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This season, our stated goal of a major success was eighth place and above, and acceptable success was winning play-offs. Obviously we didn't achieve that and we now need to dissect it and figure out why it didn't happen. The obvious one is budget, but that is always going to be a problem for us and we knew we probably had the lowest budget in the division. It is the manager's job to rise above that and get the team to outperform those teams who have better budgets.
I happened to meet Owen Coyle in Los Angeles during pre-season training last year and he told me that Burnley's budget was probably a third of the next highest budget in the Premiership but he didn't care because he knew he could get his players playing the right way to stay up. We will never know because he left to Bolton, but at the time of his leaving, they were certainly on track to do it. We need to start having that attitude.
Brian must shoulder part of the blame because it is up to him and his staff to set the team out, train the players and motivate them to win. Brian did a wonderful job last year and had a bit of a struggle this year. The important thing is that he learns from this year and uses it to our advantage next season.
I share in part of the blame because I am the person responsible for the club ultimately. Policy and direction come from the board and me down. We try to have an environment here where if the players aren't paid what other teams are paying, at least we are offering full time training to those that want it, good training facilities, food, nutrition and health advice etc. We also are offering a pathway to players from the Academy that will hopefully over time give us players for the future. We are reflecting just now on where we could have been better and where we can improve going forward.
The players are responsible for what happens on the pitch and after they cross the white line, they must get it done. There were too many players failing in too many different areas this year and they must be accountable for part of our failures this year.
Finally, the fans can share in some of the blame. From the stay aways to the negativity that filters down to the players during games from some sections of the support. The abuse that some players get is really harsh. When our fans are on form, you are brilliant and the players really feed off of that, but players are fragile and are affected by what they hear. You may say that they have to be bigger than that, and maybe they do, but the fact is it does affect them.
The fact is, we are all responsible to varying degrees for the success and failure of the team. I would like to point out that there is more to Ayr united than just the team. There is the club as a whole and it is important to remember that while we failed on the field this year, we continue to make strides off of it, which is where the sale of .75 acres of land on the west side of the car park comes in.
We can talk about other areas of the club where we are trying to achieve success, but for the purposes of this blog, we will stick to the stadium. I don't like talking about the stadium much in public because we seem to always end up with egg on our faces so until something is concrete and we have the 14 acres of land over at Heathfield, in our hands I will continue to work behind the scenes on it. But, clearly, from these e-mails, it has come to the attention of the support so I will address it.
This is a positive move in that it is an agreement between ourselves and Allanvale that solidifies the commitment of them to the stadium project. They stepped up when no one else has and want to develop the housing land over there adjacent to our site. Our former project manager wasn't able to fulfil his promise of a hard offer and Allanvale decided to step in and commit to the project.
As part of their commitment, they put up money and a heads of terms for the land over at Heathfield. In return, we sold them .75 acres of the land here that will be used for social housing. This shows a commitment on our part and ties us both in together. Should things break down and we want to go our separate ways, AUFC have the right to purchase the land back within a set time frame.
The heads of terms over at Heathfield effectively give us the fourteen acres when the twenty acres is finally purchased from the sellers.
I can understand the concern of the support when you see a bit of the land being sold off, but I can assure you that it is for no other reason than to attempt to tie up the stadium deal going forward and we have an out if we need one. I hope the support also understands that while you all have an extreme interest in what happens at the club, most parties that we engage with around real estate etc. have no interest in being public. Therefore, they are reluctant to make their transactions well publicised.
I hope this clears up some confusion and over the next few weeks, I will blog about other areas of the club.
Regards,
I happened to meet Owen Coyle in Los Angeles during pre-season training last year and he told me that Burnley's budget was probably a third of the next highest budget in the Premiership but he didn't care because he knew he could get his players playing the right way to stay up. We will never know because he left to Bolton, but at the time of his leaving, they were certainly on track to do it. We need to start having that attitude.
Brian must shoulder part of the blame because it is up to him and his staff to set the team out, train the players and motivate them to win. Brian did a wonderful job last year and had a bit of a struggle this year. The important thing is that he learns from this year and uses it to our advantage next season.
I share in part of the blame because I am the person responsible for the club ultimately. Policy and direction come from the board and me down. We try to have an environment here where if the players aren't paid what other teams are paying, at least we are offering full time training to those that want it, good training facilities, food, nutrition and health advice etc. We also are offering a pathway to players from the Academy that will hopefully over time give us players for the future. We are reflecting just now on where we could have been better and where we can improve going forward.
The players are responsible for what happens on the pitch and after they cross the white line, they must get it done. There were too many players failing in too many different areas this year and they must be accountable for part of our failures this year.
Finally, the fans can share in some of the blame. From the stay aways to the negativity that filters down to the players during games from some sections of the support. The abuse that some players get is really harsh. When our fans are on form, you are brilliant and the players really feed off of that, but players are fragile and are affected by what they hear. You may say that they have to be bigger than that, and maybe they do, but the fact is it does affect them.
The fact is, we are all responsible to varying degrees for the success and failure of the team. I would like to point out that there is more to Ayr united than just the team. There is the club as a whole and it is important to remember that while we failed on the field this year, we continue to make strides off of it, which is where the sale of .75 acres of land on the west side of the car park comes in.
We can talk about other areas of the club where we are trying to achieve success, but for the purposes of this blog, we will stick to the stadium. I don't like talking about the stadium much in public because we seem to always end up with egg on our faces so until something is concrete and we have the 14 acres of land over at Heathfield, in our hands I will continue to work behind the scenes on it. But, clearly, from these e-mails, it has come to the attention of the support so I will address it.
This is a positive move in that it is an agreement between ourselves and Allanvale that solidifies the commitment of them to the stadium project. They stepped up when no one else has and want to develop the housing land over there adjacent to our site. Our former project manager wasn't able to fulfil his promise of a hard offer and Allanvale decided to step in and commit to the project.
As part of their commitment, they put up money and a heads of terms for the land over at Heathfield. In return, we sold them .75 acres of the land here that will be used for social housing. This shows a commitment on our part and ties us both in together. Should things break down and we want to go our separate ways, AUFC have the right to purchase the land back within a set time frame.
The heads of terms over at Heathfield effectively give us the fourteen acres when the twenty acres is finally purchased from the sellers.
I can understand the concern of the support when you see a bit of the land being sold off, but I can assure you that it is for no other reason than to attempt to tie up the stadium deal going forward and we have an out if we need one. I hope the support also understands that while you all have an extreme interest in what happens at the club, most parties that we engage with around real estate etc. have no interest in being public. Therefore, they are reluctant to make their transactions well publicised.
I hope this clears up some confusion and over the next few weeks, I will blog about other areas of the club.
Regards,
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