Yid_in_Exiile

Nobody knows for sure. Was strongly linked with both Sunderland and Swansea earlier in the season, more recently Hibernian and Sevco. If I was a betting man I would put somewhere in the English Championship or League One as favourites...

You should be if that is true. It would be a similar level of performance to us currently 4th with the 9th (possibly equal 8th) biggest budget in the division. It's bloody difficult to keep doing that year after year though, which is what we will need to do to consolidate ourselves in this League whilst our crowd rebuilds itself.

I was very impressed by how Baird played in the Reserve Challenge Cup Final against Livi the other month. Only one game I know, but he not only hardly put a foot wrong all game but talked his dodgy fullback through the game too when he was having a bit of a torid time. Looked like a bit of a leader on the park, as well as a player. I was impressed and told him he would have been my MOTM at the end, which clearly chuffed him.

...but not equal games played yet. Could end up reasonably close - move Partick down two places and look again at the end of the season.

Not Murdoch - he turned 24 back in January so not qualified for YPOTY. Voted Doohan and Shankland across the whole. Agree that Smith is bit unlucky to miss out.

Absolute nonsense. Pre-season aims exceeded = a successful season. It will be a bit disappointing but the League is a marathon not a sprint, being a contender means absolutely nothing. Clubs with bigger budgets generally, on average, will outperform those with thinner weaker squads. If we do indeed have the second smallest budget in the Division the Ayr finishing top half is outperforming. They key will be if we can stay competitive in this League for a few years now in a row - that is more important to this Club's long term future than the outside chance of double promotion. That's not saying we shouldn't aspire to compete at the top of the Championship and go up, but we need to build firm foundations over being a flash in the pan.

What competition would this be in? Or just a friendly?

I couldn't be there but, according to my wife who was, it was directed at Luke McCowan as he came on but was clearly a boo for the decision to remove Moffat rather than a view on McCowan per se (other than presumably the crowd didn't expect him to do any better than Moffat, at best). But it was stupid for sure, and wasn't going to do anything to help poor McCowan prove them otherwise.

You obviously didn't come and see him starting in the Reserves Challenge Cup against Livi the other day. Okay, I know somebody is going to come back and say the defence got a clean sheet so it couldn't have been that bad, but Ecrepont looked nothing like ready for a first team start. Most of the danger came down his side and only a few great shot-stops from Hare-Reid, and our two centre-halves putting in great shifts, kept it that way. He's going to be a decent player but he's still too raw to be chucked in at the business end of the season. You know how quickly SRE turns on a player that makes a couple of mistakes - you could end up ruining the boy.

I would venture that a competitive Scottish international team will do more for the overall good of the game and enthusiasm for the product available in the League week to week than pretty much anything else. Other nations have shown bringing players through the system together U21 and full squad works so I struggle to see the argument that the League should take precedence. I get more far jacked off by moving match for TV at the last minute than for moving games due to international duty.

What do you want to do? Play rush goalie?

I think Rose may need dropping for a while - to get his head straight again. Muirhead and Bell looks a decent partnership. That said, we also need a settled CB pair. - any other positions you can rotate but CB? I prefer Adams at defensive midfield when we have something to defend and see a game out. Always been a big fan of Kerr, only when he'll be facing pace everywhere might I drop him to the bench. Kerr and Murdoch (with Doc and Robbie as their bench swaps) looks best to me, with Declan and Miller wide. McCall will never play that side to start though, doesn't favour two wingers at the same time and would trust Robbie and Adams with his life it seems. He's made more correct calls than not this season to be fair but this place would be boring without opinions.

It does make you a happy clapper. But I don't care! :-D

We've been in the high 60's possession-wise quite a few times, but never into the 80's ever nor likely the 70's either. But even 66% possession is a dominant stat - you have the ball twice as long as your opponents. Trouble is possession stats are the worst sort of show pony bulls&it to judge games by if you don't do enough with it and are content to play in front of two packed lines of four.

Doc was okay, a few too many passes astray and got dispossessed a couple of times but he was understandably rusty. Thought he played much better second half, as did most of the team to be honest, and seems pretty fit given how few minutes he's played recently. For me though, unless the opposition are particularly pacey, I would start a fit Kerr over a fit Doc everytime. Kerr's passing is just better, especially his short passing and he always seems to have a bit more time on the ball than Doc. That said, would be very happy to have both fully fit as good to have options and cover in a key, probably the key, position.

We 'aint gonna run away with this League. Nobody is - not even Ross County. If we can to the final fortnight no more than two points back in 2nd or 3rd I would be delighted

Would that have been the Club taking that decision, though? Wasn't the Club Shop out sourced at that time - in which case it was still a staggeringly misjudged decision but at least not one of the Club's?

On countless occasions we were told Ayr Utd had missed the boat by knocking him back. They are correct. We did, only the boat turned out to be the Titanic...

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.