The Ultimate Super Ayr Thread

[No_Problemo]

If it is Duffy until the end of the season, then I am just about okay with that - though not entirely. It means that there will be no forward planning. 
 

Any longer, and it is a lazy unimaginative appointment with absolutely no thought to the long term. There is absolutely nothing in Duffy’s recent CV to suggest he is the man for the job. He was most recently found struggling in league one. 
 

As an aside, we still haven’t made the signings we require with a matter of days left now...

Edited September 29, 2021 by No_Problemo

[diegomarahenry]

Duffy said he didn’t want to manage full time any more and would rather coach.

Smith said he wanted a manager who was a long term option, someone who was going to be here past the end of the season

obviously both people can change their mind on what they want to do. 
 

There is still a lot of football to be played this season, we are not even through the first quarter. Giving it to Duffy until the end of the season isn’t a 4-5 games to prove himself, it’s 28 games plus the Scottish cup. 
 

if we are keeping Duffy around the club long term, I’d hope there would be a succession plan in place. Someone to come in and work with him long term. 

[Finlay21]

20 minutes ago, No_Problemo said:

If it is Duffy until the end of the season, then I am just about okay with that - though not entirely. It means that there will be no forward planning. 

The problem could be is that the manager he wants to take the club longer term is not available currently and I think everyone can see that , we might need to wait to end of season to get that person , 

[diegomarahenry]

18 minutes ago, No_Problemo said:

If it is Duffy until the end of the season, then I am just about okay with that - though not entirely. It means that there will be no forward planning. 
 

Any longer, and it is a lazy unimaginative appointment with absolutely no thought to the long term. There is absolutely nothing in Duffy’s recent CV to suggest he is the man for the job. He was most recently found struggling in league one. 
 

As an aside, we still haven’t made the signings we require with a matter of days left now...

McCall was out the game for years and did ok. He was the right man at the right time. Worked under difficult circumstances at clubs and knew how to deal with building a team. 

Duffy got Morton promoted and that’s been about it. He’s managed and coached at big clubs for years as well as our level. Like McCall he looked to be out of management for good. If this is seen as a second chance for him, it’ll maybe motivate him to succeed. Or, he’ll revert to type and we’ll land 7th in unspectacular fashion.

it’s a risk free, low reward appointment in my opinion. 

[diegomarahenry]

4 minutes ago, Finlay21 said:

The problem could be is that the manager he wants to take the club longer term is not available currently and I think everyone can see that , we might need to wait to end of season to get that person , 

Duffy Murphy dream team

[Guest]

9 hours ago, Trogdor said:

Has Duffy actually done enough to warrant the permanent job. It's 3 games, the league season is 36 games. The bar was also horrifically low because of Hopkin's ineptitude.

I think we should hold the line, the club said we would take a few weeks. It's only been 3 weeks since Hopkin was bagged. I think its no coincidence that was the time frame and we have 2 weeks between the Partick and Queens game. I expect a call will be made during that 2 weeks.

If it is to be Duffman then to the end of the season seems most appropriate to me. Any longer and we've not learnt the lessons from appointing Hopkin (how he got a 2 1/2 year contract is beyond me).

It's not so much that I really "want" Duffy, but more the fact that there seems like there's very little exciting talent out there and that sometimes you're better with the Devil you know as it were.

We will lose lots of games whoever is manager as frankly our squad is no better than anyone else's in this league and also worse than many, so from a reality perspective we should be "hoping" for a play off place but at the same time accepting that it would be a major bonus and that irrespective of who we were to bring in, that ultimately money will talk and we don't appear to have that much of it to be spent on the playing squad.

It should also be remembered that our "great" season we only finished 4th and that was with Stewart, the messiah McCall and lots of top players such as Shankland, Forrest, Rose, Harvie, Smith and Doohan which compared to the current squad seems miles away.

I do get that Duffy isn't an exciting choice or has the mystic of the unknown or the patter of a PR guru, however as far as qualified and experienced coaches goes, then I think we will be struggling to better him.

Anyway, who cares, we're 3 matches unbeaten now, we look to have a competent and well organised squad and we should be going up to Uncle Ian's backyard on Saturday with absolutely nothing to fear !!!

[No_Problemo]

10 minutes ago, Finlay21 said:

The problem could be is that the manager he wants to take the club longer term is not available currently and I think everyone can see that , we might need to wait to end of season to get that person , 

John Hughes has spoken about wanting a project, and is only seen as a short term manager because Ross County didn’t want to keep him on. He would still be my choice, and I’m not sure who else would become available at the end of the season. If he has been sounded out, and isn’t interested then I would agree Duffy is the choice until the end of the season. 

[No_Problemo]

9 minutes ago, diegomarahenry said:

McCall was out the game for years and did ok. He was the right man at the right time. Worked under difficult circumstances at clubs and knew how to deal with building a team. 

Duffy got Morton promoted and that’s been about it. He’s managed and coached at big clubs for years as well as our level. Like McCall he looked to be out of management for good. If this is seen as a second chance for him, it’ll maybe motivate him to succeed. Or, he’ll revert to type and we’ll land 7th in unspectacular fashion.

it’s a risk free, low reward appointment in my opinion. 

McCall was very good at building a team though, by all accounts Duffy isn’t.

McCall also had far bigger jobs than us, and was out of the game for personal issues as opposed to a lack of ability - whereas Duffy was for being pish a league below.

It should be relatively risk free, but we aren’t progressing anywhere with him on charge longer term. Given the comments from Dumbarton fans, it could definitely be seen as a risk longer term too.

[D'Jaffo]

Duffy Murphy dream team

Would be delighted with that.

[diegomarahenry]

14 minutes ago, No_Problemo said:

McCall was very good at building a team though, by all accounts Duffy isn’t.

McCall also had far bigger jobs than us, and was out of the game for personal issues as opposed to a lack of ability - whereas Duffy was for being pish a league below.

It should be relatively risk free, but we aren’t progressing anywhere with him on charge longer term. Given the comments from Dumbarton fans, it could definitely be seen as a risk longer term too.

He managed in the Premier, coached at Chelsea and Norwich then ended up drifting out the game after a accompanying Dumbarton on a downward slide over a 3 year period. 
decided to Chuck management, presumably because he was bored and his credibility was at an all time low.

This is his second chance to prove he has something to offer. I’m sure in April last year, Duffy didn’t expect to be managing a full time team in the Championship. Much like McCall, it’s about how he wants to take that second chance and build on it. 

Dumbarton and Morton fans said he was negative and defensive, I’ve not really seen that in the 4 games he’s been in charge. He’s not signed any players so we can’t judge him on that either. 

[No_Problemo]

1 minute ago, diegomarahenry said:

He managed in the Premier, coached at Chelsea and Norwich then ended up drifting out the game after a accompanying Dumbarton on a downward slide over a 3 year period. 
decided to Chuck management, presumably because he was bored and his credibility was at an all time low.

This is his second chance to prove he has something to offer. I’m sure in April last year, Duffy didn’t expect to be managing a full time team in the Championship. Much like McCall, it’s about how he wants to take that second chance and build on it. 

Dumbarton and Morton fans said he was negative and defensive, I’ve not really seen that in the 4 games he’s been in charge. He’s not signed any players so we can’t judge him on that either. 

Yeah, I had a quick look after saying that - two quite distinctive parts to his managerial career. The last couple of fifteen years generally at lower levels. 
 

A good start in the recruitment stakes would be getting the players in we require before the window shuts, that’s for certain!

[ayrunitedfw]

Bit of an uninspiring appointment if we’re totally honest. The writting was on the wall when the club didn’t even bother advertising the job. It was always going to be Duffy. It simply can’t be for any longer than the end of the season. The guy is completely woeful at building squads. 
 

Looks like another massive rebuilding job at the beginning  of next season. 

[Finlay21]

4 minutes ago, ayrunitedfw said:

Bit of an uninspiring appointment if we’re totally honest. The writting was on the wall when the club didn’t even bother advertising the job. It was always going to be Duffy. It simply can’t be for any longer than the end of the season. The guy is completely woeful at building squads. 
 

Looks like another massive rebuilding job at the beginning  of next season. 

Who out of job realistically would you take ? , I for one don’t see Hughes as a long term appointment , even if Duffy got job today it’s going to be a big rebuilding job , our squad is not strong enough to challenge for promotion and unfortunately due to contracts can’t force them to leave before season ends 

[AyrExile]

Not totally against Duffy until the end of the season. However whilst he has picked up the reigns the fixture list has been rather kind to us. Perhaps a tougher team or two might have raised more questions over this. The main thing for me now is us staying up for another season. Perhaps not a big ask looking at the current table but It looked entirely different one month ago. 

[Finlay21]

1 minute ago, AyrExile said:

Not totally against Duffy until the end of the season. However whilst he has picked up the reigns the fixture list has been rather kind to us. Perhaps a tougher team or two might have raised more questions over this. The main thing for me now is us staying up for another season. Perhaps not a big ask looking at the current table but It looked entirely different one month ago. 

Beating 2 and drawing with a team around the same position in the league as us are all good results , you must not lose to these teams , we have lost  to Kilmarnock and Inverness , who  most teams have not taken points off , and Raith when we turned in our worst performance of the season , if we pick up 4/6 points in next 2 games , what a turnaround that will be 

[ayrunitedfw]

46 minutes ago, Finlay21 said:

Who out of job realistically would you take ? , I for one don’t see Hughes as a long term appointment , even if Duffy got job today it’s going to be a big rebuilding job , our squad is not strong enough to challenge for promotion and unfortunately due to contracts can’t force them to leave before season ends 

I’ve said it before I’d be asking John Hughes or Neil McCann if they fancied it. If not job should of been advertised to see what sort of applicants we got. If there was no one we fancied then Duffy should of been offered it. 

[Finlay21]

2 minutes ago, ayrunitedfw said:

I’ve said it before I’d be asking John Hughes or Neil McCann if they fancied it. If not job should of been advertised to see what sort of applicants we got. If there was no one we fancied then Duffy should of been offered it. 

If board are waiting about 4 weeks to appoint someone I would be inclined to think they are working on who they want, I wouldn’t think they would just be sitting back seeing what Duffy would do , imagine the seethe they would be getting if results were not going to plan and they were not looking at a replacement, I would believe the person they want is not available immediately, no need for them to say they are speaking to so and so , they made it clear that they would take their time and Duffy would hold the fort until that decision has been made , if he gets offered more than to end of the season though he certainly wouldn’t be my choice 

[Guest]

9 minutes ago, Finlay21 said:

If board are waiting about 4 weeks to appoint someone I would be inclined to think they are working on who they want, I wouldn’t think they would just be sitting back seeing what Duffy would do , imagine the seethe they would be getting if results were not going to plan and they were not looking at a replacement, I would believe the person they want is not available immediately, no need for them to say they are speaking to so and so , they made it clear that they would take their time and Duffy would hold the fort until that decision has been made , if he gets offered more than to end of the season though he certainly wouldn’t be my choice 

Turning that around, imagine the seethe you would get if Duffy remained unbeaten and had us looking comfortable in each game only to be bagged to make way for someone who talked a good game and once in the door maybe won't get on with the players or through ill luck or poor judgement ended up losing the first couple of games in charge ??

The bottom line is that there's no exact science here and the only evidence we have to go on so far is the huge turnaround in our fortunes, style and organisation since Duffy took over, none of that is surely in question.

[HMIP]

We basically gave the job to Hopkin because we apparently couldn’t think of anyone better and now we seem to be going down the road with Duffy.  I get that Duffy is a safe pair of hands in the short term,  but his record in management is deeply mediocre and you probably need to go back 2 decades to find a time when Duffy was seen as anything more than a safe pair of hands for clubs with modest ambitions and little imagination.  

I don’t really buy the argument that Duffy is our only option just because contributors to a fans forum can’t come up with another name, beyond John Hughes who may or may not be interested.  Would be fascinated to know who was on the short list the last time round, as Smith seemed pretty clear that there were bigger names than Hopkin in for the job who didn’t seem to impress him for whatever reason.

[diegomarahenry]

Going back to when McCall took over, there was no new manager bounce but you could see that the team was better organised and played with more confidence.

Duffy has had a new manager bounce. The results have done a 180 on Hopkins time. It’s hard to say they are more organised. They were organised under Hopkin….just to play a dreadful way, which they stuck to.
He has seen what is wrong and has done the best with what he has. 

for me, if we look at bringing in someone at the end of the season, that person should be in agreement in the next couple of months. we need to look at continuity for next season and offer extended deals to players they want to keep. Hopefully Duffy will be involved as well and can work with that new person.