The Ultimate Super Ayr Thread

[Iain]

2 hours ago, BukyOHare said:

Every poor performance is exactly when the toys get chucked out the pram from the Bullen out brigade though, every single poor performance, win, lose or draw.

 

The reason for that is performance levels are most likely to be predictive of future results.  You don't have to watch many games to see opponents that are more organised, have a better plan, understand what Ayr are trying to do and how to stop it, and are more responsive to the flow of the game. All things that come from coaching. 
And yet... they're third in the league, decent goal difference and I don't think they've lost a game by more than two goals all season.

It's a strange situation. I don't enjoy watching the football they're playing, but that's completely subjective. Maybe there really is a tactical masterplan I'm not seeing. I hope so.

[Ayr23]

Toothless performance on Friday, and I doubt Arbroath will score two easier goals all season. If Dempsey’s shot that hit the post goes in, then we might have upped our game to get a result, however it was just not good enough. Makes it all the more frustrating that Queen’s Park lost.

I really don’t know where my thoughts are with Bullen. Obviously compared to last season, this season is a huge success so far. But on the other hand, the inconsistency is causing probably the most frustration I’ve endured as an Ayr fan. Excellent performance against Hamilton where we played lovely football and could have won 6/7-0. Then we’re playing a team not far away from Hamilton in the league (who hadn’t won at home since October), and we get a performance like that. Not sure how much the pitch was a factor in the constant shelling of the ball on Friday. 

Is Bullen the man to take us to the Premiership? Is he the man to be trusted with a bigger budget and better players next season? Is Bullen enjoying life in Scotland considering his family are down in Yorkshire? I do not know the answer to any of those questions. I do think though that he needs an experienced assistant who knows this league. 

[BukyOHare]

51 minutes ago, Ayr23 said:

Not sure how much the pitch was a factor in the constant shelling of the ball on Friday.

Agree with a lot of your post but can't have the constant shelling bit at all.

Everybody sees the game differently, I get that, but constant shelling as a description of our play on Friday just isnt accurate.

I can see a definite shift in trying to get the ball down over the last few games, certainly more than when we just seemed to miss the midfield out way too much.

 

[BukyOHare]

9 hours ago, Iain said:

The reason for that is performance levels are most likely to be predictive of future results.  You don't have to watch many games to see opponents that are more organised, have a better plan, understand what Ayr are trying to do and how to stop it, and are more responsive to the flow of the game. All things that come from coaching. 
And yet... they're third in the league, decent goal difference and I don't think they've lost a game by more than two goals all season.

It's a strange situation. I don't enjoy watching the football they're playing, but that's completely subjective. Maybe there really is a tactical masterplan I'm not seeing. I hope so.

You've watched enough Ayr games to expect the unexpected! Performance levels mean much less when the general overall standard of the league is so unpredictable. (I didn't use the words fine or margins!)

Its the Scottish Championship not the Champions League or Premier League.

We just need to be less sh!t over 36 games than the 5th place team to have a small chance at the top league. I say small given the inherently unfair structure of the playoffs.

Its in our own hands to get there but come the end of the season there'll be fans of teams missing out wishing they could swap with those that are there.

There's massive room for improvement, I do believe that, but we're in an overall position a lot of other clubs would swap with us.

[No_Problemo]

22 minutes ago, BukyOHare said:

Agree with a lot of your post but can't have the constant shelling bit at all.

Everybody sees the game differently, I get that, but constant shelling as a description of our play on Friday just isnt accurate.

I can see a definite shift in trying to get the ball down over the last few games, certainly more than when we just seemed to miss the midfield out way too much.

 

Yeah, I completely agree with this. I think many of us (myself included at times) tend to play the overall pattern as opposed to the game itself. There has definitely been a difference in terms of our style of play over the last few games, and we did attempt to play on Friday night - it just wasn’t effective as our forward players had off nights. 

[Guest]

People can moan about Bullen all they like, however the only man that matters is David Smith and as per his statement earlier in the week he holds Bullen in the highest regard and thinks he's done a fantastic job with us, as such the only way he'll be going is if he chucks it or moves to a better job.

Personally I'm with Smith as if it was left up to some of the posters on here we'd be needing an interview process every fortnight.......

[Trogdor]

#WeAreUnited

[eez-eh]

13 hours ago, BukyOHare said:

Every poor performance is exactly when the toys get chucked out the pram from the Bullen out brigade though, every single poor performance, win, lose or draw.

That's the problem I suspect from a large number of fans who are somewhere in the middle of being delighted at this seasons progress and those who want a change of manager.

It'll be a hell of an achievement if we make the playoffs but sadly that won't please some folk who seem intent in wanting to see us fail for some strange reason.

To think the same folk used to point and laugh at the SRE for the outlandish happenings on there once upon a time.

Short memories.

 

There’s no doubting that some of us go OTT but the key word here is “every”. The poor performances have far outweighed good since around November, which inevitably leads to some frustration and concern about how well we’ll do next season without the best striker in the league.

[eez-eh]

27 minutes ago, WATTOO said:

People can moan about Bullen all they like, however the only man that matters is David Smith and as per his statement earlier in the week he holds Bullen in the highest regard and thinks he's done a fantastic job with us, as such the only way he'll be going is if he chucks it or moves to a better job.

Personally I'm with Smith as if it was left up to some of the posters on here we'd be needing an interview process every fortnight.......

Oh well, best just shut down Pie and Bovril seeing as the only people worth listening to are the club chairmen.

[D'Jaffo]

47 minutes ago, WATTOO said:

People can moan about Bullen all they like, however the only man that matters is David Smith and as per his statement earlier in the week he holds Bullen in the highest regard and thinks he's done a fantastic job with us, as such the only way he'll be going is if he chucks it or moves to a better job.

Personally I'm with Smith as if it was left up to some of the posters on here we'd be needing an interview process every fortnight.......

Aye no point in even debating anything then. 

[BukyOHare]

28 minutes ago, eez-eh said:

There’s no doubting that some of us go OTT but the key word here is “every”. The poor performances have far outweighed good since around November, which inevitably leads to some frustration and concern about how well we’ll do next season without the best striker in the league.

As I said in another post the poor performances would matter more if the standard we were up against was much better than us or we were fighting a relegation battle.

By any metric you want to use we're where we currently are in the league deservedly. Big games still to come but we're in with a great chance of the Premiership playoffs, how many times have we actually managed that before?

Its not been far from plain sailing and it's not peak Guardiola coached teams at their best, but we're proof that it doesn't have to be. 

Small steps in progress are needed and we're proof that it can happen and will hopefully continue to happen.

I'd rather have the best striker in the league playing for us and be in a position to have to replace him (after agreeing a deal that suits him and gives us suitable compensation now and in the future through add ons) than watching him play for someone else.

Longshot granted, but if we were to get promoted would he fancy staying around for another season?

If he does go, then the challenge is managing to find a way to replace him, not easy.

But I'd be of the mindset that if we've gone through the process of identifying him in the first place and having a full season of his inhouse and ingame metrics, then we're better placed than a lot of teams to be able to identify a shortlist of suitable replacement/s.

We'll see.

Edited April 2, 2023 by BukyOHare

[Ayr23]

1 hour ago, BukyOHare said:

Agree with a lot of your post but can't have the constant shelling bit at all.

Everybody sees the game differently, I get that, but constant shelling as a description of our play on Friday just isnt accurate.

I can see a definite shift in trying to get the ball down over the last few games, certainly more than when we just seemed to miss the midfield out way too much.

 

Absolutely fair. Perhaps my memory of Friday has been warped by the vast majority of this season’s play.

[North British 2]

I don't think , if we reach the play offs , that there is much of a chance of us winning  them . My thoughts are purely on the prize money. Fourth  would bag us £325K which is pretty decent , however there is anther £150K on top if we can battle to second , the difference between the two positions pays for two full backs and a centre half of decent quality on one year deals . Lots to play for and three massive games against Morton,  Queens and Thistle ....

[D'Jaffo]

Mind we finished 4th before and thought we’d have a much better budget the following season but it turned out that we’d committed to paying a f**k ton to players by way of bonuses that our budget was actually worse than the previous season. Hope we haven’t done that again. 

[munro7]

The worrying aspect for me is the post match comments that every game is “must win”, “cup final” now as that kind of game’s gone really well recently!

Chance to get to a semi-final - don’t turn up after 20 minutes.

Chance to go above Dundee and put pressure on Queens Park - fail to turn up for the second half at Dens and the whole game at Gayfield.

 

[Yid_in_Exiile]

3 hours ago, BukyOHare said:

 

We just need to be less sh!t over 36 games than the 5th place team to have a small chance at the top league. I say small given the inherently unfair structure of the playoffs.

 

You should apply for that Board job as our new Head of Marketing! Just imagine the posters going up all over South Ayrshire, "Come and watch your, slightly less shit than the rest, local heroes battle through the play-offs so they can be shafted every week in the Premiership"

Should sell out Somerset Park, no problem. 

P.S. Just like we had to go through when we were first getting back to the Championships and getting immediately relegated again, I guess as and when we finally make it back to the Premiership we will have to endure similar years - joining the other yo-yo clubs like Dundee, Dundee Utd, Inverness and Ross County that have had trouble making it stick. To that end, Smith's focus on gradually building the Club's income streams has got to be the correct one versus some mad budget-busting punt on Promotion. Will the Club's fan base be patient with that process for the next five years? Not from what I read on here...       

Edited April 2, 2023 by Yid_in_Exiile
Added postscript.

[BukyOHare]

9 minutes ago, Yid_in_Exiile said:

so they can be shafted every week in the Premiership

Others may think differently, but I think with the relative budgets involved, you could definitely argue that it's more difficult to get out of the Championship than it is to actually stay in the Premiership once you get there.

[diegomarahenry]

The team we have signed up for next season would get emptied out the Premier league by the winter break.
 

The shambles we have shown in putting any kind of game plan would have is chasing shadows and trying to  defend for 90 minutes while playing long ball football would have us down by Christmas. 

Increasing our revenue in ways that don’t involve watching attractive football will hopefully fix the first part and help us to stay in the Premier. The second part doesn’t need money spent on it. We are getting a lot of things right off the park. 

[AyrAtlanta]

3 hours ago, BukyOHare said:

As I said in another post the poor performances would matter more if the standard we were up against was much better than us or we were fighting a relegation battle.

Poor performances don’t matter in a title race then. Let’s all accept that we’re just plucky wee Ayr playing above our level.

[North British 2]

2 hours ago, D'Jaffo said:

Mind we finished 4th before and thought we’d have a much better budget the following season but it turned out that we’d committed to paying a f**k ton to players by way of bonuses that our budget was actually worse than the previous season. Hope we haven’t done that again

Hopefully the smarts we have in the board room will not allow that to happen again .