Albion Rovers - looks bleak

There's not enough money in our game to support the amount of clubs in this current set up. Teams must join forces or face a bleak future.
There's some junior clubs that would easily replace them though.
 
I never said they owned it, I said the voted not to share it.

I meant in terms of a "stadium share" where both are leasing off the same external company for the stadium does them no good.

They barely have any funds as is whilst owning their stadium, they'd go down the pan rather quickly having to pay to use New Broomfield.

Airdrie get quite a few punters more than the Rovers get currently, and they are struggling financially to make ends meet. There's no chance even with their current numbers the Rovers could afford the rental fees to use NB.
 
They managed to bring big numbers to the cup game at Ibrox 4 years ago - might even have sold the full corner if I remember right. I try to forget about it tbh as it was a shit game.

Or was that maybe down to a few of an east end club persuasion missing their Ibrox trip and using that game as an excuse? ;)
 
I was at the game on Saturday and they were not great but still unlucky to lose a late goal, everyone was asking why the experienced player Fish was not brought on and Harper the manager is not well liked.
 
If Brora Rangers a highland league team were to replace Albion Rovers a lowland league team?

Surely it isn't a straight swap with Albion Rovers going into the highland league? Although nothing would surprise me with the spfl :D

Yes they would play in the Highland league mate
 
Great wee stadium? Haha surely a wind up

The appointment of a donkey junior manager done them no favours

Ridiculous appointment. My mate played for him at Wishaw Juniors and said his training and manner was unbearable. An absolute dinosaur.

Also heard that the knocked back Ian Murray to appoint Brogan.
 
They are in a bad way.

The bank has increased pressure on them from the start of the season, meaning they went from relegation from league one into the lowest budget in league two. The appointment of John Brogan and his 'cream of the juniors and loanees from Lanarkshire' gameplan was an utter disaster, he was appointed by one board member against the recommendations of others. This was compounded by then appointing Kevin Harper, who got the job basically because he was the cheapest available.

One win all season with EK or Cove to come in a play-off is ominous. The last chance was the Berwick game at the weekend which they appeared to dominate only to lose an 87th minute equaliser. If they go down they will probably struggle to compete with EK/Kelty, East Stirling etc and lose their ground.

They also sadly lost goalkeeping coach Michael Duke who unexpectedly died at the weekend.

Attendances were already the lowest of the 42 senior clubs but have plummeted 40% this year. Although the 'tims without a bus fare' charge applies to some I know a few good loyalists or Protestants who follow them as well. As my hometown team I'd hate to see them go but it doesn't look good.
 
My hometown club. At one time I had season tickets for both Ibrox & Cliftonhill.
It does look bleak and got even bleaker over the weekend with the sudden death of their goalkeeping coach. A guy I had the pleasure of working with for a short time.
Rest easy Dukesie.
 
Since the league was restructured in the 70s, them and East Stirling have probably the worst record. It was about time the were allowed to find their level rather than surviving on pools money and whatever the handout is now. East Stirling appear to have survived in the Lowland League OK.
 
How did they manage to become so shit?

I remember they took us to a replay in the cup and the games were televised. They made like quarter of a million off of those ties alone I'm sure.
Their chairman said on radio that those two ties with the TV revenue gave them the equivalent of 21 years income.
 
Cove rangers or east kilbride would bring as much if not more than albion rangers if they swap leagues
 
It’s a shame.

I used to go and watch them a lot when I was a kid and wasn’t being taken to Ibrox.

Id been to more Rovers games than Rangers by the time I was 14...wouldn’t like to see them disappear.
 
They must've squandered a lot of the money somehow because I know the player's get paid a pittance.
 
How did they manage to become so shit?

I remember they took us to a replay in the cup and the games were televised. They made like quarter of a million off of those ties alone I'm sure.

They lost Darren Young in the summer as they told him they wouldn't have money to back him with players as his budget was getting cut again. They hired a manager from the juniors to replace Young and he basically signed junior players from clubs he had managed in the past.

The money they got from games against us was used to improve their ground.
 
A once proud club (supported by a couple of pals of mine) with their own assets (stadium etc) but adrift at bottom of League 2. The general feeling is that if they drop out the leagues it will be flats soon...local council very unwilling to find a sportsground they can use and local people tend to support ra hoopsh.

A shame, they once played in cup finals, and in the top division.

Great wee stadium too as it has a wee pub inside it and terracing where people can abuse linesmen and players!
One of their directors is a local councillor. Knights of Saint Columba sponsored a match of theirs recently I’m told. Council are paying off staff and would be able to accommodate them at Broadwood
 
My first professional match I attended when I was 5 in 1958 with my Dad who was a Rovers fanatic, I have no recollection of game..They used to get crowds of 900 and 1000..When they played Airdrie it could hit 10,000
..So sad to see them going this way
 
My grandfather's team. Sorry to see them in this state. I could rhyme off half a dozen clubs I'd rather see disappear before they did. For a while they were doing ok, but it shows you that whether it's in the top or bottom divisions a club's fortunes can change swiftly, particularly when you're reliant on one man or family to steer the ship.
 
I'm sure they'll be fine.
No doubt that club they play for the Friendship Cup will help them out.
Any minute now...
 
I used to work for the guy that was their chairman for a while
He’s a lady's front bottom so %^*& them
 
They must have got big crowds at some point in their history, I know the grounds not the best but it looks as though it could have held a few.
 
A mate of mine is a former player and one of their record goalscorers so used to look out for their scores.
Realistically though these clubs are just blocking the path of more progressive clubs and the likes of a Rangers B team playing competitive football.
 
Too many local communities are turning their back on football.

The bigger teams in Scotland are doing relatively ok for crowds. If we're expanding it to include Hibs, Hearts and Aberdeen then I'd use OK rather than well. Outside of that? Crowds are dwindling across the board. It's not a new thing either. Of the 24 (or there abouts) kids in my primary class, I was the only one who went to a game on a saturday afternoon. In my secondary school? Maybe half a dozen of us. And I left school in 1997.

Football fans in Scotland are ageing. Kids are growing up watching football on TV. We're conditioning kids to believe that football is something they watch on TV rather than experience live in a ground on a Saturday afternoon. We're teaching them that if it isnt TV football then it isnt worth supporting and that players who don't earn millions a year and play tippy tappy football aren't worth bothering about.

Cost is an issue but it isnt the only issue or even the biggest one. Most clubs offer cheap deals for kids. Many will even offer heavily discounted or free access with a paying adult. Unfortunately that still isnt enough to bring crowds through. Costs are relatively high regardless of how many fans you get through the gate. Wages in the lower leagues can range from £150 a week to £500 a week. Part time teams struggle to pay that and a good junior team with a strong income from a social club or sponsorship can pay more than some League One sides. Stewart Kean was earning at least £400 a game with Hurlford at a time when he was good enough to play professional football in the lower leagues.

Local communities need to start valuing their sporting culture and heritage or small clubs in Scotland are going to die out. Those few fans who lose their clubs won't be reabsorbed by another team. They'll simply drift away from the game completely.
 
A mate of mine is a former player and one of their record goalscorers so used to look out for their scores.
Realistically though these clubs are just blocking the path of more progressive clubs and the likes of a Rangers B team playing competitive football.

B teams aren't progressive. Having colt sides who are artificially pegged back and prevented from reaching a higher level of football aren't doing anything for the game. Kids will learn far more playing with and against professionals in a competitive dressing room where teams are playing for promotion or relegation than they will playing for colt sides in a glorified reserve system.

Cup games featuring colt teams have been roundly rejected by fans of lower league clubs. Folk would rather stay away than watch their lower league side play Rangers or Celtic under 20s.
 
There's not enough money in our game to support the amount of clubs in this current set up. Teams must join forces or face a bleak future.
There's some junior clubs that would easily replace them though.

Thats not going to happen.

Inverness Caley aren't liked within Inverness. Numerous fans of the 2 former teams walked away from football when Caley and Thistle merged. Ross County have a stronger fanbase despite being from a smaller town. The city of Inverness has never really embraced Caley Thistle.

It's a myth that merging teams would lead to stronger clubs. You'd have a few fans who'd go for the novelty factor or who never went to see the individual sides and a mass rejection of the new entity by those who actually cared for the original clubs. It's bunkum.

As for the juniors looking to replace some of the struggling lower league sides, the Highland/Lowland league set-up hasn't really produced much so far. Edinburgh City went up. East Stirling went down. Has it revolutionised the lower leagues and offered ambitious teams the chance to progress? Edinburgh City are to be admired given their commitment to community football but their story hasn't been repeated by another side. As for the juniors? How many junior sides could afford to provide facilities that would meet the minimum threshold for the professional game? How many would be willing to put their finances up for proper scrutiny? How many of them would be willing to give up local rivalries for the chance of joining the senior ranks?

The biggest threat to football in Scotland isnt that we have too many clubs. We have too few fans. Whether we had 42 clubs, 32 clubs, a single league of 12 clubs or 82 clubs wouldn't change the fact that too few people experience football as a live spectacle on a Saturday afternoon. You're not going to attract new fans to the game, or concentrate the existing supporter numbers, by merging clubs and killing off teams that have served a local community for 100 years and more. The only way you can hope to do it is by making football a central part of Scottish culture again and by getting more fans to go along and experience a game as something more than a TV show.
 
We're Albion the only team that we didn't play a league game against during our journey back up the league's?
 
I agree mate there are simply too many clubs most of whom should be amateur or semi professional. Teams with stadiums like Hamilton have no place in a top league. All top level teams should have a grass pitch and 4 proper stands no gazebo type stuff. Those that don’t meet that criteria shouldn’t be in the championship or premiership.

This absolutely
 
Albion Rovers would go into the Lowland League.
If a North League club lost the play off they would go into the Highland League.
Effectively could mean odd number of teams in either Lowland or Highland League

That’s insane.
Could also mean that if Inverness got relegated back to the highland league, the stupid merger would have been all for nothing.
 
I stay 10 minutes in the car from them, never been to their stadium once, couldn't care less if they went under, far too many teams in Scotland, f.uck it feels like we've played Killie 47 times this season already.

The SFA and associated bodies can do one.
 
Albion Rovers would go into the Lowland League.
If a North League club lost the play off they would go into the Highland League.
Effectively could mean odd number of teams in either Lowland or Highland League

They would even up the Lowland League as there is about 40 clubs below it trying to get in. As for the Highlands, who knows, as they don't want a Highland League 2 or any feeder Leagues into it
 
Did their fans want us dead...?

I remember a note in their programme (or maybe on a website article) when we played them having a dig about us voting them out of the league back in the 60s or 70s.

Something about how the roles were (at the time) reversed and a "new club" jibe for good measure.

mentally challengeds without the bus fare right enough.
On that note, fùck them.
 
I stay 10 minutes in the car from them, never been to their stadium once, couldn't care less if they went under, far too many teams in Scotland, f.uck it feels like we've played Killie 47 times this season already.

That's down to the league structure though and not the number of clubs though mate.
 
How does that work out?

Say it's Albion Rovers v Brora Rangers in the playoff and Brora Rangers win and get into league 2 , where does Albion Rovers go?
There is a space in the Lowland league to be filled after Selkirk dropped out due to financial issues. As a result, the league is playing one team short. Rovers would drop in to that slot and likely leave the highland league needing a new team
 
We're Albion the only team that we didn't play a league game against during our journey back up the league's?

Dundee United too. We played against Dundee United in the Scottish Cup, and Albion Rovers in the Ramsdens cup, and the Scottish Cup, which went to a replay.
 
Cove rangers or east kilbride would bring as much if not more than albion rangers if they swap leagues

I'd agree, seems to be plenty ambition about EK. Do they have plans to move on from K Park at any point?

Its a great facility but they'd surely want more of a stadium should they get promoted?
 
Let’s be honest, few are going to miss them if they go down.

Someone will come up to replace them in the overblown setup we have in Scotland, and if they disappear altogether as a result, so be it - we’re talking about a club who pull in what, 200 punters maybe?

There’s junior sides who are better supported.
 
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