Football Season Guide

Airdrie suffered a poor campaign last time around but things have not gotten any better for the New Broomfield club over the summer. Indeed, it appears that matters have spiralled out of control, with the ill-judged decision to go full-time last year and sign numerous players onto two year deals backfiring as they have been unable to get rid of much of the deadwood that they would have wished to. Remarkably, they do not even have a head coach in place, with Gordon Daziel, the director of football, running things on the playing side. Indeed, the investment into the team has rather dried up and, over the summer months, they have added just one player to the pool that limped into the play-off semi-finals. David Brownlie has arrived from Ross County to help their issues in the centre of the defence, where they failed to strike a good balance last term. However, they did lose Simon Mensing, who was arguably their best performer in that area all season. Meanwhile, the squad has not otherwise changed dramatically, although regulars last term, Iain Russell and Jack Leitch, have left the club. Russell's industry will be missed, although Airdrie will still carry a significant goal threat in the form of Andy Ryan whose contribution last season was simply immense. Indeed, he could lay claim to being the division's best player last time around, scoring so regularly that he was not just able to save Airdrie from the drop but push them into the top four. Ryan will be utterly central to their efforts this time around, even more so than he was last term. With no coach in place, it is difficult to predict how Airdrie might perform tactically but a succession of poor appointments means that there can be little confidence in their improving their record greatly. The summer has been a shambles and fans fear the season is likely to follow suit.