Airdrie endured a disappointing campaign. They had started the season expecting to challenge for the playoffs, and concluded it simply happy to have avoided the worst of the relegation dogfight, aware that their position in the middle of the table was somewhat flattering.
Stevie Findlay began the season in charge of the club but a haphazard transfer campaign left them too reliant on untested young players. Initially, Joao Vitoria looked an excellent addition but he fell out of favour once Findlay was sacked in October, and Ian Murray arrived.
He implemented a pragmatic system that lacked width, forcing the Portuguese to find a loan move to Stranraer. Murray’s arrival was expected to spark better from the side, but instead resulted in a string of low-scoring fixtures that neither satisfied the supporters nor improved the fortunes of the team any.
While there were some bright periods – two successive runs of three successive victories – the overwhelming feeling was that Airdrie failed to reach their potential. Indeed, after beating East Fife in their opening match of 2019, they would only record another 5 victories before the end of the campaign – with the final 2 of those arriving when the season was already over as a competitive entity.
There was a sense that Murray did not trust his attackers, despite Leighton McIntosh finishing the season with a commendable 12 goals. Darryl Duffy, meanwhile, struck 10. Airdrie leaned heavily on both for goals, with the midfield unable to contribute enough – an area that must be examined in the summer.
Defensively, Airdrie were up there with the best in the league, though that was a reflection of the manager’s mindset. Nevertheless, they had good depth in that area and could even afford to leave Jonny Page out of the squad for much of 2019 after a disastrous start to the season. It is around this sector of the team they will build next term. The fans will want to see either more adventure or better results – this continued mediocrity will not fly for another year.
