Nelson

At no point did I say McCall didn’t care or put in the effort, but I do think he prioritised what HE considered to be important, which I think could be a source of tension with the current setup. That wasn’t always a good thing - his total disinterest in the Academy meant he completely missed the emergence of Luke McCowan (at the same time as he was out signing dross like Calvin Miller). And as far as I can tell, there were plenty of occasions where Scally did take training on a miserable January morning. But in the end, if we’re looking for an experienced manager, on our budget, with a proven track record of success at our level, then McCall would be an obvious choice. If he hadn’t been Ayr manager previously, with the alleged baggage of his walk out (he didn’t really walk out on us), I’d say he was just about the outstanding candidate available. Should you never go back? Ally did it I suppose, and it worked out fine. I just don’t have a great deal of confidence in the current setup getting it right, given we’ve spent 2 years prioritising enthusiasm, commitment and likeability whilst completely taking our eye off the ball in terms of real progress on the park.

I don’t see how you can argue that binning Somerset Boab is evidence of his commitment to our community engagement strategy.

Getting McCall to do all the community engagement stuff could be a challenge. We could barely get him out his West End coffee shop to take training at times. Dragging him down to Ayr to do storytime at a local primary school just isn’t going to happen.

Didn’t Craig Moore score about 25 goals the year we won the league? But obviously LS was a fluke signing. Along with Ross Docherty, Liam Smith, Daniel Harvie, Michael Rose, Michael Moffat, Andy Murdoch, Mark Kerr, Steven Bell, Jamie Adams, Andy Geggan…

Was Doak not about 11 when he left Ayr? Pushing it a bit to say we played any real roll in his development. Unfortunately such obviously talented players are never going to stay at clubs like Ayr and will be poached away by the big elite academies,. Our track record of developing our own players is really very weak - McCowan, Crawford, and Forrest are the only 3 over the last decade, though Jackson Longridge was pushed out because Mark Roberts was an imbecile. I suppose you could make the case for Craig McGuffie, but he never showed any more than brief flashes of talent. Ultimately, doing well at youth levels is meaningless if players don’t develop and transition into professional football. I think McCall had the right idea - focusing on players like Harvie, Rose and Shankland who fall out of so called elite academies having not quite made the grade, but still have bags of potential at our level.

You spelt “legacy” wrong.

Yep, Mark Roberts, Alex Williams and Bryan Prunty scored heaps of goals. Plus we had Ryan Stevenson who was absolute class. He also signed Andy Geggan and Michael Moffat who proved to be half decent.

Binning Bullen after finishing 2nd would have been nuts, but that doesn’t mean there weren’t developing concerns about how we played during his tenure. Those concerns have really blown up this season to the point that no amount of community engagement could cover up a clear lack of progress on the pitch. I’m afraid there are just too many, including the VoR who chose not to see because he was such a likeable guy.

True, but they also beat us after going down to 10 men after 20 minutes. David Bangala’s finest hour…

Isn’t Stuart Wilson the VoR?

I fully expect a portrait of Bullen to be in the Hub by Saturday. Or maybe a framed gilet. We can queue up and file past it respectfully.

In some ways, I wish I was on the same happy pills that seem to be widely available at Somerset Park these days. January can be a bit bleak after all.

It’s quite bonkers. A Scottish cup run that was so close? We got bumped out in the quarter final to a league 1 side on national TV. After squeaking past lower league opposition to get to that game. Maybe Duncan Carmichael could write a book about that glorious cup run. I was feeling a bit sad about the way things have turned out, now I’m just getting angry that such an infantile and unprofessional culture has taken root at the club. Probably explains why Somerset Boab was allowed back in the door. Are we a professional football team or an after school club? I wasn’t really sold on Ian McCall coming back, but I think we need to smash up this nonsense and I think he would do that. The last thing we need is another “club ambassador” or yes man who has no clue how to set up a football team.

When did our wee club turn into a personality cult? Some of the poor decision making over the last year or so is really starting to make sense now.

Seems strange that there hasn’t been a word from Mathie. Am I reading too much from his radio silence? Bullen was very much his man after all.

We beat 3 premier league teams to make the semi final in 2012. Brian Reid was genuinely underrated (by some).

Without being pedantic, we also finished 3rd in 98/99 when the premier league was still 10 teams, so that’s technically a higher finish than 2nd with a 12 team top tier.

Best league finish for 40 years? Didn’t we finish 2nd under Dalziel? Best cup run in 25 years? Didn’t we get to a semi final in 2012?

True, but Moffat didn’t give us back our identity. Levels.

If Dougie Imrie can prove to be a decent manager, I see no reason why The Moff couldn’t do likewise. Bring him home….

I remember when McCall left, Lachlan did a Q and A on Facebook. Someone asked how the players were doing, as if they were in mourning or something. Lachlan’s response was they are professionals and they’ll deal with it. A very sensible response that contrasts with that utter nonsense from the VoR. Maybe we should just shut the club as we’ll surely never find another Bullen. And what’s the point of success if Bullen doesn’t lead us to it? Will we ever find love again? I wasn’t such a dribbling mess even when Shankland left. The irony is that there appeared to be no prospect of Bullen staying anyway when his contract expired at the end of the season.

Signed on a 2 year contract… Don’t really buy that he was was causing problems if I’m honest.

Cult of personality doesn’t cover it. I’ve had the feeling for a while that the relationship between Bullen and the club was simply too chummy and not nearly professional enough.