The Official Airdrieonians Thread - 2019/20 and beyond

[Diamonds are Forever]

44 minutes ago, Mr November said:

On the subject of his interviews, it’s a concern seeing McCabe and Fordyce talking about not being clinical enough. Yes we could have done better in front of goal today but we can’t rely on scoring three or four each week when the clowns at the back aren’t bothering to track runners or close the space.

 

31 minutes ago, Mybitchunderprotest said:

Just said pretty much those exact words in a tweet. Lack of composure up front mentioned for the f**k knows how many times post match this season but not a fucking word about the shite defensive display in which they both participated.

 

'Not being clinical enough' or 'not taking our chances' is the same as the 'individual errors' excuse from managers, it's basically shifting blame from the tactics, set-up etc on to individual players.

As you say, in the last 5 games we'd have had to have scored 4, 3, 4, 5 and 2 goals to win them. I also wouldn't say we miss any more chances than any other team from what I've seen.

[Jack Reed]

34 minutes ago, Mybitchunderprotest said:

Just said pretty much those exact words in a tweet. Lack of composure up front mentioned for the f**k knows how many times post match this season but not a fucking word about the shite defensive display in which they both participated.

Beginning to look like we were a 1 man team, Frizzell is missed badly, that's the player we make sure we keep, a good few games till Feb comes around, how can we shore up, we all want what's best for Airdrie, 

[papa57]

Biggest mistake was bringing a manager in when Ian murray left, McCabe is out of his depth, last 6 games, 1 point from a possible 18, he has took the team back the way, McCabe out

[dextermorgan]

The 'not clinical enough' excuse pre-dates McCabe. We have strikers who are 'happy' to hit the target but absolutely no-one with composure up front. To be honest we have not had a striker since Andy Ryan who we could rely on as a match winner. This was never so evident in May when Simon Murray came back to fitness and single handedly got QP promoted.

Until we find a match winner up front then we will remain in the lower leagues in my opinion.

[Spring Cup Winners]

1 hour ago, Jack Reed said:

Beginning to look like we were a 1 man team, Frizzell is missed badly, that's the player we make sure we keep, a good few games till Feb comes around, how can we shore up, we all want what's best for Airdrie, 

The management team are talking about lack of clinical finishing and posters here commenting on defensive frailties. 

I'd agree to an extent about the finishing, and more so about defending.

But, I think both of these points are down to the fact that when we don't have Frizz, the midfield is practically non-existent. Gal and Smith having to go really deep today to get the ball from defenders. Many times today  McMaster had space to move forward but always looked for a sideways/backwards pass. Telfer would be good if we had 1 or 2 ball winners in there with him, but we don't. Devenny's form has dropped big time since the first few games.

If we can't supply the forwards or cover the defence things ain't going to get better. Last season's successes were in a large part down to a midfield who worked their arses off, won the ball back quickly and were immediately positive with it.

A good few of the teams above us (7) aren't great but they are organised and know their jobs. Edinburgh were exactly that today.

Worried. 

[ShineOnYouCrazyDiamonds]

If losing the manager and his assistant wasn’t going to leave the playing squad as weak as it would I’d probably be wanting him sacked now. Recruitment’s been terrible. Yes Rae and Frizzell’s injuries are unfortunate and caused us problems but to have a senior playing squad of only 14 outfielders (and that’s if everyone is fit and available) is ridiculous. Tactically we’re all over the place snd absolutely leaking goals. Our strong start has us a few points clear of the relegation playoff at the moment but there’s no doubt we’re currently the worst team in the league. When Findlay was sacked we had 7 points from 9 games. Granted that’s much worse than our current 15 from 12, but our record since that 6-0 gubbing is as bad as any run Findlay had us on. A 5-0 win and a 3-3 draw hiding amongst 6-0, 4-2, 1-0, 2-0 and 3-1 losses, as well as another 1-0 loss in the challenge cup. That’s 19 conceded in the last 7 league games and only 4 points picked up.

I don’t think sacking him will help us if it means losing another player (or potentially two) from the squad. If McCabe and Fordyce were to agree to step down but continue playing for us then it might work, but I wouldn’t blame them for refusing to do that. Even if they did agree to step down, what would the dressing room dynamics be like with the former gaffer just a regular squad member? Where would McCabe’s head be as he worked under some other manager that got his job? I don’t think it would be feasible to do this even if they both agreed to it, and I don’t think they’d agree to it anyway. I think we’re basically stuck with McCabe until January at least.

Ideally I’d like to see another coach added to the backroom staff, and I think we should be desperately giving free agents trials and signing anyone we can on a short term deal if they can potentially help us out. McCabe’s job should be to get us in the best position possible by January when we can properly start to rectify some of our issues by bringing in players, and to do that he might have to abandon his preferred style of play. We need points, even if we do it the ugly way. It doesn’t take a lot to finish 4th in this league and get in the promotion playoffs, and if the gap isn’t too big by January it’s entirely possible that we could be there by the end of the season with the right additions (Kyle Turner practically single-handedly dragged us from 7th to 2nd a year and a half ago). But right now we need to change something and start picking up at least some points, because if we don’t change anything now not only can we forget about promotion playoffs but we can forget about relegation playoffs as well. If we keep up the current form we’ll comfortably finish bottom.

[Dunning1874]

On 16/10/2022 at 11:19, Dunning1874 said:

Airdrie in the league before signing Charlie Telfer - P6 W3 D2 L1

Airdrie in the league since signing Charlie Telfer (starting him every week) - P5 W1 D1 L3

You'd be better sticking one of your many goalkeepers in midfield than that impostor.

A weekly update on what happens when 'I could play in the Premiership' Charlie gets another 90 minutes might be a bit much, but 4 defeats in 6, fucking hell.

[Mybitchunderprotest]

2 hours ago, Dunning1874 said:

A weekly update on what happens when 'I could play in the Premiership' Charlie gets another 90 minutes might be a bit much, but 4 defeats in 6, fucking hell.

I'm a big critic of Mr Telfer however he was nowhere near our worst performer yesterday and contrary to what we've seen so far he didn't attempt to hide.

[Jack Reed]

11 hours ago, papa57 said:

Biggest mistake was bringing a manager in when Ian murray left, McCabe is out of his depth, last 6 games, 1 point from a possible 18, he has took the team back the way, McCabe out

There is no doubt about that, facts are there, one moment he is a player next the manager of Airdrie, some one been reading Roy of the Rovers  in directors room, 

[airdrieman]

That’s me fully in the ‘something has to change’ bracket now. Even if McCabe is still ostensibly the ‘manager’, get a ‘coach’ or ‘director of football’ or whatever in. Somebody who will actually make us difficult to beat and get the most out of this squad because McCabe isn’t doing either of those things at the moment. We’re on a dreadful run but if we were showing any signs of improvement or change I’d probably be happy enough to give McCabe a chance. But we’re not. It’s the same comedic clown car defending every single week and, if we’re being honest, has been the entire season even when we started well. The defending and goalkeeping for all three goals was a disgrace yesterday. Fordyce and Devenny sleeping at the first and Handling got all the time and space he wanted to finish. The goalkeeping for the second and third is just abysmal. Why have we wasted presumably a decent wage on Lyness when he’s demonstrably worse than Alex Henderson? At least he can catch the ball. Complete waste of a signing when you consider how light we are elsewhere. How open we are and our pathetic attempts at defending have been problems all season yet McCabe hasn’t once looked like changing or improving things. We’re still ridiculously open and easy to score against. 
 

I actually think McCabe is getting far too easy a time of things. I blame him for recruitment and our openness and pathetic defending is down to his hare-brained ideas of tactics.  It’s not entirely his fault because he’s clearly not ready to be a manager. But, he didn’t have to take the job and since he has, he has to accept responsibility for his failings and what looks like his inability to improve us or turn things around. 
 

As I shouted at the end of the game, get a fucking proper manager in. 

[David Fernández]

That’s me fully in the ‘something has to change’ bracket now. Even if McCabe is still ostensibly the ‘manager’, get a ‘coach’ or ‘director of football’ or whatever in. Somebody who will actually make us difficult to beat and get the most out of this squad because McCabe isn’t doing either of those things at the moment. We’re on a dreadful run but if we were showing any signs of improvement or change I’d probably be happy enough to give McCabe a chance. But we’re not. It’s the same comedic clown car defending every single week and, if we’re being honest, has been the entire season even when we started well. The defending and goalkeeping for all three goals was a disgrace yesterday. Fordyce and Devenny sleeping at the first and Handling got all the time and space he wanted to finish. The goalkeeping for the second and third is just abysmal. Why have we wasted presumably a decent wage on Lyness when he’s demonstrably worse than Alex Henderson? At least he can catch the ball. Complete waste of a signing when you consider how light we are elsewhere. How open we are and our pathetic attempts at defending have been problems all season yet McCabe hasn’t once looked like changing or improving things. We’re still ridiculously open and easy to score against. 
 
I actually think McCabe is getting far too easy a time of things. I blame him for recruitment and our openness and pathetic defending is down to his hare-brained ideas of tactics.  It’s not entirely his fault because he’s clearly not ready to be a manager. But, he didn’t have to take the job and since he has, he has to accept responsibility for his failings and what looks like his inability to improve us or turn things around. 
 
As I shouted at the end of the game, get a fucking proper manager in. 

100% agree with you. Things have got to change and we need a proper manager in the dugout. 9 goals in two games against FC Edinburgh is unacceptable. Looking at the Facebook group as well I think McCabe is getting a pretty easy time of it. Think about how much of a hard time Ian Murray got from some of our supporters. Apart from Dylan Easton most of the squad we had were from last season so I think we are completely underperforming. Like I said before I could accept having a light squad during the daft Premier Sports Cup games if it meant holding out for better players in the loan market, but having only one natural central defender and no defensive midfielder is causing this shambles, as is the lack of workrate and desire to win the ball back in midfield. The options from the bench is just shambolic, no other squad in the league has a squad as light, even Peterhead had more on the bench. I really like Rhys McCabe he was excellent for us last season, but he's not an 'Owen Coyle' like figure at our club. I'm all for a change for an experienced manager to come in.

[Passionate]

25 minutes ago, Jack Reed said:

There is no doubt about that, facts are there, one moment he is a player next the manager of Airdrie, some one been reading Roy of the Rovers  in directors room, 

Trying to figure out what happened,  to me it looks like the board "went for it" last season to get out this godforsaken league and we just came up short , should we have been more prudent financially.......IMO they had to go for it, it was a once in a generation event(that will cheer us up)

 

After Murray had to move on, we tried to keep he rest of he ba nd together,  this is where it started to fall apart and get desperate,  appointing McCabe (a shadow of a player now) appointed his cousin Fordyce the skipper to his assistant this in hindsight  should have been a Sand y Clark(or similar) type to keep Rhys in check....  After that the initial deals offered to out of contract players knocked back offers given, but Falkirk allegedly made offers to McCabe(before appointed) and Frizzell  did we match them to resign ....

Th club promised a support structure and we are shouting for it.....  Prunty and Hutton have clearly been installed in this role but what do they offer ,  last season Prunt y was everywhere a hyperactive cheer leader, passionate,  this season he offers nothing from the bench , it is far more important too get involved and motivate this season..   David Hutton 3rd choice keeper and Gk coach, he  was decent at Alloa last season looked a good choice as back up ,  he too looks completely disinterested and was unable to help when needed with our various keeper issues,   problem this leaves he is picking up a dual player coach wage....  How many others have their nose in the trough..

This season is done and will test the resolve and loyalty of all of us was delighted to see us break the 1 k barrier for every home game his season,  moving forward......

[Passionate]

1 hour ago, Mybitchunderprotest said:

I'm a big critic of Mr Telfer however he was nowhere near our worst performer yesterday and contrary to what we've seen so far he didn't attempt to hide.

You put Telfer in a midfield 3_with McCabe and Frizzell,  you get a totally different Telfer and midfield,  The current midfield of Telfer, and 2 boys McMaster and Devenney is overrun,   McMaster is out his depth and Devennry could be a right good player if coached correctly and not thrown to the wolves,   unfortunately he has to man up and battle on,  another when his confidence goes has nobody to pick him up..

[Mr November]

9 minutes ago, David Fernández said:

 

 

100% agree with you. Things have got to change and we need a proper manager in the dugout. 9 goals in two games against FC Edinburgh is unacceptable. Looking at the Facebook group as well I think McCabe is getting a pretty easy time of it. Think about how much of a hard time Ian Murray got from some of our supporters. Apart from Dylan Easton most of the squad we had were from last season so I think we are completely underperforming. Like I said before I could accept having a light squad during the daft Premier Sports Cup games if it meant holding out for better players in the loan market, but having only one natural central defender and no defensive midfielder is causing this shambles, as is the lack of workrate and desire to win the ball back in midfield. The options from the bench is just shambolic, no other squad in the league has a squad as light, even Peterhead had more on the bench. I really like Rhys McCabe he was excellent for us last season, but he's not an 'Owen Coyle' like figure at our club. I'm all for a change for an experienced manager to come in.

 

A lot of people seemed to be against Murray from the start and it took until last season for many people to come round to him. For a while every defeat led to a Murray out post. in comparison, McCabe has had a lot of goodwill, even those of us who thought it was a massive risk were generally willing to give it a go. Compare the reaction on there to what Murray got when we lost those two home games against Elgin and Montrose a few years ago. 

1 minute ago, Passionate said:

You put Telfer in a midfield 3_with McCabe and Frizzell,  you get a totally different Telfer and midfield,  The current midfield of Telfer, and 2 boys McMaster and Devenney is overrun,   McMaster is out his depth and Devennry could be a right good player if coached correctly and not thrown to the wolves,   unfortunately he has to man up and battle on,  another when his confidence goes has nobody to pick him up..

We tried that against Kelty to be fair and the midfield was completely overrun. I agree on Devenny, he had a great start to the season and we do miss his athleticism and running when he’s not playing but he’s been poor for a few weeks now. That can happen with young players but we’re relying on him as a regular with absolutely no backup, rather than a bench option who can come in and do a job or drop out of them team when he needs a break. 

[ShineOnYouCrazyDiamonds]

12 minutes ago, Passionate said:

You put Telfer in a midfield 3_with McCabe and Frizzell,  you get a totally different Telfer and midfield,  The current midfield of Telfer, and 2 boys McMaster and Devenney is overrun,   McMaster is out his depth and Devennry could be a right good player if coached correctly and not thrown to the wolves,   unfortunately he has to man up and battle on,  another when his confidence goes has nobody to pick him up..

That exact midfield three was totally bossed by Kelty’s midfield a few weeks ago and as a result everyone on here generally agreed that McCabe and Telfer in the same midfield probably isn’t going to work.

[Passionate]

3 minutes ago, ShineOnYouCrazyDiamonds said:

That exact midfield three was totally bossed by Kelty’s midfield a few weeks ago and as a result everyone on here generally agreed that McCabe and Telfer in the same midfield probably isn’t going to work.

That's the best we have got, problem that day was McGill wasn't willing to get physical with the 2 Kelty centre halfs and we lost every 60. 40 ball in our favour that day,   our defence sat so deep with McCabe just in front, who just wanted to ping crossield Hollywood balls all game (Dean Cairns style).   That 3 in midfield is the best option we have, but the setup has to be right,   Fordyce has to keep a high line , compressing the midfield and letting our ball players play, at the moment teams are running through us at will, and  Telfer and co are chasing shadows,   McCabe preaches high risk, high reward, the football we play is the exact opposite a disorganised cowardly shambles...

[Jack Reed]

12 hours ago, dextermorgan said:

The 'not clinical enough' excuse pre-dates McCabe. We have strikers who are 'happy' to hit the target but absolutely no-one with composure up front. To be honest we have not had a striker since Andy Ryan who we could rely on as a match winner. This was never so evident in May when Simon Murray came back to fitness and single handedly got QP promoted.

Until we find a match winner up front then we will remain in the lower leagues in my opinion.

Absolutely, manager keeps saying no cutting edge, opinion on here is our strikers are fine, never have been never will  be, aye they will score if given multiple chances that's not a cutting edge, 

[ShineOnYouCrazyDiamonds]

21 minutes ago, Jack Reed said:

Absolutely, manager keeps saying no cutting edge, opinion on here is our strikers are fine, never have been never will  be, aye they will score if given multiple chances that's not a cutting edge, 

We’re 4th top scorers in the league on 21, behind Alloa and Falkirk on 22 and Edinburgh on 24. The only teams that have conceded more than us are Peterhead and Clyde. Our forwards might not be clinical but they’re hardly my immediate worry. Gallagher is joint top scorer in the league.

[Chapelhall chap]

I'm teetering on the edge of seeing managerial changes mainly because Rhys is not concentrating on playing well as he tries, and stutters,  to manage tactics etc during games. Like others I can see January approaching as crunch time, but should we lose to the bottom two I would go off the edge fairly soon. 

 

[Rhys McCabe Hype Train]

10 hours ago, ShineOnYouCrazyDiamonds said:

 

I don’t think sacking him will help us if it means losing another player (or potentially two) from the squad. If McCabe and Fordyce were to agree to step down but continue playing for us then it might work, but I wouldn’t blame them for refusing to do that. Even if they did agree to step down, what would the dressing room dynamics be like with the former gaffer just a regular squad member? Where would McCabe’s head be as he worked under some other manager that got his job? I don’t think it would be feasible to do this even if they both agreed to it, and I don’t think they’d agree to it anyway. I think we’re basically stuck with McCabe until January at least.

This is it.

The only saving grace would be in his Open Goal interview (which I be grudgingly watched) he said he committed to Airdrie for a few years and wanted to go into coaching anyway. So if he really is that committed, take a backwards step to being a player/coach and let’s get a manager in.

Albeit, it’s not like there’s an exciting list of out of work managers waiting for a call. Kettlewell has a good job now, who would’ve been my choice in the summer, Stuart Taylor was a speaker at hospitality the other week. Kevin Thomson is enjoying a Renaissance with the media now so he wouldn’t be an option, then it’s down to the old guard of Hughes, Hopkin, McKinnon… none of these names particularly scream out “this is what we need”. 

Totally at a loss as to how this transpires, now.