The Ultimate Super Ayr Thread

[ayrunitedfw]

I think we are all in agreement that Logan Chalmers would come into the starting 11 and massively improve it. He'd arguably be our best player. Would he cost more than what we'd normally pay? Probably. Given his previous spell is he worth it? Easily. I'm not for one minute suggesting we break the bank for him however given ICT who have a lower budget than us seem to be signing him it's massively frustrating and questions quite rightly should be asked of the club for allowing it to happen. 

[D'Jaffo]

1 minute ago, Thumper said:

This gets continually repeated, but can we nail down precisely who this is supposed to refer to? Assuming the new signings are given the benefit of the doubt, that list stands at:

• Reading
• McAllister
• McKenzie (borderline)
• Ashford
• Bangala
• Very, very tentatively Bryden

That's seven, and two of them are really only distinct from the rest of the Academy players because they've actually started shaving yet and have had a non-desultory amount of game time.

I think the notion that the squad is carrying a substantial amount of dead weight is overblown. Five of the above will probably be away in the summer.

They're being signed from the sixth tier (or below), which is part time. The best player in the Scottish Championship last season had spent the previous season working for Deliveroo. Undoubtedly he got a substantial increase in compensation to move 500 miles way and go fully professional, but he was starting from a very very low base rate. There's no way he was even Ayr's highest-paid player, never mind the league's.

I wouldn't describe it as penny pinching as such. I would describe it as prudent scouting of a league which contains players who can potentially do great things at this level but are overlooked due to the deeply insular and conservative nature of Scottish football. But it is certainly the case that cost is a major factor in why the club is going this route.

Amartey and Pendlebury were signed from Aldershot in the fifth tier and afaik they were full time. Ashford came from Crawley and JML from Swindon. Again, both full time clubs. Ben Dempsey, Charlton would’ve been full time. I’m not entirely sure about Rose coming from Weymouth. Best I can see is that they went full time in 2012 although that counts for very little given it was 10 years ago and there’s been a global pandemic in that time. 
 

Money must come in to it but I think a bigger advantage is that a lot of clubs up here don’t look all that hard in England when it comes to signings. A lot of clubs will take tips off of agents or other players rather than actually having a look for themselves. Paul Hartley almost made it taboo to recruit from that level despite the fact that all the duds he signed were off the back of one agency trying to make money or some well edited YouTube videos. I had thought after the success of Dipo then more clubs would devote more time to looking at that level but I can’t say I’ve noticed many signings jumping out that would suggest that. 

[D'Jaffo]

1 minute ago, ayrunitedfw said:

I think we are all in agreement that Logan Chalmers would come into the starting 11 and massively improve it. He'd arguably be our best player. Would he cost more than what we'd normally pay? Probably. Given his previous spell is he worth it? Easily. I'm not for one minute suggesting we break the bank for him however given ICT who have a lower budget than us seem to be signing him it's massively frustrating and questions quite rightly should be asked of the club for allowing it to happen. 

Where are we getting ICT budget from? Smith said that our budget would pretty much be in the middle of the league this season. I can see Caley having similar to us but as I’ve said we’ve signed a lot of players and have a bigger squad. It’s quite conceivable that at this minute they have more money to spend than us. 

[ayrunitedfw]

4 minutes ago, D'Jaffo said:

Where are we getting ICT budget from? Smith said that our budget would pretty much be in the middle of the league this season. I can see Caley having similar to us but as I’ve said we’ve signed a lot of players and have a bigger squad. It’s quite conceivable that at this minute they have more money to spend than us. 

Given their financial difficulties have been well documented I'd be seriously worried if we had a similar budget to them.

Smith is hardly going to come out and say we have one of the higher budgets in the league as that's putting added pressure onto Bullen. 

[D'Jaffo]

Just now, ayrunitedfw said:

Given their financial difficulties have been well documented I'd be seriously worried if we had a similar budget to them.

Smith is hardly going to come out and say we have one of the higher budgets in the league as that's putting added pressure onto Bullen. 

Similar to Partick though their financial difficulties are constantly overblown and will have been massively helped with their Scottish Cup run. 
 

I don’t see why Smith would lie. I also don’t know why he would see us with one of the larger budgets in the league when we would clearly be living outwith our means. 

[muZZa__44]

 

[Thumper]

2 minutes ago, D'Jaffo said:

Amartey and Pendlebury were signed from Aldershot in the fifth tier and afaik they were full time. Ashford came from Crawley and JML from Swindon. Again, both full time clubs. Ben Dempsey, Charlton would’ve been full time. I’m not entirely sure about Rose coming from Weymouth. Best I can see is that they went full time in 2012 although that counts for very little given it was 10 years ago and there’s been a global pandemic in that time.

Weymouth are still part-time. So that means that all three strikers came from part-time clubs. I'm not sure I'd count e.g. Dempsey as part of the Grand Experiment anyway, he was a loanee originally.

10 minutes ago, D'Jaffo said:

I had thought after the success of Dipo then more clubs would devote more time to looking at that level but I can’t say I’ve noticed many signings jumping out that would suggest that. 

The simplest approach is that taken by Partick: simply wait for the good ones' Ayr contracts to expire and then poach them.

11 minutes ago, D'Jaffo said:

Paul Hartley almost made it taboo to recruit from that level despite the fact that all the duds he signed were off the back of one agency trying to make money or some well edited YouTube videos.

I mean one might also say the same thing about Claude Anelka and the French lower leagues. Recall that there is every possibility Riyad Mahrez could have been a St Mirren player.

[Rodders1910]

1 hour ago, WATTOO said:

We also had the season or two where we signed Tom Walsh, Cammy Smith, Bruce Anderson, Joe Chalmers, Jack Baird, Dario Zanatta who at the time were all seen as top end Championship players and proven in the league.

I think we can all agree that things didn't go entirely to plan.....

Still believe the team that season could've done well if we had a competent manager..

[ayrunitedfw]

1 minute ago, Rodders1910 said:

Still believe the team that season could've done well if we had a competent manager..

@wuffster dislikes this 

[Thumper]

It wasn't Hopkin's fault that Chalmers used all his set pieces in an attempt to knock the American flagpole loose on the moon tbf.

[Guest]

9 minutes ago, Rodders1910 said:

Still believe the team that season could've done well if we had a competent manager..

A lot of us wanted Stewart but we'll never know what would have happened had he got the job.

[THEHonestman1910]

2 minutes ago, WATTOO said:

A lot of us wanted Stewart but we'll never know what would have happened had he got the job.

I don't think any of us wanted Stewart for manager after McCall left, not especially after 2 poor defeats when he wss caretaker.

[D'Jaffo]

4 minutes ago, THEHonestman1910 said:

I don't think any of us wanted Stewart for manager after McCall left, not especially after 2 poor defeats when he wss caretaker.

Yeah had he been made manager straight away I don’t think many would have grumbled but after the losses to Dunfermline and Caley I think everyone wanted a change. 

[OnlyAyrfaninTarbolton]

26 minutes ago, muZZa__44 said:

 

Aye somebody has been reading my posts

Edited August 8, 2023 by OnlyAyrfaninTarbolton

[Mr.Blue]

11 hours ago, railwayend said:

God the Mortonians are getting tedious .. They couldn’t beat us in four attempts last season, despite some tight games. Now we can’t get rid of them . Hopefully Raith Rovers will have them licking their wounds on Saturday and normal service can be resumed. 

Nothing to do with us beating Ayr in Saturday.  More to do with Diego being a fanny.

[diegomarahenry]

1 minute ago, Mr.Blue said:

Nothing to do with us beating Ayr in Saturday.  More to do with Diego being a fanny.

 

between you and your fanny mate demanding an apology, yous really are having a shitemare here. 

[eez-eh]

2 hours ago, ayrunitedfw said:

Just to be clear are we as a fan base allowed to complain if/when Chalmers signs for ICT or is that also hyperbolic pish? 

You’re allowed to complain about whatever you like but I don’t get any outrage about being unable to convinced Graham or McKay to up sticks and move.

Chalmers would be a different kettle of fish as he’d be actively choosing which club to move to.

[ryanayr1987]

@Richey Edwards here for you at this difficult time

 

[D'Jaffo]

So long Bangs

We hardly knew ye.

[motley123rock]

2 minutes ago, ryanayr1987 said:

@Richey Edwards here for you at this difficult 

A dreadful signing. Bullen don’t listen to anyone that recommends a player to you personally ever again !