The Ultimate Super Ayr Thread

[BukyOHare]

18 minutes ago, itzdrk said:

I'm confident there was a summer interview where they talked about mid table and pushing for the playoffs. 

Regardless, in second place unless they planned to win the league they'll have surpassed any targets they had.  Good for them.  

Was it enjoyable to get there? No. 

But it gives you a base to build on going forward and that is vitally important.

I'm watching the English play off final now between two clubs who are one game away from the Premier League. Both have had their share of ups and downs over the years, mostly downs to be honest (ground sharing / playing non league). It happens. They've had to plan their way to the position they're in just now.

No reason why it couldn't apply to us in the future.

 

[Ayrutd1910]

30 minutes ago, Peil said:

So apart from half the season he's done well then?

Look at Dipo's return after mid December, trans had worked out we only had one threat and if they nullified that we are toothless. A good manager should have a go at a plan B

We dont have a plan B, around 5 players carried the team all season,so any of them get injured or lose form,the players to come in are poor.Just look at our back for Dipo,Mckenzie is a junior player at the most,he is 22 now so so he has had enough coaching,unfortunately it's down to ability which is not there,ferk knows how he got a 2 year deal,probably based on training, coming up against Reading,Hewitt he will look like Messi

[D'Jaffo]

59 minutes ago, itzdrk said:

I'm confident there was a summer interview where they talked about mid table and pushing for the playoffs. 

Regardless, in second place unless they planned to win the league they'll have surpassed any targets they had.  Good for them.  

Was it enjoyable to get there? No. 

It’s mental when you actually think about it. 
 

On one hand do you consider that maybe Bullen had us playing so rigidly knowing that the squad was more suited that way to getting any points they could? Or is it a case of him underachieving at the end of the day given how close we were to Dundee at the end of it all?

[Thumper]

1 hour ago, BukyOHare said:

Was that really the target though?

Repeatedly, explicitly, in every interview until it was hit. That Bullen has appeared to be as happy as a pig in shit ever since regardless of performances backs this up.

1 hour ago, BukyOHare said:

It certainly doesn't feel like it at the moment but we are definitely progressing and with smart recruitment over the summer we can keep progressing. 

The club is virtually guaranteed to lose its best player and virtually certain not to unearth a replacement as good. I fully admit that the Smith approach of prioritising club infrastructure over team performance has worked out spectacularly well so far, but I'd also put money on Ayr not being remotely as competitive next season right now.

[D'Jaffo]

1 minute ago, Thumper said:

Repeatedly, explicitly, in every interview until it was hit. That Bullen has appeared to be as happy as a pig in shit ever since regardless of performances backs this up.

The club is virtually guaranteed to lose its best player and virtually certain not to unearth a replacement as good. I fully admit that the Smith approach of prioritising club infrastructure over team performance has worked out spectacularly well so far, but I'd also put money on Ayr not being remotely as competitive next season right now.

I think your second point is a given and I hope the club are upfront about it in order to manage expectations. There’s far too many people thinking that next season we’ll take a step forward or match what we do. It’s not a guarantee. 
 

Who knows what the next step is for the club off the park after the new stand but I don’t think they’ll have any expectations of going up next season. 

[No_Problemo]

1 hour ago, Trogdor said:

I think its likely there will be an apology. I imagine the internal club post match interview will be of that ilk.

There needs to be some major player movement outwards. There are too many passengers in the squad.

I'm far from convinced with Bullen but hopefully he walks into another role as well. If he is to stay he needs something different in his coaching team as he doesn't seem to be able to influence games. I genuinely wonder what the full backs are being coached week to week,  they've all regressed. Every one of them is worse than they were at the start of the season.

We have a big summer coming up with good funds (from 2nd place & the eventual sale of Dipo). We need to spend them wisely. Hopefully we're increasing the budget over the next couple of seasons rather than spending them all in one go next season.

Absolutely - there will be players that will stay that some won’t be happy about (McKenzie, JML, Ashford in particular) I’m not too bothered by that as long as they actually are back up players and are complemented by quality in the starting 11. 
 

I’m definitely not convinced by Bullen either, the organisation of the side and tactical awareness against Partick was beyond abysmal. You could argue he is hamstrung by having two of the poorest full backs in the league to some extent I guess - but as you say there is the coaching element to that too. 

I would be happy enough with something like this squad wise. 

GK: Albinson, Back up Signing

RB: Starter Signing, McAllister

LB: Starter Signing, Ecrepont

CB: Musonda, Starter Signing, McGinty, McAllister 

Number 6 CM: New Signing. Smith, Murdoch. 

Number 8 CM: Dempsey. Smith. Murdoch. 

Number 10 CM: New Signing. Back up - new signing who can play in this or wide positions. 

RM: New signing. Ashford. JML. 

LM: New Signing. Ashford. JML. 

ST: Two New Signings. McKenzie. 
 

That obviously involves getting rid of Hewitt, Reading and Bangala. I would rather keep Daire than JML, but obviously only one has a current deal.  Offers far more as an impact player IMO. Bryden absolutely needs to go out on loan. That is probably a little lighter squad wise than this season, but I would rather we got quality players into the starting side. 

Ten new signings, so definitely a big job!

 

Edited May 27, 2023 by No_Problemo

[BukyOHare]

13 minutes ago, Thumper said:

The club is virtually guaranteed to lose its best player and virtually certain not to unearth a replacement as good.

The world was going to end when Tomi left, Shankland before him. It didn't.

Its the footballing equivalent of replacing Damon, Giambi and Isringhausen.

If there's quality elsewhere in the squad, the replacement doesn't have to be as good either.

 

 

Edited May 27, 2023 by BukyOHare

[Trogdor]

17 minutes ago, BukyOHare said:

The world was going to end when Tomi left, Shankland before him. It didn't.

Its the footballing equivalent of replacing Damon, Giambi and Isringhausen.

[Sortmeout]

4 hours ago, Roxanne's man said:

Best picture I could get yesterday of the North Terrace.

What a small club.

[Roxanne's man]

6 minutes ago, Sortmeout said:

What a small club.

But a clean one ya dkb.

Edited May 27, 2023 by Roxanne's man

[itzdrk]

1 hour ago, BukyOHare said:

But it gives you a base to build on going forward and that is vitally important.

I'm watching the English play off final now between two clubs who are one game away from the Premier League. Both have had their share of ups and downs over the years, mostly downs to be honest (ground sharing / playing non league). It happens. They've had to plan their way to the position they're in just now.

No reason why it couldn't apply to us in the future.

 

If my understanding is correct Luton have hardly planned it very well but I understand your point. 

[GaryMc93]

29 minutes ago, No_Problemo said:

Absolutely - there will be players that will stay that some won’t be happy about (McKenzie, JML, Ashford in particular) I’m not too bothered by that as long as they actually are back up players and are complemented by quality in the starting 11. 
 

I’m definitely not convinced by Bullen either, the organisation of the side and tactical awareness against Partick was beyond abysmal. You could argue he is hamstrung by having two of the poorest full backs in the league to some extent I guess - but as you say there is the coaching element to that too. 

I would be happy enough with something like this squad wise. 

GK: Albinson, Back up Signing

RB: Starter Signing, McAllister

LB: Starter Signing, Ecrepont

CB: Musonda, Starter Signing, McGinty, McAllister 

Number 6 CM: New Signing. Smith, Murdoch. 

Number 8 CM: Dempsey. Smith. Murdoch. 

Number 10 CM: New Signing. Back up - new signing who can play in this or wide positions. 

RM: New signing. Ashford. JML. 

LM: New Signing. Ashford. JML. 

ST: Two New Signings. McKenzie. 
 

That obviously involves getting rid of Hewitt, Reading and Bangala. I would rather keep Daire than JML, but obviously only one has a current deal.  Offers far more as an impact player IMO. Bryden absolutely needs to go out on loan. That is probably a little lighter squad wise than this season, but I would rather we got quality players into the starting side. 

Ten new signings, so definitely a big job!

Would be surprised if we let Hewitt go since he's under contract until 2025. Think he's been unfairly written off since the 1st leg when far more experienced full backs would have struggled that night.

You do have McAllister under both RB and CB so would put Hewitt under one. Leaning more to seeing if he could be converted to a CB as he does have decent physicality although McAllister is fairly limited on the ball for a RB so regardless both should be backup at this point.

[BukyOHare]

Just now, itzdrk said:

If my understanding is correct Luton have hardly planned it very well but I understand your point. 

Your understanding is miles out then. A team with a capacity of just over 10,000 going from non league to Premier league isn't luck.

They have recruited players and management well and are reaping the rewards tonight.

A brilliant achievement.

[itzdrk]

45 minutes ago, D'Jaffo said:

It’s mental when you actually think about it. 
 

On one hand do you consider that maybe Bullen had us playing so rigidly knowing that the squad was more suited that way to getting any points they could? Or is it a case of him underachieving at the end of the day given how close we were to Dundee at the end of it all?

I think there was some dart throwing and a lack of trust (probably rightly) tbh. 

THe style of play killed my buzz for it all along with non performers getting picked regularly. 

f**k knows how they did it but it's probably worth noting how close to 5th place it was where it would be a totally different conversation.  

[itzdrk]

2 minutes ago, BukyOHare said:

Your understanding is miles out then. A team with a capacity of just over 10,000 going from non league to Premier league isn't luck.

They have recruited players and management well and are reaping the rewards tonight.

A brilliant achievement.

I don't think they have anywhere to play next season and may have to ask to start the season playing away games to avoid groundsharing at MK Dons or Watford.  

[Thumper]

35 minutes ago, BukyOHare said:

The world was going to end when Tomi left, Shankland before him. It didn't.

Adeloye was a good player but he wasn't a hilariously good player. This is indeed what is likely in store, because Bullen's tactics with Adeloye (shell it to him and hope for magic) are exactly the same as his tactics have been for Akinyemi.

Shankland left and the club immediately ended up in a multi-season relegation battle. (In this case the problem was that most of the club's best players also left, for rivals in the same division, but whatever.) Unsure what point you're trying to make with this one.

[D'Jaffo]

6 minutes ago, GaryMc93 said:

Would be surprised if we let Hewitt go since he's under contract until 2025. Think he's been unfairly written off since the 1st leg when far more experienced full backs would have struggled that night.

You do have McAllister under both RB and CB so would put Hewitt under one. Leaning more to seeing if he could be converted to a CB as he does have decent physicality although McAllister is fairly limited on the ball for a RB so regardless both should be backup at this point.

I’d persevere with Hewitt for another year and let McAllister go. 
 

Hopefully we hear after Monday from someone, somewhere in the club. 

[BukyOHare]

3 minutes ago, itzdrk said:

I don't think they have anywhere to play next season and may have to ask to start the season playing away games to avoid groundsharing at MK Dons or Watford.  

They've still got their current ground, it'll cost a good few million to upgrade it but they'll be fine.

If Bournemouth can play in the Premier League with a 12000 capacity, then there's no reason why Luton couldn't.

[Sortmeout]

18 minutes ago, Roxanne's man said:

But a clean one ya dkb.

By posting that picture you’ve basically just made my point for me.

Chuffed with one win at Rugby Park in a season where we won the league and you guys finished below us (as you have done for the last 33 season).

Enjoy your joke club.

[BukyOHare]

5 minutes ago, Thumper said:

Unsure what point you're trying to make with this one

I think it's clear enough. Players at our level can be replaced.