ayrmad

No, you are missing the point, if a club can't pay their bills it is because they have chosen to spend more than they should have on other things, the 1st tax bill had nothing to with Ayr fans or our turnover and everything to do with Barr' poor stewardship and a lack of due diligence on Lachlan' fathers front, when you buy any business for a quid there is usually a reason for it, you don't get anything for nowt in this world, it is your duty as purchaser to find the reasons. As for spending on Somerset, as a club we spent an absolute shitload chasing Heathfield. I can appreciate the good things Lachlan has done for Ayr without kidding myself on that no mistakes have been made on the journey, you're obviously different, that's fine but it ain't me. I'm a good guy today but I don't try and tell folk I've always been a good guy with no mistakes. I'm not and never will be a happyclappy person, if I see it I'll call it, at the moment everything is rosy but to suggest it's always been hunkydory is nonsense, 600 crowds not too long ago attest to that.

Sadly that will probably be the same for about 90% of the electorate across the board, our future is nearly always decided by people that don't really know the score.

Contracts don't mean anything IMO, if he really wants to go he'll go and if he really wants to go I'd want him to go, I'm hoping he stays but you're a long time dead in this world for regrets, if only' or what ifs. I never thought he would go to Falkirk but I'm not as confident this time, although not wanting to take the job after his pal' sacking is probably in our favour.

It is what it is, I'd far rather everyone wanted our manager and players than us being so shit that nobody's interested in anyone at the club, time to get the big boy pants on for another week or 2, ladies can get their Bridget Jones' on as well.

Wheesht.

There are times in the past where our best 16-18 players on at once wouldn't have beaten most teams, I'm sure you've experienced similar as have all diddy fans.

Point not accepted or understood by some on here, it's a number of years since I've posted anything negative about Lachlan in the present but even he would accept that he's made mistakes that ultimately hit him in the pocket.

I'm not going to slag Marco, I liked the guy and he was a great player to watch in an Ayr jersey, I agree about his contract renewal but Marco blew it himself before a ball was kicked, he'll rue the day he chose not to get a very experienced guy next to him in the dugout, it was too late by the time he rectified it.

We haven't got form for it, this side is far removed from any of our teams in recent years, as for squad depth, who knows, we've 16 to 18 players that I'm happy to see on the pitch, if it's enough it's enough, if not, oh well, I'm just making sure I ride it for all it's worth while it's there.

The tax bill had nothing to do with the size of the club or whether we could operate as a going concern with our turnover, you head to insolvency because of bad stewardship not crowd numbers. You are correct, we probably wouldn't be watching the team we are lucky to watch today but we would be watching Ayr United at whatever level that happened to be.

The single biggest lack of ambition we've shown is in our managerial choices, that was happening long before Lachlan and long before Barr, we have probably got the worst list of managerial appointments of any club with average crowds of over 1000, cheapest option has been our motto for most of the 40 years, Cowdenbeath have a more ambitious list of appointments than we do and they have crowds comparable to some of our local junior teams. There is nobody being pessimistic, I've been telling folk we could be going up this season since I watched our 1st cup game this season, as soon as I could see that Shankland wasn't a one season wonder I was up for a promotion push, you can't dress up our last 40 years any other way than in the negative, as for now and sustaining and growing crowds, the only way that happens is by doing what we're doing today, being competitive at the top end of the Championship or higher and playing decent football at Somerset, like it or not, most of those that don't come are not interested in being competitive in League 1 or scrapping it out to avoid relegation in the Championship. If you can't compete financially with higher end Championship clubs then you need to be well organised off the pitch, produce your own players and get managers that are capable of outperforming the budget they are given.

You may well be proved correct but if the crash and burn doesn't happen in the near future then it probably won't happen, confidence is everything in sport and we appear to have it in spades, even after the 2 doings we've had this season we've refound it very quickly.

We've been suffering from a changing world for over 40 years, long before spunking cash was popular, we have barely looked like being promoted to the top league since we left it, that is pretty shameful for a team like Ayr, there are plenty of similar sized teams who've had a large or small shot in the big league, Morton and ourselves appear to be afraid of having a wee visit now and again.

All very well but I doubt there are many regulars that haven't contemplated giving it up at some point over the last 10 or 15 years, some of it has been fucking dire to watch, I agree that the bad times make the good times better, but my god, it's been hard work being an Ayr fan at times, playing teams with 200/300 fans and hoping you don't get skelped tests your patience to the limits unless you're someone that puts up with any old pish regardless, I for one don't think there are actually many fans like that.

We have one of the larger population bases in Scotland, the fact that we can't sustain a club at a level suitable for that population has nothing to do with anything other than how this club has been run for the last 30 or 40 years. That doesn't detract from the fact that if you take in a tenner and spend a tenner or less then you ain't ever going out the game.

Can folk stop posting shite like this please, it is the biggest load of nonsense, there are clubs with far smaller turnovers than ours who survive comfortably by living within their means. As for Lachlan, I've had my say plenty of times in the past, he has put cash in that he didn't need to, he's refused to sell to any old chancer, he's made quite a few mistakes, some of which have caused him to put in large chunks of cash, that's not my fault as an Ayr fan, that's his fault for listening to the wrong people when he was learning what it meant to run a Scottish football club, fantasy crowd expectations spring to mind. Overall people with opinions I value have consistently told me he was a good guy with Ayr' best interests at heart. I think his own personality hasn't helped him either, not his fault but you probably need to be less reticent with the general fanbase at a club like Ayr. I along with others have probably tagged some blame onto him for shit that Barr actually caused. Overall I'm more than happy to pay my cash at the moment and would urge anyone who doesn't attend to get their arse along to Somerset before it's too late, this side might just be the real deal, for the oldies out there, come along and see what the legend Dixie Ingram would have looked like with less heading ability and dynamite in both feet.

Before a ball was kicked I didn't think anyone was safe, I knew we were decent and I knew Goodwin wouldn't be surrendering 3 points easily to anyone, this is a very competitive league where everyone is going to get a few bloody noses along the way.

"petty and ill-informed"

They have next to no va va voom granda, anything is possible when that's not there.

He certainly likes the ground, wish County were visiting us in a fortnight, that would be a busy day.

I have to admit that even although it is torture hoping our most vaunted stay, I actually love all the attention we receive.

Does Harvey Smith never smile.

I was one of the worst culprits, he's certainly proved that he ain't just punting us to any old chancer that saunters up Tryfield Place.

One of the best chins into the bargain.