Kitty_Boy

I don't think we need to worry about how much of the budget the McGeady is eating into... he's got a multi-million pound property empire and 20-years at a decent level of football under his belt - he's essentially here for work experience for the next stage of his (non-playing) career not one last pay check.

#WeAreUnitedIfYouCanMakeYourOwnWayToInverness

I don't get this argument on the simple premise that a VAR decision, or the absence of VAR, could equally work in your favour as work against you and it is the same for each team in that specific fixture. Just don't see how it is unfair. Preferable, perhaps, but not unfair.

Even if another club was interested in McCall, which I seriously doubt, why would Thistle sack their management team and give up the potential for compensation?

Not any more. I'm sure its a much more professional job these days.

Premature Indignation. Come back at midnight tomorrow and let us know how you feel.

How is it taking 4 hours for this guy to get from Fife to Ayr?

"Losing to 9 men" is a bit of a stretch when it was on penalties and we had a one man advantage for approximately just four minutes more than Morton did over the 90 minutes. Any word on why Kirk didn't play on Saturday and wasn't even on the bench last night?

Unlikely...

Only fair to point out that the person/people who are now doing social media are relatively new to it. From experience, it takes a wee while to find out what works/what doesn't. It's hard to judge the right tone and develop an 'style' for the account that works and doesn't annoy people. I remember sending an ill advised tweet when we were getting pumped at St. Mirren in April 2017 - something along the lines of 'Comeback is on' when we scored to make it 5-1 - that a prominent poster on here took exception to. He was probably right and I learnt from that. Also, fans obsession with signing new players is a bit weird. Maybe chill out on that a wee bit?

Where is the man management - arguably McCall's biggest strength - coming from? That's the biggest risk/unknown for me.

C'mon mate. Nine years ago we were part-time in League 1 and getting beaten by Albion Rovers with a back four of Kyle McAusland, Marc Twaddle, Austin McCann and Darren Brownlie playing in front of Ally Brown.

I have written the match preview for several years and sent it to the previous Commercial Manager on a Thursday evening/Friday morning to add team news and quote from the Manager and post on the website. I recently advised the club that I was struggling to find the time to continue and, hence, there hasn't been a regular match preview in recent weeks. Is that unacceptable, pathetic? That is a little extreme but I do think it is unarguable that the club could vastly improve its output/communication in this regard (social media, website, 'TV' channel). Hopefully the new Commercial Manager can address this. The Chairman has on many occasions spoken that, off-the-field, Ayr United is a 'lean' operation. It relies on volunteers - like Robbo, AU Media etc. - to operate they way fans seem to expect. I'm not alway sure that is appreciated. Every penny spent on someone run the Twitter account, post content on the website, create videos etc. would be a penny less spent on the first team. It's a difficult balance.

It has been a tough run of fixtures where we've played the top five in consecutive games, taking one more point than we did in the first quarter. Clear improvement under Duffy despite missing some key players. I don't expect Dunfermline will end up the worst of the bottom-five but predict an away win on Saturday.

This sounds very familiar.

It's a no-win situation full stop. Appoint Duffy and results start to go against him and he becomes "the cheap option", "a mediocre manager", "short-term appointment", tainted by Hopkin's failure and his good results seen as fluke. Appoint someone else and if results go against them, its "should have appointed Duffy" - just as people said Sandy Stewart should have got the job when Mark Kerr became a bust. I think Duffy alongside an exciting, younger, high profile manager is probably the best way forward but perhaps if Duff has got the taste for being his own man again that won't interest him.

I mean this has clearly been done to death, blown out of proportion and positions entrenched along petty tribal lines but why on earth - in 2021 - should Ayr United be expected to sell and post physical tickets to customers of Partick Thistle in the first place? I'm sure our staff and volunteers have enough to do for Ayr United. Your game, your tickets, your money. Relying on somebody else's good will to sell to fans is embarrassing. You can't turn this on us.

No streaming available - not permitted by the SPFL / Broadcaster.

Aye, Bilham is at Irvine Meadow. When Kerr left in February we had a squad of 23 (excluding Ecrepont, Skeoch, Love and L. Miller). Hopkin added Barjonas, Todd and Morrison but Hare-Reid, Sinisalo, McGavin and Cammy Smith left before the end of the season.

He missed the Killie game with tonsillitis.

No programmes. Duncan Carmichael has done a bootleg version you can get (electronically) for free.

Loan players aren't free - you still need to be able to afford the agreed percentage of their wages within your overall wage budget. It didn't have any direct relevance to your post - more a general comment on squad building.

Or been able to afford them. BTW, can you imagine what it would have been like on here if Hopkin had not brought in Adeloye a month ago and instead waited until today to bring in Mullen?!

One thing that has impressed me from what I've seen this season is how good - and flexible - our shape has been. It mostly hasn't been a back four but when we're defending but Muirhead can drop in and the wide players cover the full-backs and as a result you can see we are going to be difficult to break down. When we've got the ball, the wide players get up and support Adeloye to make a three. We are going to need O'Connor and Maxwell to get us up the park and both do like to run with the ball. There is no doubt that our 'traditional' midfield options are poor but we've got solid options for the back five (or back four with Muirhead in-front); and an okay, if not unproven front three - perhaps that middle two isn't as important in Hopkin's system? Defensive shape is apparently Jim Duffy's strength - so perhaps it's his influence - but I don't really see Hopkin getting any credit for it with all the focus what players we have or need.

I guess that's what happens when your midfield options are on two-year contracts.