The Ultimate Super Ayr Thread

[Guest]

The best one I can remember (and probably one of the last ones) was Derek Allan. I think he only played a couple of games for us before Southampton signed him for a reported fee of around £100k.

He did look pretty classy from what i remember but was just a young boy.

That would have been nearly 30 years ago (God, I'm getting old) but just shows how Bosman, TV Deals and various league reconstructions / sponsorship deals have totally destroyed Football at the lower levels and made the Gulf between the top few and the rest so huge.

Our 100k has gone to zero / nominal training fee value and the big boys have gone from receiving 200k to £20 million and more.

[Finlay21]

7 hours ago, Iain said:

So is the merchandise in the club shop cheaper to buy this year then?

They have just come on board recently, most of this seasons stock was ordered  last season , it’s not all about lowering prices and making less profit , business is about getting things at a better cost rate thus not having to increase prices to the consumer but still keeping a profitable level , our prices apart from replica  tops ( which have stayed the same ) have dropped nearly 25% since Hummel came on board , 

[Guest]

2 hours ago, Finlay21 said:

They have just come on board recently, most of this seasons stock was ordered  last season , it’s not all about lowering prices and making less profit , business is about getting things at a better cost rate thus not having to increase prices to the consumer but still keeping a profitable level , our prices apart from replica  tops ( which have stayed the same ) have dropped nearly 25% since Hummel came on board , 

Just throwing this out there, but would it not make far more sense to be partnering with the likes of Kilmarnock than Burnley for this sort of thing, given that they're also Hummel ??

[Hawk89]

3 minutes ago, WATTOO said:

Just throwing this out there, but would it not make far more sense to be partnering with the likes of Kilmarnock than Burnley for this sort of thing, given that they're also Hummel ??

Might be something bigger picture / further down the line for that side. Was the Hummel deal not only for 3 years? (may have picked that up wrong but thought it was a case of 1x bespoke away / 2x bespoke home?)

[Guest]

1 minute ago, Hawk89 said:

Might be something bigger picture / further down the line for that side. Was the Hummel deal not only for 3 years? (may have picked that up wrong but thought it was a case of 1x bespoke away / 2x bespoke home?)

At least our county rivals saw us all right with big Innes last year, which seems more than can be said for our "Elite" partners in the land of milk and honey.

[diegomarahenry]

54 minutes ago, WATTOO said:

Just throwing this out there, but would it not make far more sense to be partnering with the likes of Kilmarnock than Burnley for this sort of thing, given that they're also Hummel ??

The guy mentioned polo shirts specifically, it was a throwaway line during a point were he was discussing the benefits of the partnership. 
 

more, we could piggyback on orders for things and save money rather than we will be wearing a Burnley kit or anything like that. 

[Guest]

17 minutes ago, diegomarahenry said:

The guy mentioned polo shirts specifically, it was a throwaway line during a point were he was discussing the benefits of the partnership. 
 

more, we could piggyback on orders for things and save money rather than we will be wearing a Burnley kit or anything like that. 

I've not actually seen or heard any official statements on this Burnley partnership from the club, I'm only going by what I've read on here to be honest.

The last update on the official site is about a drop in vaccination centre and nothing mentioned about Burnley or any partnership ??

[Guest]

Just found it via a Google search,

https://www.dailyrecord.co.uk/ayrshire/ayr-united-issue-update-burnley-24785643

 

It all seems pretty normal / fair enough to me and nothing that people should be getting annoyed about. I must admit I jumped in giving my tuppence worth before reading the story and now that I've read it i can't really complain about anything.

Looks like we do have the chance to get players but the couple that we had earmarked weren't currently available and realistically we don't want to take players who won't improve us / get a game ahead of what we already have.

Fair enough.

[No_Problemo]

1 minute ago, WATTOO said:

Just found it via a Google search,

https://www.dailyrecord.co.uk/ayrshire/ayr-united-issue-update-burnley-24785643

 

It all seems pretty normal / fair enough to me and nothing that people should be getting annoyed about. I must admit I jumped in giving my tuppence worth before reading the story and now that I've read it i can't really complain about anything.

Looks like we do have the chance to get players but the couple that we had earmarked weren't currently available and realistically we don't want to take players who won't improve us / get a game ahead of what we already have.

Fair enough.

I would say we should have known several weeks ago, and should have had alternative players in by now though. The Burnley game was over a month ago. 

[Finlay21]

1 hour ago, No_Problemo said:

I would say we should have known several weeks ago, and should have had alternative players in by now though. The Burnley game was over a month ago. 

The point was that the players we earmarked have very recently now due to injuries been seconded to the first team squad ( possibly short term ) there was no other players that were deemed to be an improvement on what we currently have , there is almost certainly a plan B and C , which will most likely be loan players ( or players that clubs now don’t see as part of their plans) who don’t normally become available until the end of this month, I would rather wait a couple of weeks and  get the right person , rather than signing  for signings sake , 

Edited August 19, 2021 by Finlay21

[No_Problemo]

1 minute ago, Finlay21 said:

The point was that the players we earmarked have very recently now due to injuries been seconded to the first team squad ( possibly short term ) there was no other players that were deemed to be an improvement on what we currently have , there is almost certainly a plan Band C , which will most likely be loan players ( or players that clubs now don’t see as part of their plans) who don’t normally become available until the end of this month, I would rather wait a couple of weeks and  get the right person , rather than signing  for signings sake , 

Definitely, but it doesn’t mean it’s good that we are a month into the season and haven’t signed anyone to improve our central midfield. Win on Saturday and it’s fine, lose and it has contributed massively to a poor start. 

[Finlay21]

10 minutes ago, No_Problemo said:

Definitely, but it doesn’t mean it’s good that we are a month into the season and haven’t signed anyone to improve our central midfield. Win on Saturday and it’s fine, lose and it has contributed massively to a poor start. 

I agree we should have had the midfield sorted by now

Don’t get the win Saturday scenario though , when was the last time we won in Inverness? 

[No_Problemo]

13 minutes ago, Finlay21 said:

I agree we should have had the midfield sorted by now

Don’t get the win Saturday scenario though , when was the last time we won in Inverness? 

A draw wouldn’t be a bad result either obviously, more so that one point from nine would be an awful start - albeit with two tough away ties. 

[Guest]

1 hour ago, No_Problemo said:

A draw wouldn’t be a bad result either obviously, more so that one point from nine would be an awful start - albeit with two tough away ties. 

I was very much in the depressed / scunnered camp up until Saturday, however that second half display in particular, against what was a very strong Dundee United side, gives me great hope for the season ahead.

We looked solid and young Maxwell looked a revelation in midfield alongside Muirhead, Hewitt and Murdoch. Keeping in mind we still had O'Connor in reserve (who I'm sure we would have seen had Baird not been sent off), then it really changed my perception / expectations of what can be achieved by this current group of players. 

There's no doubt that we now have decent strength in depth and all we have to do is confirm that by getting the points on the board and what better a time to start than Saturday !!

[No_Problemo]

2 minutes ago, WATTOO said:

I was very much in the depressed / scunnered camp up until Saturday, however that second half display in particular, against what was a very strong Dundee United side, gives me great hope for the season ahead.

We looked solid and young Maxwell looked a revelation in midfield alongside Muirhead, Hewitt and Murdoch. Keeping in mind we still had O'Connor in reserve (who I'm sure we would have seen had Baird not been sent off), then it really changed my perception / expectations of what can be achieved by this current group of players. 

There's no doubt that we now have decent strength in depth and all we have to do is confirm that by getting the points on the board and what better a time to start than Saturday !!

I mostly agree, however we were all relatively happy after the Hamilton game so don’t want to get too carried away! Still think we need more in central midfield and up front (if Afolabi continues the way he’s going) if we want to be pushing towards sixth and up. 

[North British]

2 hours ago, Finlay21 said:

I agree we should have had the midfield sorted by now

Now with the Burnley thing on the back burner , it’ll be onto to plan B . A plan be that will have been put together some weeks ago . The obvious movement you would have thought would involve Livingston, given Hopkin’s history there . According to Atlas (I think) Livi are wiling to put Keagan Jacobs and Gavin Reilly out on loan , so surely that’s been looked at ? Maybe Hopkin doesn’t fancy them now . The other option might be a bit of horse trading down the leagues a bit . Isn’t one of our coaches supposed to be a lower league expert ? This would be a clever way to offload any dead weight we have .

[North British]

3 minutes ago, No_Problemo said:

mostly agree, however we were all relatively happy after the Hamilton game so don’t want to get too carried away! Still think we need more in central midfield and up front (if Afolabi continues the way he’s going) if we want to be pushing towards sixth and up. 

Mostly agree , but confidence is the key and it’s building slowly , remember this is a squad of waifs and strays , none of them arrived after a great season .  Any team with a prolific goal scorer gains confidence pretty quickly , they start to believe . Tommi isn’t there yet but it’s looking promising. A win in Inverness would bring even more momentum so here’s hopping . 

[Trogdor]

The performance against Dundee United was promising but we've had multiple false starts under Hopkin - Dundee away; Hamilton away. Consistency is required and we need to string some positive performances and results together.

That being said, Inverness away is always a toughie. I think we last won there is 2002/2003. I also believe we've only won up their once?

As such a draw on Saturday would very much be a positive result.

[BukyOHare]

9 hours ago, Trogdor said:

That being said, Inverness away is always a toughie. I think we last won there is 2002/2003. I also believe we've only won up their once?

As such a draw on Saturday would very much be a positive result.

We got a draw the last time up there with one of the biggest bunch of wasters and sh!tebags in the clubs history. No reason why we can't take something from Saturday's game. 

For me it depends on the mentality given to the team by the management team which will be reflected by formation and their team selection.

If we go up there looking to defend along our 18 yard box for 90 minutes and sh!tfest to try and get a draw we'll be coming back down the road with the square root of diddly squat. We've seen this movie too many times for it to have a better ending. 

Let's build on the Dundee Utd performance, of course defend well when we have to, but to play to cause the opposition problems as well, be positive in possession and then take our chances when they come along. 

If we approach games as underdogs and inferior to our opponents, then surprise surprise, that's the performance we'll more than likely get. 

Edited August 20, 2021 by BukyOHare

[Trogdor]

39 minutes ago, BukyOHare said:

We got a draw the last time with the one of the biggest bunch of wasters and sh!tebags in the clubs history. No reason why we can't take something from Saturday's game. 

For me it depends on the mentality given to the team by the management team which will be reflected by formation and their team selection.

If we go up there looking to defend along our 18 yard box for 90 minutes and sh!tfest to try and get a draw we'll be coming back down the road with the square root of diddly squat. We've seen this movie too many times for it to have a better ending. 

Let's build on the Dundee Utd performance, of course defend well when we have to, but to play to cause the opposition problems as well, be positive in possession and then take our chances when they come along. 

If we approach games as underdogs and inferior to our opponents, then surprise surprise, that's the performance we'll more than likely get. 

My point is that away to Inverness is not an easy fixture and never has been. It's up there with playing Queens away. Historically speaking a draw is a good result away to both of those sides. We should bear that in mind. 

How we approach the match is important but we as supporters have to accept pragmatism when it's required. I don't mind if the manager tweaks the formation and mentality for specific matches and opponents. It also means we are not too predictable. 

Also, saying a draw is a positive result and playing for a draw are two different things. Let's hope Hopkin knows the difference, if we play for a draw we're really only playing for two results (a draw or a loss) as you suggest. 

It would be great to play as we did on Saturday as we'd give any team in this league problems. The key is being positive in possession and not just launching the ball in the direction we are facing (there is a time for that but it should not be our modus operandi).