Ayr investing in the smart Money

The month was September, the year 1969, the opponents Rangers. Ayr United, part-timers holding their own in the old First Division, took on the might of the Ibrox club, and triumphed with a 2-1 scoreline that is still whispered in reverential tones by those who remember the good old days. Money, who grew up idolising the likes of Ricky Fleming, Alex Ingram and, more particularly, Davie Stewart, the goalkeeper who left Ayr for Leeds United, describes it as his earliest memory in football.

"Can you imagine it? More than 25,000 people? It was incredible.

"There was no segregation at that time, and supporters used to swap ends at half-time. We were 2-0 up and, when the Rangers fans started moving towards our end of the ground, there was a bit of crowd trouble. My dad led me outside, and we listened to the second half in the local hairdresser’s."

Now, as the latest generation of Ayr United hopefuls prepare for another visit by Rangers, Money stands in an empty Somerset Park contemplating its history and pointing to the very wall on which he and his mates sat more than 33 years ago.

"It hasn’t changed very much at all. The capacity is completely different, but that’s about it."

Only 10,185 spectators, just 4603 of them from Ayr, will be allowed in for Saturday’s Scottish Cup fourth-round tie, Money’s first high-profile fixture since taking over from Gordon Dalziel last November. The club’s director of football is well enough versed in their tradition to work with pride as well as professionalism.

"It means a lot to me. I can understand how people are feeling out there when things are not going so well. I don’t know if they understand how I’m feeling, but I certainly know what it’s like to be in their shoes. Which is not to say that I don’t have ambition. I want to go and do something else in the future."

His honesty is the product of a career-long desire to succeed in management. During 18 legendary years as a goalkeeper with St Mirren, when the highlight was the 1987 Scottish Cup triumph, Money was gazing up the pitch and affording it a coach’s eye. At only 27, he had been granted his A licence.

His subsequent career moves have been carefully calculated. Three years in charge of Stranraer - he led them to the 1997 Challenge Cup and the ’98 Second Division title - were as beneficial to him as they were to the impoverished part-time club. Then, in 1999, he relinquished his promising position on the managerial ladder to become the youth coach of Ayr United.

"Some people found that quite strange, but Ayr were doing really well. I fancied them to reach the Premier League, and that was where I wanted to be."

It has not quite worked out like that. Four years and a reported 500,000 have been wasted on fruitless plans to relocate Ayr United, so that they might meet the criteria for membership of Scotland’s top flight. Money, though, has been happy building the club a future, taking them to last year’s youth cup final, and nurturing a string of players who are now established in his own first team.

"Sometimes youth football gives you a lift after what you have watched on a Saturday. They’re easier to get to. The kids will always try to play the way you want them to play. Having said that, a good experienced player will always be better than a good youngster. A youngster will give you legs, perhaps, but experience tells you what to do with them.

"I’ve always believed that you don’t play the game with your feet: you play it with your head. Too many players, regardless of age, go out and don’t think about what they are doing. They don’t really have an appreciation of the game. You have to think about what you’re doing, what your team-mates are doing, and your opponents."

Nicknamed Dibble since the days when he trained as a police cadet, Money’s chance to become Top Cat arrived late last year. Dalziel, who had served as the Ayr manager for six years, sidled up to him during the warm-up for a match at McDiarmid Park, and revealed his intention to step aside. He wanted Money to be his replacement.

The new era was inevitable. Bill Barr, the club’s chairman, had spent too long and too much on experienced players, deciding instead that the economic climate, as well as Ayr’s ineligibility for promotion, demanded a change of tack.

"My chairman is an extremely clever man," says Money. "He would have seen what was going to happen. I always made him and Gordon aware that I wanted to go back into senior management."

Dalziel’s continued presence at the club, as a scout and coach, has perplexed those who cannot understand his transition from Gordon the gaffer to Gordon the gopher. "People find it a bit odd, but we have discussed it, and it works reasonably well. I’m sure there are times when he would rather be in charge, but we’ve not had any fall-outs."

The division of labour is to be welcomed. There are shades of David Moyes, even Martin O’Neill, about Money’s hands-on approach to everything. Last night, after the match against Clyde at Broadwood, he intended to travel north to join Norrie McWhirter and the under-18s for today’s youth cup quarter-final against Buckie. Last Saturday morning, before the draw with Ross County, he was refereeing the under-12s.

He believes it is his duty to look out for every boy and every parent connected with the club. The day before he was unveiled as Dalziel’s replacement, he was round at Tesco buying bread and margarine so that he could make sandwiches for the lads. "It’s pathetic really, sad person that I am. I must learn to delegate. The first team is the most important thing at any club, and you have to devote as much time to it as possible. I’ll have to learn. I’m a good listener."

For Ayr United, Money is the right man at the right time. His thorough knowledge of the First Division club’s grass roots has been invaluable at a time when there is no option but to rely upon home-grown talent. Full-back Willie Lyle, midfielder Scott Chaplain and striker Stewart Kean, all regulars this season, played in last year’s youth cup final.

Notwithstanding a few exceptions, such as goalkeeper Craig Nelson, 31, and former Rangers midfielder Neil Murray, 29, the average age of the team who played Ross County was under 24. Of the five players who were on the bench, two were 17, and one 18. "Our substitutes wouldn’t have to worry about the under-21 rule, that’s for sure," says Money.

The reconstruction of United has not been at the expense of results. The First Division side won just five of their 14 matches under Dalziel this season. As they prepared for yesterday’s challenge at Broadwood, they were unbeaten in six, a sequence that included a defeat of Inverness at Caledonian Stadium.

But Rangers present an altogether more daunting challenge. Ayr will not have in their ranks the likes of Pat McGinlay, John Hughes and Neil Duffy, whose experience attracted so much publicity when last the clubs met. That was a 4-0 defeat in last season’s League Cup final at Hampden. At the same venue, two years earlier, the sides were separated by seven humiliating goals in the last four of the Scottish Cup.

Money may have home advantage this time, but he is quick to remind those anticipating a shock that his players are breaking new ground. "I will learn a lot about them from this. I just hope, and it’s only a hope, that our young players can do themselves justice. As long as they don’t freeze. I’d hate it to be all over in half-an-hour."

Not many people know that his birth certificate describes him as Israel Campbell Money. He was named after his uncle, but his mother preferred to call him Campbell. "Thank you mum," he says, mopping his brow in mock relief.

This week, his job will be to convince his callow youths that names count for nothing in football.