Nelson

Huw Edwards has changed into a black tie…

Match postponed?

Your point about Sportsound struck a chord. Is it just me or are they largely ignoring the lower leagues on a Saturday afternoon these days? I got in the car about 5 after the game at the weekend and I don’t think I heard a single after match interview or even comment about any of the games. The replacement for Richard Gordon is dismal - all he seems to do is shout and bark like he’s hosting a midweek phone in on Radio Clyde.

We weren’t miles better, but we were better than Morton in every area of the park. More quality and cutting edge up front, more resilient defensively and more hardworking and competitive in the middle of the park. Hard to believe you guys freed Andy Murdoch - I wouldn’t swap him for any midfielder in the division, Morton were well organised and will cause teams bother at long throws and set pieces, but otherwise looked very limited.

I don’t wish to labour the point, but why on earth did you guys free Musonda? He’s absolutely immense.

Andy Murdoch has been our player of the season so far. Don’t argue with me.

Hence the reason I said it was clearly an excuse and not remotely a justification for the shambolic ticketing arrangements.. Telling the paying customer that you can pay 22 quid up front for a covered seat in the stand but might end up standing in the rain is pretty abysmal. I’m still not clear whether there really is a genuine pay at the gate option. I get that fans will always jump to defend their own club from criticism, but sometimes you have to consider whether the “moaners” might have a point.

You stated that it has been Morton’s policy for 20 years to use the main stand for away fans with the WDE used on the day as an overflow if needed. You stated that if a large away support is expected then the club decides in advance to use the WDE. I know this isn’t the case given I stood in the cowshed as recently as 2018.

The pitch invasion thing is clearly just an excuse. Morton are just penny pinching on stewarding. Rather than make proper provision for away fans in advance, their attitude seems to be that they’ll open the WDE if they have to, and if that means fans paying 22 quid to stand in the rain then so be it. The attitude of clubs towards the paying fan beggars belief at times - some of the photos from FC Edinburgh’s “stadium” are hysterical (in a bad way). The uncertainty over where you’ll actually find yourself watching on match day coupled with the obtuse ticketing arrangements is just putting people off even going, especially when you can easily watch the game in the house on a dodgy stream.

That’s not true. The Ayr fans were in the cowshed as recently as 2018 - it was the 5-1 game when Shankland was running riot. Coincidentally a period when Ayr were doing well and so brought a healthy away support. And no, I didn’t see a jot of crowd trouble that day.

I can live with being in the main stand, but fed up trying to work out what the actual ticketing arrangements are. We’ve to enter by the WDE end but not clear if you can pay at the gate or if you need to buy a ticket from the ticket office. Where is the ticket office? If I show up at the WDE, will I have to circumnavigate the ground at five to 3 to buy one? If I buy online do I get an e-ticket or do I still have to pick up the ticket? And if the stand does overflow, am I really going to be charged £22 for an undercover seat only to find myself standing out in the pissing rain on the WDE? No idea if an overflow is likely but, 500+ away fans is possible so would be interesting to know how many seats are allocated for away fans. Not just a grievance against Morton. The clubs at out level need a collective boot up the arse crack on the whole issue of ticketing and general treatment of the paying public.. Actively discouraging people to attend is just daft. And I don’t exclude Ayr from this. Our decision to stick the Accies fans in the main stand a couple of weeks back to accommodate a cringey “family fun day” was a poor show. We can hardly sell ourselves as one of the best away days in Scottish football then pull a dick move like that.

Tomi come home….

I vaguely remember Hopkin saying something about one of his biggest achievements at Livingston being that he changed the menu in the canteen. If he really was just a front man for Martindale, then that might actually be true.

Mullin would make sense, though he did nothing at Accies last season and later stated he made a mistake going out on loan, which doesn’t say much about his attitude.

Top defending from Ayr. Houston and Reading taking turns at being asleep.

McMullan, Rudden and McCowan is the best forward line in the division by a country mile. Mulligan looks a real player too. Fair play to Morton for containing them.

Yep, we’re pretty shocked too.

Dunno, thought they looked good against Arbroath. Quite surprised to see them draw a blank today as they look like they’ve got plenty of goal threat in their team.

Excellent performance. Quite surprised at how poor Cove were, but who cares!

Playing pretty well, just feels like we need to score a perfect goal.

Yeah, just noticed Bryden is missing too. I presume our match previews are just cut and paste when it comes to team news, because they never seem to bear any resemblance to reality.

Strange. Dropping McAllister seems a bit harsh as well - he really needs a run of games to prove one way or another if he’s up to it. Houston has had plenty of opportunities.

Depends how you set up. If we went to a 3 man midfield, Crawford would start every week. That would only change if Bangala turns out to be good and/or gets his visa in which case Dempsey, Murdoch or Crawford would drop out. You obviously rate Dempsey highly so it would be Crawford who would miss out. I’m personally not convinced on the basis that I think Crawford uses the ball better, but as I say, figuring that out would be a nice problem to have. Dempsey has bags of potential but has started barely a dozen games for Ayr, if that. Crawford played over 200 games for Ayr and was a key part of the teams that got promoted and won the league under McCall. His finest hour was probably the 5-0 game against Dundee Utd. Shankland got the plaudits, but Murdoch and Crawford were outstanding that night in the middle of the park - I’ve rarely seen Ayr go away from home to a place like Tannadice and dominate a midfield like that. Since then he’s spent 3 years in the premier league so would likely be coming back to us as a more rounded and experienced player. The idea that a team that has finished 8th in the championship for the last 2 years couldn’t make use of BOTH players is just crazy. Our whole thinking seems to be based on a Stephen Kelly type player falling out of the sky into our laps, which is even crazier.

Because we need a squad of players. It’s not that long ago that we had Ross Docherty, Andy Murdoch, Robbie Crawford, Jamie Adams, Mark Kerr and Andy Geggan on our books at the same time, all capable of playing midfield for us. Now we have 2 midfielders in Dempsey and Murdoch who basically need to play ever week, backed up by a French guy that no one at the club has ever seen play football, and who can’t get into the country anyway, plus a couple of players breaking through from the youth team. Crawford would have been a worthwhile addition to a wafer thin squad. The kind of attacking midfielder we really need are rare finds at out level. Prior to Mcinroy, I think you’d have to go back to Ryan Stevenson to find a midfielder who could create and score from the middle of the park. We’re kidding ourselves on if we think Stephen Kelly is coming to Ayr.

Struggling to see that if I’m honest. I think they’ve very similar players doing a very similar job - neither scores goals or creates chances, but both are mobile energetic types who will press the ball, scrap for 2nd balls and generally look to recycle possession. Finding out which one was better would have been a good problem to have, though I still think moving to a 3 man midfield is the way to go for Ayr, so there could easily have been a place for both, particularly if Bangala is stuck in visa purgatory for the foreseeable future. Would also have added a bit of depth if and when we hit injuries.