Ayr United
 |
|
| Full name | Ayr United Football Club |
|---|---|
| Nickname(s) | The Honest Men |
| Founded | 1910 |
| Ground | Somerset Park |
| Capacity | 10,185 (1,597 seated) |
| Chairman | Lachlan Cameron |
| Manager | Ian McCall |
| League | Scottish Championship |
| 2015–16 | Scottish League One, 2nd (promoted via play-offs) |
| Website | Club home page |
Ayr United Football Club are a Scottish association football club, based in Ayr that plays in the Scottish Championship, the second tier of the Scottish Professional Football League. Formed in 1910 after the merger of former clubs Ayr Parkhouse and Ayr (the latter being a prior merger of Ayr Thistle and Ayr Academicals in 1879), their nickname is The Honest Men, taken from a line in the poem "Tam o' Shanter" by Scotland's national poet, Robert Burns. They play at Somerset Park.
The club have spent 34 seasons in Scotland's top division altogether, though the last was in the 1977–78 season. The club have been the champions of the second tier of Scottish football on six occasions and of the third tier twice, but have not won any national cup competitions. The club's most famous and most successful manager is Ally MacLeod, who went on to manage the Scottish national football team. In May 2016 United secured promotion to the Scottish Championship via the Playoffs.
Ayr United were founded in 1910 after the merger of Ayr Parkhouse and Ayr. Although Inverness Caledonian Thistle are also the product of a merger between two clubs, Ayr United are the only Scottish Football League club to have been formed from a merger of two existing league clubs.
The club's honours include winning six Second Division titles (as the second tier championship) and a further two such titles (as the third tier championship), most recently in 1996–97. They have not won any national cup competitions, although they were runners-up in the 2001–02 Scottish League Cup, and in the Scottish Challenge Cup in the first two seasons in which the competition was held: 1990–91 and 1991–92. They have won the local competition the Ayrshire Cup on 26 occasions, most commonly facing fierce local rivals Kilmarnock in the final. The Ayrshire Cup was last played for in season 1996–97, since when the competition has been suspended.
...
Wikipedia