The Diamonds Are Fourth(ever)
Is it unlikely? Probably. Is it possible? Absolutely. I see no reason why Rhys McCabe's Airdrieonians cannot go all the way this season.
Love them. Loathe them. Admire them or despise them. One thing is true. Everyone has an opinion on Airdrieonians at the moment.
Their blistering end to the season has caught the eye of many; claiming silverware, skelping the top two and playing practical, attacking football along the way.
Undeniably, they are the form team of the Championship right now.
Their 3-1 spanking of Raith on Tuesday puts them in such a strong position for that 4th spot and playoff football. The question is, how far can the Diamonds go?
In my opinion, they can genuinely go all the way.
Remember that Livingston double promotion leap only a few years ago? Yes, Airdrieonians are a very different side from that Livi team but I can see an element of history repeating itself here.
Is it unlikely? Probably. Is it possible? Absolutely.
Time and time again Airdrieonians have astonished me this season. Not least with their brand of football but with their constant ability to keep going after barren spells of form, their ability to pick up crucial wins at the right time. Just when you think they are dropping off, they turn around and win at Tannadice.
The way they blow teams away when on their day is nothing short of thrilling.
‘On their day’ being the key part of that sentence.
We have also watched on as Airdrieonians drop stinker after stinker. Inconsistency undoubtedly their main problem this season.
The 4-0 loss to Arbroath earlier in the year, their inability to beat a shoddy Ayr United and their midseason slump where they picked up 2 wins in 11 games. Conceding poor goals has been a bit of a trend at times – not least at Somerset Park a couple of weeks ago.
But despite all of that, they still sit 6 points clear in a playoff spot. That shows you just how good Rhys McCabe’s men are when on song.
That’s exactly the reason I can see them making a real go of promotion.
It’s a combination of Mr. McCabe himself and the fact that they are getting hot at the perfect time. As the season has gone on both McCabe and his squad have adjusted beautifully to life in the Championship.
Chuckie Telfer is finally living up to his hype, Dean McMaster doing the honest graft, slotting in superbly behind headline grabbing skipper Frizzell. Gabby McGill seems to get better every year and even the ever-present Nikolay Todorov is arguably having a career season.
As individuals the names might not do a lot for some people. As the sum of their parts, they have been excellent.
Let’s not forget they only got promoted last season! The way everyone is talking about them is as if they SHOULD be challenging for playoff spots in the Championship.
Next season of course, you could be looking at a team who will fancy themselves to challenge at the top end of the table the whole way. Especially with such a promising manager at the helm. McCabe has caught a lot of arse-kissing this season for his inventive style of football, none more so than from myself so I’ll spare my lips on this occasion.
All I’ll say on the matter is this. If the Airdrieonians board do the smart thing, they will try and tie McCabe to a chunky contract in the offseason. Let the man go to work keeping this core of players. If they can add a little more firepower and a decent bit more defensive stability, they should be one of the favourites to go up next season.
That is, if they don’t go all the way this year.
Everybody do the Excelsior stomp?