The Ultimate Super Ayr Thread

[North Terrace Gazza]

Reidy was the guy that got me back in love with the club after going and doing other stuff with pals for a good few years (basically since we got relegated under Money). 
FWIW I think there's not much in it with him and McCall, not great managers but both managed to pick the club up a bit. 

Sorry but McCall is a million times better than Reid. His track record is good, Reid’s is pretty poor. Players want to play for him, whilst under Reid how many fell out with him? You cannot seriously consider them to have performed to a similar level.

[Trogdor]

Just now, North Terrace Gazza said:

Sorry but McCall is a million times better than Reid. His track record is good, Reid’s is pretty poor. Players want to play for him, whilst under Reid how many fell out with him? You cannot seriously consider them to have performed to a similar level.

 

I rate McCall better than Reid on the basis he managed to keep us in the Championship (at the 2nd attempt) and the style of the football was better. However, there is no doubt that McCall was backed significantly financially.

Both have contributed positively for Ayr but a proper comparison is dificult given their respective resources.

Also, might seem like a cheap shot but don't think we lost to Auchenleck in the cup under Reid yet he gets hung for losing to Killie in the semi final. Whereas McCall's tenure brushes off arguably the worst result in our history. I've never quite got the willingness to gloss over that aberration.

[D'Jaffo]

Sorry but McCall is a million times better than Reid. His track record is good, Reid’s is pretty poor. Players want to play for him, whilst under Reid how many fell out with him? You cannot seriously consider them to have performed to a similar level.

Players fell out with McCall as well or at least didn’t exactly enjoy playing for him.

Reid was never going to take us much further than 8th in the Championship whereas McCall needed that jump to FT football to really get going. The only similarity the two have is that neither of them took any training sessions.

I still agree however that McCall is a better manager than Brian Reid.

[eez-eh]

McCall was the better manager - especially with the professionalism he managed to bring to the club, but Reid wasn’t as bad as some are making out. Reid clearly didn’t get the same level of financial backing as McCall (although McCall should and does get credit for convincing the board that it would be well spent).

Both times Reid got us promoted we probably had the second highest budget in the league. Both times Reid got us relegated we were the only part-time team in the league. He kind of performed to expectations - something you could have said about McCall until his last season and a bit. Throw in the cup runs and the reality is he did a decent job.

I always thought he had a very good eye for a player and his half-time team talks must have been something else. His tactics and his man management skills were clearly questionable though.

[Thereisalight..]

I quite liked Reid. Certainly one of the better managers in my time of supporting Ayr.  We managed to beat a few “bigger” teams under him in the cubs  including Hbs, Hearts, ICT iirc

[RedEd]

53 minutes ago, eez-eh said:

Both times Reid got us relegated we were the only part-time team in the league. 

Not quite. Dumbarton were in the same division the second time.

[eez-eh]

2 minutes ago, RedEd said:

Not quite. Dumbarton were in the same division the second time.

That was a McCall season.

[RedEd]

4 minutes ago, eez-eh said:

That was a McCall season.

So it was. My brain seems to be somewhere else today.

[Richey Edwards]

Reid was an okay manager for Ayr United - he performed a lot better than his predecessors. He turned us from a mediocre Second Division side to a yo-yo club, which was at least some kind of progress. He didn't get us playing the most exciting style of football, but his team in 08/09 never knew when they were beaten and some of their comebacks from a goal or two down were magnificent - especially the Playoff Final vs Airdrie. The time was right for him to move on though.

McCall's tenure was generally a lot better - winning a league title, winning play-offs, beating Killie in the cup and consolidating in the Championship.  He did preside over a few absolutely honking results though - the absolute mullering by St Mirren in what was a must-win game, and the abomination in Auchinleck. I still get Vietnam flashbacks of that match. 

[D'Jaffo]

The 08/09 season was brilliant but losing the title to Raith puts a bit of a dampener on it for me.

Strange how much that season is similar to the title winning season 2 years ago.

[Richey Edwards]

Just now, D'Jaffo said:

The 08/09 season was brilliant but losing the title to Raith puts a bit of a dampener on it for me.

Strange how much that season is similar to the title winning season 2 years ago.

I took a bit of a dislike to Raith that season, and I still don't like them. It was brilliant to pip them to the title in that manner two years ago.

[eez-eh]

15 minutes ago, RedEd said:

So it was. My brain seems to be somewhere else today.

I can fully understand why you might have tried to wipe that season from your memory. It was worse than either of the two relegations under Reid IMO.

5 minutes ago, Richey Edwards said:

He did preside over a few absolutely honking results though - the absolute mullering by St Mirren in what was a must-win game 

I have genuinely never been as angry whilst watching a game of football as I was then. It was the most spineless, gutless, inept performance I think I have ever seen. To this day I don’t think I’ve left a game early but I was about to walk out 30 minutes in before my mate convinced me to stay.

I must have been the caricature of P&B’s favourite Paulo Sergio “^^^ seething” gif.

[D'Jaffo]

The St Mirren game was a weird one. I think I’d sort of accepted we were down but the players had definitely accepted it going by that game.

We were horrendous but they were absolutely relentless. Stevie Mallan, Stephen McGinn and Lewis Morgan absolutely ran the show that day although they weren’t up against much.

[Richey Edwards]

1 minute ago, eez-eh said:

I have genuinely never been as angry whilst watching a game of football as I was then. It was the most spineless, gutless, inept performance I think I have ever seen. To this day I don’t think I’ve left a game early but I was about to walk out 30 minutes in before my mate convinced me to stay.

I must have been the caricature of P&B’s favourite Paulo Sergio “^^^ seething” gif.

I wanted McCall sacked for that at the time. Awful result. The 4-0 defeat at home to Hibs (who had nothing to play for and didn't have to break a sweat to beat us) wasn't much better.

[Trogdor]

22 minutes ago, Richey Edwards said:

I took a bit of a dislike to Raith that season, and I still don't like them. It was brilliant to pip them to the title in that manner two years ago.

^Me too

[Trogdor]

14 minutes ago, D'Jaffo said:

We were horrendous but they were absolutely relentless. Stevie Mallan, Stephen McGinn and Lewis Morgan absolutely ran the show that day although they weren’t up against much.

That game was horrific. I think we were 2 nil down it may have been 3 and getting battered and went down to 10 men because someone was injured. We should have made a change immediately as we were getting pummelled when it was 11 v 11 and we conceded almost instantly. I was probably a seething mess at the point.

The only pleasing thing about that game was Cairney's performance when he was brought on and that infamous forearm smash. At least he had a bit of dig, the rest of them had chucked it.

[GaryMc93]

Reid was better than some people make out. Particularly those who judge his 4 seasons on solely one semi-final performance. The style of play wasn't always great and never matched his brief caretaker spell but provided us with more success than we had in the previous 5 years.

Since leaving us I think he’s missed having Scott MacKenzie alongside him as they appeared to make a decent team here.

As for his last season had Longridge not been sent off in that Airdrie play-off game it might have turned out differently but that’s football. I imagine he’d have left regardless as Roberts/Robertson taking over had been rumoured for a while. 

[Richey Edwards]

1 hour ago, GaryMc93 said:

I imagine he’d have left regardless as Roberts/Robertson taking over had been rumoured for a while. 

I heard that he was offered a new deal at the end of that season but turned it down.

What followed was a dire three seasons. Roberts was given way too much time.

[D'Jaffo]

I heard that he was offered a new deal at the end of that season but turned it down.
What followed was a dire three seasons. Roberts was given way too much time.

Roberts time was so obviously up after the Cowdenbeath game. With Moffat leaving after that game we should’ve used that chance to bring someone else in and do a total rebuild.

[Richey Edwards]

1 minute ago, D'Jaffo said:

Roberts time was so obviously up after the Cowdenbeath game. With Moffat leaving after that game we should’ve used that chance to bring someone else in and do a total rebuild.

I remember in the days following that game, during the uncertainty about whether Roberts contract would be renewed or not, there was some crazy rumour that George Burley was coming back.