The Ultimate Super Ayr Thread

[Roxanne's man]

27 minutes ago, rb123! said:

A source outlet on twitter has said he's not left to go to Morton so he obviously doesn't have something lined up imminently. 

Still think if we lose tomorrow night there's a very high probability Duffy will be away by the end of the weekend, especially if other results on Saturday go against us.

[rb123!]

10 minutes ago, ayrunitedfw said:

I really can’t see Smith pulling the trigger on Duffy sadly. 

If Smith doesn't pull the trigger on Duffy fans will begin to point the blame and hate firmly at Smith instead of Duffy...

[rgreig]

1 hour ago, ayrunitedfw said:

I really can’t see Smith pulling the trigger on Duffy sadly. 

Surely it must depend on how Duffy is approaching the transfer window, rather than Friday's result? Presumably Smith has had many discussions with Duffy about his strategy for improving the squad in January (targets, approach, budget etc) and whether he survives will depend on whether he has demonstrated he has a coherent plan and then whether he is able to execute it.

[Roxanne's man]

58 minutes ago, rgreig said:

whether he survives will depend on whether he has demonstrated he has a coherent plan and then whether he is able to execute it.

Is having a team concede in the first half then changing things midway through the second half a demonstration perfectly executed?

I don't have faith in Duffy. From starting Afolabi, to having Mcginty and Baird together at the back, there are a lot of questionable decisions made by Duffy that would make fans question his role. Best thing he's done imo is bringing the Moff back into games.

When he said that we shouldn't expect to beat Morton....... we really should be beating Morton. Just shows the rapid decline of Ayr if that's the attitude.

[mugen_power]

1 hour ago, rgreig said:

Surely it must depend on how Duffy is approaching the transfer window, rather than Friday's result? Presumably Smith has had many discussions with Duffy about his strategy for improving the squad in January (targets, approach, budget etc) and whether he survives will depend on whether he has demonstrated he has a coherent plan and then whether he is able to execute it.

Smith doesn't know what a coherent plan is...he thought Hopkin had one

[Finlay21]

Smith came on board with a 5 year plan to get us to a better place , we are still well inside year 1 , of course mistakes will be made the main thing is the board learns from them quickly , people on here are looking for that 5 year plan to be delivered now , the state the club was in before he took it out Lachlans hands off the  pitch was getting near untenable / unfeasible  think McCall and Lachlan maybe done a Fergie ( went knowing what was around the corner ) I believe the new board will get it right and in the future we will be thinking what was all the panic about 

Within the boardroom and non playing side of the club around 50% of the management and Directors are doing the job for the first time , success takes time 

Edited December 9, 2021 by Finlay21

[diegomarahenry]

3 minutes ago, Finlay21 said:

Smith came on board with a 5 year plan to get us to a better place , we are still well inside year 1 , of course mistakes will be made the main thing is the board learns from them quickly , people on here are looking for that 5 year plan to be delivered now , the state the club was in before he took it out Lachlans hands off the  pitch was getting near untenable , think McCall and Lachlan maybe done a Fergie ( knowing what was around the corner ) I believe the new board will get it right and in the future we will be thinking what was all the panic about 

Within the boardroom and non playing side of the club around 50% of the management and Directors are doing the job for the first time , success takes time 

I don't think anyone is expecting success in year one, they are trying to halt a slide that started in Camerons last year and is getting worse. I also think that if we show continual improvement, no one will complain if we don't end up in the premier league in 5 years. 

The slide we are on at the moment is going at the same rate as the gulf between the club and support. it is widening and a lot more could be done on one aspect that could improve the other. 

The success Cameron and McCall built and the foundations that were created are almost gone, the frustrating part is that the infrastructure around the club is improving without that transferring to the pitch, We could be the first full time Ayr team to be relegated. 

I don't expect anyone to put huge sums of money in to the club they don't have to and having a club that is self sufficient is everyone's goal. So explaining the situation will calm the majority of the support down. After the Barr era, most Ayr fans are realistic about money and expectation. But knowing there is a plan in place in the coming 6 weeks that will hopefully see us alright would put a lot of peoples mind at ease. 

[Finlay21]

1 hour ago, Roxanne's man said:

Is having a team concede in the first half then changing things midway through the second half a demonstration perfectly executed?

I don't have faith in Duffy. From starting Afolabi, to having Mcginty and Baird together at the back, there are a lot of questionable decisions made by Duffy that would make fans question his role. Best thing he's done imo is bringing the Moff back into games.

When he said that we shouldn't expect to beat Morton....... we really should be beating Morton. Just shows the rapid decline of Ayr if that's the attitude.

Do you think anyone else at the club outside of Duffy would be saying we should not be taking for granted beating teams the calibre of the current Morton side ? Everyone I have spoken too says we should and should be positive saying  on our day we should be capable of beating anyone , positive talk 

[UpInTheAyr]

Never mind a 5 year plan how about focusing on the 5 month plan. Not to get relegated.

[Roxanne's man]

2 hours ago, Finlay21 said:

Do you think anyone else at the club outside of Duffy would be saying we should not be taking for granted beating teams the calibre of the current Morton side ? Everyone I have spoken too says we should and should be positive saying  on our day we should be capable of beating anyone , positive talk 

F**k Jim Duffy. F**k him right in the Balls.

Ayr Deserve better.

[Trogdor]

2 hours ago, mugen_power said:

Smith doesn't know what a coherent plan is...he thought Hopkin had one

Yeah, this amazes me. Smith also tried to talk Hopkin into staying when he chucked his rattles. Smith's judgement is questionable at best. We got a lucky break when Hopkin chucked it.

As for Duffy, 1 win in 10 league games is not acceptable. Despite this squad's limitations there is some utter shite in this league (ourselves included) and we should be able to achieve better than that. Duffy is not the solution he's Hopkin 2.0. If he can't understand the fans being frustrated at 1 win in 10 in the league, he best leave now.

The run equals Kerr before he got emptied, fail to win tomorrow and he achieves the feat of matching Roberts 1 win in 11. Its becoming untenable.

[ATLIS]

15 hours ago, BukyOHare said:

I'd take a manager capable at performing at that level.

When you step back there's probably not a whole lot in standard in play between the bottom half or third of the Premier and the Championship generally on the park. I watched the Livi Hibs game last night and a guy like Forrest did not look out of place one bit. A product from our very own academy remember.

The main difference is in the budget available to spend and potentially the facilities and number of staff for off the field roles.

As a club looking for a permanent manager there'd be no harm in David Smith making a short telephone call but in reality that's all it would end up being.

It's human nature to not want to be seen to be making a backwards step career wise, that's what a move to the Championship would be seen as for Jack Ross. If he's sitting in the house for a couple of seasons then perhaps he would move down but not currently.

 

That was probably Forrest's best game in a Livi top to be fair though. 

There's a huge gap between bottom end Premiership and top end Championship IMO. Jack Hamilton had a cracker of a season at Arbroath and can barely get a game for us. The fitness/conditioning/strength is probably the biggest step up. Pace of the game is far far faster too, where a lot of players really struggle. 

Obileye has struggled on and off this season for us but had a good season last season. Tiffoney was utterly shite for us while he was with us but seems to be doing brilliant at Partick. There's probably a lot of opposite examples but Martindale was in the paper talking about the massive gap in quality between the two leagues that he's seen just when it comes to recruitment.

A lot of guys that come up like Sibbald/Forrest tend to take almost a year to adapt to it while guys like Robbie Crawford/Lamie/Erskine/ have all struggled despite looking decent in the Championship. McCrorie probably being the worst of the lot, he was being talked up massively after playing in the Championship and could not handle the Premiership.

[diegomarahenry]

2 hours ago, ATLIS said:

Crawford

 

2 hours ago, ATLIS said:

Forrest

Both players were inconsistent with Ayr mostly due to them being played in a different role almost every week. 
both were flung in as youth players, (Forrest was still at school when he scored his first goal for the club) due to the piss poor squad we had at the time and they had to adapt pretty quickly.

The Forrest brothers seem to be the same, brilliant for a 6 week spell every once in a while and frustrating the rest of the time. 
 

[Trogdor]

25 minutes ago, diegomarahenry said:

Both players were inconsistent with Ayr mostly due to them being played in a different role almost every week. 

What I'd give for an inconsistent team instead of one that's consistently shite.

[AyrExile]

9 hours ago, Finlay21 said:

Smith came on board with a 5 year plan to get us to a better place , we are still well inside year 1 , of course mistakes will be made the main thing is the board learns from them quickly , people on here are looking for that 5 year plan to be delivered now , the state the club was in before he took it out Lachlans hands off the  pitch was getting near untenable / unfeasible  think McCall and Lachlan maybe done a Fergie ( went knowing what was around the corner ) I believe the new board will get it right and in the future we will be thinking what was all the panic about 

Within the boardroom and non playing side of the club around 50% of the management and Directors are doing the job for the first time , success takes time 

If relegation were to happen in year 1 then what would be the actual chances of the 5 year plan coming good? Whilst things off the pitch may well have been stagnating Lachlan left the club in a reasonable shape to continue in the championship.  It was the appointment of Hopkin and subsequent knock on effects that have been a wrecking ball. If we can survive this year then we are probably in a good place. If not the plan will be revised backwards

[Pick that one out Marshall]

1 hour ago, Trogdor said:

What I'd give for an inconsistent team instead of one that's consistently shite.

[diegomarahenry]

1 hour ago, Trogdor said:

What I'd give for an inconsistent team instead of one that's consistently shite.

Absolutely 

[GaryMc93]

If this is his home address then Smith should get in touch as we badly need some consultancy on the football side of things.

https://find-and-update.company-information.service.gov.uk/company/SC714736/officers

[BukyOHare]

11 hours ago, diegomarahenry said:

having a club that is self sufficient is everyone's goal.

This gets banded around all the time without any real substance. In theory it's how we should be aiming but I don't see how it can ever work in practice.

It feels like our home crowds and nucleus of support generally decline season after season, and have done for as long as I can remember. I don't see how these levels of self sufficiency are going to match what should be our medium and long term goals.

The good times under McCall show that its not just a winning or entertaining team that gets queues forming up Somerset Road every 2nd week. The club need to have a massive rethink about how they look to retain and grow the fan base. 

It goes much much further than handing out 20 tickets to a local football team or primary school. 

Edited December 10, 2021 by BukyOHare

[Finlay21]

1 hour ago, AyrExile said:

Whilst things off the pitch may well have been stagnating Lachlan left the club in a reasonable shape to continue in the championship. 

Did he really though ? Kerr was sacked not long after Smith took over due to the teams performances , financially he could or would not sustain much longer , I don’t see that as a reasonable state , McCall left as he knew there was no money to get the team he wanted and at that time things were starting to go wrong in the boardroom , 2 directors resigned due to what was happening under Lachlan if I remember correctly , just weeks before he sold the club 

Edited December 10, 2021 by Finlay21