The Ultimate Super Ayr Thread

[Honest_Man#1]

4 hours ago, wuffster said:

Nope. I've received a nominal fee most seasons (barring the covid season, and I waived the fee for the season that ended in March). I even posted it on here a few years ago:

I'm happy that the club is prioritising the playing staff (including a full-time video analyst) - it is a football club.

I was fortunate in the past to have a board that valued having matches recorded and realised there was a real cost to doing it. The nominal fee I charged the club didn't change in 15 years either - it certainly would not make a dent in the playing department!

I await with interest the new highlights package.

May have missed this at some point, but did the club just tell you they weren’t interested in your service anymore and that was it? If not, what was the reasoning for it stopping?

[Guest]

15 hours ago, D'Jaffo said:

How many players in our squad actually are though?

There’s a few that could step up and adapt. I think he’s one of them.

Most of our squad are young and are improving and evolving all the time, in fact if we just take the improvement from last year to this year in many of them, who's to say that they wouldn't improve again and show themselves to be "premier league class" whatever that actually is.

Being honest, when we're at our best I'd certainly not be running scared about taking a pumping from Killie, Ross County, St Johnstone etc so I honestly don't think we're that far away as things stand, given a bit of improvement and quality additions in the right places.

There's a LONG way to go however but at least we've got the nucleus of this squad signed up for another season or two as continuity at our level is as important as anything.

[diegomarahenry]

There are a few things that could derail this season, 2-3 medium term injuries to key people, Bullen being offered the Sheffield Wednesday job at some point, although they are doing quite well, or one of the other teams spunking a fortune in January to make sure they win the league. 
 

He have shown a medium level of consistency so far as have most of the other teams, it’ll take a team to show a better level than that to win the league and it may be a case that whoever does the best business in January comes out top. 

[Guest]

31 minutes ago, diegomarahenry said:

There are a few things that could derail this season, 2-3 medium term injuries to key people, Bullen being offered the Sheffield Wednesday job at some point, although they are doing quite well, or one of the other teams spunking a fortune in January to make sure they win the league. 
 

He have shown a medium level of consistency so far as have most of the other teams, it’ll take a team to show a better level than that to win the league and it may be a case that whoever does the best business in January comes out top. 

As things stand right now, I don't think there's many teams in this league who have as deep a quality squad as ourselves, not to mention that we have around 17 to 18 players who are regularly involved, match fit and able to come in / interchange if and when required, that in itself is a big advantage when the inevitable injuries and suspensions kick in.

[diegomarahenry]

26 minutes ago, WATTOO said:

As things stand right now, I don't think there's many teams in this league who have as deep a quality squad as ourselves, not to mention that we have around 17 to 18 players who are regularly involved, match fit and able to come in / interchange if and when required, that in itself is a big advantage when the inevitable injuries and suspensions kick in.

When we tried to change things in the Cove game we actually got worse, the lack of cutting edge was a worry. 
 

The squad is also lacking experience in the depth also, guys like JML and Bangala haven’t played much, Ashford, McKenzie and McCallisters game time has been limited, O’Conner is falling in to that category also. Smith and Ecripont need more exposure to first team football also. 
 

The continuity has helped us this season and we are top, clear by 3 points so this is more of an observation than a criticism, we haven’t rotated players as much as we maybe should have.

[Guest]

23 minutes ago, diegomarahenry said:

When we tried to change things in the Cove game we actually got worse, the lack of cutting edge was a worry. 
 

The squad is also lacking experience in the depth also, guys like JML and Bangala haven’t played much, Ashford, McKenzie and McCallisters game time has been limited, O’Conner is falling in to that category also. Smith and Ecripont need more exposure to first team football also. 
 

The continuity has helped us this season and we are top, clear by 3 points so this is more of an observation than a criticism, we haven’t rotated players as much as we maybe should have.

I suppose you can't have everything as "experience" comes with a huge premium if you're talking about proven quality which isn't over the hill, on the other hand we have guys like Dempsey, Kirk, Dipo, JML and Chalmers who are all still progressing and as such will likely improve rather than us having a few experienced former League 1 / lower end Championship journeyman types who've clearly reached the ceiling of any progression.

The difference with this side from the one a few years back is that despite their age we seem to have more leaders in this squad, with guys like McGinty, Musonda, Murdoch, Dempsey, Mullin and even Kirk looks like a future Captain. Albinson is also not scared to shout which is another plus.

I agree that it would be good to give both Ecrepont and McAllister more game time and Smith is certainly involved but I do also think that we're giving our entire squad much more game time than most others in the league and we're doing it from a voluntary perspective as opposed to it being forced upon us.

I don't expect everyone to agree but I honestly believe that Bullen has the balance just about spot on and long may it continue.

[Jazzar]

43 minutes ago, WATTOO said:

.......we're doing it from a voluntary perspective as opposed to it being forced upon us.

This for certain. 

We've suffered in the not too distant past from injuries and suspensions. This season we've lost Murdy for a couple of games and not had any suspensions as yet (I think!). Bully has rotated at times - last week he rested Houston and Reading for a game against the Lichties at their place where we've struggled frequently. It may have been tempting to play our 'best' eleven but Bully didn't, plus he got a performance from a sub whose yet to be a first choice in the league. It all has the hallmarks of a squad who ALL want to be getting game time even if there might be some niggles that, in a struggling team, would result in some staying on the treatment table. 

No way I'm criticising  anything that Bully has done so far this season - and having guys on the bench who want/demand game-time is a very good sign.

Tomorrow is another day though and I'm not counting any chickens - but I bumped into an old mate who's a Morton fan today. He had the fear, bless.

[Trogdor]

7 hours ago, WATTOO said:

There's a LONG way to go however but at least we've got the nucleus of this squad signed up for another season or two as continuity at our level is as important as anything.

This, we are getting so far ahead of ourselves. Remember 2018-19 & even 2019-20. If we are around the top come January then I'll start to believe. This league is wide open though. Now we're in front, the onus is on us to stay there. That starts tomorrow against Morton.

[muZZa__44]

the fact we need to make a statement in regards to this tells you that some people need to either
A) get in line

B) keep an eye on their kids (since most home games the majority of them are kids)

[Nelson]

Yep, the Partick game was definitely all pretty young children.  Hard to believe they were at the game by themselves so seems like a bit of parental supervision is required.  

[D'Jaffo]

The point at home against Cove looking a wee bit better after tonight’s result. They seem to be having a wee bit of a resurgence.

A win tomorrow would be an absolute massive result for us.

[Shibuya]

I really hope the SRE is rocking tomorrow. It's been a bit lacklustre this season, the Dundee game was the only one with a half decent atmosphere. 

[Finlay21]

1 hour ago, Shibuya said:

I really hope the SRE is rocking tomorrow. It's been a bit lacklustre this season, the Dundee game was the only one with a half decent atmosphere. 

Thought the atmosphere at Partick game was better 

[Thumper]

11 hours ago, muZZa__44 said:

the fact we need to make a statement in regards to this tells you that some people need to either

A) get in line

B) keep an eye on their kids (since most home games the majority of them are kids)

Incorrect. What it really says is that for the first time in years people are actually enjoying watching Ayr United.

[Thumper]

On 03/11/2022 at 20:03, North Terrace Gazza said:

If and I know it’s a big if. If we get promoted he’s not premier league class

If Ayr were to go up then no doubt it'd be a sorry sight watching weekly hidings. Similar to how it was when first Reid and then McCall dragged the club out of the third tier only to go straight back down. It'll be a learning curve. tbqh the novelty of not spending all season in the Championship relegation zone hasn't worn off yet, so in the event that the club does go the distance it's a pure bonus (and a very large boost to the finances which, in conjunction with the club infrastructure work, would make going up in future much more likely as well).

[North Terrace Gazza]

4 minutes ago, Thumper said:

Incorrect. What it really says is that for the first time in years people are actually enjoying watching Ayr United.

True but you can enjoy yourself without charging onto the playing surface.

[Thumper]

Just now, North Terrace Gazza said:

True but you can enjoy yourself without charging onto the playing surface.

You can also enjoy yourself without drink and drugs, but you can't fault the young'uns for giving them a go.

Admittedly Ayr's scary pitch-invading 7-year-olds should probably wait a few years for that.

[Jeff Venom]

4 hours ago, Thumper said:

You can also enjoy yourself without drink and drugs, but you can't fault the young'uns for giving them a go.

Admittedly Ayr's scary pitch-invading 7-year-olds should probably wait a few years for that.

It's costing the club with increased policing costs now though, it's not really a stretch to expect our fans to not shoot ourselves in the foot when things are going well.

[No_Problemo]

Anyone else having issues with tickets?

Paid for it but didn’t redirect to the confirmation page to screenshot my ticket, and no email received. Got the confirmation to say that I had paid but no ticket!

[Thumper]

7 minutes ago, Jeff Venom said:

It's costing the club with increased policing costs now though, it's not really a stretch to expect our fans to not shoot ourselves in the foot when things are going well.

I wouldn't expect the club not to ask. I simply don't care if it has any effect, and tbh would rather it didn't. It is not the club's fault that the government sees fit to require additional riot cops to attend matches on treble time if an infant transgresses a barrier.