Celtic in talks with Ayr United over co-operation agreement

Last player we signed from the championship was Lewis Morgan wasn’t it? And he never made an impact. Think we need to get him a loan to a stronger division to really see what he can do

 

Parent clubs normally send a fee too.

 

Not sure I undstand this right. Article says clubs in Prem or Championship can send players to clubs in league 1 or lower.

So how can we send players to Queens Park ?

 

Cause they are a division below us

 

Celtic have held talks over a co-operation agreement with Scott Brown’s Ayr United after a plan to pair up with Queen’s Park stalled.


The troubled Spiders are slashing costs ahead of Lord Willie Haughey and his company City Facilities Management withdrawing their financial backing next year.

Previously spending a staggering £5.7million in the Championship Scotland’s oldest senior club need to slash expenditure to around £1million a year.

With Queen’s unable to commit to a long term tie up, Premiership champions Celtic have now held discussions with Ayr, managed by former Parkhead captain Brown, with midfielder Jude Bonnarexpected to be first to move to Somerset Park.

The SFA have given clubs the green light to team up to boost the number of first team opportunities for young Scottish players between the ages of 16 and 21.

Recent figures from CIES Observatory show that St Mirren offered just 0.8% of their available first team minutes to players aged 21 or under last season. Dundee had the highest figure in the SPFLPremiership with 24.8%.

Under the new rules, up to three players can be placed on a co-operation list and allowed to move freely to move between the co-op club and parent club in order to increase their first team experience.

Aberdeen have confirmed agreements with League Two Elgin City and Kelty Hearts of League One.




Defenders Dylan Ross and Jamie Mercer have joined City with Lewis Carrol, Joseph Teasdale and Cooper Masson heading to Fife.

Director of Football Steven Gunn claims the agreements: “create a clear pathway for promising young players to gain valuable senior football experience, learn from good professionals and be better prepared for the demands of first team football at Aberdeen.”

St Mirren will team up Dumbarton of League Two and Lowland League team Clydebank.

Carrick McEvoy, Thomas Falconer and Theo McCormick have already joined Dumbarton while Billy Hutchison has moved to Clydebank.

St Mirren boss Stephen Robinson said: "I firmly believe in the loan system to develop our young players and something that hindered that previously was not being able to bring them back at certain stages or leaving yourselves short in numbers.

"With the cooperation agreement we are able to get them into men's football and develop under other coaches. Hopefully we can also help the coaches and the clubs they are going to. It will be a great benefit for both parties.

"All in all, I believe it's a brilliant way to develop young players in Scotland and doesn't compromise any young players coming back into the first-team."

Newly promoted League Two side East Kilbride have also agreed a deal with Hibernian. Goalkeeper Freddie Owens and forward Dean Cleland have already moved to K Park.

Rangers are expected to confirm a co-operation agreement with Championship side Raith Rovers.

 

Updated the thread after the latest update from Stephen McGowan

 

Are we maybe just monitoring the situation

 

More than likely aye

 

A win/win for both us and Ayr surely. Much better for the youngsters to get championship fitba instead of 5th tier pish.

 

Not so much for Ayr. Have you seen our B team?

 

So jobs for the boys again is what I’m seeing? Help Scott Brown not because he’s the best option but because he’s got friends here.

 

you actually read any of the thread, we approached Queens Park first ya * loony. It's helping us and our young players first and formost, ye've never got anything good to say about anything related to Celtic man.. yer a troll.

 

think its an excellent idea, every body wins

 

Or maybe it's to help develop our players, get regular football at a higher level. If you're just going to look at everything negatively then why bother supporting the team.

 

I think its great. We then know our loaned out players are in safe hands.

 

This model makes sense to me - good for everyone involved and it gives our youth some decent experience at a professional level.

This kind of arrangement should be the nail in the coffin for the B team set up. Absolute waste of time in my opinion

 

The B team has a purpose if it's part of a pathway to then go to the championship but at the moment it's the pathway to leaving Celtic.

 

St.Mirren just signed up with Airdie and Dumbarton. Didnt know you can do multiple

 

Queens Park are in freefall behind the scenes so this probably makes more sense..