The Ultimate Super Ayr Thread

[Thumper]

56 minutes ago, pandarilla said:

What's your plan?

People are entitled to bitch about the club's direction without having their own strategy to fix it. Ultimately the current situation falls on the owner, who has made a cheap and fairly desperate appointment after a management change was needed and has presided over the most lacklustre summer in a decade or so despite losing a bunch of players from a squad which was already desperately short of what it takes to stay in this division. The only hope can be that he learns from it, because barring the most miraculous of outcomes from the imminent glut of panic-signings he'll be looking for another manager before Christmas.

[Ex Machina]

1 hour ago, Dauntless said:

Keep the faith lads . All will be revealed soon .

 

 

8 minutes ago, Dauntless said:

Robbo the baby squad is at meltdown mode again . Can you forgive them for their stupid comments and give them some info before I through this terminal out the window please ?

 

 

David Smith outing himself.

[Thereisalight..]

Roll on 15 days time to get back to Somerset and have a game to talk about rather than in house squabbles on here 

[AyrExile]

1 hour ago, pandarilla said:

Let's demand mourinho for the next manager.

What's your plan?

Coming on and getting the Billy big shot after the event is really annoying. There are folk that complain about every manager appointment - and so quite often they'll be proved right.

Sadly there is a lot of truth in the previous post. Hopkin has travelled this road twice now with both Morton and Livingston. Right now with the current activity to date we seem to be heading in the direction Morton took. Still time for change however we ain't seeing the crafty dealing in the transfer market needed to have us punching above our weight.  Some fans always head into a season with an optimistic view  whilst others like to call it as they see. Hopkin still has a lot of work to do if we are going to be competitive and won't get much slack after the way last season ended

[GaryMc93]

Been told the trialists weren't up to much so not sure what will be more concerning tomorrow night. Same guys appear proving we're desperate or no trialists which would suggest we have no actual targets.

Probably end up throwing the full budget at Obika only to be rejected and end up with Denny Johnstone.

[diegomarahenry]

1 hour ago, wuffster said:

You don't get to blame this on Kerr. Hopkin not mentioned once in your post.

I think you have read something in to this that isn’t there.

Kerrs appointment was a mistake, there were points where he did things that made you think he maybe had something but those points were few and far between. 
We had a real chance to build on momentum, I said our aim should be second or third based on Dundee being pish and Inverness cutting their budget and us finishing fourth. I was delusional and Ayr have no divine right to be top 4, we are a yo-yo club and what did I expect being an Ayr fan. Kerr was the man for the job and we should be happy with…….etc

A year on, we manage to somehow survive relegation and have the first pre-season in my time as an  Ayr fan were I genuinely have no hope in me that the club will succeed this season. No one signing or end of season form to make me think, maybe this is our year. 
 

So we have gone from almost relegation to the fourth tier, part time and crowds of 600, to the top 4 in the Championship, full time football and having players regularly in the under 21s, players getting caps within 3 years of leaving us and people still think, ah, but we are a yo-yo club, we’ve always been shite.  The rise and consistency we achieved in that spell was remarkable, I don’t think a lot of Ayr fans appreciate or want to acknowledge it because In doing so would be to appreciate and acknowledge McCall. 
there was no reason we couldn’t have harnessed that consistency and I expect that is why Kerr got the job. It didn’t work and maybe through sentimentality he was kept longer.
 

And this is where Hopkin comes in, he is an experienced manager at this level, made Kerrs side worse, changed the style of play to one that didn’t work and then didn’t change it. Signed players that didn’t work for him before, almost all players that were offered terms left to join clubs round about us or even part time. 
Has shown no imagination so far in the transfer market other than signing players that played for him or Duffy, like he did at Morton with Livingston players. 
 

And when you mention this, people still say, we are a yo-yo team, we’ve always been shite.  It’s cyclical, we have to accept we’ll only be good once every 30 years. 

[honestly united]

25 minutes ago, AyrExile said:

Sadly there is a lot of truth in the previous post. Hopkin has travelled this road twice now with both Morton and Livingston. Right now with the current activity to date we seem to be heading in the direction Morton took. Still time for change however we ain't seeing the crafty dealing in the transfer market needed to have us punching above our weight.  Some fans always head into a season with an optimistic view  whilst others like to call it as they see. Hopkin still has a lot of work to do if we are going to be competitive and won't get much slack after the way last season ended

I think its the general theme that neither Hopkins or Duffy have the contacts or any ability in the transfer market. Apart from McGinty I think the signings have been solid and looks like defensively we will be sound, however the next 2 or 3 signings will be crucial to get the attacking players sorted. It looks like the first choice Toderov was missed, and another player who may or may not have been a target (no one actually has confirmed if he was) Ugwu has signed elsewhere.

Yes its playing into the narrative of a manager that cant build a squad, but it also plays into we were spoiled by having McCall. But the list of candidates was genuinely uninspiring, and it probably wont be much different if / when he goes. Imagine if we had ended up with Woodhouse!!

[diegomarahenry]

2 hours ago, pandarilla said:

Let's demand mourinho for the next manager.

What's your plan?

Coming on and getting the Billy big shot after the event is really annoying. There are folk that complain about every manager appointment - and so quite often they'll be proved right.

I would have asked all the candidates at interviews what their preferred style of play was. I’d have asked them about contacts and preferred agents. 
Fot instance, Kerr liked to play passing football, had contacts in the English game and the youth game through McCardle. 
 

If he asked Hopkin and he said, I’m going to play the same way as Morton did last year and sign half their squad, we walked in to this mess. 
if he said he knows a company that will showcase non-league jobbers from England that can’t get a club there, then we walked in to this. 
It doesn’t have to be like this. 

Edited June 28, 2021 by diegomarahenry

[Finlay21]

1 hour ago, Dauntless said:

Robbo the baby squad is at meltdown mode again . Can you forgive them for their stupid comments and give them some info before I through this terminal out the window please ?

 

 

All I would say is that there are definite targets , I believe none of the trialists are being looked at to be our number 1 striker ,club will make announcements when deals are done 

Edited June 28, 2021 by Finlay21

[HMIP]

1 hour ago, Thereisalight.. said:

Roll on 15 days time to get back to Somerset and have a game to talk about rather than in house squabbles on here 

I’m not convinced that actual competitive matches are going to make us feel much better about where we are right now!!!

[North British]

 I think it’s just over  a week or so ago that I suggested two target men types that were on the released players list , Ugwa and Whitehall .  Most Ayr fans didn’t want either . So it’s quite surprising the reaction to Morton signing Ugwa . Everybody is in at the deep end . So if Danny Whitehall signs for QoS later this week will we have more of the same ?

So what to do , what to do ? There isn’t an endless supply on the Scottish List of large target man types , but here’s a few : 

John Obika : Mainly a EL1 operator , with a few seasons with St Mirren up here . For us expensive .

Marios Ogkmpoe : Some Greek clubs , then a few season with Accies . Again maybe too pricey for us .

Danny Whitehall : USA college player , some non league , then a season with the pot lickers . Think he’d be within budget .

Collin Quaner : Some German clubs , Huddersfield the a season with St Mirren , Again maybe expensive . 

There are many many more of these types in England , a couple popped up yesterday : 

Mason Bloomfield : Just released by Hartlepool , mainly EL2 and non league ,  maybe within budget .

Danny Elliot : same as above . 

 

[kilMARKnock]

f**k, you don't want Whitehall. Would be a waste of a wage.

[Rodders1910]

You don't get to blame this on Kerr. Hopkin not mentioned once in your post.

But then again, Hopkin wouldn't be here if we had appointed a manager after McCall left and not appointed the absolute disaster that was our centre mid - mark Kerr

[ayrunitedfw]

It appears to me that Hopkin had put all his eggs in the one basket with regards to Nikolay Todorov and now that has falling through he doesn’t have a plan B and we are now in full on panic mode. We need at the very least two strikers who can come in and be immediate starters.

We’re also incredibly light in the middle of the park with only Chalmers, Murdoch and Miller. I’ve said it before but the only one of those three id want starting is Chalmers. 
 

So we’re less than two weeks away from the competitive action and still needing at least 4 starters plus a sub goalkeeper and it appears nothing immediate is in the pipeline. The only thing giving me slight hope is the fact the Aidan McAdams signing seemed to come out the blue. 

Edited June 28, 2021 by ayrunitedfw

[pandarilla]

People are entitled to bitch about the club's direction without having their own strategy to fix it. Ultimately the current situation falls on the owner, who has made a cheap and fairly desperate appointment after a management change was needed and has presided over the most lacklustre summer in a decade or so despite losing a bunch of players from a squad which was already desperately short of what it takes to stay in this division. The only hope can be that he learns from it, because barring the most miraculous of outcomes from the imminent glut of panic-signings he'll be looking for another manager before Christmas.

Was hopkin a cheap option?

I'd have thought he'd be absolutely our standard budget manager.

But then again, Hopkin wouldn't be here if we had appointed a manager after McCall left and not appointed the absolute disaster that was our centre mid - mark Kerr

This is the problem i have.

Kerr was a young guy, just going into management, with a positive passing style and new ideas. It was a punt at youth.

Hopkin is the opposite. He's experienced, and plays a more traditional and direct style.

Neither look to have worked out well - but were there really many better options out there?

All managers at this level will either be young and inexperienced (always a risk), or experienced, more long in the tooth - but with some failure on their record (arguably just as risky).

What other alternatives were sure-fire successes?

And how do we have any idea what was promised at interview? Kerr probably talked a great game - dead exciting. And hopkin talked up his experience - less exciting but a steadier option to keep us up (which he did (eventually)).

[UpInTheAyr]

I think we're past the chance of getting a WoW signing at this stage, as long as the squad isn't padded out with glue factory candidates we can settle in for a season of bland not much of anything to get excited about. with the defence sorted early and Duffy presumably organising it surely to God we will be difficult to score against. If we fail on that score we really will be in bother

[Finlay21]

20 minutes ago, pandarilla said:

Was hopkin a cheap option?

I'd have thought he'd be absolutely our standard budget manager. This is the problem i have.

Kerr was a young guy, just going into management, with a positive passing style and new ideas. It was a punt at youth.

Hopkin is the opposite. He's experienced, and plays a more traditional and direct style.

Neither look to have worked out well - but were there really many better options out there?

All managers at this level will either be young and inexperienced (always a risk), or experienced, more long in the tooth - but with some failure on their record (arguably just as risky).

What other alternatives were sure-fire successes?

And how do we have any idea what was promised at interview? Kerr probably talked a great game - dead exciting. And hopkin talked up his experience - less exciting but a steadier option to keep us up (which he did (eventually)).
 

Every manager is a gamble , take our neighbours for example brought in a supposedly very decent manager when they were 4 points off relegation place only for him to get them relegated , as Kirk Clubfoot said they did not get the new manager kick they expected 

Edited June 28, 2021 by Finlay21

[Thumper]

46 minutes ago, pandarilla said:

Hopkin is the opposite. He's experienced, and plays a more traditional and direct style

Can we please stop saying this? He'd been a manager for all of five seasons (discounting his single game as interim for Morten in 2002), the last three of which all ended in failure (two sackings and a voluntary departure with the club in 7th). Brian Rice and Billy Dodds are the only managers in the division with less experience. Dick Campbell has that much experience at three different clubs.

As for the notion that the pickings were slim, it was the owner's decision to sack Kerr, and the owner's decision not to stick with the interim (who was statistically the best manager that season!) until the end. Again, this is something the owner is going to have to chalk up as a learning experience. It's no good trying to blame fans for not having the answers there.

Edited June 28, 2021 by Thumper

[Superhursty7]

The problem is Hopkin seams to have boxed in the way we are going to play, 5 at the back with wingbacks and for that to work you need to have that physical focal point old school in number 9 and any half decent ones get picked up very quickly, we also desperately need some kind of 2nd striker to pick up the layoffs and knock downs and much as we all love Moff his goals have drastically dried up over the years he's not that player any more, if we get to the Albion Rovers game without at least one if these strikers in then I'll start worrying.

[D'Jaffo]

I think we're past the chance of getting a WoW signing at this stage, as long as the squad isn't padded out with glue factory candidates we can settle in for a season of bland not much of anything to get excited about. with the defence sorted early and Duffy presumably organising it surely to God we will be difficult to score against. If we fail on that score we really will be in bother

Hopkin never really struck me as someone who will sign player that would make us go “wow” anyway. He’ll go for steady, solid players that he can rely on to work hard for him.

I think any signing we make now will be in the “meh” category.