10 Things about Ayr United!

The Scottish League Cup comes alive in Ayrshire tonight when Kilmarnock host Ayr United.

Ayr are known as the Honest Men from the ‘Tam O’Shanter’ poem by Robert Burns, who described the town as having 'honest men and bonnie lasses'.

Here are 10 other things you may, or may not, know about the Somerset Park club. Our thanks go to club historian Duncan Carmichael and Operations Manager Tracy Ashdown for confirming that some of the more bizarre facts are indeed correct!

1. If you want to see goals on the opening day then Ayr is the place to go. Since being formed in 1910, the club have only had three goalless league openers at home. In 1924, Third Lanark left with a point and in 1966 Dunfermline did likewise. The most recent 0-0 start was against Raith six years ago.

2. The start to the second half of a Reserve game in October 1925 was held up after a pitch invasion with a difference. Ayr goalkeeper, one Reverend John Mckenzie, was the subject of the charge on to the pitch - with a fan running up and presenting him with a bouquet of chrysanthemums! It was not recorded at the time why the Minister was being given flowers and it remains a mystery to this day.

3. Ayr United were Sir Alex Ferguson’s last club as a player, with the striker scoring nine times in season 1973/74 before starting his managerial career at East Stirlingshire.

4. The club’s greatest servant has to be John ‘Spud’ Murphy. The full-back was with the club from 1963 to 1978 and made 459 starting appearances plus two as a substitute. Murphy was inducted into the club’s Hall of Fame in 2007.

5. Two of the present-day Ayr United squad have League Cup winner’s medals. Skipper Scott McLaughlin and recent signing Jon-Paul McGovern were both part of the Livingston team that defeated Hibernian 2-0 in March 2004.

6. Ayr United have made a terrific start to their League 1 season by defeating Morton, Stirling Albion and Forfar but they have a bit to go before they make it the best ever start to a league season. That came in 1911/12 when wins over Abercorn, Cowdenbeath, Vale of Leven (twice), East Stirlingshire, Dundee United, Albion Rovers, Leith Athletic and Dumbarton gave Ayr a nine-game winning start.

7. The largest crowd for a Kilmarnock and Ayr derby was at Rugby Park for a Scottish Cup quarter-final back in 1938 when 27,442 fans turned up. Ayr have sold over 1,600 tickets for tonight’s game, with Chairman Lachlan Cameron pledging to give player/manager Mark Roberts an increased playing budget if that figure goes over 2,000.

8. One of Ayr’s biggest fans in recent years has been Somerset Boab, who not only supports the team but raises money for them through his singing. Tunes such as the ‘Moff is on Fire’ and ‘Hampden Anthem’ has seen Somerset Boab hand over several thousand pounds in recent seasons.

9. Former Scotland midfielder Robert Connor began his career at Ayr back in 1977 and a mistake in a match programme early in his career saw him listed as Roger Connor. The name stuck and he was known as Roger throughout his playing career, that ended in 1998 at Queen of the South. Connor also had a spell as manager at Somerset Park from 2005 to 2007.

10. Player/manager Mark Roberts was a 17-year-old when he scored for Kilmarnock against Rangers at Ibrox in August 1993 with a diving header. His goal cancelled out a Steven Pressley header and Bobby Williamson then produced an injury-time winner for Kilmarnock.

Craig Stewart