(31/7/04)

Win In Fife
Against all odds Albion Rovers knocked Raith Rovers out of the Bell's Cup at Starks Park with both goals coming from John Bradford. The second round will be played on Tuesday August 31st.

(30/7/04)

Signings
Chris Silvestro and Chris Fahey have re-signed and 21 year-old midfielder Joe Boyle who featured in a few pre-season matches has been signed from Partick Thistle, he was previously on the books at Falkirk which may well mean he was already known to Kevin McAllister.

(28/7/04)

Stadium Update
The structural and electrical reports have been done and it seems unlikely that anything too major has been discovered. The bald patches of the pitch have had soil added and grass seeds sown. The clean-up crew have removed a fair percentage of the weeds and some of the long grass behind the goal at the Airdrie end. An A.G.M., possibly followed reasonably shortly afterwards is expected to be held relatively shortly to sort out the current situation.

Site Updates
The admission price and club sponsorship pages are being updated at the moment and should be finished later today. The profiles section is also in the process of being updated, the players who've left have been removed and the new players shall be added shortly.

Waiting For Signature
As far as we're aware only Chris Silvestro and Chris Fahey are still to put pen to paper, Sean Sweeney having opted to sign for Bathgate instead.

Reigart
Reigart have confirmed that they'll be shirt sponsors for the fourth successive season.

Scott Crabbe
Assistant manager Scott Crabbe hasn't hung up his boots just yet, his absence from the squad at the pre-season friendlies is due to injury.

Turkey
We hear that the under 19 team are enjoying themselves and are very impressed with the facilities. At their current location the team have a hotel as well as training facilities on site.

Signings
Kevin McAllister has signed former Aberdeen and Arbroath goalkeeper Mark Peat last night and re-signed Jed Stirling and Mark Yardley all on one year deals. He is still talking to a couple of unnamed players.

(26/7/04)

Season Tickets
The club has announced the price of season tickets for the coming season.

Adult £100
Concession £60
Youth (12 - 16) £30
Child (under 12) £20

They should be available from the club (01236 606334) from next Monday 2nd August.

(24/7/04)

Smith Out
Jordan Smith limped off at New Douglas Park, we understand he's aggravated a hamstring injury and is likely to be out of action for a month. There is no suggestion that the artificial surface played a part in the injury. Youngster Danny Black who started today's game has been withdrawn from the squad travelling to Turkey tomorrow to cover for Jordan.

Accies Win
Rovers lost 2-1 at 1st division newcomers Hamilton Accies this afternoon in their last warm-up match before the season starts at Kirkcaldy next week. The artificial pitch seemed to provide an ideal surface with realistic bounces etc. Rovers were a goal behind when new signing Graeme McLaren smacked a cracker to equalise.

A report for this and the Camelon match (with pics) shall be on the site at latest tomorrow.

Match ON
Today's match at Hamilton is definitely on as their artificial pitch has been okayed by a referee an the stadium has been sufficiently cleared of debris for access.

(23/7/04)

Accies Match
The following statement was made by the Accies secretary on their message board about tomorrows game.

"There is a 10am inspection by the ref and a 12 noon inspection for the ground, both precautionary and just to cover ourselves more than anything else.
The dugouts aren't meant to be done until tomorrow morning anyway. The ground is still a building site and there is a team of workmen coming in first thing in the morning to clean up the whole trackside area, remove safety fences, remove unsightly excess tarmac etc as best we can. All that I hope to have done by mid morning, so I'm not expecting any problems there.

The ref is required because we do not have proper net frame supports yet and wont have till Tuesday. The nets are therefore free hanging and aren't pegged in to the ground, so we are improvising a bit here and there and I just want to get the ref to give it a check in the morning so if we do have to do anything we have a few hours to change things rather than him arriving at 1.45pm and not fancying it. But I don't expect to have any problems there either."

Cult Heroes
BBC Sport have contacted the club asking for our fans to come up with "three players who had something special - whether it was cheeky charisma,  player who made the crowd buzz in expectation or maybe it was just because of his sartorial style?"

They go on to say "These players won't necessarily be you all-time greats but the ones your fans remember with a smile rather than reverence." They want us to vote on our top three and will then highlight the choices on one of their Football Focus programmes, Saturday lunchtimes on BBC1. The BBC website will hold a national vote that week and announce the winner the following week. 

At the end of the season they hope to have a short-list of the most voted for heroes and will then ask Football Focus viewers and website users to vote for the all-time greatest hero.

We will hold a vote on the message board as to which players to pick but we need to know in the meantime which players to have in the vote. Please either visit the message board and nominate one or more players or send an email. Up to eight nominated players will go into the voting procedure.

(22/7/04)

Pre-season
Rovers reserve/under 19 team lost 1-0 to Pollok at Cliftonhill. Meanwhile in Camelon the first team beat the hosts 5-2 with Bradford, Patrick, McManus all getting one and Yardley getting two.

We understand that the Ayr United game originally pencilled in for next week won't now go ahead and that there will be no games arranged for next week.

Admission Price Update
The date for the CIS Cup first round match at Palmerston has been confirmed as Tuesday 10th August with a 7.30pm kick-off. Admission charges are at the lower end of the scale for 1st division teams £12 for adults and £6 concessions. The price of admission for the 1st round of the Bell's Cup at Raith Rovers on 31st July is also expected to be £12 and £6 with the possibility of a £15 parent and child gate too. Rovers will announce season ticket prices next week but they are expected to be close to last seasons cost although we understand that kids may not get in for free any longer a small fee for their season tickets seems likely. Admission at the gates seems unlikely to increase from £7 standing and £8 seated which compared to the £14 charged by our Monklands neighbours albeit for better facilities and higher division football seems good value.

(21/7/04)

Signing Update
Rovers and East Stirlingshire today agreed the fee to be paid for Graeme McLaren thus ending the possibility of a tribunal setting the amount. Jered Stirling and Mark Yardley are expected to put pen to paper in the next few days.

(20/7/04)

Results
Rovers first team drew 0 - 0 Newton Park, Bo'ness tonight in front of a crowd of about 250. At least a dozen Rovers fans made the trip to see the unexciting draw against United in very wet conditions.

A report on this game shall be on the site tomorrow.

At the same time a Rovers reserve/under 19 team was beating Links United from Edinburgh 4-1 at Cliftonhill. The Rovers goals were scored by Valentine, Stewart and Douglas who bagged two.

Games Arranged
Various matches are going ahead this week.

Tonight the 1st team play at Bo'ness United with a 7.00pm kick-off and a reserve/under 19 team play Links United at Cliftonhill in a closed-door match.

Thursday 22nd the 1st team play at Camelon Juniors (with we think a 7.15pm kick-off) while a reserve/under 19 team play against juniors Pollok at Cliftonhill in a closed-door match with a 7.15pm kick-off.

On Saturday 24th Rovers are playing at Hamilton with a 3pm kick-off on their brand new artificial pitch. This is an open-door match and admission is £5 for adults and £2 for concessions. Apparently the match is only on subject to handover of their new pitch from the contractors.

Signing
The club has confirmed the signing of East Stirlingshire defender Graeme McLaren. We understand that although McLaren is out of contract 'Shire are looking for a fee as he is under 23. The last we heard the Falkirk side were looking for more than Rovers were willing to pay and the matter may be decided by a tribunal which would base the amount on things such as length of service (approx 3 years) and his wage which was a tenner a week like all 'Shire players.

Season Tickets
The directors are expected to decide on ticket prices at this Thursday's board meeting and we shall let you know on Friday what they decide.

(15/7/04)

Bounce Game
Rovers lost 4-2 tonight to Airdrie United at Cliftonhill tonight. As the game kicked off at 7.00 rather than the expected 7.30 your webmaster missed the first United goal which was apparently a spectacular one although I don't know who scored it. John Bradford equalised for Rovers in 25 minutes, Owen Coyle scored on the stroke of half-time to put the visitors back into the lead. Ricky Patrick levelled the match in 49 minutes but Owen Coyle scored in 77 minutes and on 90 minutes. Despite the scoreline it was a very even match and Rovers had plenty of chances, Mark Yardley coming close on several occasions himself.

(13/7/04)

CIS Cup
Rovers have been drawn against 1st division Queen of the South in the 1st round of the CIS cup to be played at Palmerston on Tue 10th (or Wed 11th) August.

Hibs
A very strong Hibs side beat Rovers 2-0 this afternoon in a bounce match at Cliftonhill. Rovers featured Marc McKenzie, Chris Silvestro, Jered Stirling, John Bradford and Jordan Smith among others.

(12/7/04)

Bounce Matches
We understand that a last-minute bounce match has been arranged for tomorrow (Tuesday) against Hibs who were recently knocked out of the Intertoto cup. This seems certain to be a closed-door game and we understand it may be at Cliftonhill although we're unsure whether it's in the afternoon of evening! In addition the club will play a closed-door match against Airdrie United on Thursday evening at Cliftonhill.

CIS Cup
The draw for the opening stages of the CIS cup take place at Hampden tomorrow. The first round is played on Tuesday 10th of August.

(9/7/04)

Cliftonhill
The board of directors have decided to stay at Cliftonhill for the coming season and shall be applying for a 12 month safety certificate from North Lanarkshire Council. To keep costs to an affordable level they shall only apply for it to cover the main stand and not the terracing which is of course rarely used anyway. In the meantime a group of shareholders (independent of the board) shall be formed to study the stadium situation and report back to all shareholders. This plan is dependant on the structural and electrical surveys not finding something which cannot be repaired economically.

Measures are being taken to improve the playing surface which has not had much attention paid to it during the close-season due to the stadium situation.

Youth Cup
The draw for the coming season's SFA youth cup has been made and Rovers have been drawn away to Alloa Athletic in the first round to be played on Sunday 5th September. A home tie against Airdrie United on Sunday 10th October awaits the victors in the second round.

(7/7/04)

Da Vinci Update
As previously reported Jimmy Lindsay and Rovers under 17/19's will be jetting off at the end of the month, the destination shall not be one of the countries mentioned. They shall be going to Turkey for three weeks, using Galatasaray sports centre they shall also be playing at Fenerbahce and Besiktas.

Signing Update
Perhaps largely due to the uncertainty over the stadium situation manager Kevin McAllister hasn't made any fresh signings. Although not signed by Rovers the likes of Jordan Smith and Chris Silvestro haven't signed for any other team either.

Stadium Update
The board of directors are actively investigating all options available to the club for the coming season. They have commissioned structural and electrical reports on the stadium as well as a valuation of the land as requested at the shareholders meeting.

(2/7/04)

Shareholder Meeting
Last night saw the shareholder meeting to discuss the club moving to Airdrie was held at Cliftonhill. Vice chairman and club secretary David Shanks opened the meeting and handed over to chairman Andrew Dick. 

The agenda for the meeting was :

1) Welcome and background to meeting
2) Cliftonhill
3) Airdrie & NLC & ARFC
4) Name of housing company making offer (name deliberately omitted from website)
5) Lease
6) Proposal Deal
7) Questions
8) A.O.C.B.

It was stated that the bank and creditors were not forcing the sale of the ground. Mr. Dick went on to say that the board's mandate (as given to them when they ousted the previous directors) to stay in Coatbridge had been fulfilled having spent £250,000 on the ground since they took over.

The chairman stated that a safety certificate could be obtained by spending approximately £10,000 but that North Lanarkshire Council would only issue a six month certificate instead of the normal twelve month one. During that six months the club would need to spend a few thousand pounds obtaining detailed reports on the state of the stadium which could well reveal faults that may cost tens of thousands to rectify. As the club is running close to its overdraft limit such expenditure wouldn't be easily funded. Reference was made to the numerous break-ins and vandalism suffered at the ground and the inability to claim from the insurance company due to the policy excess.

The club decided to investigate three options to secure the future of the club namely redevelop Cliftonhill, sell the ground and share somewhere and build a new stadium.

Various plans to redevelop were considered, at least one of which involved turning the pitch to face a different direction. The project manager appointed by the club looked at these and priced a new 2000 seat stand at a figure in excess of £1,000,000. The new stand would have incorporated some offices to be leased to companies however the costs over the period of loan payment exceeded the rent being received.

The new ground option was progressed to drawing up outline plans for a new stadium and a site in Carnbroe identified. The cost was estimated at a figure in excess of £4,000,000 which was to be financed by selling Cliftonhill and receiving grants from Sport Scotland, unfortunately the grants available for football stadia were withdrawn soon thereafter. The sports body will now only give grants for things such as youth development projects which also benefit the community.

Other problems for Cliftonhill on the horizon are a legal requirement which states ".....all physical barriers for disabled people in public buildings have to be removed, as far as is reasonable" this takes effect in October this year. Although the word reasonable may mean the club don't have to spend a fortune on access this could lead to legal challenges. Another problem is a UEFA requirement that the SFA issue licences for clubs to operate, eligibility for a licence will involve meeting certain standards of facilities, financial security and qualified directors. At present only access to European competition is affected by not having a licence but that could well change in the near future.

The club issued a sheet detailing costs incurred at Cliftonhill which wouldn't be incurred at Broomfield and a list of costs incurred there which aren't incurred at Cliftonhill. Things such as maintenance, repairs, water rates, utility bills, overdraft interest etc. would be saved although income from the catering and bar facility would also be lost. Costs of renting Broomfield were more than offset by interest received on the proceeds of the sale deposited in a bank account, when taking into account the costs saved the club would be better off to the tune of tens of thousands of pounds per annum.

Around this point in the proceedings Graham Stirrat (safety advisor of club sponsors Reigart) brought to the meeting by the Reilly family who own the demolition company and are major shareholders started asking questioning the board over financial and legal obligations. The fact that the last club accounts issued are four years old and that no current independent valuation of the land has been done were the main points. Mr. Stirrat told the board that the deal could well be a very good one but no decision could be made by shareholders without proper information to base that decision on and that the directors could be sued personally by individual shareholders if an E.G.M. wasn't called and a vote taken to approve the move. He also pointed out that the company and individual directors could well be fined several thousand pounds for not having up to date accounts available.

Andrew Dick stated that the timescale was against supplying all the information demanded. The board said they did have the authority to sell the ground but Mr. Stirrat stated that they did not as it was the fundamental basis of the company. The board of directors apologised for the lack of accounts to which they attributed pressure of their own work and that of the clubs work and also the fact that their auditor had suffered a broken leg. The only valuation done for the land was in July 2003 and this valued it for use as leisure or recreation not for housing which is more valuable. As property prices in Coatbridge have increased dramatically in the last year many shareholders thought a fresh valuation should be obtained. Some (notably one of whom was Ann Fagan, widow of the clubs late chairman Tom) also suggested advertising the land for sale on the open market to be appropriate. The board stated they'd consulted property developers and had also had a previous lower offer from another company so were satisfied with the price.

Reference to the proposed youth academy for which grants would be payable to the club was made as was a probable social club being provided at that site or perhaps in the town centre. Another piece of land has been identified in Coatbridge for use as a training ground with pitches and the club are negotiating with the owners, this land is about as large as Cliftonhill but is unsuitable for a stadium due to a lack of proper access. It would however only cost a fraction of the money received on sale of Cliftonhill.

The meeting strayed from the agenda, getting heated at times and was suspended although discussions continued for some time. Many shareholders demanded that the information requested by Mr. Stirrat be supplied to all shareholders and it was agreed that club treasurer David Wright would supply this after he returned from holiday in 10 days time.

Several shareholders thought that spending the money to stay at Cliftonhill for another season while further investigating alternative options would be worthwhile. Andrew Dick and general manager John Reynolds said that they'd run out of fingers for the dyke as they've been doing that since taking over. John Reynolds went on to say that Cliftonhill was a disaster waiting to happen.

After further discussions Andrew Dick said that if the club stayed at Cliftonhill next season he wouldn't be there, a sentiment echoed by John Reynolds.

Director Robert Watt revealed that he'd taken legal advice which confirmed the earlier statement by Mr. Stirrat that the directors would be ill advised to do the deal without appropriate shareholder support at an E.G.M.

The meeting broke up when the Reigart contingent left without having formally going through the agenda although most aspects were discussed unofficially at least.

Seven days notice of an E.G.M. is required and shareholders may well get the opportunity for a formal vote once they receive the financial information promised. As the deadline for specifying a teams home ground to the SFL is the 24th July there isn't much time.

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