Heard on West Sound this morning that the chairman has came out and said that the club will need £250,000 if they are to survive. Anyone know anymore?

I heard that this afternoon.
I also heard that Rovers could be homeless as the director (?) who owns a big chunk of the stadium is in financial trouble and needs to raise big bucks mighty mighty soon.


Maybe we`ll get to the playoffs after all

I don't wish financial trouble on any provincial club. Who knows who could be next

Suspect it might be a follow-on from this

Scotland on Sunday article

The troubles of more clubs will come out through time, so far its Stranraer, Ayr and Striling to an extent. Sad but small clubs are always going to struggle in this Old Firm infested country.

It's becoming an all to familiar story in our game there are only so many Lachlan Cameron's and John Smith's out there willing to basically give money away to their clubs because it's nie on impossible to make money out of them, from the footballing side at any rate.
Those with modern stadia can hire out their facilities for meeting, weddings etc but the rest of us are basically living day to day trying to scrape monies together for the next bill or wages day and coming up with the next money making scheme that will add a few quid to the coffers.
The SFL pay out of 10K while welcome will only pay the wages of most for 2/3 weeks.
At Stranraer we have 3 games out of 4 away from home in Angus with the travel costs involved for the team sandwiched in these games we have a home game against Peterhead who due to the travelling involved will bring next to no one, so crowd round about 300 plus half the cup tie against Forfar this week say 150= 450 at best times £10 = £4500 for 4 weeks gate money does not even cover the wages for a week, no wonder clubs are in trouble.
I hope no one goes to the wall but most will have to get a reality check next season and only pay what they can comfortably afford.
It is little wonder that so few Junior clubs jumped with joy at the wonderful!!!! opportunity to join the ranks of the senior game
Auchinleck V Cumnock crowd 5000 or join the league, pay a fortune to meet the criteria for your ground, travel to Elgin with the related costs , crowd 400. A hard choice-NOT.

We've been doing that for years mate. We only pay what we can afford. Thats why we struggle near the bottom of the league while the majority of the teams above us have rumours of financial issues paired with much bigger wage bills than ours. We get punished for having the gall to run our accounts sensibly.

I'm with Ayrgirl on this, it probably has taken West Sound a few days to get this story. That station should just shut down. For a local station they are more interested in the Evil Two rather than the five local clubs they are supposed to represent. It's rare to hear a story about Ayr, Kilmarnock, Stranraer, Queen of the South or Annan through the week on that excuse of a radio station.

IMO it is well documented about Ayr's debt and whilst it doesn't make pretty reading, the only people that can shut us down are the Cameron's at the moment, as they are owed the bulk of the money. These stories have been popping up for the last few months since we were (For the second time in eight years) shafted over a new stadium. In no way whatsoever do I believe that Lachlan Cameron and his family will pull the plug on Ayr. Again it is no secret that they want to sell, but they pull the plug and they lose their money, so I doubt they ever will walk away. The rest of the debt can be, as someone put it on the honestpage, "sorted out with a whip round at the Somerset Road End"
As for needing £250000 between now and the end of the season, you would have to factor in that we have ten home games left, add to that potentially play off games(Hope not though) and also we are still very much in the cup. We also have the league pay out to come and also prize money, so that should cover most of the running costs if not them all for this season.

I won't deny that if we don't go up this year we could be looking at a very bleak few years. We have spent to get out of this division and IMO it would be an absolute disaster if we don't, but if you factor out the 'soft loans' to our owners then we are still a solvent (In the legal sense) football club given the valuation of Somerset. If this story ran next year if we are still in the second division I would take note of it, but not at the moment.

Almost every club has debt, ours is manageable...at the moment. Remember it was only a couple of years ago we turned a sizeable profit, for a second division club.

The way I read into these stories is that the Camerons aren't going to be putting their hands in their pockets any more, which personally I can't blame them for, so we have to start turning more revenue, which the only way we can realistically expect to do is by going up a division.

Good post, I can empathise entirely and take no satisfaction as a supporter of your local rivals. I, like many others long for the day when Killie v Ayr is a regular league fixture, but I would rather you came up to our league you understand .
I think the main issue currently is that the downturn in the financial markets means that selling your stadium for housing and building elsewhere is no longer an option. That may change in the long term, but what we are talking about here is the survival now for clubs like Ayr, Stranraer, Livingston and others (not least my own). I think we all face an uncertain future and unfortunately I think there will be casualties.

Like this quote.

As has been mentioned on Honestpage if they don't want it back why has it not been written off?

Similar to Gretna,Mr Mileson gave the club millions,but the club still owed him the money.I asked the same question of them,why didn't he donate the money to the club-no strings.

Tax dodge.

What the fack you on about ya imbecilic fud? You come on here pretending you know whats going on at another clubs board level when you probably don't know todays date.
Away and play with yer tamagotchi.

Outstanding, I love how football deals/takeovers always involve the owner recouping every last penny they have wasted.

Choo choo!

I heard two weeks ago that there is a doubt the club would exist past the end of this season. Said it in previous posts/topics, I firmly put the blame on SAC

This so easily could of been StMirren in this trouble had Ayr stayed up in our place a few years ago.Look at the diffrence of the clubs now! We are an SPL team moving into our new stadium clearing all our debt.Its a shame Ayr are a big club and it would be disgraceful to see them go bust.

We have also had the luck with the new stadium unlike Ayr sadly who seemed to have been screwed over!

On the other hand Ayr were spending big bucks in the first division trying to get out of it and that is another reason for the debt.

I miss Somerset park it is the best away day bar none, we have had a few mighty trips through there and i hope we can meet in the cup this season for a good piss up

all the best

Easy, win tomorrow and pull a plum draw. Anyone know how much a good 4th round could possibly return?

Never fancied a cup run this year but maybe it's just what we need.

hehe, stop stealing my lines!
Bet that one's been festering with you since i said it.

Still,....................nice comeback

Hmm still in two minds about it tbh. Cup runs are great but it could pull momentum away from the promotion challenge which surely has to be paramount

What about giving the Ayrshire cup a wee dust and polish and playing a challenge match to help benefit Ayr? Obviously we'd retain ownership of our asset but in the unlikely event of Ayr winning you'd be allowed to get your pictures taken with it etc, however the trophy would have to stay put in it's rightful home.

Fantastic, we win the cup but you keep it

If Man Utd win the Champions league Uefa retain ownership of the trophy, if Kilmarnock win the Scottish cup the SFA retain ownership of the trophy, if QOS win the League cup the SFL retain ownership of the trophy, if Ayr United win the Ayrshire cup it would be a fucking miracle but you should understand my point now. Why should we be the only people to give up ownership of a legally obtained asset?

Kilmarnock have the trophy because the Ayrshire FA disbanded IIRC. If it was to be revived their would have to be some sort agreement as to who however wins the trophy keeping it in their ground. In the spirit of competition and all that...

We played winner takes all for the trophy and we won. Why should we give it up now? Ayr United made a bad buisness decision based on the fact that they'd beaten us in a few meaningless cup ties and thought they'd do the same when something was at stake. If you'd won you would have kept it or the Cameron's would've pawned it, why bitch about it when we do the same?

Anyway what's the problem with you leaving it at Rugby Park, there's a fair chance you'll be playing your home games there soon?

I wouldn't call your cup humiliations meaningless, I'm sure you didn't care when your team, cup holders that season, crashed out your fiercest rivals?

Personally, if I were Ayr chairman and K*llie came up with that offer, I'd tell them where to go. If they wanted to revive the tournament then they'd have to have the trophy up for grabs as well or what credibility would the match have?

It wouldn't matter to me how many times Ayr beat us in early rounds, it would never wipe the smile of my face that I get every time I think about seeing my team win a trophy. If you'd ever experienced it you'd understand




Two points. Are saying you'd rather see your club go bust than take up a more than generous offer from your neighbours? And at no point did I suggest reviving the trophy, I suggested playing a one off save Ayr benefit match, there is nothing for us to gain by bringing those games back. We can get friendlies against a higher standard of opposition any day.

Meaningless cup thread for this pish.

Ayr have won trophies in the past.

Most Killie fans would see it as a "haneck Ayr need our help" match so I'd turn it down. It's unlikely that the match would be the defining factor in Ayr going under or not.

Been biding my time Stevo.I knew I would get the oppochancity to use it sometime

cant

Fife thread for this pish?

Why should you care what people think about your club as long as you've still got a club left to support? We've an 18k stadium sitting empty, you've got a £250k hole in your budget. If it was priced right I'm sure the Ayrshire public would come out and support Ayr in their time of need, how many did you take to Hampden a couple of years back? Throw in some sponsorship and a quick whip round and I think you could put a considerable dent in that shortfall.

You get to keep your club, we get to sit on the moral high ground,everyone's a winner.

[quote name='The big chair' date='Nov 28 2008, 17:26' post='2951032']
It wouldn't matter to me how many times K*lmarn*ck won a trophy, it would never wipe the smile of my face that I get every time I think about Jim Dick's header, Andy Walker's penalty, Chris Innes' penalty, Alan Combe. If you'd ever experienced it you'd understand

I feel sad for you if that is the highlights from your time watching Ayr United.

Can i just add that part of the agreement was that the Ayrshire Cup was to be put on display at the SFA Museum at Hampden.

I'd be very interested to see any proof of that but I suspect you wont be able to furnish me with any.

aye ofcourse. it's all the old firms fault!

Of course it is! After all it was Rangers fault that the Ayr United board turned down Sir David Murray and his millions as he 'lacked ambition' and Ayrshire is a hotbed of Irish Republicanism

My post wasnt putting the blame at the door of Rangers and Celtic as football clubs, it was more putting the blame at the door of people like yourselves who, although living in areas with local clubs(infact you both have SPL clubs on your doorstep) who decide to tag along with the rest of the sheep and support the Old Firm.

The truth is even if Murray had gained control of Ayr United all those years ago they would still have been struggling to get a large amount of the local people to steer away from supporting the OF and following Ayr. That is down to the state of the Scottish society and the large amount of braindead people who are stuck in the dark ages, who continue to try and attach religious bigotry to football clubs. The fact you brought Irish republicianism into it pretty much proves my point.

It is a bad situation. Though surely worse comes to worse we would sell our most valued players. I don't know if there is as much interest in Stevenson and well Prunty has had plenty of goals to his name so probably going to be worth more than he ever has. Hopefully though we can keep the team together until the end of the season at least. I really hope we get the right result tomorrow and get a good draw in the cup and hopefully that can generate a lot of money.

As for needing make money do we not have land around the stadium. Take where the club shop and car park is. If the club own that land could they consider using that for something more productive than it's current use though I accept the current economic climate does not make now the most attractive time to do something like that.

As for the poster talking about the junior teams not wanting to join the SFL I think as it stands that is a fair point but ultimately Scottish football needs to regionalise from the 2nd division downwards. The SPL won't change unless it suits them.

Though I would like to see

12 First division - 44 games = more match revenues for teams
Merge the 2nd and 3rd division and have it split north and south.
Below that I would like to see the 3 regions - highland league, Western Juniors, Eastern Juniors (merged with EOS)

If teams like Cumnock and Auchinleck still want nothing to do with the SFL they can politely turn down the request for promotion. Perhaps some reasonable ground standards for each level (so at least sugar daddys climbing the leagues quickly need to invest in facilities).

With all due respect to the likes of Arbroath, Petherhead etc I think it would be better for Ayr to play more local teams more often at least then there is bigger chance of more away supporters making the trip and our fans can make more trips.

Though for that to all happen there would need to be huge agreement. The thing I would do first is make the senior Scottish Cup open to all junior teams even if it could well mean my team are more likely to get a tough game in the early rounds it would be good for the game overall.

You could sure do with the rent money.




That includes most Saturdays.

Yes we could, it would increase our profit.





Do you want to compare crowd sizes?



Ayr fan's, look what you could have won. It's a real shame our magnificent trophy isn't played for anymore but them's the breaks.

I TAKE IT THE NEW STADIUM IS NOT ON THE MENU ANYMORE THEN .

Sadly not as it came from the mouth of one of our former directors.

This is not the sole preserve of the Old Firm. I knew many more people toddling off to Dundee and Aberdeen from Brechin and surrounds than ever went to the Old Firm.

There is no denying its a nationwide thing, wouldnt dream of it, but as much as its bad nationwide the south west is extremely bad for the OF. As someone said, Westsound radio covers a region with 1 SPL club, 1 First Division club, 2 Second and 1 Third, but they couldnt possibly give anymore coverage to the OF as they already do. Pathetic.

Oh Ayr will be playing their home games at a new stadium soon, it's just a pity it wont be theirs.



Well it must be true then it's not as if your board have ever been guilty of being economical with the truth. BTW if there was an agreement why haven't Ayr done anything to enforce it?

Almost totally different board of directors now but i have no reason to doubt the person who told me.

Dunno if our current board have tried to enforce the supposed deal or not but i do know they did try to get the Ayrshire Cup going again a few seasons ago but Jim Jeffries wasn't interested.From what i know when Barr left there wasn't much to find at the club in the way of paperwork.