Ayr United Football Academy Ltd, as it is to be known, will be independent of the football club with its' own board of directors, who will bring a wide area of expertise to the organisation. The board of directors will include representatives of bodies such as Ayr College and South Ayrshire Council.
Some may criticise the move saying that this is unlikely to bring players through who want to stay in the Scottish Second Division and they will ‘jump ship’ at the first opportunity.
Ayr United-mad, however, think that it is a positive move. It is true to say that the club have got to start somewhere and Ayr United have always been most successful whilst bringing the best of the Ayrshire youth through to the professional ranks. The truth is that unless you are one of the Old Firm it doesn’t make much difference who you are or where you are in the league. As far as young players are concerned, if you can provide the correct facilities then you have a head start over the opposition. If players are good enough then they will move on to a higher level and hopefully take the Club with them, and if they aren’t good enough then they won't move to a higher level in the first place.
A team like Ayr United must have as one of the objectives of such a policy, to provide a cheap (but skillful) playing resource which can then be sold for pure profit.