Ally told us we were best in the world
Champagne season as Ayr ran riot
STENHOUSEMUIR ..................... 0 AYR UNITED ................................ 6
Ian McAllister reckons Ally MacLeod’s Second Division champions couldn’t fail – because Ally told them they were world beaters.
Ayr romped to the title in 198788 scoring 104 goals in a season that is still revered 32 years on.
Captain Cally, beaten only by John Murphy and Sam McMillan for most United appearances, was an inspired leader and insists the memories will never fade.
Now 60, the Hall of Fame centre-half remembers: “My abiding memory is of the exciting football we played. Henry Templeton, John Sludden, Tommy Walker and Jimmy Cowell were wonderful entertainers.
“That season was the highlight of my career and it was all down to Ally. We believed anything he told us, even that we were the best team in the world!
“We were scoring for fun and Ally used to stop the bus on the journey home from away games for celebratory drinks. Sometimes we weren’t getting home until after 10pm – it got to the stage that some of the players who had young kids would drive themselves to games just so they could get home in time to see their family.”
When Ayr followed up a 6-1 win at Cowdenbeath with a 6-0 slaughter at Stenhousemuir three weeks later the writing was on the wall for a glorious campaign.
Sludden and Cowell both grabbed Ochilview doubles while Walker and Templeton were also on the mark as Ally’s ruthless team ran riot.
It was a desperate dugout debut for Warriors boss Alex Rennie. He was later to tell former skipper Jim McSherry, who penned the story of ‘How the league was won,’ that Ayr were the finest team to play in Division Two for years.
And so they were. Ally’s Ayr Force scooped a crate of champagne from the Daily Record for the first team to score 100 goals in all competitions.
The bubbly was uncorked after a 3-1 home win over Stranraer while the title was sealed with a 3-1 victory at Alloa.
Super Sludden finished the season on 32 goals. Second Division player of the year Templeton hit 27 while Walker bagged 22. The three man strike force scored 81 between them.
McAllister made 436 starts and scored 38 goals in 15 seasons at the club. He never hankered a switch even as team-mates Stevie Nicol, Alan McInally and Robert Connor won big moves.
Signed by Alex Stuart after helping Ayr Boys’ Club win the Gothia Cup, Cally was Scotland’s top scorer in a European Youth Tournament in Poland.
He recalls: “I played five Premier League games when I was only 18 but lost my appetite before Ally came back for a third time and saved my career.
“Henry Templeton was the best character I played with but the best player was easily Brian McLaughlin who was also a great man.”
Cally’s career was blighted by injury. He broke his jaw in a challenge with Davie Moyes against Celtic at Parkhead and was touched when boss Billy McNeill visited him in hospital.
He famously scored a hattrick of headers in a 5-1 win over Airdrie, who were then bossed by Ally, and signed off his Ayr days in 1991 with a last minute long range rocket to beat Morton 4-3 at Cappielow.
He then managed his home town Darvel Vics before helping Galston to the Scottish Amateur Cup final at Hampden where they lost 3-2 to Bannockburn.
Ian, who works for an engineering company, is married to Carolyn. They have a daughter Victoria and grandchildren Callie and Hamish.
That season was the highlight of my career and it was all down to Ally