The Ultimate Super Ayr Thread

[AyrExile]

6 minutes ago, BukyOHare said:

I'd be amazed if Inverness didn't have a bigger budget than us.

We're likely in a similar tier to Raith and Morton. 

Perhaps if you compare budget planned that would be near enough. We also found money to fund decent loan players and cover a contract for Mullins once the season was underway. Perhaps we also divert more budget into back room staff than others who in theory should make a difference 

[Iain]

8 hours ago, diegomarahenry said:

The league placing could be the same and we were a tactical disaster away from a trip to Hampden. I didn't say it is more enjoyable or or more exciting.

Bullen could take us as close to the premier league as Daziel or McCall did. Might not feel the same as the last times but it would be an inarguable fact. 

Dalziel did have a second place finish at least, though Livingston ran away with the title that season (99/00, I think). But of course we were ineligible for promotion throughout that period on account of the asinine stadium rules.

Edited April 14, 2023 by Iain

[AyrExile]

11 hours ago, Iain said:

The idea that this season is better than any of the Dalziel years is absurd. The season I measure all others by is 98/99. We had a poor manager then as well and didn't sustain a title challenge to the end of the year, but the team was worth watching. 96/97 and for different reasons 97/98 were fun as well. 
 

To say this year's team is within a million miles of the side with Teale, Hurst, Davies, Lyons, Walker, Craig, Robertson, etc. is a fantasy.

I wasn't expecting much this season but there was a point where i thought there was an outside chance. Latterly with Dalziel i didn't believe we were capable of wining anything. Yes we did have some decent players who should have be playing at a higher level. However we didn't have any sort of system or style over a group of individuals. Expectations were much higher then although we never really looked like getting it over the line in the end 

[D'Jaffo]

1 hour ago, BukyOHare said:

I'd be amazed if Inverness didn't have a bigger budget than us.

We're likely in a similar tier to Raith and Morton. 

No chance. Caley and Raith have had very well documented financial issues so much so that there was chat one of them was going into admin and the other is up for sale because they constantly bleed money every year. 
 

Morton started the season with next to nothing as well until they had a nice wee bit of investment. Helped them get in Crawford and Grimshaw but they still won’t have as much as ourselves. 
 

We won’t be spending ridiculous amounts of money but we were able to recruit quite well and it won’t have been through paying buttons. 

[diegomarahenry]

I am pretty confident that no Ayr player will be breaking 1k a week. I would guess that the top earners would be on 700-900 a week. 30-40k a year. 

[Richey Edwards]

1 hour ago, Iain said:

Dalziel did have a second place finish at least, though Livingston ran away with the title that season (99/00, I think). But of course we were ineligible for promotion throughout that period on account of the asinine stadium rules.

2000-2001. I remember it well because it was my first season supporting Ayr.

And I thought we'd win the league next season. 

P.S. those stadium rules were bollocks. Thank f**k they were abolished.

Edited April 14, 2023 by Richey Edwards

[stevep56]

1 hour ago, Iain said:

Dalziel did have a second place finish at least, though Livingston ran away with the title that season (99/00, I think). But of course we were ineligible for promotion throughout that period on account of the asinine stadium rules.

I always wondered whether how much of Ayr's success that season was down to Frank Connor.  Ayr stayed in Durham pre-season that year and played games against Blyth and Darlington.  I talked to a few Ayr players and remember Neil Duffy saying that Connor had been training them as hard as he could remember.   

[Thumper]

10 hours ago, diegomarahenry said:

Bullen could take us as close to the premier league as Daziel or McCall did. Might not feel the same as the last times but it would be an inarguable fact. 

Surely then on a tie it would go back to "did you feel like killing yourself at 5pm every saturday or not regardless of the league table" in terms of who had a better season?

[AUFC 1910]

4 minutes ago, stevep56 said:

I always wondered whether how much of Ayr's success that season was down to Frank Connor.  Ayr stayed in Durham pre-season that year and played games against Blyth and Darlington.  I talked to a few Ayr players and remember Neil Duffy saying that Connor had been training them as hard as he could remember.   

Spoke to Connor’s daughter and she said he spoke fondly of his time at Ayr.  She was delighted to hear my thoughts that it was her dad who was the mastermind behind it all.

[Pick that one out Marshall]

18 minutes ago, stevep56 said:

I always wondered whether how much of Ayr's success that season was down to Frank Connor.  Ayr stayed in Durham pre-season that year and played games against Blyth and Darlington.  I talked to a few Ayr players and remember Neil Duffy saying that Connor had been training them as hard as he could remember.   

I went to the Darlington game, from memory was it a 7-0 win?

[diegomarahenry]

15 minutes ago, Thumper said:

Surely then on a tie it would go back to "did you feel like killing yourself at 5pm every saturday or not regardless of the league table" in terms of who had a better season?

Well aye, like winning the lottery but finding out the jackpot is shared with 10 other winners. 

We could equal McCall and Daziels finishing places but the leagues were different, McCall had Dundee United in the league, teams like Inverness were stronger. 

Daziel had Hibs and a good Falkirk side. 

We could have sleepwalked to a top 3 finish in the lowest standard of the Championship since its creation. 

[diegomarahenry]

24 minutes ago, stevep56 said:

I always wondered whether how much of Ayr's success that season was down to Frank Connor.  Ayr stayed in Durham pre-season that year and played games against Blyth and Darlington.  I talked to a few Ayr players and remember Neil Duffy saying that Connor had been training them as hard as he could remember.   

We had our best times when he had an experienced head beside him, Ally Dawson, Ian Munro and Frank Conner. Frank Conner coincided with the peak of the Barr era spending as well. The football during that spell was better under Conner. 

[Richey Edwards]

Ayr United Football Academy have won a silver UEFA award.

[stevep56]

2 hours ago, Pick that one out Marshall said:

I went to the Darlington game, from memory was it a 7-0 win?

I thought we won the Darlington game comfortably but the game against Blyth Spartans was closer.  Looking back through the archives online it says we drew both games 0-0?  Normal preseason games though with players being changed out frequently.  I stood near Connor during the Darlington game and you could tell he had a real passion even in these friendly games.  Left the games thinking that Ayr looked a decent squad and think that was the season we went to the League cup final?

 

Edited April 14, 2023 by stevep56

[BukyOHare]

1 hour ago, D'Jaffo said:

No chance. Caley and Raith have had very well documented financial issues so much so that there was chat one of them was going into admin and the other is up for sale because they constantly bleed money every year. 
 

Morton started the season with next to nothing as well until they had a nice wee bit of investment. Helped them get in Crawford and Grimshaw but they still won’t have as much as ourselves. 
 

We won’t be spending ridiculous amounts of money but we were able to recruit quite well and it won’t have been through paying buttons. 

A Caley team with the likes of Deas, Carson, Welsh, Allardice and McKay? I wouldn't be so sure.

They'll likely have financial worries because of the spend they've been making for this and previous seasons too.

[D'Jaffo]

11 minutes ago, BukyOHare said:

A Caley team with the likes of Deas, Carson, Welsh, Allardice and McKay? I wouldn't be so sure.

They'll likely have financial worries because of the spend they've been making for this and previous seasons too.

Welsh and McKay maybe. But Deas was let go by Celtic after not making the cut, Carson came from some no marks down South and Allardice was signed from the LOI. They’re all good players and important players for Caley but that doesn’t mean they are being paid a lot of money. 

[BukyOHare]

1 hour ago, D'Jaffo said:

Welsh and McKay maybe. But Deas was let go by Celtic after not making the cut, Carson came from some no marks down South and Allardice was signed from the LOI. They’re all good players and important players for Caley but that doesn’t mean they are being paid a lot of money. 

I'd be pleasantly surprised if we had a bigger budget but let's be honest, we're both guessing.

[Specky Ginger]

2 hours ago, diegomarahenry said:

We had our best times when he had an experienced head beside him, Ally Dawson, Ian Munro and Frank Conner. Frank Conner coincided with the peak of the Barr era spending as well. The football during that spell was better under Conner. 

Frank Connor was a tremendous guy.

He took Raith Rovers from the abyss, won promotion in his first full season (sorry about that one, boys), and put the foundations in place for Jimmy Nicholl to build on.

The word "character" is overused in football, but Frank was thoroughly deserving of the description.

 

[Caledonian]

2 hours ago, Pick that one out Marshall said:

I went to the Darlington game, from memory was it a 7-0 win?

It was 3-2. Our scorers were Paul Sheerin, Gary Teale and John Bradford. The crowd, if you could call it that, was 182.

[Caledonian]

2 hours ago, stevep56 said:

I thought we won the Darlington game comfortably but the game against Blyth Spartans was closer.  Looking back through the archives online it says we drew both games 0-0?  Normal preseason games though with players being changed out frequently.  I stood near Connor during the Darlington game and you could tell he had a real passion even in these friendly games.  Left the games thinking that Ayr looked a decent squad and think that was the season we went to the League cup final?

 

1-1 versus Blyth. 3-2 win versus Darlington. Blyth then beat Darlington 4-1 to win the Absolute Print and Design trophy.