Yid_in_Exiile

IIRC Mickey McGowan put on a load of short muscle mass on his legs in the gym in closed season rehab from that knee injury. If he had had any advice from anyone, it was terrible advice. It may have done the job of protecting his knee a bit but he also lost all his pace and was never remotely the same player again. If we had been full time when he was with us, or he had had better advice in the gym I'm sure he would have had a much better chance of a full recovery.

Of course you would, it's not your (extra) money! I suspect we have already taken a bit of a chance assembling this team so doubt that plan is manageable in full. But in principle I would agree with you - perhaps trying to get Murdoch, Smith, Rose and maybe one of Forrest/Crawford on extended contracts. We need to earn some money from at least some of this squad if we can't afford to keep it all together for the longer term. If that is the case then the Quarter-Final cash just offsets part of that existing extra investment - Ayr has not dramatically increased its revenue so must be running at deficit already. LC is speculating already trying to find a buyer for a Club that looks like it belongs in the Championship. To expect dramatically more seems a stretch unless income is up 50% which it cannot be. You don't generally in business set up your long term financial obligations on the back of one-off windfalls.

If it had been nil nil or 1-0 when he went down the tunnel then maybe, but at 4-0 or whatever the score was at the time? Nah, it's bollocks.

Yeah, heard something along those lines too. Bloods show up something not quite right was the story I think - hope it is not infection indicators for the glandular fever he had before as it never quite goes away completely I heard. Moore has been so unlucky with illness and bizarre injuries the last few years.

Football is bonkers so I would rule nothing out completely, but McCall is not bonkers and just can't see a compelling story that would mean he would want to leave Ayr Utd now of all times. He will leave, probably unexpectedly, at some point but would be flabbergasted if it was now and for Falkirk. Bookies odds mean nothing - remember McCall was absolutely nowhere on the bookies odds when he took the Ayr job. As for not denying rumours, if you jump in with a statement upon every bit of speculation then you have to keep doing that or the one time you don't then everyone makes 2+2=5. Smart guys in the public eye need to pick and choose what and when they speak to the press and sometimes less is more. McCall seems to likes to present the calm professional face of the Club in interviews so I suspect he knows what he is doing in handling the media. Re his contract, I have a vague recollection he was working without a fixed term contract a while back, and it was portrayed as giving Cameron the freedom to get rid of him for nothing if ever it all went wrong (and obviously works both ways). Would be surprised if he is not retained on a fixed term contract as we speak but it's perfectly possible legally that he is working on a week to week or month to month basis like any other Club employee with a standard employment contract with standard notice periods.

Yeah, what he failed to mention is that one of the reasons they are millionaires and billionaires respectively is that they don't invest in Scottish football!

This. The Moff make this team tick. period. One of only two players that are irreplaceable and arguable more important to where we finish this season than Shankland.

Hearts away would suit us fine. Half a chance of getting something and haven't been there with Ayr yet (although enjoyed the absolute humping Spurs gave them whilst in the away end a few years ago).

That may have some merit, especially for Celtic but it is not a recipe for a successful Ayr United. We need young ambitious self-confident players who are being released or better still ask to be released to further their careers. They need to be our players if we are to build this Club back up and not just a test ground for Celtic loan players. That said, there should always be a place for the odd loanee or two, but no more.

....which he is already doing on his one year contract. If there is nothing extra in it for him it's not a WIN WIN. I'm in the camp that if we are seen to treat him right and he contributes big time to us doing well in this League, then we will look more attractive to other ambitious talented young players who will see us as a vehicle to further their careers. We can gradually then move to a structure where our key assets are on longer terms contracts that can result in pay-offs for the Club - like we have already started with Murdoch. It seems the board is thinking about the longer term benefit to the Club, rather than just trying to milk the windfall that is Shankland. That means keeping him at Ayr until the January window at a minimum come what may. Only if we are comfortably mid-table then can we think of letting him go before the end of the season, but nor should we try to renegotiate now his current deal, potentially unsettle him and negatively impact his negotiation hand for his inevitable next move. We have to be realistic about where we are right now as a Club. We have ambitions to be a fixture in the Championship but it is going to take more than a year or two and a Lawrence Shankland to turn around this club's long underachievement. For the first time in years however, we seem to be on the right path.

Maybe they are not aware there was fighting? We were there and didn't see anything... Tempers get short when folk are hot (and presumably bothered).

If we are to progress from this Group we realistically can't expect to move on to the next round without winning the Group with less than 10 points - so two more wins and a draw against presumably Partick Thistle (with the Group win versus second place riding on the pen shoot out). Last year three of the four second place qualifiers finished on 10 points, Kili scraped through with 9 but you don't want to have to rely on goal difference (although we might be okay in that regard if Shanks keeps popping them in). So cannot afford to lose a game. No pressure...

He played in the first ever game I was allowed to go and see unaccompanied by adults, a few days short of my eleventh birthday (the ticket price was a pressie)! Spurs v Leeds, last game of the 1974/5 season with Spurs needing a point at home against the Champions to stay up (how times have changed). We won 4 - 2 : the only thing I recall about Stewart (who I don't think was responsible for any of the goals) was he wasn't the tallest keeper and got lobbed by Alfie Conn for the fourth. I also recall Alfie sitting on the ball at one point, which caused Bremner to have an amusing meltdown. That was Conn - expert at winding up folk who could deal it out but not take it. :-)

Also agree he was pretty decent, and most of us thought the risk of him leaving in that January window was real and a serious threat to our survival hopes. Of course, it didn't matter in the end. But I for one would not like to see him return. Without wishing to break confidences, I suspect he may have not been a good influence in the dressing room when things got serious - and that is something IM has no tolerance for and rightly so. You need a dressing room that is willing to be honest with each other but the cardinal rule is surely that what goes on in the dressing room stays in the dressing room and I know for a fact that that didn't happen. Once trust is breached it is hard to repair, and probably best for all parties to have a parting of the ways (especially as others impacted are still at the Club). Good luck to him anyway, and should be a great signing for Edinburgh City and hopefully Balatoni personally.

Personally I would say we need real pace in our defence, which currently neither Geggan or Bell have - decent players may they be - and obviously an experienced keeper. We will probably have enough in midfield to be competitive at least, assuming Robbie and Declan re-sign. Would like a proper winger but what remains of the budget needs to go on our defence.

We asked at the shop when we popped into the see the pot and were told "a couple of weeks" so maybe end this week or - being generous with the term "a couple" - then next week. Imminently, in other words...

The obvious thing would be for him to sign for a Premiership club, or a club down in England, with him coming back to us on a season long loan. Everyone's a winner - apart from our inability to make any money out of having him (and as he will never sign for us for more than one year that's unlikely in any event).

Agreed. He's talking about Ayr and his goals in the past tense. Mentally he's away already and will only stay if his other options don't work out for some reason, "Come and get me" is his message here. Ah well, I was 100% certain he was going to be off a month ago, and I'm back in that place now after a wee wobble. Best of luck to the lad anyway.

Mrs and I already members. Not having a go - but if say 20 or 30 of you actually signed up for it now and made it clear why you are, we might have more chance of signing him. If you don't like the way the Club goes in the future you can always pull out. If even 25 extra members put in £20 a month that's £6,000 extra towards somebody's wages... and it would indicate where a bit of ambition might take the Club.

These shares are ownership shares are they not? Then surely the problem would be SPL disbursements (first tranche of income due in first week of August I understand) would then have to be split 13 ways including oldco Rangers (in administration) rather than 12 ways. It could perhaps be done but then the SPL would have to have a mechanism for cancelling the oldco's share. Given their track record of expertise shown so far in judging this whole sorry mess you would have to share the other members lack of confidence that this would be successful. The spare four shares are in case of SPL expansion to max 16 clubs and will not be used for any other reasons of convenience, I would suggest.

No. Tow his bloated flatulant body as a bombing target.

75% to change SFL rules - if needed to get them into SFL1 50% to vote any applicant into SFL 3 vacancy. Percentages of votes cast not of total SFL Club membership but rules apparently require everyone to vote (unless agreed prior that conflicted).

Spartans might have a real problem applying as their Chairman is Craig Graham, the same Craig Graham who is also one of the three members named as the SFA Judicial Appeals Panel. If his Club apply to Division 3 he would have to remove himself from the Appeals Panel, given the conflict of interest. I sure the last thing needed is fresh membership if a quick decision is required. This is assuming that the saction of suspension or explusion of RFC would also apply to Newco if the membership transfer takes place? (can somebody confirm this is so - sorry if I have missed it earlier - or this whole case redundant now with the liquidation of the guilty?).

There is more. As a Londoner originally I can get away with saying I've got a touch of the Shipman's with Ranger FC's continued existance in any form. I've run out of patients.

To be fair, Rangers are always confident they will win in Europe. Experience proves otherwise. Their fans are confident they will somehow get out of this smelling of roses. Here's hoping experience will equally prove otherwise.