Airdrieonians Diamonds from the rough

[Mr_Grieves]

March




We get back to winning ways riding the wave of another thrashing of Hearts


We get a huge injury blow as our highest paid player Bereszynski gets a year long injury which will see us loose £200k in wages for nothing. If only i had given him away to Hibs in January.
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Fixtures
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After loosing to Celtic in February we start March by destroying Hearts 7-0, so emphatic this win was we scored 4 goals from our u20s players on the bench. Our latest Old Firm game was in the Scottish Cup quarter finals and thank god were at home so we went into the game feeling like we had a chance. Youngster Stuart Christie put in a claim to be one of our starting forward with 2 goals to destroy Celtic's cup dreams. Back in the league and top 6 side Partick were taken apart by 4 goals in the first 19 minutes before we put out several u20s to beat Dundee Utd but only after we fell behind and down to 10 men. Champions resolve!




SPL Table
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One game till the split and the old firm are tied at the top 4 points ahead of the mighty Airdire, i can only hope the cup Semi with Rangers doesnt cause us too much problems. The top 6 is set with Aberdeen set to finish 4th while Partick and Hibs round out the top 6. At the bottom it looks like St Johnstone & Dundee Utd will fight for 11th & 12th.




Play Of the Month
Per Sojberg
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A player who i always thought would be a long term star for us but his lack of progression and drop off in performances this season means i will be looking to move him on or at the very least bring in a upgrade.



​

 

[Hampus Silverholt]

Should get a couple of million in gate receipts and prize money even if you lose in the semi final so that coupled with the £5.75m from Man United means you might have a big budget for next season

 

[Mr_Grieves]

End of the season




Due to results in April i combine the last two months of the season




Fixtures
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It all started so well with a young team easily beaten St Johstone including Leon Cherrie's 3rd game in a row with a goal. The wheels began to come off in Dingwall where we had to come from behind 3 times to rescue a point against a doomed Ross County. We then had a two week break to prepare for a huge Scottish Cup Semi final with Rangers, In the first half we were respectively drawing 0-0 but then with the half time oranges only 1 minute away Salvador ended his season with a red card. We then fell apart with a man short as Rangers ran out 3 goal winners. Back to the league and we were in must win mode at home to Celtic but a early Patrick Roberts goal made sure that we will not be lifting SPL title leaving our last 4 games to figure out what youth players we can move on and who we need to rebuild next season. With a small glimmer of hope we brought a strong team to Easter Road and Lewis Morgan scored twice and results going our way mean we go to Ibrox with a mega slim chance of the title. So what do we do? We go to Ibrox and loose 3-0 to end the season. The youngsters had two great showings to round out the season thrashing Aberdeen and Partick to give us a lot to think about next season




SPL Table
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What a thrilling final day as Celtic beat Rangers 2-0 to take the title on goal difference. Dundee Utd go down and St Johnston could see us with no tayside teams in the SPL next season.




Manager movement
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Plenty late season manager changes with top 6 regulars Hearts & Hibs changing managers, including Craig Levine who's sacking means me & Brendan Rodgers as the last managers who started.



​

 

[Mr_Grieves]

End of Season review 5






Final League Table
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Deja vu as for the second season in a row Celtic grab the title from Rangers on the final day, at least this time they had the dignity to do it too them in person. We were not far behind, If we can sort out results against the Old Firm we can win this league! Aberdeen were a solid 4th while Partick were the team of the year getting into 5th ahead of the capital clubs while Motherwell & Hamilton we safe enough and it was Ross County, St Johnstone & Dundee Utd that ended the season fighting for there lives with Dundee Utd being the ultimate looser finishing bottom with St Johnstone heading to the playoffs, Killie are back in the SPL winning the Championship at a canter.






Playoffs
Queen of the South 2-0 St Johnstone
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The championship side win both games by a goal to nil and they take St Johnstone's place in the top flight


Manager of the year
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Scots in Europe
Celtic - Champions League Group
Rangers - Europa League Group
Airdire - Europa League Qualy
Hibs - Europa League Qualy
Motherwell - Europa League Qualy






Development League
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What a season. We lost 2 of our first 5 games before winning all but one of our remaining games




U19s Champions League
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European Champions!!! Huge wins at some of Europe's biggest teams, Future looks bright!




European Rankings
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Airdrie are into the top 200, ranked 192nd ahead of Hearts, St Johnstone and Trnava!
The SPL is also ranked 10th in the competition rankings






Airdrie squad
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Going through Torres has not worked out as great as i hoped, We had a pile of ritches at DR with youngster Maguire, new signing and Scottish international Ralston and Polish international Bereszynski, the later is leaving on a free which amazed me that anyone was interested with 5 months of his injury at least still to go but although i get no cash i'm happy to move on his £5k a week in wages. Per Sojberg digress to the level he is kind of at proving my faith to be wasted and finding a replacement this summer is a priority. Any of the 4 players that featured at center back might lead the line next season with no plans to move on or let them go. Daniel Beaton is my best player who will not be moving from the DM spot. Lagneaux is off to Man Utd while on the other wing Nathan Jordan set to fight Lewis Morgan forever for the ML spot! Matus Poliacek has been our stand out MC but there is A LOT of prospects coming through. Up top Lys Mousset did the impossible and out performed Bonhoff up front winning the golden boot and right up there with assists but again we are stacked with prospects like Salif N'Diaye, Stuart Christie & Leon Cherrie ready for a starting spot.






Fans award
Lys Mousset
View attachment 57168Players of the Year





Lys Mousset - AT

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With 32 goals in his 32 league games and a total of 37 in all competitions, there was nobody else winning my player of the year



Nathan Jordan - ML
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I was going to have to choose between Jordan and Lewis Morgan for a top 3 spot and i went with the higher rated player over the one with more goals & assists. Who starts next season? who knows!


Daniel Beaton - DM
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I call tratior on our best player. After playing under 18s for Australia Daniel Beaton has changed nationality to English, that could be good for a future fee a few seasons down the line but still i dont like it!




The Kids


The best in the U20s
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All the players we have with potential 5*, except signings from January



​

 

[Mr_Grieves]

Season 6






World Cup
France 1-0 Italy
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A repeat of the 2006 final except the French won it this time. Paraguay's 4th place finish was the performance of the tournament. Spain at the other end went out in the group phase as the only major sock




Rangers get a new manager as Andre Villas-Boas goes off to take the Portugese national job

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Summer Friendly's
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We had a near perfect summer with 9 wins in a row including wins at home to Chelea & Arsenal before Birmingham ended our pre season with a draw






League Odds
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Celtic are clear favorites with Rangers changing managers and ourselves & Aberdeen lacking the old firms resources. Ross County are tied favorites to go down despite a net spend of £1.1m, the highest in the country.




Transfers
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Two join the first team which see's 3 key players from last season move on




I also cashed in my Bonhof clause. FINALLY i get offered one of these to cash in and cash in we did and a cool £6m goes into the bank. We have plenty cash to overflow the u20s or get a few higher class players if i can interest.

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In


Federico Dimarco - DL
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The one position that was MUST BUY was left back with Sojberg just not cutting the mustard. Ironically after GK & forwards positions i am stacked DiMarco was the one stand out player that was interested in joining us. Now i just need some u18 depth and i can sell Sojberg


Jiri Frydek - MC
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Signed to be an u18 player but threw a strop about being dropped and when i seen how he had developed in the 18 months since i did this deal i see why. Starting 11 is in his future


3 youths join, w on a free from Romania and a Spanish forward for half a million

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Out
As usual we had to get paid but this season all our big moves were on our terms. Not so much with Nicolas Lagneaux who i agreed to sell in January, £6m is a great amount but it leaves us a bit short in that department. Next up was a move i totally engineered. I've decided that with our depth up front i should be able to sell a 20+ goal a season striker every year until we are a rich enough club to rely on our own. Mousset was a easy target with his amazing season and former Premier League pedigree he was a easy sell, I would have liked a few more million for him but still its a great profit for one seasons work. The last starting 11 player i let go was Matus Poliacek. Like the striker position we are overflowing with center midfielders and i'll be aiming to make a regular profit off them in the coming season. Lesko & Bennett were good enough to be squad players but now in there 20s and our overflowing under 20 team would rule them out of any serious game time. Lozano, Ross, McCracken and O'Neil never developed beyond the youth team level and our final move was giving away Bereszynski saving over £200k in wages while he's out injured. Why Celta picked up a player that wont play till 2023 is beyond me but at the same time cheers!






SPL Transfers
CELTIC! i'll talk more about them after August but they have won the league!
​

 

[Mr_Grieves]

August




We win 3 of our 4 games only loosing to perhaps the strongest team the SPL has seen forcing us to spend hard to get depth to at least try and compete in a few months




Fixtures
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Our 3 League and one cup win were all really dominant starting with our two main U20 strikers N'Diaye and Cherrie scoring the goals, The kids then ran over Montrose in the League cup before our one defeat of the month to the mighty Celtic, more on them later. Youthful teams then destroyed Motherwell & Partick thistle both getting handed 5 goal defeats with plenty kids getting game time.




SPL Table
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The usual top 3 lead the way with Celtic already looking unbeatable with Rangers changing manager and Aberdeens terrible start by loosing 3 of there first 4 games to be down the bottom with Hibs being as bad as the Dons and only Queen of the South at the bottom.




Play Of the Month
Stuart Christie
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It looks like he's finally getting over his injury problems scoring 3 goals for Scotland as well as a few for us. And he's still a teenager




Europa League draw
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We stumble into the group of death where we could loose all 6 games. Top seeds Bilbao will be out for revenge after we knocked them out of Europe last season, 2nd seeds Kobenhaven would be the side we would be targeting to get a win or two then the 3rd seeds are premier league team Burnley who spent over £40m to build for this campaign






Transfer Window
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With Celtic looking so strong and no solid starters interested in joining we decide to fill the squad with 8 youth players, the stars being Sabatier on the right wing and Micael Afonso up front. We sold squad player Bozo Suto with all the midfielders coming through

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Scottish Transfers
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All our signings get in the way of other teams business. Rangers does some reasonable restructuring but Celtic take the biscuit




Celtic
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Brendan Rodgers makes a £20m profit while adding top league stars like Josue, Bonaventura, Real Madrid team mates Achraf & Kiko Casila, Nathanial Clyne & by god Diego Costa, How the **** are we going to challenge this?



​

 

[Mr_Grieves]

September



Total success home and away with only Hearts avoiding getting thrashed in the Cup against our youth and back up players




Fixtures
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We had a incredible final half hour with the game at 0-0 we brought Christie off the bench and he led us to 5 goals in half hour with he scoring 3 of them. The Scottish teenage sensation kept his place in the starting 11 after that performance who only took 10 minutes to get on the scoresheet against Rangers and new u20 left winger Tommy Stamnes got a double all before Rangers went down to 10 men for the final 20 minute with the game long lost. I am not reading too much into this as our home form is always far better than away against the old firm. Our Final game was in the cup against Hearts where we needed that man Christie to come off the bench to drag our back up players into the semi finals as we came from behind to beat Hearts at Tynecastle for the second time in 11 days.




Betfred Cup Semi Final Draw
Airdrie vs Rangers
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Aberdeen stun Celtic beating the odds on treble favorites at Parkhead and get the deserved easy semi final against Hamilton while we play Rangers




SPL Table
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Celtic drop there first points of the season up at Ross County, were now only a point behind with a crazy +18 goal difference after 6 games. Nothing between 3rd and 8th with Aberdeen & Hearts next up, surly its just a matter of time till they pick up form and get back in the race for 6th. Newbies Queen of the South are the last team still looking for there first win.




Europa League
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Two amazing european nights one at home and one in Denmark see us go top of the group. A electric start against Burnley with 2 goals from 2 new signings in the first 6 minutes allowed us to set up to be defensive the rest of the way and Baslers goal from a corner & youngster Cherrie who came off the bench to put the cherry on the cake. Two weeks later and we were off the the capital of bacon, to play Kobenhavn where Sabatier showing his nose for a goal in Europe with a double with Stuart Christie also getting 2 to confirm his spot as player of the month




Play Of the Month
Stuart Christie
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Fresh from making his debut in a new and improved Scotland team that as tradition dictates failed to make the world cup made me open my eyes to how great a forward i had on my hands. Bids came from Arsenal over the summer but how long he stays will depend on his development as we have 4 or 5 other strikers that have potential to be top SPL forwards but im hoping that at least 2 of them can be top European strikers so we'll see if Christie is one of them.



​

 

[Mr_Grieves]

October




League Cup Semi Finals
Airdrie 2-2 Rangers
Airdrie win 4-2 on pens
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With our busy schedule the last thing we needed was to twice loose the lead including a heartbreaking 120th minute strike from Alfredo Morelos forced a penalty shoot out where luck shined on us as we scored 4/4 while Rangers missed 2 leading to our 2nd final after our miracle run in 2019. Can we finally bring a major trophy home to Airdrie? We'll have to beat Aberdeen to do so

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Fixtures
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Our last game before the international break was a 3 goal win over struggling Aberdeen but we came back for the break with two stinkers in the league loosing to QOTS giving them there first and so far only win of the season we followed that up with a sloppy defeat at Ross County, This appears to be our favorite strategy of being awful against teams at the bottom. Our next significant game was against rivals for 2nd Hibs where a double from Soriano was enough to hold of Hibs attempt at a comeback




SPL Table
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The defeat to Ross County doesnt look so bad having seen the table but that in no way makes up to the shambles at QOTS leaving us in no mans land 5 points behind Celtic but we do have a game in hand. Rangers are already 10 points behind Celtic and its just a matter of time till there looking for a new boss again and David Moyes will need to beat me in the cup final to keep his job with only 10 points from 10 games.






Europa League
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Only one game this month and what a thriller it was! Afonso gave us a shock lead but our new found affinity with conceding right at the end of halfs seen Inaki Williams pull Bilbao level on the half time whistle. He added a second with only 6 minutes to go and you thought well that is that however Soriano kept up his scoring run by equalizing in the 89th minute. I was left with the choice do i keep attacking and go for the win or hut up shop? As you can see i was wrong and winger Ingio Cordoba's 33rd career goal right from the kick off ended our perfect start but we can quickly make amends in the return game first time out in November




Play Of the Month
Salvador Soriano
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The Spanish striker looked like his time at Airdrie was in real trouble with u20 talent ready to step up and Christie & new signing Afonso locking down the other spot. Not to be detered he came in for Christie who got a knock and scored 3 goals in his two league games before almost saving a point in the Europa League. A interesting battle up front awaits



​

 

[Mr_Grieves]

November




Fixtures
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Three games in the SPL and after thrashing Hamilton we were unlucky to only get a point from a game with Celtic but at the same time we almost lost it all so wont complain too much. We will complain about our final match a very sloppy 3-1 defeat to Partick.






SPL Table
View attachment 55956
That mess of a month see us fall 7 points off leaders Celtic and even worse Rangers have sneaked ahead. This form must be addressed in December with Hearts, Hibs and the rest catching us quick while at the bottom a clear bottom 2 looks to be set.




Europa League
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We had two game and with victorys over top 7 teams in England & Spain secure a spot in the last 32 and top spot is ours as well as far as i can gather with our far superior goal difference




Player Of the Month
Rodrigo Alvarez
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Our top prospect in the defense. Has been putting in some great performances and will be starting sooner rather than later.



​

 

[Mr_Grieves]

Betfred Cup final 2022

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Our second trip to the League cup final and this time were the favorites this time against bottom half Aberdeen




Aberdeen vs Airdrie
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Graeme Shinnie, Scott Wright & Ryan Christie are the sole survivors from the class of 2017 in Aberdeens team

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Match
Aberdeen 5-3 Airdrie AET
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We loose another final but this one really stings. It was 1-1 coming up to the half hour when the future right back Stuart Maguire got a straight red card earning him another season in the under 20s. For the whole second half it looked like being a minor inconvenience until Scot Wright showed up with 2 minutes to go to force extra time, A circumstance i would usual relish however 60 minutes with 10 men had destroyed our team, we were knackered after a midweek game too and in the final 10 minutes the Dons destroyed us as the town of Airdrie's wait for a major competition win will hit 99 years. Since the 1924 cup win it has been 5 domestic finals. We have lost ever single time!



​

 

[Mr_Grieves]

December


4 wins from 7 is a decent return but is still our worst December since we got to the SPL with an abysmal performance against Kilmarnock and a tight defeat to Aberdeen. Is Anyone else having problems always loosing to the bottom team?




Fixtures
View attachment 55095
We started with a massive game with Rangers that started in tragic circumstances with a red card to our Norwegian winger Stamnes after only 4 minutes at Ibrox. Rangers quickly took advantage and it was looking like we were in for a nasty afternoon. However we equalizer right on half time and like the first half we put on a brave defensive performance for a change to steal a massive point from our closest rivals. It was back to normal service for a whole week as thrash Hearts, the 7th time in the save we managed to put 4 or more goals past them. From that high to the worst December week we've had in the save with an unprecedented 2 defeats to Kilmarnock then for the second time in a month David Moyes and his Dons team. We met Kille for the second time in 7 days and after loosing at home we won 5-0 at Rubgy park with almost a identical line up and same formation, figure that one out! Solid wins over top 6 rivals Ross County and Hibs consolidated our place at the 3rd force in Scotland as the year comes to a end




SPL Table
View attachment 55094
The Old Firm have gone clear at the top with Celtic unsurprisingly at the top and for us i dont think we can loose another of our 18 games if were going to catch them, gaps only 10 points but they have no European football and have no doubt plans to improve further in the transfer window. The final 3 spots in the top 6 could be a interesting battle while QOTS look like finishing bottom and Hamilton make the first managerial change of the season, from QOTS. Perhaps the end of Caixinha in Scottish football.

View attachment 55093




Europa League Table
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A young Airdrie team spanked FC Kobenhavn to secure top spot winning every game except in Bilbao where a stoppage time goal was all that beat us




Last 32
Dynamo Kyiv vs Airdrie
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The second best Scottish team in the draw will face the second best Ukrainan team. We're part of the best Scottish showing ever with Aberdeen's reward for knocking out Atalanta with a dream tie with Roma while Rangers get Hamburg. Just a shame that Celtic finished bottom of there champions league group.




Play Of the Month
Daniel Beaton
View attachment 55090
A clear improvement from last season having had 5 u21 caps his value has shot up to £6.5m. Easily our most expensive player.



​

 

[Mr_Grieves]

January




Were back from the winter break with 5 wins from 5 games including a youth team trashing of Stirling in the cup.




Fixtures
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First up was bottom side Queen of the South who almost got a result against us again with Basler scoring a own goal in the 92nd minute before hitting the winner in the 94th. We had two games against Motherwell winning the first 2-0 with both wingers grabbing a goal each, The under 19s ran rampant against Stirling with the senior players coming back to beat Hamilton & Motherwell 4-1 with under 19 striker Salf N'Diaye breaking into the 1st team with goals in all 3 games




SPL Table
View attachment 54799
A month of perfection see us move into a clear 2nd 5 points either side of the old firm. amazingly having score 74 goals, 15 more than anyone else we have nobody in the top 3 of the golden boot race, in fact only Salvador Soriano is in the top 10!




Player Of the Month
Salif N'Diaye
View attachment 54798
He's making a big claim to be a lead forward at the club next season despite only having 12 for finishing. Look at that record for the u19s!




Transfer Window
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6 more players join the u19s ranks with Portugese & Serbians being the order of the day. There is no better place for a bargain.




In
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All are under 20, some are closer to the 1st team than others. Our squad depth is as bad as some of the big English teams.




Out
To make for these kids i had to make room by moving on 1st team players. Some stand out players leaving too but we'll start with the most expensive. Development player Craig O'Neil had a realistic shot at one day being a club captain who would make many hundereds of appearances but a combination of his requests to move to the Premiership and the fact that it brings in £5.5m will be spent on about a dozen kids. Next up possibly the most shocking move was our number 1 keeper Felipe Torres. With 18 months left on this contract and no development in his time at the club i had to cash in on him with his back up Karl Rohden very similar in rating at least ready to step right in, shame he ended up at Rangers but hey ho they overpaid! Former starting left back Per Sojberg's time at the club was over and without having to lift a finger Brondby came in with a offer over a million so we ran to the bank and cashed that cheque with the final sale being disgruntled Juan Perez who did not improve during his time at the club so again i'm happy just to cash in here.



​

 

[Mr_Grieves]

February



Our form since Christmas speaks for itself
P11 W10 D1 GF37 GA8

View attachment 53577


We even manage breakthrough wins against Celtic thrashing them at home in the cup, then a 3-0 win at Parkhead only our 2nd win in 6 visits to Celtic




Fixtures
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First up was the ominous trip to parkhead but today we came in on fire and the strikers Soriano & N'Diaye got a goal each in the first half and the expected Celtic onslaught never came and a 3rd goal from Soriano secured a very unexpected win to keep our hopes of a title challenge alive. Before facing them again in the cup we pumped Partick 4-0 before going on to score 5 against Celtic amazingly featuring a hattrick from left back Dimarco. From there we went on to draw 0-0 with Hearts the first time since December we didnt win a domestic game but a week later we were back on top form beating Kilmarnock 7-3 at Rugby park




SPL Table
View attachment 53576
With only 10 games to go it is anything but a title battle yet. Celtic still hold a 7 point lead and Rangers in fact are only 3 points behind us. Hibs look like taking a top 6 spot but its anyone's guess which two teams will join them. Queen of the south are gone, its just a matter of time and the play off spot could also feature many changes in the next 2 months.




Europa League




Last 32


1st Leg
Dynamo Kyiv 0-2 Airdrie
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Except a 34 year old Ivan Perisic nobody stands out in this team who we easily brushed aside without ever getting into much bother.






2nd Leg
Airdrie 3-0 Dynamo Kyiv
Airdrie win 5-0 on AGG
View attachment 53574
With the lead from the first leg we were able to play on the counter and following a nervous first half stand in striker & Center Backs Afonso & Gebbie got us over the line




Rangers join us in the last 16 with a similarly impressive win against Hamburg while Aberdeen are out after loosing 1-0 to Roma at Pittodrie
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Last 16 Draw
Zenit vs Airdrie
View attachment 53572
Gets a bit more real. No weak teams left now, well maybe Anderlecht



​

 

[Mr_Grieves]

March


We only have 3 domestic games and miss the chance to put Rangers at arms length in the League but we thrash Dundee to reach the Cup semi's




Fixtures
View attachment 53484
With European games in the way we had to rotate players and it worked a treat with 6 different players scoring in a 7 goal win. Then for our biggest game of the month and a chance to put Rangers 6 points behind us was missed, Partick made up for us beating Rangers in the next round of games. With European action out of the way and a 14 day international break on the horizon we could go full force against Aberdeen and for the 5th time in the first 3 months of the year we win by 4 or more goals.




SPL Table
View attachment 53483
Celtic will need a major drop off for us to win the title! We only play them once after the split so if we can win that the gap is 6 points and woulds till need them to drop points twice more than ourselves considering they drop points on average every 4th game its looking mighty hard to challenge what is without doubt the strongest squad of players in Scotland that we have faced in this save. Cant forget Rangers either only 6 points back there is nothing to stop them beating us to the final Champions League spot. Still no sign of any of our players in the golden boot race and only 2 players even make the top 10 despite scoring 87 goals 13 more than the next best.






Europa League Last 16




1st Leg
Zenit 0-4 Airdrie
View attachment 53482
Light snow & -5 in the spring does not concern us as we manage to counter the stronger Zenit team who could not get past our 3 man defense giving the 60 traveling fans a night to remember and all but put us into the quarter finals.




2nd Leg
Airdrie 0-0 Zenit
Airdrie win 4-0 on agg
View attachment 53481
A far less excitement and goals but a even better performance from our boys. Sousa in the Russians goals had a night to remember making 7 saves but there was no threat from the other end led to a easy win


Results
View attachment 53480
Rangers also had a huge win in Russia to set up a trip to the Quarter finals




Quarter Final Draw
Airdrie vs Shakhtar
View attachment 53479
We just cat get away from the old Soviet teams



​

 

[Mr_Grieves]

April




Our amazing domestic run goes on but it looks like it wont be enough for Airdrie's first league title




Scottish Cup Semi Final
Airdrie 5-1 Partick
View attachment 52968
On the major trophy hunt however we'll have a second cup final and my first Scottish Cup final in May with Motherwell being a very much beatable opponent, although i thought that with Aberdeen. Surly now we are so due a major trophy




Fixtures
View attachment 52966
Back in the League we knew every game is must win and a bit of luck with other results was needed for a title challenge to happen. It all started well with 4-0 wins against Ross County & Hibs and relegating bottom side Queen of the South with a 4-1 win all setting us perfectly for the Celtic game where we all but ended our league challenge. Having twice led that scumbag Diego Costa twice got the champions level to all but secure there 11th title in 12 seasons.




SPL Table
View attachment 52965
Even if we had managed to beat Celtic we needed them to drop 6 points in there last 4 games and Considering we've took 5 points off them all season, Rangers & Hearts have taken 4 points off them each, Hibs and Ross County a point it unlikey that we will see 9 points dropped from a possible 12. Top 4 all look set with Aberdeen & Motherwell to battle for 5th. The bottom 2 teams also look set in what will be a very subdue final 4 games.




Europa League Q/F


1st Leg
Airdrie 6-0 Shakhtar
View attachment 52961
Our strikers went berserk, We are really enjoying playing these old Soviet teams. Sorry kids for the reference but this was a special result where every time we attacked it felt like we would score and amazingly we did so 6 times without reply, against how the ukrainians didnt score at least 1 is lost on me!




2nd Leg
Shakhtar 1-1 Airdrie
Airdrie win 7-1 on Agg
View attachment 52959
They got one back but it was won in Airdrie and we have some how made it all the way to the final 4




Results
View attachment 52958
Chelsea who must of been the odds on favorites are knocked out on away goals by Rangers. It cant happen! Can it?




Semi Finals
View attachment 52956
Of course it can. definitely the best tie we could have hoped to get and a guarantee that a Scottish team will be in the final. It had better be us!



​

 

[Mr_Grieves]

Europa League Final 2023


View attachment 52711





From the De Kuip stadium
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Bayern Leverkusen vs Airdrie
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Our biggest game ever and we have a injury crisis in defense. Only Basler & 19 yer old back up Alvarez make the trip. That aside i can probably field our best 11. The debate over new signing Cvijovic or Petrov was solved with Beaton having to drop back into the defense. Our best 3 forwards without Lewis Morgan who went down months are all fit and ready to go




Bayern Leverskusen 2-1 Airdrie AET
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Urgh the heartbreak. We gave the Germans all they could handle and more with our moment of the game being when Salvador Soriano in his 3rd season with the team struck a equalizing goal after Seb Driussi had gave the favorites the lead. The only action of the second half seen Cvijovic who i had hummed and hayed over putting in got sent off neutralising the game meaning it stayed tied all the way to the 90th minute where one of the 3 German superstars in the midfield Julien Draxler scored the winning goal to condemn us to yet another major final defeat, our 3rd by my count and 2nd of this season.


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We managed to break the goals scored record clearing 4 goals or more an amazing 6 times. Aside from the final the only other match we lost was in Bilbao who needed a stoppage time winner to win that match.



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[Mr_Grieves]

Scottish Cup Final 2023

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Motherwell vs Airdrie
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Both side reach there first final in the save and 3 days removed from a crushing 120 minutes in Holland one of us is destined to end the Old Firms 6 season hold on the trophy




Motherwell 0-2 Airdrie
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FINALLY AIRDRIE WIN A MAJOR COMPETITION FOR THE FIRST TIME IN THERE HISTORY. After the carnage in Holland we were only missing 3 players from the Europa Final so a win was expected and we played unbelievable well at the back holding the steel men to 1 shot on target all afternoon to end the season on a high.




A 2 goal win in the final was the first time in the 5 game cup run we didnt win a game by 4 goals or more

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​

 

[Mr_Grieves]

End of Season review 6






Final League Table
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Celtic are once again champions finishing on 89 points just like last season although they seemed like a much better squad this season. We ended up 9 points behind the kings of Scottish Football a gap we could just not do any damage on that gap over the second half of the season despite going months unbeaten. Rangers got close at the end of the season when we started to rest players for the finals. The top 3 are still on a different level to the rest with Hibs & Aberdeen still the most likely to get involved with us with Motherwell this years best of the worst landing in the top 6 but loosing every game after the split. Partick on the other half Partick destroyed all comers to be clear in 7th ahead of this seasons underachievers Hearts who ended there seasons by bringing in failed Rangers & Hamilton boss Pedro Caixinha for next season with Paul Hartley hardly lasting a year. At the bottom Queen of the South were set for bottom spot months ago and Hamilton have been destined for the playoffs for just about as long.






Playoffs
Hamilton 4-1 St Johnstone
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The SPL side won both games to secure another season in the top flight




Scots in Europe
Celtic - Champions League Group
Airdire - Europa League Runner Ups
Rangers - Europa League Semi Finals
Aberdeen - Europa League Last 32
Hibs - Europa League Qualy
Motherwell - Europa League Qualy


3 teams make it to the knock out phases and non of them are Celtic. Has there ever been a better Scottish campaign since the 60s






Development League
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As we push on in other competitions and the kids make more appearances in the first team saw us get 9 less points than last season and only winning the league by 11 points

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They also got to the semi finals of the Irn Bru cup loosing to Inverness CT in extra time. as well as retaining the U19 champions league with this great youth teams last stand as dozens of players go over 20 and will be loaned out or sold






European Rankings
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A meteoric rise of 134 places is what a run to the Europa League final will do for your team. And what a year for the SPL with rangers also bringing home 24,660 and Aberdeen's 10,660 a score even Celtic have not beat in the past 2 seasons.






Airdrie squad
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Karl Rohden takes his chance and now holds the no1 spot. Plenty youth on the horizon so we need him to get his value up so we can sell him on where there ready. Tobias Basler was our only settled defender through the season with Rodrigo Alvarez slotting into a starting spot towards the end of the season leaving a spot for someone next season. Anthony Ralston proves to be the bargain signing of the save so far as our best wing back and player while Dimarco finally provides us an answer on the left while Stuart Maguire's season was ruined by injury. Our center midfield is totally overloaded with the chances being that anyone of them may move on for the right price with depth at a ridiculous level. The wingers Hordan, Sabatier & Stamnes all player a huge roll in games this season despite me phasing out wingers. We have 4 strikers all capable of leading the line, no plans to sell any of them but if money talks Leon Cherrie ready for more games.





We'll get a new stadium to play in. At some stage in the future. No further details at this stage.
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Fans award
Anthony Ralston
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Player of the Year
Anthony Ralston - DR
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Without Maguire Ralstone has locked down the starting spot and And to top off his breakout season Ralston was handed a 2nd Scotland cap were he scored his first goal.


Antonin Sabatier - MR
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After a career in the French lower leagues Sabatier came to Airdrie and turns out to be a superstar player.


Salvador Soriano - ATT
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Our top scorer and the man who could always be relied on to score vital goals. How can we hold onto our lead forwards especially Soriano who missed out on a shot at the golden boot by only playing 23 games.








The Kids


Several youth players featured regularly in the first team and will so again going forward
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Rodrigo Alvarez, Salif N'Diaye, Stuart Christie are all ready to step up to the first 11
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