Ayr United have announced that they are they working with their Youth Academy towards full-time football.
The Somerset Park club are hoping to achieve silver status in the Club Academy Scotland set-up and part of that process involves demonstrating to the Scottish FA that full-time football is sustainable.
Chairman Lachlan Cameron told the club website: "Recently I spoke in the club newsletter about the pride I have in what the Academy has achieved. This is another step along the way. What is even more pleasing is that we don’t need outside finance to achieve it.
“Through restructuring and making better use of the grants that are available to the Academy, it means we are able to put firm foundations down for the future of the club. The aim is to make the club even more attractive to players to come here and play.
“It also hits my intention of living within our means, which should send a clear message out to the rest of Scottish football that having a youth policy is not only desirable, but essential for clubs to survive. I am very proud that we have one of the best examples and the most stable of community academies in the country.”
Manager Mark Roberts said: “It’s a great move for both the Academy and ourselves. What this represents is an important first step towards full-time football and it means we can spend more time working on the things we want to during the week.
“The players taking part in this will be fitter, stronger and our youngsters in particular will gain more game knowledge. I know from my time as a young player, the most you learn is at the ages of 16, 17 and 18 so this will be a massive thing for the young boys - over the next couple of years we’ll really start to see the benefits.”
The project will see a core number of players – 12 have put pen to paper so far – becoming full-time with the club.
Captain Scott McLaughlin is among those who will step up their involvement at Somerset Park, as well as key first-team players like Michael Donald, Nicky Devlin, Brian Gilmour, Alan Forrest and Paul Slane. Joining them will be a crop of Ayr United’s star youngsters.
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