WEST IS BEST

Ayrshire’s top teams fight for supremacy in whole new ball game

One minute there was a newly-created pyramid pathway – the next there was the pandemic.

Ambitious non-league sides, including those from our own region of Ayrshire, finally had the roadmap to the SPFL in their grasp.

A few months later and the only roadmap being discussed was the one out of Covid lockdown.

Last season was one nobody will wish to remember but a campaign few are unlikely to forget.

Whether your team was one of those who decided to give it a go behind closed doors – with no changing rooms never mind a shower for the players after games – or among those who felt it best to sit on the sidelines until there was a wee bit more certainty about things, the 2020-21 season was unique in its own tragic way.

At the end of the day, in a health emergency the most important thing is looking after one another and communities sticking together.

But from Ardrossan to Girvan and Whitletts to Muirkirk, matchday traditions and routines were halted as clubs pulled out or played on in front of a handful of official folk.

In truth, behind closed doors football was bad enough for the likes of the Scottish Premiership and the rest of the SPFL – but it was even worse for our clubs in the West of Scotland for it stands against everything this level of the game should be all about.

You don’t know what you’ve got ‘til it’s gone...

And it is perhaps that attitude which will see Ayrshire’s West of Scotland League representatives grab the opportunity to shine this season with both hands.

Covid hasn’t gone away but the vaccination programme has inoculated millions of people and gives us the best chance of getting back to something like normality.

And for many of us, that means supporting our town or village club as they take a deep breath and return to action.

Football is back and so are the fans and from this Saturday, it will be about winning and losing, being entertained, enjoying the unfolding drama and reconnecting with the game we love.

There will be social distancing and hand sanitiser – but there will also be pies and points.

There will be hard-working players, talented teams and dodgy decisions in abundance.

And in the stands and on the terracing there will be noise, colour and plenty of wisecracks from punters who could hold their ground at the Edinburgh Fringe.

In some ways it will be different but also reassuringly familiar.

Just taking in some of the preseason friendlies scheduled over the past month or so has whetted the appetite for the competitive campaign which lies ahead.

So what have we got to look forward to?

Matches coming out of our ears as clubs are confronted with a packed schedule of league-and-cup fixtures.

There is a Premier Division which is loaded with top clubs and could be the most cut-throat league ever.

Depending on promotion and relegation issues in other pyramid pathway divisions, there could be six, seven or even eight teams dropping out of the top-flight.

Ayrshire boasts 12 of the 20 sides and so will be doing well to see all of them avoid the trapdoor.

All eyes will be on the big guns Auchinleck Talbot – back after a year out. Will Tommy Sloan’s men retain their place as the team to beat?

Look out for big-hitting Darvel with ambitious boss Michael Kennedy and some high-quality signings attempting to knock them off their perch. There’s also Kilwinning Rangers with Chris Strain determined to bring glory to that corner of North Ayrshire.

Mick McCann begins his managerial career with Glenafton Athletic and couldn’t have asked for a tougher debut campaign.

Even bosses with vast experience, such as Darren Henderson at Hurlford United and Largs Thistle’s Stuart Davidson, know it is going to be an almighty slugfest.

There are three conferences and a Division Four – spare a thought for Ardrossan Winton Rovers who find themselves as Ayrshire’s odd one out; they don’t have anyone from the region for company in Conference C.

Not that that will matter if they triumph which is the hope for all our teams. The pandemic isn’t over but football’s back. Let’s enjoy it.