The celebration image that sums up all that’s great about this club
Bullen admits he’s bursting with pride at seeing players he had just axed still rooting for Ayr United’s survival
At first glance, it doesn’t look that significant.
It’s a photo of Ayr United’s subs celebrating a goal in their final Championship match of the season against Partick Thistle.
But for gaffer Lee Bullen, that image means EVERYTHING.
Two of the players in the picture had been told a few days previously they had no future at the club.
But that 3-1 victory at Somerset Park, which secured their status in the second tier, still meant the world to them.
And that proved to Bullen that he’s on the right track in terms of what he’s trying to create at Ayr.
The 51- year- old has already managed at one of the biggest clubs in England in Sheffield Wednesday.
Bullen had several stints as stand-in gaffer, coaching some top international players.
But this is different.
At Ayr, he’s his own man in the dugout for the f irst time in his career, which brings its own pressure.
So to keep the Honest Men up when relegation to League One at one stage was a distinct possibility, gives him as much satisfaction as anything he has done before as a player or coach.
Now he can get excited about the future, a long with the club’s director of football Graeme Mathie.
And if he can foster the kind of spirit epitomised by that photograph, he’s optimistic about what they can achieve.
Bullen told MailSport: “That picture of the bench shows the culture we’re trying to build. That was our substitutes celebrating.
“Two or three days before a couple of those lads Markus Fjortoft and Alex Kenyon had been told they wouldn’t be getting a contract.
“When I saw that, I thought: ‘ Wow.’ That’s all down to the lads’ character and it shows what we’re trying to do here in the changing room and around the club.
“That photo filled me with pride. That’s exactly what Ayr United should be all about.”
Of course, it’s all about unity and togetherness.
But if Bullen had failed to keep
Ayr in the Championship, it was his neck on the line after being appointed by chairman David Smith in January.
He said: “This is my first job so there was pressure on me.
“In modern football if you fail in your first job it’s difficult to get back on the managerial merry-go-round.
“Every small win is a big win for a new manager.
“Yeah, I’ve loads of experience and coached at first- team level for many years at a huge club like Sheffield Wednesday.
“But it was all on a temporary basis. This is the first role that I have been given to live or die on my own sword.
“So to get over the line feels great. “The chairman put no pressure on me. He had budgeted for things working out with regards to relegation.
“But on a personal level you don’t want to let down the guy who gives you a job. And I didn’t want to let the players down either.
“To stay up was a real sense of relief at not having to go through the play- offs.
“It’s a small victory – but huge in the grand scheme of things.
“This feels 100 per cent different to being caretaker manager at Sheffield Wednesday.
“Because I’m the number one here.
“I’ve got such an affinity with the people at Sheffield Wednesday because I worked there for 20 years.
“I’d have loved to be given the opportunity there but it wasn’t to be. That’s fine.
“Heading off to come up the road at a smaller, historical football club like Ayr – who are trying to build a realistic legacy – brought its own pressures.
“If we’d been relegated it would have had a big impact on a club of our size. So it was an enjoyable night to f inal ly get over the l ine against Partick. I take as much sat i sfa ct ion f r om this achievement as anything in my career.”
With safety secured, Bullen now wants to create something special at Somerset.
They already have some
It’s a sense of relief not having to go through the play-offs .. huge in the grand scheme
talented players on their books, with the likes of Tomi Ade loy e , Ke r r McInroy, Paddy Reading and Da i r e O ’ C o n n o r in negotiations about new deals. The success of on- loan Rangers kid James Maxwell will ensure that it’s a situat ion they t r y to replicate with other talented youngsters.
Bullen wants Ayr to be a place for rough diamonds to smooth off their edges – and ultimately sparkle.
He said: “We’re trying to build a new culture at Ayr where players might fancy coming down to Somerset and using it as a shop window for their own careers – as well as it being successful for us.
“I got a lot of good luck messages when I took this job but no real advice.
“If anything, the general advice was: ‘Be your own man and go with your gut’.
“We’ve got young Fraser Bryden and Paul Smith bursting through. “After working with Steven Pressley at Falkirk and in the academy at Sheffield Wednesday,
I have no qualms about giving young pl ayers a chanc e , irrespective of age.
“That’s what Ayr United should be about, developing players and moving them on.
“We’ve had around 14 players over the last five to 10 years who have gone on to bigger things, like Scott McKenna and Michael Rose.
“Ayr United played a big part in their careers.
“We need to build on that and it’s my job to create an environment where players want to come.
“It’s about them using Ayr United as much as we’ll use them to get success.
“Our model has to be getting young talented players in, developing them and selling them on to make money.
“It ’ s up to us to ident i f y rough diamonds and give them opportunities. The blueprint has to be a realistic – gradual improvement every year.
“If we f inish mid- table next season, will it be a success in relative terms? Probably.
“But if you put a run of good results together in a 10- team league, you can be in the play-offs.
“That’s something to aim for.”