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rgreig

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    Ayr United

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  1. I am not surprised about Chalmers, he was obviously injured when he came off on Saturday. The only optimistic thing I can say is that this is the first time this season those eleven are starting so at least we get to see something new....
  2. I thought he had taken a knock to his ankle just before he came off? He certainly didn't have much success today, but neither did Murphy. I agree with those who have commented that Willoughby looks hopeless - I don't imagine he will get much more game time. Would bite your hand off for a draw on Tuesday evening.
  3. I think you're right. Last week I thought we were very fortunate that Airdrie gifted us two goals and although the finishing was excellent for all three we were definitely riding our luck. I don't really have an expectation of us getting anything today.
  4. Yes I really can't see why anyone would have an issue with this. There is nothing snide in his comments, and it just shows Bullen as a decent person who genuinely cared about the young players who worked for him. It is not uncommon in other areas of work for people to congratulate former colleagues on promotions or new jobs (typically on LinkedIn) so I don't see this as strange behaviour in any way.
  5. I don't actually know why Courts left Dundee Utd? He hadn't done badly as far as I can see. Then it was a short spell in Hungary where again it didn't seem like he did badly in what was a pretty short spell.
  6. As others have said, it is quite odd. They made the decision so clearly they have evaluated his performance and I think the vast majority agree with that decision. Some of us would argue that there has been enough data for quite a sustained period of time to show that he was not doing a good enough job, but I really don't see why it was a particularly hard decision to make and the only real debate is whether he was given too much time in the role. It does sound like Smith and Mathie developed too much of a personal relationship with Bullen, and I am surprised that they allowed themselves to do that because it appears to have clouded their judgements. But I may be wrong in that; we don't ever hear the full picture - who knows what they had been saying to Bullen over the last few months. Some of the things that Bullen was universally acknowledged to have done well such as the community engagement deserve credit but in the grand scheme of things I think most people would rather have a more tactically aware coach than a community ambassador and you have to decide what is most important. Other comments about the links with the academy being strengthened are also debatable in terms of what has actually improved here. Looking at the starting 11 on Saturday I think I am right in saying that not a single one of them came through the Academy ranks, and only one Academy graduate came on as a sub (Bryden). That's not really any better than his predecessors. Finally, I think that arguments about managers' or players' abilities are weakened when they include comments about hair or clothing or other irrelevant things. This isn't unique to Ayr fans though - there is a lot of mention of Dougie Imrie's chinos for example and I personally don't care if our next manager chooses to wear a tracksuit, dark grey morning suit or translucent pink pyjamas.
  7. He is also coincidentally 52, so he definitely would not require an assistant.
  8. Yes, it's incredible that he wasn't asked about the penalty decision when he started banging on about luck. Arbroath can rightly feel very aggrieved about that. Paddy was asked about it and it's clear from his answer that it should have been a penalty - he said some rubbish about the fact that he slipped, as if that made any difference at all to whether it was a penalty. I don't understand why Rose started but, even if you accept that, it's impossible to justify allowing him to come back out for the second half.
  9. If Bullen doesn't take him off I think I may spontaneously combust.
  10. I think he started off quite well, but the pivotal moment was that game away to Morton where we were up 2-0 and absolutely cruising, missed a tap in to make it 3-0 and then proceeded to lose three goals in ten minutes. It all seemed to fall apart after than and to be honest I am not really sure why. His inexperience showed when in the latter stages he was making desperate team selections. I seem to remember in his last game in charge he played Corrie Ndaba in midfield. I hope he can get his managerial career back on track since I think he did show potential.
  11. Not only did we sign him, by Paul Hartley actually watched him play against them and concluded he was just the thing he needed for his struggling Cove team and signed him on loan! I think that may actually be even more crazy than our signing him since I doubt Bullen had ever seen him play live.
  12. Whatever we think of Bullen, he is Jose Mourinho compared with David Hopkin. If QP do decide to employ that clown then we have at least avoided automatic relegation.
  13. That's a very fair point - if Mathie knows from speaking to some of the senior players that the squad no longer believes in him as manager to the extent that his presence is toxic then there is zero point in delaying the inevitable.
  14. I think that Smith will see that he (Bullen) is wasting his money and jeopardising his project. Whatever else people may throw at him, he isn't dumb or blind. I think it's more likely to be a question of timing - would much be achieved by exiting him before Saturday's match given that a caretaker would have not have any time to have any impact. That wouldn't stop them sounding out replacements quietly though.
  15. Smith should be playing the "manager trading" card. Right now.
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