Ayr United
| Ayr United | |||
|
|||
| Basic data | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Surname | Ayr United Football and Athletic Club Ltd | ||
| Seat | Ayr , Scotland | ||
| founding | 1910 | ||
| president |
 Lachlan Cameron
|
||
| Website | ayrunitedfc.co.uk | ||
| First soccer team | |||
| Head coach |
 Mark Kerr
|
||
| Venue | Somerset Park | ||
| Places | 10.185 | ||
| league | Scottish Championship | ||
| 2019/20 | 4th Place | ||
|
|||
Ayr United (officially: Ayr United Football Club ) is a Scottish football club from Ayr , South Ayrshire . The club was founded in 1910 as a merger of the two clubs FC Ayr and FC Ayr Parkhouse.
The team is called "The Honest Men", a name taken from a line of text in the poem "Tam o 'Shanter" written by Robert Burns in 1790 , after which the famous Scottish poet described his homeland Ayr as a city of sincere men and pretty girls ( "Auld Ayr, wham ne'er a town surpasses, For honest men and bonie lasses").
history
History of FC Ayr (1879–1910)
Foundation phase
During the 1870s, football began to become popular in Ayr and in 1879 the "Ayr Football Club" was created as a merger of the two previously founded clubs "Ayr Thistle" and "Ayr Academicals". Above all, Ayr Thistle was able to celebrate a respectable success in 1876 when they could move into the semi-finals of the still young Scottish Cup competition , but lost 9-0 to the later title holder FC Vale of Leven .
The “Springvale Park”, where the Academicals had previously been based, served as the home ground of the new club. An organized game operation in a championship did not take place at this time, but the increasing popularity of FC Ayr was shown by the prominent opponents who made their way to the south-west of Scotland - including FC Queen's Park, the reigning cup winners and the English club Aston Villa - found.
High phase in Beresford Park
In 1884 the club decided to move to "Beresford Park", which was characterized by its central location in the city and was to be the new sporting home of FC Ayr for four years. The team, which competed in purple and gold playing attire, experienced its first heyday there and won numerous titles. These included the victories in the “Ayr Charity Cup” (1885, 1886 and 1887), as well as the successes in the “Kilmarnock Charity Cup” (1885 and 1887). The successes in the first-mentioned competition could be sealed with the final victories against FC Kilmarnock (5: 2), FC Annbank (5: 1) and FC Kilbirnie (7: 0). The first title ever was the “Kilmarnock Charity Cup” mentioned earlier in 1885, when FC Ayr won 3-2 in the final at FC Kilmarnock after trailing 2-0 at halftime. Two years later, the second trophy followed in the same competition, this title ultimately being awarded to FC Ayr without a fight. After the first two final encounters against FC Kilmarnock had not yet found a winner, the organizing committee set a third game in Ayr, which the opponents from Kilmarnock refused and instead sought a playoff in old Hampden Park - later known as Cathkin Park . Last but not least, FC Ayr 1886 was the first club from Ayr to reach the final of the "Ayr Cup", which at that time was the most prestigious football tournament in Scotland outside of the Scottish Cup, and lost 2-1 at FC Kilmarnock. As an expression of this sporting high phase, two games can be used, which exemplified the performance of the club. On the one hand, the club defied FC Queen's Park 2-2 in a friendly game, with the opponent on the way to winning the cup in the 1885/86 season and shortly before the Blackburn Rovers - reigning English cup winners - 7-1 had beaten. This also includes - in the opinion of many club supporters - probably the club's best competitive game in its history, when he defeated the multiple title holder FC Vale of Leven 3-2 in the Scottish Cup in the round of 1887/88 (further successes remained in this cup round literally stuck in the mud of Cambuslang and the victorious FC Cambuslang against FC Ayr should even move into the final).
Moving to Somerset Park
The year 1888 marked the end of Beresford Park as the home ground of FC Ayr, when the annual cattle show, which previously had always been scheduled, stubbornly claimed this venue for itself, although FC Ayr had already played a friendly against Ayr on May 7, 1888 the newly crowned English cup winner Aston Villa had arranged. A public meeting eventually opened up an opportunity to move to nearby Somerset Road, where space was available for an adjacent chemical plant. The club transplanted its clubhouse and transported entire parts of the grandstand to the new site by rail, creating the "Somerset Park", where Aston Villa could finally be defeated 3-0. The first title in the new stadium won the club again in "Ayr Charity Cup" and suggested in 1890 there in the final to FC Annbank 5: be defended 2 (the title was in the next two years - a 1: 0 against FC Hurlford followed to the “triple” a 6: 3 against FC Kilmarnock in 1892). During this time, the first nomination of a player for the Scottish national team fell when Jimmy Hogan played against Wales on March 21, 1891 and was to remain the only national player in the history of FC Ayr.
The way to professional football
In 1891, FC Ayr joined the newly founded “ Ayrshire Football League ”, but left it after a year because the idea of a championship round had received too little response from its own supporters. A year after the Scottish Football Association ("SFA") had paved the way to professional football, FC Ayr joined the also new " Ayrshire Combination League " in 1893 and played there until 1897. The club then realized the ultimate path to professional football by being accepted into the second division of the Scottish Football League ("SFL"), after a corresponding application by the club had been rejected in 1896 - the year before.
Ayr FC won their first championship game at Somerset Park against Linthouse FC 4-1 and ended the first season with seven wins from 18 games in a shared fifth place. This was followed by two mixed seasons, at the end of which the club, third from bottom of the table, always had to apply to remain in the lowest Scottish professional league - ultimately successfully. After the turn of the century, the performance stabilized again and over an extraordinary home strength, when only a single point was given in the championship between December 1899 and March 1902, the club finished in third place in 1903 and 1904. In addition, the team won the renowned "Ayrshire Cup" in 1901 with a 2-1 final victory after a previous 1-1 draw against Stevenston Thistle and the Ayr Charity Cup a year later with the help of a 2-0 final win against FC Annbank.
In the meantime, with Ayr Parkhouse, the local rival had also found their way into the second Scottish league, but only finished last there in the 1903/04 season and later in 1906/07. In addition, the two clubs faced each other in the Ayrshire Cup final of 1906, which FC Ayr won just like the previous year in the final against FC Kilmarnock (1-0). The public then became louder and louder in favor of a merger of the two clubs and thus pleading for a pooling of forces for the great goal of top division football. At that time, advancement on a purely sporting basis was not possible and access to the top division had to be applied for from the SFA . FC Ayr had already taken a further step towards professionalization and had itself officially registered as "Ayr Football & Athletic Club Limited" in August 1907.
The last success of FC Ayr, which continued to operate in the Scottish second division, was in 1910 when they won the Ayrshire Cup again. The 1-0 final win against Ayr Parkhouse should be the last game as an independent club for both clubs before their subsequent merger.
Prehistory of Ayr Parkhouse (1886-1910)
Foundation phase
The "Ayr Parkhouse Football Club" was founded in 1886 and was named after the name of a manor house near which the club's players held their training sessions. Little is known about the exact founding circumstances, but the club quickly moved from the original venue on "Ballantyne Drive" - near the Parkhouse Hotel - to "the racetrack" (today known as the "old racetrack" - or the "Old Racecourse" - known).
Although the club there showed an increasing performance curve, he was not allowed to collect entrance fees from the spectators for his performances and then moved in 1888 to "Beresford Park", which had just been left by Ayr FC. There they finally became part of established football in the round of 1889/90 and were next to FC Ayr and "Ayr Athletic" already the third serious team in the city (for Ayr Athletic, however, there was no more space and the club only disappeared for a short time Time later in oblivion). The club's first competitive game took place in the Scottish Cup , where the higher-rated FC Kilbirnie was beaten 6-1. From then on, the club developed a special rivalry with FC Ayr, which intensified in the 1890/91 season when the "Honest Men" wanted to sign numerous "Parkies" players.
League football as an amateur club
In 1891 Ayr Parkhouse was a founding member of the "Ayrshire Football League", two years later switched to the "Ayrshire Football Combination" and played the first real derby games in the city, especially against FC Ayr . The club continued to strictly maintain its amateur status until 1905 - as did the famous Queen's Park FC , with which the club was on friendly terms - although the Scottish Football Association had officially "legalized" professional football in 1892. Nevertheless, the Parkies were able to achieve good results in the championship games and in the Scottish Cup, made it through to the quarter-finals in the 1894/95 Cup and were defeated there by the later finalists FC Renton with 2: 3 after the team with 2 : 0 had led. The club also made it to the cup quarter-finals in the 1897/98 season and lost to FC Kilmarnock 2: 7. In the “Ayr Charity Cup”, Ayr Parkhouse developed into a series winner between 1894 and 1899 and won no less than six titles (after the following final wins: 3: 1, 3: 2, 2: 0 and 3: 0 against the FC Ayr (1894 to 1897), as well as 2-1 against Kilmarnock Athletic (1898) and 4-2 against FC Annbank (1899)). In addition there were two wins in the “Kilmarnock Charity Cup” (after winning the final against FC Hurlford 5-2 (1895) and 2-1 against FC Annbank (1897)) and in 1902 a success in the coveted “Ayrshire Cup” after a 1 : 0 against Galston FC .
The way to professional football
The rivalry with FC Ayr experienced a further increase when Ayr was accepted into the Scottish Football League in 1897 and the amateur status of Ayr Parkhouse came under increasing pressure in favor of its own sporting ambitions. In 1901 the club itself asked for admission to the SFL, which was initially rejected. But when the club finished second in the "Scottish Amateur Football League", the league association Ayr Parkhouse took on the 1903/04 season instead of FC St. Johnstone in its second division. There, however, the club experienced a disaster, closed the season clearly from bottom of the table and was then not considered for a re-entry ( FC Aberdeen eventually took the place of the Parkies). In this context, the fact that the club management of FC Ayr was accused of having done massive lobbying for the negative votes for the re-inclusion of Ayr Parkhouse in the league association caused a stir. October 20, 1905 finally marked a decisive turning point in the club's history, when it was unanimously decided to convert it into a professional club.
Ayr Parkhouse played one season in the Scottish Football Combination and then returned to the second division of the SFL for the 1906/07 season. Although the last trophy in the club's history was won in 1907 with the "Ayr Charity Cup" (3-2 in the final against FC Ayr), the club was still unable to celebrate any notable successes in the league and as FC Ayr was also increasingly weak, was at the end of the 1909/10 season the pressure increased on both clubs to carry out a merger in favor of the then possible first division football in Ayr.
Ayr United founded
The first negotiations with the specific goal of a merger between FC Ayr and Ayr Parkhouse took place in April 1909 in the “Cowan's Temperance Hotel”. There the plan for a joint association was worked out, which provided that both clubs carry out a voluntary liquidation, equip the new company with a nominal capital of 3,000 pounds and confiscate the assets of both clubs. The new club should be called "Ayr United" and use both home venues alternately over a period of five years. When the club management of FC Ayr delayed the implementation, Ayr Parkhouse withdrew from the project, so that the first attempt had failed.
Another mixed season in 1909/10 for both clubs and the resulting public pressure forced the opponents back to the negotiating table. Since the shareholders of both clubs now also supported the project significantly, it was announced after a public meeting on April 29, 1910 that the merger of the two Scottish professional clubs - to date the only merger of two clubs in the same city within the Scottish professional league - had succeeded .
Further development in the pre-war period
The new club took on the purple and gold striped jerseys of FC Ayr and the navy blue shorts of the Parkies and usually played their home games in Somerset Park - although Beresford Park was still mostly used for games of the youth and reserve teams. The team won the first game against Port Glasgow Athletic 2-0 and after a second place in the first season, the team won the second division championship in its second season. Surprisingly, the SFL denied them promotion to the top division, which was practically no longer possible in the following year when Ayr United repeated the success.
The increased performance was impressively demonstrated there when the club was not only able to hold the top division, but in the third season 1915/16 even took fourth place behind Celtic Glasgow , Glasgow Rangers and FC Morton , which is still to this day represents the highest ranking in the club's history in the Scottish Championship. During this time, the club produced a number of highly regarded players, including Jimmy Richardson , who would later become English champions with Sunderland , and especially Neil McBain , who was to play for Manchester United , Liverpool and Everton , Scottish international was later returned to the old place of work in Ayr as a trainer.
In 1923, Ayr United defeated the eventual Scottish champions in the Cup with the Glasgow Rangers 2-0 and the club's high status was evident a year later when the Scottish national team played for England's first international match at Wembley with two defenders from Ayr United ( Phil McCloy and Jock Smith ) took on - later Jimmy Hogg and Jimmy Nisbet would follow. After the end of the 1924/25 season, the club had to go into the second division, but returned for the 1927/28 season with a spectacular championship in Division Two. In just 38 championship games, Jimmy Smith scored 66 goals, which is a record in British professional football to this day. With Bob Hepburn , the club came to its first Scottish national goalkeeper in 1931, the circumstances of his use were tragic, as the regular goalkeeper John Thomson - who had also played a short time as a teenager at Ayr United - in a game by Celtic against the Rangers as a result died in an unfortunate collision.
In 1936 Ayr United rose again from the second division, but was able to "repair" this only one year through the immediate resurgence. The club remained first class until 1939, when the official championship operations were discontinued due to the Second World War . Although football continued to be played "unofficially" in Scotland, the management of Ayr United decided to put the business on hold until the fighting ended.
After the game has resumed
After the war, football experienced a huge surge in popularity among the general public in Scotland. It was all the more disappointing for Ayr United that the Scottish League Association only classified him in the second division after a reorganization of the divisions. The decisive factor in this decision was that it was primarily intended to "reward" the clubs that had participated in various competitions during the war, so that Ayr United's sporting affiliation to the first division was neglected.
But the team also struggled in the second division and, despite some good players - such as Norrie McNeil and Malky Morrison - could not achieve promotion. In 1950 the club was about to reach the final of the Scottish League Cup , before a 3-2 lead turned into a 3-4 defeat against FC Motherwell in the last seven minutes . In 1955, the club committed from the amateur club "Gloucester City" Peter Price , who in the course of his career for Ayr United in over six years should score 213 goals in competitive games and is still the club's record scorer today. Price was also largely responsible for the promotion to the first division with his 45 goals in the 1955/56 season, which he increased after the interim relegation in the 1958/59 season with 55 goals and thus guaranteed the club the renewed membership in the first division. Another major player of the period was Sam McMillan , who made his debut for Ayr United in 1953 at the age of just 15 and was a constant on the team for over 22 years.
The club was able to celebrate successes from now on - including the two away wins at Glasgow Rangers (3-0) and at Celtic Glasgow (3-2) in the 1959/60 season within just three weeks - but increased towards the end of the 1960 season / 61 as bottom of the table again. This ushered in a sporting crisis that reached its low point in the 1964/65 season. There were even rumors that the club was likely to end and at the end of the season the club was the second worst professional team in Scotland with its penultimate place. The foundation stone for the rescue was made relatively unnoticed in 1964 when 33-year-old player Ally MacLeod was signed by the financially troubled club Third Lanark , which later turned out to be a stroke of luck for Ayr United.
Ayr United under Ally MacLeod
Ally MacLeod was initially active as a player-coach at Ayr United, before he finally accepted the post of head coach in 1966. He built a new team from the post-war generation and although the team was relegated directly after promotion in 1966, the next promotion in 1969 should again initiate a longer phase in the top division. The 1969/70 season began with two spectacular home wins, when a 3-0 win against Hibernian Edinburgh was followed by a much acclaimed 2-1 win against Rangers. In the semi-finals of the League Cup in Hampden Park , they defied the big favorites Celtic Glasgow, who at the time seemed overpowering and had won the European Cup a good two years earlier , a 3: 3, before losing 1: 2 in the replay.
In 1973 Ayr United reached the Scottish Cup semi-finals for the first time and lost 2-0 to the Rangers. When the Scottish Football Association introduced the " Scottish Premier Division " as the new English top division with only ten teams for the 1975/76 season , Ayr United was able to qualify for this new league by seventh place, which was classified as surprising, as the The team - in contrast to the championship competitors - still consisted of several “part-time professionals”. Despite this great success, however, great disappointment spread in the club when MacLeod announced in 1975 that he was moving to Aberdeen FC . The club signed as successor Alex Stewart , who got off to a good start with the 3-0 win over Rangers. Nevertheless, in 1976 the team had to tremble about staying in the league and on the last day of the game there was a game against FC Motherwell that is still memorable for the supporters . Ayr United had to win the game to stay in the league but were 1-0 down at halftime, missed a penalty early in the second half and only fifteen more minutes of play remained. After Davie McCulloch equalized, there were only five minutes left when Gerry Phillips headed in a cross from Gordon Crammond to make it 2-1. The referee initially seemed to refuse to acknowledge the goal, as the ball was said to have been outside the field of play before Crammond's cross. After violent protests and a lengthy discussion with his linesman , he finally changed his judgment so that Ayr United won the game 2-1.
The club remained in the top division for two more years, then rose in 1978 to the second division now called "Division One" and should not return to the Scottish elite league to this day.
Permanent presence in the lower Scottish leagues
From the late 1970s onwards, Ayr United was known for its youth work, from which many players found their way to the better-known clubs. Ally MacLeod, who in the meantime had even looked after the Scottish national team at the 1978 World Cup in Argentina , worked again at short notice for the old club in the same year, before Willie McLean and later George Caldwell held the coaching post until 1985.
Although Ally MacLeod took over the coaching business again in 1985, he could not prevent the club from relegating to the third-rate Second Division for the first time in its history after the 1985/86 season . In the medium term, however, he consolidated the team again and led Ayr United back to the second division in 1988 with an above-average goal yield of 90 goals as third division champions. In addition, the Scottish businessman and millionaire David Murray , who was born in Ayr, offered to buy the club, but this was rejected by the shareholders with 56:60 votes (which meant that Murray later concentrated on a commitment to the Glasgow Rangers) .
At the end of the 1980s, MacLeod's third and final term ended and from 1990 the club reintroduced full-time profitability. Ayr United eventually moved into the final of a jubilee tournament for the centenary of the SFL - this was played without the Premier League clubs - but quickly got into financial difficulties due to the decision mentioned. MacLeod's successor, George Burley , looked after the team until he was released in December 1993, when Simon Stainrod took over the business. The club was now at the low point of its financial resources and had to go to the third class Second Division at the end of the 1994/95 season . Previously, the "Barr" holding company - whose chairman Bill Barr had previously been active as a club official - had taken over the majority stake in Ayr United in October 1994 and initiated specific restructuring measures.
Stainrod was replaced in 1995 by Gordon Dalziel himself , who relied on an experienced team and returned to the First Division with this team in 1997 .
Recent developments
After the promotion to the second division, Dalziel subjected the team to a rebuilding and was able to realize relegation in the 1997/98 season. On the last day of the match, a defeat against Partick Thistle in the opposing Firhill Stadium had to be prevented, which also succeeded with a 3-1 win (instead Patrick was relegated). The 1998/99 season showed further clear improvement features and with attractive football - for example, the strikers Andy Walker , Glynn Hurst and above all the winger and later Scottish national player Gary Teale - achieved six away wins in a row and a clear 7-1 success against FC Stranraer . With third place behind Hibernian Edinburgh and FC Falkirk they finished third, which raised hopes for a future participation in the SPL . However, these should suffer a setback in the 1999/2000 season when the club finished the season significantly weaker in seventh place. Proof of inconsistency in positive terms followed a year later when the runner-up behind FC Livingston was won.
At the same time, the club developed plans to build a new 10,200 seated stadium in the Heathfield district in 1998 , which after lengthy negotiations were vetoed by the Scottish Executive Administration in October 2002, despite approval from the local government . As a result, the club did not meet the security requirements even in the event of a sporting promotion to the Premier League and so access to first division football was blocked. In addition to a stronger focus on youth work, the club distinguished itself in the late 1990s and early 2000s with its cup successes, which earned it a reputation as an uncomfortable opponent at the top division clubs. These included victories against the Hibs , Dundee FC , Dundee United , Motherwell FC , Dunfermline Athletic and, in particular, the four wins in a row against local rivals FC Kilmarnock .
Probably the most successful season in recent years was the 2001/02 season, in which Ayr United reached the semi-finals of the Scottish FA Cups and the final in the League Cup in addition to third place in the championship. In addition to the semi-final defeat against Celtic, the club lost 4-0 in their final participation in a major Scottish cup competition against the Rangers - a little too clearly according to experts. The victory in the league cup semi-final against the Hibs is also considered to be one of the best sporting results for Ayr United in recent years and indirectly led to the replacement of Franck Sauzée from the position of coach of Hibernian Edinburgh.
A season in midfield of the league was followed by relegation to the third division, after only the penultimate place could be occupied in the 2003/04 season with 31 points from 36 games. Especially in financial terms, this meant another setback, especially since the dissonances in the club's management increased, which in turn meant that Bill Barr left Ayr United. Ayr United also found it difficult to gain a foothold in the third division and the coach Campbell Money , who had only been hired in 2002, left the club in 2004 after he had previously refused to sign a part-time contract. Former player Mark Shanks took over the official business, but even he could not prevent the club from experiencing a further decline in sport and the relegation to fourth class after numerous player sales and staff reductions in the club's management could only just be averted. In order to save the association from final bankruptcy, the supporters formed an "Honest Men Trust" and ensured that at least the specific threat could be averted in the short term.
In March 2005, the club was again at the center of controversial events when the dispute escalated on the management floor over the failed takeover of Roy Kennedy, who came from Prestwick , and Mark Shanks also offered his coaching position during this time (but ultimately the decision turned out to be the right one because the company "Kennedy Construction" went bankrupt in 2006). In terms of sport, the 2005/06 season under the new coach Robert Connor returned a bit of calm and the team mostly played in the midfield of the third division.
The 2006/07 season started promisingly with an opening win at the later promoted Stirling Albion and Ayr United sought a place among the top four teams early on. Gradually, however, the club slipped further and further in the table and in the meantime even only occupied eighth - and thus third from last - place. This series of poor results led to the resignation of Connors and his assistant Robert Reilly on February 26, 2007. Neil Watt, a former coach of FC Stranraer , was appointed as his successor on March 22, 2007, who immediately signed two new players and continued to reorganize their squad Player of his former club built. At the end of the season he finished fifth with Ayr United and thus still a position in the top half of the table. 2008/09 Ayr managed to qualify for the First Division in the promotion round.
successes
-
Scottish League Cup :
- Final (1): 2001/02
useful information
- Numerous supporters of the club were notorious as violent around the First World War and were considered to be an early form of the later hooligans . The so-called “Brake Clubs” appeared primarily as stone throwers in a game against the Glasgow Rangers in 1920.
- In 1935, Ayr United was at the center of a bribery scandal when Robert Orr, then FC Falkirk coach, threatened United player Robert Russell with the loss of his job in Falkirk if he were to compete in the relegation duel between the two teams. Russell also took three pounds as a bribe and signed off as "not fit". Falkirk FC won the game, but when Russell made the affair public, the game was repeated and found its new winner in Ayr United. Russell received a £ 10 fine and a season-end suspension. Orr, however, was banned for life.
swell
- ^ "AYR FC HISTORY" ( Memento from May 19, 2007 in the Internet Archive ) (Ayr United Football Club)
- ^ "AYR PARKHOUSE HISTORY" ( Memento from May 19, 2007 in the Internet Archive ) (Ayr United Football Club)
- ^ The History of Ayr United FC Ayr United Football Club
literature
- When Saturday Comes - The Half Decent Football Book , Penguin Books, London 2005, ISBN 0-14-051575-5