Nelson

I’d need to reserve judgement until I see the highlights because the perspective from the SRE is a bit odd at times, but my gut feeling is that we need to add a goalkeeper to our summer shopping list.

Tough to see from the SRE, but seemed like Albinson had a howler at the equaliser, and looked a bit in no man’s land for the 2nd. Pleased with the work rate and improved tempo, but a lack of quality in the attacking 3rd was a big issue. You have to ask what McGeady wants from his time at Ayr. Looked completely disinterested when he came on.

I think we became extraordinarily tolerant of mediocrity under Bullen. Everyone just got a pat on the head for turning up and trying hard - I think Brown will turn that around and demand a lot more from the players than we’ve been getting of late. Perhaps that’s why we haven’t made any significant moves in the transfer window - we’re gambling that Brown can get more out of the existing squad than Bullen ever did. I’m pretty sceptical if I’m honest as I do think there is a fundamental lack of quality and experience throughout the team, but it’s where we are I guess. I think Chalmers has suffered because we move the ball about so slowly that we simply can’t create the space for him to go and stretch teams, but equally, save for individual moments of quality, I’d say he’s been pretty poor of late. I absolutely would try and sign Chalmers for next season, but equally, you can see why Dundee Utd threw in the towel with him - he’s a player that simply must find more consistency. Dowds probably just needs a competent striker playing alongside him as he’s decent at championship level, but not good enough to play the forward line by himself.

Chalmers and Dowds have kind of been getting an easy ride of late, so hopefully both will get a bit of a wake up call with Brown arriving. . Based on their performances over the last couple of months, you wouldn’t be rushing to offer them terms for next season, though the potential is definitely there.

I reckon he was more frustrated by Stanger’s defending at the goal…

We’ve swapped Rose for Willoughby. Are we: a) better off b) worse off c) about the same. Answers on a postcard.

I’ve heard this argument once too often. (Actually not once, it’s many more times than that).

The problem with this argument is that Bullen is gone, and yet our recruitment is still woeful. Doesn’t absolve Bullen of anything, but it does at least suggest he wasn’t the ONLY problem.

He has no first team experience to speak of. He has never kicked a ball at championship level. He’s coming to us looking for a bit of experience at a time when we need an experienced player who will come in and hit the ground running, muck like Kerr and Bell did the year we won the league. I’ll always give a player the benefit of the doubt, but we seem to be following a formula that has failed time and again. Maybe this will be different, but in my view it is a total shot in the dark.

I can, and I did. He may have had the final say, but did he choose or was it just a lack of options? I certainly don’t absolve him of blame, but he’s gone now, and we’re still puking up the same standard of signing. There is literally nothing in Willoughby’s CV that suggests he’s up to it. McHugh is just a total shot in the dark. Sanders ought to be decent I suppose.

We need quality and experience and we keep taking random punts on players with no first team experience and no proven track record of performing at our level. Brown has made a positive first impression, but there is still a sense that something is wrong with the management structure at the club. Bullen was hopeless, but there’s no doubt he was badly let down by some hideous recruitment. Has anything changed?

Dipo was the worst thing to happen to us. Validated the idea that there really is top quality at a level where there is clearly none.

McKenzie is about 1 in 15, so…..

Another gamble I suppose, but Bryden, Rose and McKenzie are just various degrees of not good enough, so we probably won’t be any worse off if he’s pish. Would be great if we signed someone I’ve actually heard of.

The clock ticks…!

Really poor transfer window for us. Sanders ought to be a. Improvement on Stanger, and hopefully Musonda can perhaps go to right back, but otherwise, we’ve not really addressed any of the shortcomings in the team. If Dowds gets injured, we’re pretty much screwed. The questions mount for Mathie - even with an unexpected 250k windfall we still can’t come up with answers to our ongoing recruitment issues, I reserve the right to delete this post if we sign Stephen Kelly (I doubt that will be an issue).

I don’t think it’s Ayr’s fault exactly, but just the shape of the player market nowadays that it is so extraordinarily hard to sign actual experienced players who have a proven track record at our level.

Still time I guess, but this is threatening to be a really poor transfer window given the 250k windfall. We’re short in almost every department and with 3 leaving, we’re also short of numbers.

Can he drive a supporters bus?

Honestly can’t think of any period in the last 40 years when the club paid for supporters buses. I do remember at least one occasion during the Bill Barr years when it happened as a one off to mobilise the support for a big game (the relegation decider against Partick in 97), but otherwise it was always done by volunteers through supporters clubs. The demand for buses seems to have dwindled through the years, perhaps because they’re being policed more closely now with more enforced restrictions on alcohol meaning guys would rather make their own way on trains etc. Or maybe there is still a demand and we just don’t have enough people willing to do the organising anymore. Whatever the case, I think the criticism of the club around this is plain ridiculous. As has been explained ad nauseam, it puts the club in a difficult spot if there is bother on an official club organised bus.

I remain baffled as to why anyone thinks the club should be organising supporters buses.

It’s as if the availability of any given player is known only to us, and to speak his name will alert other clubs..…

Musonda hasn’t kicked a ball for us in over a year and will probably come back injured anyway. Stanger hasn’t impressed me much and constantly gets caught ball watching at set pieces. No idea what Sanders is like, but we could certainly do with a more physically dominant defender.

Somebody needs to have a word with somebody. That’s a total embarrassment to the club. It’s liable to get a bit of traction in the media as well given it’s Scott Brown.

It was absolutely true as well that Dalziel got rid of anyone that he perceived as a threat to his own position, either due to their competence (Iain Munro) or popularity (Andy Walker) or coaching ambitions (Andy Millen). Utter p***k.