Nelson

Main was absolutely done when he came to Ayr. I only recall him playing a couple of games before moving on. Samson wasn’t great, but putting him below Knudsen is clearly just trolling that clown General Wotsit. Pretty sure he only played a couple of games before him and his bobble hat headed back to the Faroes.

Sad to think that Brexit means we won’t see nearly as many Jeromes or Djaffos coming our way. How the hell David Bangala ever got a work permit is beyond me.

Always puzzled by what happened to Castilla. I think he basically retired from football after leaving Ayr despite only being in his early 20s. The Dalziel effect maybe. Will always remember him running the length of the park to celebrate one of the goals in the relegation decider against Partick in 98.

He had a nightmare in the 7 nil semi final that we don’t talk about. Not sure where Nelson was that day. I’m sure he was a nice guy, but Rovde was a rotten goalkeeper.

Pretty sure Nelson signed in 98 as backup to Castilla. Initially at least…

Definitely Craig Nelson vs Cammy Duncan during my time watching Ayr. Duncan was a little unlucky in that he wrecked his knee just at the point they brought in the backpass rule and he struggled with his kicking. Beyond that, I thought Cuthbert was superb the season we had him and Ross Doohan was different class the first season in particular we had him. Honestly don’t know what’s happened to Doohan, but the potential just seems to be dribbling away. He really needed to find a bit of stability and regular games somewhere. Like Ayr for example.

Without getting back into the Ecrepont is he too short discussion, I’d point out that Kevin Cuthbert was a far better keeper than Samson, but kind of got ignored by premier league clubs because he was, well, too short.

Craig Samson retired in 2018, so I’d say he’s definitely Finnish.

He’s 52!

The sad thing is, Goram would probably be overlooked nowadays. If you don’t have the wing span of an albatross by your 18th birthday, the top clubs lose interest.

Is it just me, or does Ecrepont look really short for a goalkeeper? You know what it’s like nowadays, if a keeper isn’t 6 foot 4 at least, the big teams just aren’t interested.

Yep, we need a new goalkeeper. Not really interested in the 2 great saves he made in the first half - that’s absolutely abject after all the hard work the team put in. The first looked terrible from the SRE, but the 2nd is actually worse.

He passes the ball well, wins the ball well, protects the back 4, recycles possession well and seems to have added some goals to his game. He’s not Zidane, but at our level, there are few better in his position. Which is probably why McCall took him to Partick and now Goodwin to Dundee Utd.

We’ll have to agree to disagree. I sometimes think fans get themselves into a headspace where they have a general opinion of a player that cuts across their actual performances on the park. Call it The Sean McGinty Effect.

Docherty was excellent for Ayr, though he was quite injury prone. Seems to have largely got over those problems now it seems. We’ve never really replaced him since he left, though that’s not surprising given there are few as good in that role at our level. Properly nuts that some Ayr fans didn’t seem to recognise his value.

Don’t recall that at all to be honest. Thought the defence played well and McAllister going off was the trigger for the defence suddenly looking very shaky. McAllister is limited and not the long term answer, but struggling to see how anyone could have major complaints with his performance today.

I’d need to reserve judgement until I see the highlights because the perspective from the SRE is a bit odd at times, but my gut feeling is that we need to add a goalkeeper to our summer shopping list.

Tough to see from the SRE, but seemed like Albinson had a howler at the equaliser, and looked a bit in no man’s land for the 2nd. Pleased with the work rate and improved tempo, but a lack of quality in the attacking 3rd was a big issue. You have to ask what McGeady wants from his time at Ayr. Looked completely disinterested when he came on.

I think we became extraordinarily tolerant of mediocrity under Bullen. Everyone just got a pat on the head for turning up and trying hard - I think Brown will turn that around and demand a lot more from the players than we’ve been getting of late. Perhaps that’s why we haven’t made any significant moves in the transfer window - we’re gambling that Brown can get more out of the existing squad than Bullen ever did. I’m pretty sceptical if I’m honest as I do think there is a fundamental lack of quality and experience throughout the team, but it’s where we are I guess. I think Chalmers has suffered because we move the ball about so slowly that we simply can’t create the space for him to go and stretch teams, but equally, save for individual moments of quality, I’d say he’s been pretty poor of late. I absolutely would try and sign Chalmers for next season, but equally, you can see why Dundee Utd threw in the towel with him - he’s a player that simply must find more consistency. Dowds probably just needs a competent striker playing alongside him as he’s decent at championship level, but not good enough to play the forward line by himself.

Chalmers and Dowds have kind of been getting an easy ride of late, so hopefully both will get a bit of a wake up call with Brown arriving. . Based on their performances over the last couple of months, you wouldn’t be rushing to offer them terms for next season, though the potential is definitely there.

I reckon he was more frustrated by Stanger’s defending at the goal…

We’ve swapped Rose for Willoughby. Are we: a) better off b) worse off c) about the same. Answers on a postcard.

I’ve heard this argument once too often. (Actually not once, it’s many more times than that).

The problem with this argument is that Bullen is gone, and yet our recruitment is still woeful. Doesn’t absolve Bullen of anything, but it does at least suggest he wasn’t the ONLY problem.

He has no first team experience to speak of. He has never kicked a ball at championship level. He’s coming to us looking for a bit of experience at a time when we need an experienced player who will come in and hit the ground running, muck like Kerr and Bell did the year we won the league. I’ll always give a player the benefit of the doubt, but we seem to be following a formula that has failed time and again. Maybe this will be different, but in my view it is a total shot in the dark.