GaryMc93

True but realistically how many of the current squad would we think could make the step up. Some might surprise but I think if we got promoted this season we'd have struggled. It's less about signing 11 Premiership players for the Championship and more about trying to bridge the gap gradually with good recruitment by signing guys with potential to step up. Obviously that's easier said than given all the unknowns in football.

Better would be watching players that look competent in their position and who have been selected by the manager because they can positively impact the game and not just been selected to make up the numbers because they run fast. Not really a high bar. I think we need to take a step back though in order to make the next step up. Currently the gap between top end Championship and top flight seems too big for us without an overhaul.

Manager change or not, we need a better playing style next season. Not sure how people would describe Bullen's current style. Run in straight lines and work hard. We don't have full backs that can defend or attack, a central midfield that dictates play, wingers that cross often enough and took until Feb for a link up striker to be signed. Hopefully the summer recruitment can solve some of those issues.

No doubt Bullen over achieved this season particularly when you look at the squad. For various reasons I don't think it's the worst idea to reset in the summer and accept going backwards next season in order to go forward long term. You could understand Bullen maybe choosing to go when, from the outside, his reputation is high. However if the family stuff is true then more chance him being the next Farsley Celtic manager than Dundee.

Might have helped if the AP reported Dipo as having a knock rather than a back injury. Dipo to start only for Muirhead to suspiciously mistime a header and land on top of him inside the first 10 minutes seems likely.

The issue is the narrative is inconsistent. VoR reports as soon as the teams are out it's a back injury so someone has told him that. Bullen then goes on national TV and said it's a sickness bug but your 2nd post indicates VoR is correct that it's a back injury which makes it look like Bullen's lying. Add in the fact Bullen says post match Dipo tried to train through it when rest or physio might have been wiser ahead of our biggest game and you've got an in house press conference asking a question about injury concerns and not getting the juicy gossip they were after so deliberately follow that up with a question about Dipo specifically, it looks suspicious. FWIW I don't believe Dipo would down tools or that any bid would stop us playing him. The club knew he was out for Friday and I think could be more concerned he's not guaranteed to be back for the 2nd leg but it feels like the situation could have been handled better.

According to Bullen it was a sickness bug that some players had picked up since the Inverness game, including Ashford who was only fit enough to be on the bench otherwise I'd imagine he'd have started. Confusion seems to be it was reported as a back injury by the AP but I'll accept whatever version gets him back for Friday.

Hopefully today's result means he switches to grass. No real point risking his body in a best of 5 on the clay at this stage.

Andy Murray, as 2nd seed, gets a bye in R1 in the Bordeaux challenger next week. R2 is potentially Wawrinka if he overcomes a qualifier.

He'll definitely be away if we don't get promoted but Ayr will hope to get enough interest to have some sort of bidding war to drive the price up. Burton might return having offered £250k in January. Probably more interesting to him will be clubs nearer home in Stevenage and Leyton Orient who got promoted to L1 this season and MK Dons who despite relegation should have a decent transfer budget. Challenge will be replacing him if we look at the sixth tier again. Only 4 or 5 players of the right age have scored a decent amount and after our success plenty up here will be looking too.

Think he's only got 3 officially in the league but I can his involvement in the other two. He's got talent and offers versatility but unless we lose Mullin or offload either Ashford or JML I think this summer is a good chance to try and upgrade. Reckon he'd be a standout in L1 for someone like QoS or Hamilton (if they go down) where he'd get a longer run in the team.

His new deal did have an extension option but can't imagine it being triggered by either party, unless it was appearance based. Noticed that he'd uploaded his Ayr United highlights to YouTube in March. Obviously wasn't planning anymore although might need a edit after Friday. They do make him look good but his lack of G+A means he'd probably not be a big loss in this division.

We had a togetherness in the squad last season but now in addition to that it seems we have a belief in the group. This season when fans, rightly or wrongly, lacked belief or lost it completely it didn't appear that the team ever lost faith in each other. A few posts since last night still give off half empty vibes but think it's time to move on and accept that past results can't be changed and not worry about what next season will bring yet either. I'm sure Mathie and co. will have plans in place for that so let's just focus on the next two games and see what happens, hopefully we enjoy them.

Bullen did talk about wanting McAdams to sign a new deal in November although nothing was ever confirmed. Also Timmins did mention in the recent Arbroath press conference about having the 3 of them next season. I suppose his options are limited if he wants to stay FT but given he was signed as first choice and I expect Albinson new deal was on better terms then I'd hope any new offer was on reduced terms.

Frustrating thing for me if we didn't make the play-offs is that a lack of player development in the last 3-4 months hasn't set us up any better for next season. Smith, Hewitt, Bryden and McKenzie (as a ST) haven't featured enough in that time while Ecrepont was loaned out and instead we've favoured players who are unlikely to either improve or be here next season. Bullen does seem reluctant to play them other than a token appearance when we're winning comfortably and seemingly no real faith our youngsters can be genuine game changers. He may be correct but historically a lot of our academy players breaking through appear to be fearless types, main issue is more a lack of consistency at that age.

McCowan was playing in the Ayrshire District League for Lugar at 18 and Annbank at 19 so Bryden isn't doing too badly by comparison. What he does need though is a loan to a L1-2 club in the summer for six months as he's one that's probably lacked enough playing time in the last 3-4 months to develop further.

Neither have had a regular run of games for us this season though to warrant them being labelled poor. If you want to call them that off the back of one or two bad games it would be ridiculous as by that logic the whole squad is poor as none of our players haven't had at least one bad game this season. Hewitt always needed game time after his injury which the Peterhead loan got him and Smith has increased his minutes this season. Problem may be some fans expectations, particularly for Smith after the Thistle game, rather than the players themselves.

Would be interested to see what Hewitt could offer at RB and if he's any better on the ball than McAllister. Seems to be low down the pecking order for midfield and expect us the either revert back to 4-4-2 or Smith to come in when Murdoch misses (I think) the Morton game so RB might be his best chance of a game at the minute.

Hewitt was cup tied but given we lost the midfield battle after 20 minutes Smith should have been on early second half. Thought we were making it at HT when the subs disappeared and took ages to reappear but wishful thinking as Bullen tactically seems less proactive more reactive.

Think you can add Maguire and remove Viviani as he signed a 2 year deal last summer. O'Connor's new deal did come with the option of a further year. Not sure if anyone else is in a similar situation.

Is now. TonTV uploaded them to YouTube 20 minutes ago.

Common sense would say if clubs have until 5pm to submit evidence and Ayr have to submit a team sheet 75 minutes before the match tonight that our case would be heard first (Arbroath and Ross County also have appeals in).

Wouldn't think so. Ref is required to give a statement by 1pm and we have up to 5pm to submit our evidence (i.e our footage) then the panel make a decision apparently after 5pm. Last part seems daft if we've to pick a lineup for tonight so maybe doesn't apply for same day matches but it is the SFA we're talking about.

SFA site confirms the Fast Track Tribunal Hearing as Tuesday 7th March for O'Connor so club should find out the decision by this afternoon.

Didn't double check but based on Transfermarkt the only time we've been out the top 4 this season is the opening day, while everyone around us has been at some point since then. Form has been dodgy recently but you'd think with the way some people talk that we're being chased down for a play-off place by Europe's elite and not a bunch of bang average Scottish Championship sides that, outwith Inverness, have lost to us at some point and aren't in sparkling form themselves.