Thumper

there has been categorically no evidence to suggest either of these players have thought twice about Ayr. A few people said that they were the stand-outs in the friendly and all of a sudden this turns into Hopkin having his pick of them. To repeat: if a club sends its marginal players out for a friendly, and two of them look really good, then these are not the ones who are going to be let go. If Burnley want them to get more experience then they're not pinky-promised to give Ayr first pick. Very happy to be proven wrong but it's astonishing how this has become some sort of done deal. It's total speculation backed up by nothing.

So James. You grew up playing football in the streets of [checks notes] Ayr. Have you ever heard of the Ayrshire Derby before?

He's zero for fucking fifty this summer in terms of the actual footballing side of affairs (but very quickly knew exactly why Smith had never been an option, from Sources, after having said nothing on the subject during all the speculation), and still gets upvoted every time. Quite the feat. A week to go. Still no midfield, best two strikers are still not fully match fit; on top of that, one is nearing retirement and the other is unproven at this level. Chairman retweeting stab-in-the-back theories that call other clubs "tinks". Even _this_ is getting excused.

Jesus suffering f**k. Anyway, odds now looking good on zero extra signings before next week.

Being serious, this is a season where [forfeited] may end up near the top of the scorer lists for clubs up and down the country. Most of the chat on here for the last month has been at the absolute injustice that Somerset wasn't certified for 6500 fans at the start of the season. There's utterly no way that with the present rate of forfeits that postponements would have worked. It's going to be obvious by the end of summer that even league postponements can't be fulfilled at this rate.

Are you still bitter that your inability to move on from second year of high school has stunted your future? Then Falkirk may be for you, as an inability to count or spell is considered an asset amongst their fanbase.

Ayr are relying on the goodwill of letting him out of his contract previously in the hope of getting him back. If he doesn't go to Ayr then he'll go somewhere better, not to the absolute basketcase that is the current Falkirk.

Not unless they've bought a dozen players. Most of the squad will surely be isolating. Lolkirk 🤣

Ayr aren't the only partner club, and the purpose of this tour has to have primarily been giving those players match experience, instead of pawning them off on the lower leagues. There's every chance that some of them will arrive, but there seems to have developed a consensus on here that it'll be the two who stood out in the fixture; surely that's precisely that ones they *won't* be wanting rid of. It's a little like deciding that because Alex Ferguson has long held a soft spot for Ayr and sent a youth team up for a friendly that he was gagging to loan out Paul Pogba. (The irony that Ayr now actually have one of that squad!)

But the source is The Athletic, which is somewhat less prone to fantastical shite than the Rangers press. And Maxwell was the one that looked most likely, at least taking people's comments about his dad's social media posts at face value. I still have no idea why people think that Burnley are going to part with the best two players in their touring squad either. And if Cammy Smith has his pick of clubs then it's a huge ask for him to go back to Ayr purely on the basis of goodwill. Couple that with there being no real _evidence_ of Kelly returning, that would give the last ten pages of speculation on here a grand total of 0/5.

I have an entire gallery of i-told-you-so gifs saved up which I've had to quietly stash. For now. Still, sometimes a team (and a manager) needs a boot up the arse, and Albion Rovers (or whatever happened behind the scenes following Albion Rovers) seems to have done the trick, so all aboard the Hoppy express I suppose. Bonus points for quite how much seethe it'll generate at Cappielow if the Hopkin-Duffy super squad achieves success at Somerset.

Which makes it all the more likely that they won't happen. There was no master plan to swoop half a dozen marquee signings as the window slammed shut. It will be a desperate scramble with players still looking at what's on paper and thinking they're going to be fighting a relegation battle.

I honestly still think any one of them is a long shot, let alone every one. But of course that means any surprises will be more pleasant. Gutted for Smith at any rate, it's always a shame when a young guy's dream sours for whatever reason.

?? Roberts had been at the club for two years before Moffat signed. Do you mean Kevin Kyle?