Jump to content

The Ultimate Super Ayr Thread


Recommended Posts

Not sure what it is with Baird but there is something about him that just doesn't inspire confidence in me. Might go back to last year when he was a silent captain and I just haven't got over that yet. 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

2 hours ago, Caledonian said:

If anyone wants to subscribe for the free pdf programme it's just a matter of going onto the Ayr United Enquiries and stats Facebook page and sending your e-mail address on a PM. 

What do you do if not on facebook ?

Link to comment
Share on other sites

57 minutes ago, ryanayr1987 said:

Is Houston’s deal actually up? Thought he signed an extension at some point but can’t find it on the website 

It was reported as a 2 year contract when he signed in Jan 2020. Although as he was already on loan until the end of that season maybe it was actually a 2.5 year deal otherwise it feels like a weird time to end.

Not that I'd be bothered if it was the case as apart from the 4-1 game against Partick I can't remember many standout performances. Probably more likely to be heading down the Adam Hunter/Kyle McAusland career path.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

7 hours ago, D'Jaffo said:

Aye Muirhead, Baird and Fjortoft are all fairly decent options for this league. I’d have McGinty punted out the door and bring in another left footed defender to replace him.

Decent options is a stretch other than Muirhead. I'd almost go as far as saying a pairing of Fjortoft and Baird at the back couldn't finish 4th. If that's the aspiration then they don't cut it. We really need to strive for better as a club.

We're accepting mediocrity because of how much Hopkin fucked us. Look at Saturdays attendance. Below 1300. That's nothing short of an aberration. I accept there may be some streamers but I can't imagine 300/400 home fans are streaming. That's how many we have lost with accepting decent. We need to do better on and off the field. We're in danger of a malaise setting in.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Decent options is a stretch other than Muirhead. I'd almost go as far as saying a pairing of Fjortoft and Baird at the back couldn't finish 4th. If that's the aspiration then they don't cut it. We really need to strive for better as a club.
We're accepting mediocrity because of how much Hopkin fucked us. Look at Saturdays attendance. Below 1300. That's nothing short of an aberration. I accept there may be some streamers but I can't imagine 300/400 home fans are streaming. That's how many we have lost with accepting decent. We need to do better on and off the field. We're in danger of a malaise setting in.

That’s why I used the words decent. If Baird can continue on this recent upward trajectory then he’ll be a good player for us. It’s clearly in his capabilities as he was a first pick for St Mirren when they won this league. I think having a bit of stability in a regular partner (Fjortoft) and also having the responsibility of being captain taken away has helped him. Fjortoft, I’d be happy to keep as a 3rd or 4th choice option. He’s brilliant in the air and would be ideal to bring in when trying to see out a win.

I don’t think anyone has been accepting decent because we simply haven’t been decent since probably the start of Kerr’s reign. Since then we’ve been a combination of shite and really shite. You can get away with being decent in this league so long as you have 2 or 3 really good options in your team. Imo ICT are the very definition of decent but they have really good players in Gardyne, Doran and McKay to help elevate them. For us, the aim has to be to build a solid foundation of decent to good players and then try and elevate them with a couple of quality additions. I think at the moment O’Connor is the only player we have who could potentially fall into that category but we have to remember we’ve only seen him play a small handful of games before he got injured. If he can get fit and playing 90 minutes then I’d say our team is a whole lot better off.

I think if we can keep Muirhead and bring in someone to either partner him or push Baird on and we’ll be fine. I don’t think it’ll happen this season as there’s other positions in more dire need of upgrading. We’re also probably going to end up looking for two new full backs in the summer as well with McAllister not a long term option there and Reading maybe moving on. I’d be quite happy if Maxwell were to join permanently at the end of the season and just slot into left back in that case.
Link to comment
Share on other sites

27 minutes ago, Trogdor said:

Decent options is a stretch other than Muirhead. I'd almost go as far as saying a pairing of Fjortoft and Baird at the back couldn't finish 4th. If that's the aspiration then they don't cut it. We really need to strive for better as a club.

We're accepting mediocrity because of how much Hopkin fucked us. Look at Saturdays attendance. Below 1300. That's nothing short of an aberration. I accept there may be some streamers but I can't imagine 300/400 home fans are streaming. That's how many we have lost with accepting decent. We need to do better on and off the field. We're in danger of a malaise setting in.

This exactly. Baird may have potential to be in a top four side - just maybe. 
 

January needs to be the beginning of building towards something more positive, or attendances and interest will continue to dwindle. 
 

I have said it before, but this season had the potential to be a very good one - over a year of not attending, and Killie in the league. IMO we have missed a huge opportunity this year.  We have pretty much fucked it, and it is incredibly frustrating with a series of short term woeful decisions.  However, with beginning a rebuild in January it could be salvageable. Our short term approach with Duffy limits that though. 

Edited by No_Problemo
Link to comment
Share on other sites

This exactly. Baird may have potential to be in a top four side - just maybe. 
 
January needs to be the beginning of building towards something more positive, or attendances and interest will continue to dwindle. 
 
I have said it before, but this season had the potential to be a very good one - over a year of not attending, and Killie in the league. IMO we have missed a huge opportunity this year.  We have pretty much fucked it, and it is incredibly frustrating with a series of short term woeful decisions.  However, with beginning a rebuild in January it could be salvageable. Our short term approach with Duffy limits that though. 

I don’t think there’s anything short term about Duffy. I just don’t think he’ll necessarily be the manager though.
Link to comment
Share on other sites

8 minutes ago, D'Jaffo said:


I don’t think there’s anything short term about Duffy. I just don’t think he’ll necessarily be the manager though.


I’m not sure what isn’t short term about Duffy...

It has all been very short term, sack Hopkin while still requiring several players  - appoint Duffy the day after the transfer window closes. We now have a January window - no decent player is signing a contract past the end of the season, and as other clubs are planning for next season as this season draws to a close, we aren’t as we have no idea who our manager is going to be. It is short term, and we are going to be miles behind yet again. This can of course be mitigated to some extent, as long as the new manager is identified and in place as soon as the season ends. 
 

What I don’t want to see is Smith fucking about and we still don’t have a manager just before pre season begins. I think it may happen though. 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

4 minutes ago, No_Problemo said:

We have pretty much fucked it

No, Hopkin fucked it. He brought in players from a clearly lesser team. Who would seriously sign McGinty and say they had a challenging team?

 

2 minutes ago, D'Jaffo said:

don’t think there’s anything short term about Duffy. I just don’t think he’ll necessarily be the manager though.

Duffy is a good coach, no doubt. He might know a name or two to add to the team. However, as you pointed out, the team has been on a downward spiral since McCall left. Kerr wasn't the best but you can see what he was trying to do, new in management. Hopkin has no excuse and can kindly f**k off. 

To me, Duffy fits the average, in the middle type manager that will get us to the end of the season without relegation. January will be his time to show us who he can bring in.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I think we’ve been on a downward spiral which started almost instantly after McCall left. Board got it massively wrong with the cheap and easy appointment of Kerr. TBF to Smith he rectified this quite quickly once he took charge however the wrong man again was appointed although in fairness I don’t think there was much displeasure at the time from the fan base, IIRC it was seen as a bit of a meh appointment rather than a poor one. Hopkin was without a disaster and he may go down as one of our worst managers ever. He’s left us with a unbalanced rabble of a squad.

Duffy is without a doubt no more than a short term option and I think if we continue on our current form we’ll just about stay up. The appointment we make in the summer is massive and it needs to be done ASAP to allow them to build a squad as there is no doubt a massive rebuild needing done. 
 

I said it last week but my main concern is the managerial appointment. I don’t see their being a better list of managers available in the summer than there was when Hopkin was fired into the sun. If we have already identified the new guy then what’s the hold up. If it someone like Peter Murphy (although I’m not sure I get the hype about him) then why couldn’t we of paid the small amount of compensation to Annan to get him just now? 

Link to comment
Share on other sites


I’m not sure what isn’t short term about Duffy...
It has all been very short term, sack Hopkin while still requiring several players  - appoint Duffy the day after the transfer window closes. We now have a January window - no decent player is signing a contract past the end of the season, and as other clubs are planning for next season as this season draws to a close, we aren’t as we have no idea who our manager is going to be. It is short term, and we are going to be miles behind yet again. This can of course be mitigated to some extent, as long as the new manager is identified and in place as soon as the season ends. 
 
What I don’t want to see is Smith fucking about and we still don’t have a manager just before pre season begins. I think it may happen though. 

No I meant that I don’t think Duffy will simply leave the club in the summer. I think he’ll be involved in some capacity and if that’s the case then he should be allowed to bring players in over January with next season in mind.
Link to comment
Share on other sites

I think we’ve been on a downward spiral which started almost instantly after McCall left. Board got it massively wrong with the cheap and easy appointment of Kerr. TBF to Smith he rectified this quite quickly once he took charge however the wrong man again was appointed although in fairness I don’t think there was much displeasure at the time from the fan base, IIRC it was seen as a bit of a meh appointment rather than a poor one. Hopkin was without a disaster and he may go down as one of our worst managers ever. He’s left us with a unbalanced rabble of a squad.
Duffy is without a doubt no more than a short term option and I think if we continue on our current form we’ll just about stay up. The appointment we make in the summer is massive and it needs to be done ASAP to allow them to build a squad as there is no doubt a massive rebuild needing done. 
 
I said it last week but my main concern is the managerial appointment. I don’t see their being a better list of managers available in the summer than there was when Hopkin was fired into the sun. If we have already identified the new guy then what’s the hold up. If it someone like Peter Murphy (although I’m not sure I get the hype about him) then why couldn’t we of paid the small amount of compensation to Annan to get him just now? 

I agree with the vast majority of this but I don’t think a new man has necessarily been identified yet and if he has then there’s other reasons besides compensation explaining why he didn’t want the job right now.

I think the best we can hope for is that come February/March we are far enough away from the bottom spots and most likely too far away from the top 4 and we can look at planning for next season. The first thing that involves is getting an agreement struck with whoever Smith wants as manager next season.
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Join the conversation

You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.

Guest
Reply to this topic...

×   Pasted as rich text.   Paste as plain text instead

  Only 75 emoji are allowed.

×   Your link has been automatically embedded.   Display as a link instead

×   Your previous content has been restored.   Clear editor

×   You cannot paste images directly. Upload or insert images from URL.

Loading...
×
×
  • Create New...