The Ultimate Super Ayr Thread

[Caledonian]

3 minutes ago, pandarilla said:

Apologies as I've not been on this thread for ages but is there any chance we keep dipo?

 

And are we selling at £200k? That seems a touch cheap in my book. 

 

 

Yes. Contrary to what you have read on this thread there is every chance we can keep Dipo. He is under contract and any talk of a pending sale is based on nothing more than speculation. If anyone has definite information on any club putting together an offer then please share that information. Is he actually homesick or is that just speculation too? He is having the most successful phase of his career. That makes it a perfect fit for both parties. 

[Guest]

11 minutes ago, pandarilla said:

Apologies as I've not been on this thread for ages but is there any chance we keep dipo?

 

And are we selling at £200k? That seems a touch cheap in my book. 

 

 

I think I was the one who quoted the £200k but I was basing that on a "worst case scenario" situation given that we were apparently offered £250k in January but I certainly have no inside info or anything.

Funnily enough, after reading all the various conspiracy theories last night, I found it strange that nobody countered with the fact that had Dipo played and played well / scored in the play off match, then it's perfectly conceivable that it would have added further value to what the club could command in a transfer fee and also what Dipo himself could achieve in salary, as such it would have been utter madness from both parties if a bizarre story had been concocted as a means of honoring some sort of bid and agreement between the associated parties.

[mcjameos]

3 hours ago, Bruadair said:

The Smith brothers who faced off against each other in the Airdrie/ Hamilton playoffs might be worth a punt if they're available....

I believe Hearts have offerred Connor a 2 year extension so may be a loan. Decent player. 

[Iain]

I don't believe there was any conspiracy or subterfuge around Dipo not playing, but the idea that it would take a number of people to manufacture such a scenario is unnecessary. All it would take is the player to say 'my back still hurts too much to play'. He really doesn't seem the kind of guy to do that though, if it weren't true.

[Thumper]

3 hours ago, Caledonian said:

Yes. Contrary to what you have read on this thread there is every chance we can keep Dipo.

By default he stays and sees out the last year of his contract. I cannot foresee a scenario in which this is a benefit to anyone except Bullen, who doesn't need to break the seal on that copy of An Idiot's Guide To Football Tactics he got in his stocking at Christmas.

To move on from where it currently is, the team needs to have a) a settled collection of players who b) are contracted past the end of next season and c) are good at football. Unfortunately groups B and C are mostly mutually exclusive (indeed group C is not very large at all).

[Shibuya]

4 hours ago, ayrunitedfw said:

McAllister isn't however Hewitt is signed till 2025.

God help us. I'm all for giving youth a chance but I don't see anything in the lad.

[Buckfast]

On 21/05/2023 at 13:03, North British 2 said:

At the visions night Smith told the room that the North Bank project would cost a little north of £1m and that he was providing the club with a loan to cover it . So an increase in revenues would be very helpful indeed.  

At the vision night he said that he was paying for the North enclosure from his own pocket and that it wasn't a loan of any kind to the club. It will cost Ayr United nothing and any revenues made will go straight to the club.

[diegomarahenry]

1 hour ago, Iain said:

I don't believe there was any conspiracy or subterfuge around Dipo not playing, but the idea that it would take a number of people to manufacture such a scenario is unnecessary. All it would take is the player to say 'my back still hurts too much to play'. He really doesn't seem the kind of guy to do that though, if it weren't true.

I think the most likely scenario is that, with the clubs policy on not telling anyone about injuries, the public info is that he had a bug. That way, no one knows if he will recover before the second leg. 

The back injury is more likely and it will rule him out of the two legs. The VOR would know the reason for his omission from the squad but maybe wasn't told to go with the "bug" line. 

 

[No_Problemo]

19 minutes ago, diegomarahenry said:

I think the most likely scenario is that, with the clubs policy on not telling anyone about injuries, the public info is that he had a bug. That way, no one knows if he will recover before the second leg. 

The back injury is more likely and it will rule him out of the two legs. The VOR would know the reason for his omission from the squad but maybe wasn't told to go with the "bug" line. 

 

You can easily recover from a back injury in ten days or however long it’s been so concocting a sickness bug story doesn’t make much sense tbh!

Anyway, I hope this weeks press conference gives us some clarity - if not I’ll just wait until 6:45 to decide if I’ll bother attending or not. 

[Finlay21]

7 hours ago, itzdrk said:

Am I right that this is what we have signed up for next year in (roughly) these positions:

 

 

 

Might be wrong but I think McAllisters contract could be up 

[Finlay21]

26 minutes ago, No_Problemo said:

You can easily recover from a back injury in ten days or however long it’s been so concocting a sickness bug story doesn’t make much sense tbh!

Anyway, I hope this weeks press conference gives us some clarity - if not I’ll just wait until 6:45 to decide if I’ll bother attending or not. 

After last weeks press interview I believe they will be asked not to mention any individual players availability , and the answer to injuries will be along the lines of we will see how everyone is tomorrow

[pandarilla]

There's more negativity than I expected on this thread.

 

The season as a whole was a weekly pleasant surprise. The number of posters on here predicting doom with our manager and squad at the start of the season was probably in the majority. 

 

Yes things hit the buffers hard after Christmas and the Falkirk game was a massive disappointment - but the team dug it out up in Inverness and got us an unexpected 2nd place finish. 

 

Friday hurt bad. Really bad. But for me there's much more optimism than is being shown in here. We've got a huge asset up front, and a manager that's proved he can build a good team out of not much. Off the pitch there's a lot of good things happening too. 

 

I'm going along on Friday to thank the players for a great season, and with that tiny kernel of hope that something insane might happen if we're leading at half time (atmosphere and fear can have big effects). 

[No_Problemo]

35 minutes ago, Finlay21 said:

After last weeks press interview I believe they will be asked not to mention any individual players availability , and the answer to injuries will be along the lines of we will see how everyone is tomorrow

The fan base need a boost before Friday IMO, that will just make it sound like he is still out tbh. 

[AUFC 1910]

7 hours ago, WATTOO said:

Every club in the league is going to have the same issue (some more than ourselves) of putting a brand new team together and hoping that it all gels.

I'd say we're in a better position than many given that we have the backbone of the team re-signed plus we're likely to have a decent budget bolstered by funds received from the sale of Dipo (I'd expect £200k+).

Over and above this we have Mathie and Glendinning actively identifying targets and a few good youngsters breaking through who should at least be able to make up the squad numbers.

It's been a bit of a disappointing end to the season in terms of performances but that said, it must have been better than our peers or we simply wouldn't have managed a 2nd place finish and I think that's what many people are forgetting.

Ultimately we're competing against Morton, Airdrie, Raith, Arbroath etc and NOT Bayern Munich, Man City, or Barcelona so relatively speaking I'm sure we're going to be just fine.....

We were 2 mins and just 1 goal from 5th place though, so extremely tight margins I would say.

Edited May 22, 2023 by AUFC 1910

[muZZa__44]

if you trust Transfermarket then players that contracts are up at the end of the season are

 

Maguire

Mullin

McAdams

Albinson

O'Connor

Houston

Hewitt

McAllister

Bilham

Jeanes

Edited May 22, 2023 by muZZa__44

[Finlay21]

1 hour ago, No_Problemo said:

The fan base need a boost before Friday IMO, that will just make it sound like he is still out tbh. 

I would think he will be available, but we should not be letting Partick know any sooner than we need to 

[itzdrk]

1 minute ago, muZZa__44 said:

if you trust Transfermarket then players that contracts are up at the end of the season are

 

Maguire

Mullin

McAdams

Albinson

O'Connor

Houston

Hewitt

McAllister

Bilham

Albinson signed an extension that they missed. 

[muZZa__44]

yeah they still have McGinty, McKenzie and Ollie Ecrepont as end of year contracts even thou i think they are all signed on for next season (McGinty and McKenzie i'm certain of)

[No_Problemo]

Just now, Finlay21 said:

I would think he will be available, but we should not be letting Partick know any sooner than we need to 

I think Partick will play their own game regardless tbh - it made absolutely no difference on Friday night. If anything, it was our team that was set up as if we had no idea Dipo wasn’t playing. 

[Thumper]

2 hours ago, pandarilla said:

There's more negativity than I expected on this thread.

 

Yes things hit the buffers hard after Christmas

Things hit the buffers by the middle of October. October was seven months ago.

On paper it was a wildly successful season. But this is a weird, desperate league where few tread water for long. It'd going to probably be the start of September again before fans can gauge whether it's going to be a promotion or relegation scramble. And I don't see anyone raising their heads above the parapet to say that if Akinyemi isn't replaced it's going to be the former.