Pandamonium and SKY Sports TV were the visitors to Ayr United Football Academies Prestwick training facility today in order for the football and media giants to get a small insight into the inner workings of the AUFA.

In the run up to the Scottish Cup Replay between Ayr United and Hibs on Tuesday night, Panda pals organiser, Mark Pettigrew and Andrew Downie organised for SKY Sports to pay a visit down to Ayr to get a preview of what is involved in the Panda Pals setup and also the Football Academy.

Between now and the live match on Tuesday evening, a series of clips will be shown ranging from interviews, training footage and the crossbar challenge which were all filmed at a blustery Prestwick Academy on Sunday afternoon.

Mark Roberts from the Ayr United senior squad also turned out to give an interview. Details of which were highly classified and can only be viewed by watching Sky Sports news.

Keep you peepers peeled for the clips!

Youth Football Scotland

A lot of misconceptions about Scottish Football are made throughout the world claiming the standard of football is poor, the quality of players are bad, their is no skill or talent coming through the ranks and to a certain point this may be correct. However, Scottish Football is working to rectify that and however late this may be, progress is on the way.

As someone who works closely with the Ayr United Football Academy, I will try to explain the changes that are being made to help bring through our next generation of young players.

In Scotland, like many other countries, the footballing finances are in meltdown. Outside of the big 5 European countries, there just doesn't seem to be any spare cash to spend on players, development or training facilities.

Ayr United like so many others always looked towards ways of cutting resources when money was tight and unfortunately the youth setup was always a prime target when thinking of ways to save a couple of dollars.

5 years ago a group of local supporters and businessmen decided that for a club the size of Ayr to move forward, they had to start and run an Ayr United Football Youth Academy whose finances were raised for the Academy and ring fenced for player development without the need of funds from the Ayr United senior club. With the acceptance that this was to benefit both the Academy players and the club itself, board members were chosen and the AUFA as we know it today was born.

As a self financing charity, it receives funding and grants from the Scottish Football Association, local government and the National health service in Scotland. It also had to top this up with sponsorship opportunites for local and national businesses in order to keep up the high standards that have been set in the organisation.

The Academy have sports science classes, schools programmes, college programmes, local boys clubs development programmes, development and coach SFA quality mark programmes, primary school programmes and SFA coaching programmes to name a few.

Weekly Friendly Roundup

The Under 17s played two games last weekend, the first of which was in blizzard conditions at Carrick Academy in Maybole against the Jimmy Johnstone Academy with the Ayr lads emerging as 2-1 winners with goals from Adam Forsyth and Deci Milligan. On Sunday at Prestwick Academy they took on Park Villa Under 19s losing out 3-1 with Ayr's scorer Cammy Marlow.

The 19's took on Troon Juniors on Thursday 13th coming from 2 goals down to win the match 3-2.

Other upcoming matches are listed in the fixtures list.

On The Hunt of Silver

The 19's return this Sunday and they're on the trail of Silverware.

As the season stutters back into life, the 19's first competitive task of the new year is to overcome Clyde in the Scottish Youth Cup at Somerset Park this coming Sunday 23rd January.

The match, which was cancelled from earlier this month due to the cold weather and frozen Somerset surface, will see the team one step closer to the final, if they win of course.

All the players have been keeping busy since returning after the holiday period with the team having played a couple of friendlies to get their match sharpness back and come 1pm on Sunday, they will be raring to go and get stuck back into competitive football again.

by Marc Roseblade

Want your name on an Ayr strip?

We are half way through the season and you or your business will never have a better chance to get your name on the strip of Ayr United.

The Ayr United Football Academy offers a wide range of sponsorship opportunities to help support and fund the Talented Young Players Programme.

So far this season, Ayr United have signed seven of the AUFA players on professional contracts showing the advancement that the Academy has made in producing fine young athletes able to compete with Ayr United's first team squad players for a place in the top 11.

Ex Academy players such as Jonathan Tiffoney, Alistair Woodburn and Ross Robertson are all regulars in the squad. Current Academy players Darryl Jones, Ian Fisher, Shaun Kelly, Dale Moore, Robbie Crawford and Roddy Paterson have all been chapping at the managers door asking for a spot in the squad and have been getting some playing time, further enhancing their experience.

In the current footballing financial climate, this is the way ahead for Ayr United but for the Football Academy to continue supplying players that can be pushing for places in the team, they need sponsorship.

The sponsorship that is on offer is by no means a one way transaction. The Academy offer website visibility, photo presentations, press acknowledgement, profiles in the Ayr United Football Programme and help to promote your business or products you may have to name but a few. We want to help you and your business maximise your return on investment.

As the Academy is a charity and self financing, in order to sustain these levels of playing standards, it is vital that we generate as much revenue to support the youth players training schedule and we want to partner with local businesses in order to achieve that.

SPONSORSHIP OPPORTUNITIES INCLUDE:

Shirt sponsor    - Logo on Front    Reduced to £500
Shirt sponsor    - Logo on Back    Reduced to £175
Shorts sponsor - Logo on Shorts  Reduced to £100
Player sponsor  - Profile on Website Reduced to £40


Individual tailored packages are available on request, contact Marc at marc.roseblade@aufa.org.uk or phone 07969 231642 to discuss details.

SCOTTISH YOUTH CUP

If you want to see some more of the players chapping at the door of the top team, the 19s are in Scottish Youth Cup action Sunday 23rd January at Somerset Park.


The 4th round tie which was postponed from two weeks ago due to a frozen pitch and will kick off at 1pm against Clyde. The winners will be be entered into the quarter finals of the cup.

It's free entry to the main stand and visitors are welcome.

Get yourself along to see the future!

On The Hunt of Silver

The 19's return this Sunday and they're on the trail of Silverware.

As the season stutters back into life, the 19's first task of the new year is to overcome Clyde in the Scottish Youth Cup at Somerset Park this coming Sunday 16th January.

The match, which was cancelled last weekend due to the cold weather and frozen Somerset surface, will see the team one step closer to the final, if they win of course.

All the players have been keeping busy since returning after the holiday period with the team having played a couple of friendlies to get their match sharpness back and come 1pm on Sunday, they will be raring to go and get stuck back into competitive football again.

by Marc Roseblade

Yearbook

It's a New Year and time to reflect on the players currently playing at the Academy.

The club have arranged a Yearbook to be printed and it's nearly finished after the collation of information has eventually seemed to have been finalised.

This will hopefully be a yearly pictorial for all the players, parents and grandparents to collect as a keepsake for future years to enable us all to look back with the hope that plenty of players involved will be famous footballers one day.

The books will soon be available at £10 a copy, pre orders are being taken by informing the team coaches with the hope that the books will be distributed by the end of January.

Get your order in to avoid disappointment as numbers will be limited.