton,  how many folk on here were giving it 

"Signing a lowland league reject isn't going to do anything for our play off chances" etc etc 

As a fan base we are so quick to judge on boys we've not even seen play for us. 

Going by the logic of people on here we can't sign anyone from the teams that finished below us....so that leaves the championship or Partick as a pool for us to choose from and we just cant compete wages wise with that. And would we want to burst ourselves to try and get promotion if it meant risk the finances of the club on a gamble ? 

Like I've mentioned, but you ignored , am I over the moon/happy clapping about our signings,  not overly no. But am I going to wait to see them play before making a decision,  absolutely , cause its bloody mental to make an assumption like that. But then if you see someone as "attacking the fans" because they disagree with you I guess that speaks volumes of the mindset folk are in. 

 

Let's have a laugh with it , pint in the stadium bar (god willing) if we turn out to be honking ? 

Welcome to the AFC P&B lol

 

[ebobsboy]

39 minutes ago, ShineOnYouCrazyDiamonds said:

Just out of interest is he any good? Interesting to hear Falkirk are shopping in the same "bottom end of League One markets" we've all been complaining about.

I hardly think we are not so far anyway, the boy is only getting a trial if indeed it is us that's not to say we will sign him. So far we have signed McKay, Nesbitt, and Hetherington who were all championship players last season and Williamson from the league 1 champions.  

[19QOS19]

He's got a long throw? We've probably already offered him a four year deal in that case.

Aye it's brilliant. Goes right in to the opposition box and gets the commentary team pumped every time before he takes one. More importantly it was directly responsible in creating a whopping 0 goals all season for us.