Top marks for Ayr United's academy

Feb 6 2009

A TOP level grant has gone to the Ayr United youth development programme for the third successive year.

The £35,000 boost, available to SFA Initiative level clubs, follows a thorough audit by the SFA

Ayr United Football Academy chairman Ian Welsh said it was a reward for the hard work put in by the volunteers who work on its behalf.

Welsh added: “This is a fantastic achievement by the Academy and the grant awarded will go towards next season’s budget for our youth development programme.

“This has been achieved thanks to the commitment and time given up by our coaches and the many other volunteers who carry out duties on behalf of the Academy.

“Without these volunteers devoting their time, our successful Talented Young Footballers programme would not be the success that it is and the Academy board are grateful to them for the hard work and commitment over the past years."

However, he added "This season it is likely that our Talented Young Footballers programme has cost us around £75,000 to operate and while it is very gratifying to receive the top grant available from the SFA for Initiative level clubs, we will still need to raise a considerable amount of finance to continue our development next season."