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The Ultimate Super Ayr Thread


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7 minutes ago, Trogdor said:

That is incredibly disingenuous and revisionist drivel.

We scored over 100 goals in 2017/18. We had a league goal difference of +50. We won the most games in the league. We beat the DKBs in the league cup despite being two divisions below them. If that's not entertainment I don't know what is. We must be the first team to have league goal difference of +50 and not play great football.

Someone else can explain 2018/19 to you.

Cherry picking parts of my posts again just to try and make a point.

Pathetic.

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We had the promotion season (which we nearly screwed up and were saved by Raith / Alloa) and then we had the great football that was played when Sandy Stewart came in, however there were also many hellish days, especially between December and March. We also had the Auchinleck Talbot disaster chucked in just in case anyone forgets that one.
Don't get me wrong, the destruction of Dundee United at Tannadice and even the win at home plus many others that season will live long in the memory and were undoubtedly major high points in our recent history not just with the bare results but also the excellent Football that we played (most of the time).
The point I'm trying to make is that it certainly wasn't all plain sailing under McCall and it also wasn't always lovely attacking football either, despite what some want to seem to think.
Anyway, that's all gone and we need to look forward which I think we should all be doing with confidence rather than some of us trying to find negatives and issues around every corner.
I've no skin in the game as regards the owner, board or club employees, however it's very noticeable that some of us on here are just looking for issues and negativity which starts to become rather grating after a while.
I'm not saying we should all be happy clappers but I do think we need to give credit where it's due and acknowledge that our club is quite clearly on an upward curve and not before time.
Time for us all to get behind the team and club which should hopefully turn out to be one of the most positive and exciting times in the last 30 to 40 years of this club....

I’ve read all of this about five times and I’m still not sure who you are arguing with?

The salient point is that we’ve regressed hugely on the park since then. And we’ve made progress off it. I don’t think anyone can argue there? It was far more enjoyable going along to Somerset in those days than it is now. Hopefully that will change but this is the situation we are in.
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7 minutes ago, D'Jaffo said:


I’ve read all of this about five times and I’m still not sure who you are arguing with?

The salient point is that we’ve regressed hugely on the park since then. And we’ve made progress off it. I don’t think anyone can argue there? It was far more enjoyable going along to Somerset in those days than it is now. Hopefully that will change but this is the situation we are in.

I was accused of "revisionism" so I was basically pointing out that life under McCall wasn't always the sweetness and light that some were trying to make out. I have acknowledged that we DID have some great times and played some excellent Football under McCall but by the same token was also pointing out that we had some quite horrific displays also.

It matters not anyway what's done is done, we have a different Chairman, a different Manager and a whole new team of players so I suppose it's pretty pointless arguing about how we all perceived the past.

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6 hours ago, OnlyAyrfaninTarbolton said:

When you think things are bad... 

Take a second and think it could be worse.... We could be Falkirk.... 

Shocking again from them... 4 nil defeat to a bang average Airdrie side...... That's poor

Tipped to do well every season and end up utter shite.... And they are throwing decent money about as last season proved

 

They are where they are thanks to a premature celebration at Palmerston.

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McCall changed this entire football club for the better whether anyone likes it or not. After spending the best part of 15 years in the third tier (with the odd season finishing tenth in the 2nd) drifting into the abyss McCall won us the league, got us full time football and sustained our championship place.

Would Smith even have took over had we still been finishing 7th and 8th in league one? Would he have been able to build us the hub and a new stand? Probably not.

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57 minutes ago, WATTOO said:

Cherry picking parts of my posts again just to try and make a point.

Pathetic.

My goodness.

First you picked 2016-17 as an indication of times under McCall and compared to now. You had cherry picked a season where we were part time and compared it to a season where we were full time. We have never survived in the Championship as a part time team.

You then summated 2017-18 as almost being screwed up and by inference we didn't play great football until Sandy Stewart took over. In 2017-18 we were the first team to score 100 goals that season (before even Liverpool and Man City) and it was great.

There were times where things weren't great under McCall but there can be no question he improved things. We could have been relegated to League Two when he took over and we were top of the Championship when he left. We were better on the park under McCall than we are now. That's the fact, I don't really know why you sought to denigrate what have been some of the best times I've experienced as an Ayr fan. I find it a bit bizarre.

Edited by Trogdor
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4 minutes ago, AyrAtlanta said:

McCall changed this entire football club for the better whether anyone likes it or not. After spending the best part of 15 years in the third tier (with the odd season finishing tenth in the 2nd) drifting into the abyss McCall won us the league, got us full time football and sustained our championship place.

Would Smith even have took over had we still been finishing 7th and 8th in league one? Would he have been able to build us the hub and a new stand? Probably not.

100% this. McCall took on Ayr from Mark Roberts at a time where we were looking at dropping to league 2 and over the years, built a team that looked possibly premier League capable. The relationship between him and Cameron was great and the club was certainly going upwards.

Unfortunately, When McCall left, Cameron filled his place with Mark Kerr, despite the player/manager thing failing previously with Roberts. I feel that Kerr didn't get enough time and was hunted by the new chairman. Though I dare say Kerr was better than Hopkin or Duffy.

I've not yet made my mind up about Bullen. Off the park, things are looking fantastic for Ayr. Things could be better on the field, until then, we have the memories of Shankland, Forrest, Adams etc.

Things will eventually come together.

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I have followed the club since mid 90's. The Dalziel era did give us some great cup days but nothing to show in terms of structure of the club once it finished despite the money put in over that time. From 2003 onwards until 2019 any time we got the 2nd tier we went straight back down again and many seasons of midtable obscurity in tier 3 and only right at the end of that did we actually win a league title. So basically 15 years of being arguably the biggest in terms of fanbase part time club but little to celebrate. 

Going full time again was key and was handled in the right way and McCall was a good experienced manager that helped Lachlan gradually build things in a sustainable manner. Lachlan at least had been around football long enough to have a reasonable day to day understanding. Smith came in at a time when it was the right call to get rid of Kerr but there wasn't that day to day experience to appoint a suitable manager for what the club needed. Mathie hopefully is that link now he does have experience at a higher level with Hibs but it is ultimately a learning process at this level with less resources.

I'm curious on our history of being full time prior to the Barr era can anyone give a timeline on that.  Certainly in my memory its only been in the last 5 years that the club have been full time without a massive benefactor.  We've seen Raith, QOTS and Morton make play offs for premier the odd season but then they never manager to sustain it and yoyo like ourselves. There are more clubs coming up like Queens Park and Cove that due to money being pumped in are on similar par to us and these clubs. So to have sustainable success we have to make the boring long term decisions and at times stick to the plan within reason.  In relative terms if you take away Mccall's last 15 months or so we are doing well and learning. The margins between success and failure in this league are pretty tight and fan base is  often as fickle as the last result. 

Edited by grazza
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36 minutes ago, AyrAtlanta said:

McCall changed this entire football club for the better whether anyone likes it or not. After spending the best part of 15 years in the third tier (with the odd season finishing tenth in the 2nd) drifting into the abyss McCall won us the league, got us full time football and sustained our championship place.

Would Smith even have took over had we still been finishing 7th and 8th in league one? Would he have been able to build us the hub and a new stand? Probably not.

This is true up to a point.  However, the then chairman and board deserve huge credit for committing us to full time football - as others have said, that was a huge springboard to McCall really taking the club forward.  Cameron also deserves credit for not binning McCall for the Harkins and El Alagui season.  Most chairman would have and I don’t think McCall could really have complained if he did.  

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I started watching Ayr during the MacLeod era, rampant, free flowing football, every player a hero that played their part. That was replicated by McCall in 17/18. Neither team carried any fat, every one of them played a key part in their respective seasons. 

Think we went full time after getting promoted, MacLeod was losing his touch by then and had become yesterdays man towards the end, He spent a fortune on a lot of dud players and was rightly hunted in the end. Burley had to cut costs but he developed 1-2 players and still had us as a decent team. 

Barr took over at some point between him and Stainrod, Stainrod was seen as a replacement for MacLeod's showmanship but was dreadful. Daziel took over and ultimately Barr's cash bought the same level of success as Cameron did with McCall on a fraction of the budget, if you omit the cup runs (McCall won the same amount of trophies as Daziel)  Daziels teams had good individuals over a few years but as a team they weren't often good and certainly not for a sustained period of time. 

Money had a similar situation to Burley, as did Kerr, following success with less resources. 

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36 minutes ago, AyrAtlanta said:

McCall changed this entire football club for the better whether anyone likes it or not. After spending the best part of 15 years in the third tier (with the odd season finishing tenth in the 2nd) drifting into the abyss McCall won us the league, got us full time football and sustained our championship place.

Would Smith even have took over had we still been finishing 7th and 8th in league one? Would he have been able to build us the hub and a new stand? Probably not.

It's a good point. McCall made a lot of changes behind the scenes that brought us up several levels. With a chairman living abroad a lot of the off field stuff ticked on by without much thought.  These changes saved Smith a lot of work and perhaps meant the off field development could be done quicker

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2 minutes ago, Nelson said:

This is true up to a point.  However, the then chairman and board deserve huge credit for committing us to full time football - as others have said, that was a huge springboard to McCall really taking the club forward.  Cameron also deserves credit for not binning McCall for the Harkins and El Alagui season.  Most chairman would have and I don’t think McCall could really have complained if he did.  

From what I remember at the time, we were paying the highest part time wages in Scotland and McCall had questioned why we didn't use the budget better to become full time. 

He managed at some of the most crisis hit clubs in the modern era, all with the exception of Rangers I think. He was well placed to help with the transition. Camerons inexperience and commitment mixed well with McCalls experience and quest for redemption.  

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The McCall era only went golden when Sandy arrived but it’s fair to say it was a partnership that produced an excellent team for a couple of seasons . Great days , especially considering our budget at the time , all be it a full time one . The low point was Talbot in the cup where we refused to get down in the mud and scrap for our lives . High point obviously Dundee United away , where we butchered one of the country’s top clubs on their own manor .

in my opinion Sandy’s Queens Park displayed both those extremes in one 90 min match on Friday .  So it highs and lows with that brand of football in 5he Championship . Bullen hasn’t got us to where he wants us yet , Friday was brilliant but so was the second half at Rugby Park . The issue is  some of the rotten performances in between . Saturday will tell us a lot about the current team . They have enough in the locker to beat Hamilton , question is can they get their physical pressing style out for 90 mins ? We’ll know soon enough .

The future is bright though  , stick with it fellas ...

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On a different note just looking at the match reports from the u18s it wouldn't surprise me if one of the big academies from down south came in for Max Guthrie, I know it's happened to youngsters from Kilmarnock, Celtic, Rangers, Dundee Utd ect, but this kid is apparently on fire. Hope he stays and progresses but these clubs are willing to throw good money at kids up here, might tempt the board........thoughts?

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23 minutes ago, Mod1967 said:

On a different note just looking at the match reports from the u18s it wouldn't surprise me if one of the big academies from down south came in for Max Guthrie, I know it's happened to youngsters from Kilmarnock, Celtic, Rangers, Dundee Utd ect, but this kid is apparently on fire. Hope he stays and progresses but these clubs are willing to throw good money at kids up here, might tempt the board........thoughts?

He is a very good prospect and the good thing is we have him on a 2 year contract 

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8 minutes ago, Finlay21 said:

He is a very good prospect and the good thing is we have him on a 2 year contract 

Hope he goes onto be a star , I was part of his coaching team when he played for his school team and won the Wellington trophy in his last season at Doonfoot Primary , ( I want some of the credit 😁😁)

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1 hour ago, grazza said:

 

I'm curious on our history of being full time prior to the Barr era can anyone give a timeline on that.  Certainly in my memory its only been in the last 5 years that the club have been full time without a massive benefactor.  

 

I'm pretty sure we went full-time prior to the start of the 89-90 season. If not, it was 90-91. Before that it would've been before WWII.

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