edinburghhonestman

Right in front of us. Total football!

Guy at work is the dad of one of the ball boys behind the goal when he walked off. His lad said he was close to tears and obviously in a lot of pain. Keeping my fingers crossed as he's a big player for us.

Didn't think Ayr got out of third gear there but should have won that more comfortably. Two great eaves from the keeper and two defensive errors kept Morton in it. Morton look to have gone backwards if that's possible. Very little to offer except a hoof up the park.

I’ve let the dust settle on Saturday before commenting but the result showed up our greatest weakness this season and Talbot exploited it really well. When a team sits in we struggle to break them down. Think Falkirk away or QoS at home as examples. To have any chance at breaking down a packed defence we need two things in my view – the triangle of Kerr, Moffat and Shankland who all have the vision and the understanding of each other to make something happen in a tight space and secondly we need wide men to beat their man and expose the opposition. On Saturday we had neither of these. Moore is very different to Shankland and his first move is to try and run in behind the defence, but apart from once in the first half, that space wasn’t there. While Docherty is a decent enough footballer, he plays much more laterally and at a slower pace than Kerr, who very often springs an attack with a quick ball forwards. Out wide, McDaid and Crawford weren’t beating their man, partly because the pitch was a bit narrower than normal but also because the defender was normally right up on them. McDaid in particular is much better with space to take his man on. I was surprised that it took so long to bring McGuffie on as he at least offers some ability to beat a man in a confined space. As a consequence of Talbot sitting in, we also allowed the pace of the game to drop. Ayr have been at their best when the pace of the game is high and the transition from defence to attack happens really quickly. The second goal at Tannadice is a great example. Rose wins the ball near halfway and we move it very quickly through the team and score. McCall was constantly urging them to up the tempo on Saturday but the players were unable to do so. If we can’t correct both of these issues, the games against Dundee United and ICT will be tough as both will presumably sit in and try and hit us on the break. It’s important we get Shankland back, not only for his goals but his all round game, the desire to win he brings and also the fact that defences worry when he is on the park and spaces open up elsewhere. Finally, it’s important that the fans support the team fully in both games. In what other world do people’s performances improve when the customers give them abuse as some Ayr fans seem prone to?

Good wee article on the enforce-ability of pre-contracts here https://www.blakemorgan.co.uk/training-knowledge/features-and-articles/enforceability-pre-contracts-football/

If at least part of the"twenty clubs interested" part is true, both Shankland and Ayr should hang fire. There will be a bidding war and either Lawrence makes a mint in June or Ayr have the upper hand in negotiating a loan back in January.

Would be great all round. We'd keep Shankland till May, get a small amount of cash rather than lose him for free at the end of the season, and Lawrence gets a great move to a decent club.

Don’t think we should be expecting much in the way of incoming players in January but keeping those we have is key. We know Shankland will be gone in the summer but I’d be considering extensions for Rose, Murdoch and Smith and see if they bite. As far as new signings go, the only thing I think we lack is a target man if we needed to change tactics. Shankland does a lot of his own hard work so might be an option to take some of the load off at times.

Agreed. Not sure of the normal split but I'd guess the majority of the extra fans in a 6000 crowd aren't concessions do you'd still get close to £100k before SPFL take. Sent from my A0001 using Tapatalk

Didn't know the SPFL would rob us blind.

Somerset. 6000 fans should be achievable against, say, Dundee United. At £17 each that's >£100k by my maths. Assuming each club keeps its home gate receipts.

Last season the difference in prize money between 3rd and 8th was about £200k. Add in >£100k for one home play off tie and I think it's easy to justify >£300k for Shankland even with only 6 months left on his contract. I suspect, however, he'll be smart enough not to move until the summer. As a free agent his signing on fee will set him up nicely.

The Partick website seems to be inviting applications: Partick Thistle has now begun the search for a new manager with a deadline set for interested candidates to register their interest with Chief Executive, Gerry Britton, no later than Friday 12th October. If that's genuine then presumably unless McCall applies they'll look at the candidates who have shown an interest unless they are a bunch of diddies, at which point they might test Ayr out.

I reckon it's potentially worth a bit more. If there's a crowd of 45000 at £20 each Ayr would be due £288k on gate receipts alone. Assuming prize money and TV money is a bit above last season you're looking at more than £350k.

My only concern with Shankland is the situation with Hearts and Lafferty they obviously had an interest at the end of last season and if Lafferty goes Rangers they might come back for him, personally I think unless Rangers come in for Shankland (and I don't believe they have or will) he's going to be here until the end of the season, he's already got 11 goals so you would expect 20 plus now he's going to a target for clubs in the champ down south or Rangers we all know he's a blue nose so maybe that's what he's hoping for. The more I think about Hearts, the less worried I am. They think Rangers £200k bid for Lafferty was derisory so let's assume they negotiate them up to £400k and sell. They then approach Ayr for Shankland and the conversation starts something like 'you valued your 30 year old striker in the final year of his deal at £400k, how much more is our 23 year old worth? Oh, and by the way, what about add-ons and a sell-on fee?' I think it's a fairly short conversation.

Pretty lazy reporting on the radio coming home last night. All about Shankland's goals and then about him leaving before the transfer window closes. Completely overlooks the fact that this was about as good a team performance as you could get. Every single player made a significant contribution. Key things for me: - players who were at Ayr last season have to a man stepped up their level of performance this season. Vindicates the decision to hold on to the squad and, as a consequence, we've hit the ground running. In a tough league that might just be key. - the team ethic is terrific. The entire team defend from Shankland and Moffat back. That takes pressure of the back four, who have been strong when called on. - tactics. I wasn't sure about defending as narrowly and at times Geggan had a fair way to get out to his man, but credit where credit is due, Dundee always wanted to come back inside. - squad strength. That was some bench yesterday. We'll pick up injuries and some will hit us harder than others, but we seem better placed than I can remember for decades to be able to cope.

Any Stattos out there know what Ayr's longest run of consecutive clean sheets or longest minutes without conceding a goal is? Currently Doohan is on 616 minutes without conceding which must be a great boost to his confidence.

I'd love to know what McCall is selling to the players. To keep key players from last season who had other offers, plus sign some great young players has been a terrific statement of intent from the club. Too easy to criticise when things aren't going well so huge congratulations to the manager and the board for really giving it a go this season.

I did wonder on Saturday what would have happened when I joined the queue and asked to pay my entrance fee with 0.035 bitcoins.

Yeah - guy was scouting for Preston. Thought that Shankland owed a lot to the players around him, Guess he didn't see him often enough. Also thought McDaid was better on the right than the left.

Just had a look at the average age of the starting eleven on Saturday. It was just over 24 with Crawford remarkably the 4th oldest player. Must make us one of the youngest teams in the league. Some great young talent in that team.