rgreig

I have renewed my season ticket and did not see it at all. I would have gone for it but didn't even know it was an option!

I agree that we didn't trouble their keeper much but I actually thought we did very well when we had 11 players on the park. Up until the sending off, the BBC stats showed that Dundee Utd had only had a single shot on target. For me, today showed the difference that Brown has made in terms of the team shape and tactics. Under Bullen we had massive space in our midfield that Dundee Utd would have exploited ruthlessly but today they really struggled to break us down. I would have to see the red card incident again to be sure but at the time I could see why the referee sent him off. I know that Partick will want momentum going into the play-offs but I hope that their players will be holding back a bit to avoid injury at this stage of the season.

I think a good summer in terms of recruitment would to a large extent the concerns that people have expressed. It was pretty depressing last summer to see targets we had gone after end up at other clubs in the same division. It is also very clear to neutrals that we have a general lack of quality throughout the squad - when we were missing any of Murphy, Chalmers or Dowds it was never good to watch. Budget doesn't solve these things magically (look at Falkirk for the last few years or Aberdeen now) but I don't think Smith will have succeeded in the business side of the rebuilding of the club until we have a squad that is on paper in the top three in the division. At that point whether we achieve the aim of getting promotion will depend on the manager, coaches and players since he will have done his bit.

Does anyone know how much revenue we can expect to make from the new hospitality and how much that would mean in terms of net income for the club? I don't really have a feel for how significant the revenue will be.

Yes, I agree. I think it is easy to be a bit cynical but in the context of our club this is a Big Deal. Looking at it now we might dismiss it but looking back people will appreciate it was an important development. I don't know if anything similar was issued at the time floodlights were installed in the early 1970s but if there had been I don't think anyone today who still had it would be thinking "that was a waste of time why did we produce a coin and why did I buy it".

Well, one of the hallmarks of a successful team is that they play with a consistent starting eleven every week...

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....

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

He is also coincidentally 52, so he definitely would not require an assistant.

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.

If Bullen doesn't take him off I think I may spontaneously combust.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

Smith should be playing the "manager trading" card. Right now.

Hopefully quite upbeat, signing Lee's leaving card and leaving witty messages on it.

I agree with most of what you wrote, but I actually thought that Ahui continued to show improvement yesterday and in the first half was by no means the worst. I don't know why but Young was really poor in the first half and then somehow became a lot better in the second. Apart from the goal, I thought McGeady was awful and kept giving the ball away. The biggest criticism from yesterday has to be aimed at Mutch. Ridiculous to be beaten at the near post for their second goal and constantly put the defence under immediate pressure with bizarre passes. If I were Albinson and not back on Tuesday I would be raging. Although I think the team shape is generally better now, Bullen is still out-thought by almost every other manager in the division. Even with a lot of injuries to contend with, McPake put out a team that completely out-played us in the first half and they can feel very unlucky they didn't end the half with a commanding lead.

Totally agree with the above. But I actually don't agree with the comment about Bullen being a good coach, I don't see any evidence of that based on the shape of the team. There were times in the first half where there were acres of space between midfield and defence when Dundee Utd had possession. I do agree that McGinty saved our bacon on numerous occasions, the way we are set up we rely on him.

Hard to imagine anyone appreciating yesterday's performance. The only thing you could say in our favour was that we were unlucky to concede due to an error but overall I thought we looked poor particularly in the first half. Dundee Utd weren't great - so maybe the quote above is actually referring to the reaction of Raith fans thinking about their title chances. In the first three minutes, Dundee Utd had three corners and a goal chalked off for offside. That set the tone for the first half really, and although I hate to see anyone get injured I was relieved when he went off. After a worrying five minute spell, Ahui did settle down and I think was better than McAllister. Bullen's subs are very strange and guaranteed to rile the fans. I don't understand how he thought we would get an equaliser with the changes he made, and I would really like Callum to ask him that question instead of the usual "tough one to take, Lee". I thought despite poor service that Dowds did ok - if he had hit his chance harder after Docherty slipped I reckon it wouldn't have been cleared off the line. In contrast I had forgotten Bryden was even on the pitch most of the time.