Rock bottom of Division One, seven points from safety and only two league wins from 20 games. The mood at Airdrie United is not a good one.

Manager Kenny Black has come under fire for his team’s lack of progress in the second tier this season and with Division Two looming large on the horizon, there appears to be no move to change things at the Excelsior.

It’s been over three years since Black was appointed as replacement to Sandy Stewart, but the fans of the Lanarkshire club are far from happy and are demanding change.

However his reign has been topsy-turvy and his two “promotions” have been by virtue of other team’s financial problems you may recall.

Their elevation to Division One in 2008 came after Gretna were forced into liquidation, despite losing the Division Two play-off final to Clyde and the Diamonds won promotion by default.

Then last season they finished second bottom in Division One and got through to the play-off final for the third consecutive year, but Ayr United were victorious, consigning Airdrie to Division Two football again.

But once more, they came back up after Livingston’s financial problems saw them demoted to Division Three. The lateness of the decision to relegate Livi saw Airdrie, now gone part-time and ready for Division Two, plunged into red-hot First Division action.

In many ways you have to feel sympathy for Black because of the unexpectedness of their return to the second tier and the fact that he had to hurriedly sign available First Division standard players after the season had begun. Of course he had already offloaded his First Division players from the previous campaign such as Paul Di Giacomo and Simon Lynch.

But it hasn’t worked out for them and the supporters are demanding a change to the point that some have voted with their feet and have not gone to games.

Stuart McCall resigned as manager of Bradford City yesterday, admitting he had failed and felt he couldn’t carry on. His honesty won many admirers and McCall walks away with his dignity intact.

This was a topic Airdrie fans were discussing on message boards and praised the former Scotland midfielder for having the courage to admit defeat and walk away.

Many believe Black should have done the same thing by now, but the general view appears to be, somewhat harshly, that he’s only there for the money.

Personally speaking I don’t think that’s the case, however having seen Airdrie a few times this season they have appeared a team bereft of new ideas and fresh initiative.

The swashbuckling Scottish Cup tie with Queen of the South, where they won 4-0, would appear to be the exception. At least that’s the impression I got from regular Airdrie followers.

They also had a surprise 1-0 backs to the wall win at league leaders Dundee at Dens Park, but these games have been the only two the supporters have had to smile about in an otherwise turgid season.

As for the board, their silence is deafening and a source told me that while there have been ongoing grumblings of discontent among the fans, the board were happy to back Kenny Black.

However my source is of the opinion the mood may have changed although nothing has been said. Whether that’s because they are happy to back him privately or perhaps they cannot afford to pay him off is unknown and speculatory, but something will have to give.

There is no doubt that the Diamonds have lost their sparkle, but it is an issue chairman Jim Ballantyne will have to address and soon whether it’s one way or the other.

Tagged with: Airdrie United

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