First goal for George Stanger as Ayr get their Scottish Championship campaign off to a good start with a 2-0 away win over Hamilton Academical.
Had word a few weeks back now that the Nix might be in for this lad. Doesn't appear that this will be the case at the moment - His current contract in Scotland runs until the end of this season.
Ayr (1st, 13 pts) drop their first points of season in a 1-1 draw at Dunfermline Athletic. Full game Stanger. Falkirk (2nd, 12 pts) who play tonight, and are 4 wins from 4 look to be Ayr's biggest promotion challengers - but long way to go obviously
Big game in the early stages of the SPL promotion battle. Teams play each other 4 times in a season in the Scottish 2nd tier. First matchup of Ayr (1st) verus Falkirk (2nd). Hosts Falkirk with 2 games in hand.
What’re Ayr’s chances of being promoted? They seem on a good run.
Less than 30% I'd say as a very rough guess.
Lost a few games lately to be 3rd. Livingston (2nd) who were relegated from the SPL, I see have manged to keep Aussies Ryan MacGowan & Tete Yengi, so may still have alot of last season's SPL squad. Falkirk 5 pts ahead of Ayr in first spot.
Only 1st is automatically promoted, with 2nd into the promotion playoffs. I'm just guessing clubs like Livingston & Falkirk have a bit more money than small Ayr. Wiki tells me the last time Ayr were in the Scottish top flight is 1977–78!
What’re Ayr’s chances of being promoted? They seem on a good run.
Less than 30% I'd say as a very rough guess.
Lost a few games lately to be 3rd. Livingston (2nd) who were relegated from the SPL, I see have manged to keep Aussies Ryan MacGowan & Tete Yengi, so may still have alot of last season's SPL squad. Falkirk 5 pts ahead of Ayr in first spot.
Only 1st is automatically promoted, with 2nd into the promotion playoffs. I'm just guessing clubs like Livingston & Falkirk have a bit more money than small Ayr. Wiki tells me the last time Ayr were in the Scottish top flight is 1977–78!
So mathematically possible as the league ends 5th of May…but considered unlikely.
What’re Ayr’s chances of being promoted? They seem on a good run.
Less than 30% I'd say as a very rough guess.
Lost a few games lately to be 3rd. Livingston (2nd) who were relegated from the SPL, I see have manged to keep Aussies Ryan MacGowan & Tete Yengi, so may still have alot of last season's SPL squad. Falkirk 5 pts ahead of Ayr in first spot.
Only 1st is automatically promoted, with 2nd into the promotion playoffs. I'm just guessing clubs like Livingston & Falkirk have a bit more money than small Ayr. Wiki tells me the last time Ayr were in the Scottish top flight is 1977–78!
So mathematically possible as the league ends 5th of May…but considered unlikely.
Hello hope you don't mind me jumping in here but with a bit of knowledge of the Scottish Championship I couldn't resist. Ayr most certainly have a chance of promotion to the SPL as do a number of clubs in the Championship, don't underestimate how long their season is with the number of games and it can be really exciting and go to the wire. The Scottish Championship (I'm probably basis) I believe is a bit misunderstood in NZ, (England too!) it's definitely more competitive with a very good level of football being played week in week out than people give it credit for. Some teams in the Championship (those in the top 4 at least this season) I believe would stand a real chance of beating several of the teams in the bottom half of the SPL as it stands now. The Scottish Championship is a tough league, as you will know there's only 10 teams in the league, they play a total of 36 league games in a season, that's excluding if they get to the play off/relegation stages. Then add in any cups games (for memory there's 3 different cups that the Championship Clubs along with other leagues including SPL clubs play in so there's potential to play 40+ games in a season depending how far you go).
As far as promotion this is how it works for the Scottish Championship. As Coochiee mentioned, the champions are directly promoted to the Scottish Premiership, swapping places with the bottom club of the Premiership. The clubs finishing 2nd, 3rd and 4th then enter the two-legged Premiership play-off. The 3rd-placed club plays the 4th-placed club, with the winner then playing the 2nd-placed club. The Premiership club in eleventh place plays the Championship play-off winners over two legs, with the winner earning the right to play in the Scottish Premiership the following season. So it is possible for two clubs from the Championship to be promoted to the SPL but for the club that's not automatically promoted its a very tough gig given the number of games they have potentially play that season.
Ayr have been playing very attractive football under the helm of Scott Brown and Steven Whittaker (Scott Brown is a Scottish footballing legend and only in his late 30's) They've had a number of injuries, (their top scorer being one, he I think is out for the season) which has meant they've needed to be adaptable with several players playing out of position but they've still come away with points in most games. Falkirk are the team to beat at this stage but as I've mentioned it's an exciting league and come the end of February you get a much clearer picture of where Clubs stand.
I remember Stanger as part of a good Olympic campaign next to Pijnaker in Tokyo.
Though the field is fairly crowded now with Surman, Bindon and even Hughes emerging, certainly promotion and perhaps even regular minutes in a strong, but unsuccessful promotion campaign might remind the AW selectors about him, who knows!
Anyway, glad he’s getting a good few minutes and his team are in rarified ‘Ayr’ on the table currently. Fingers crossed for him and them. 🤞
Stensness, Reid & Pijnaker were the CBs at Tokyo Olympics. Stanger came on as an early sub for Reid, against Honduras the only game we lost in NT. Only game he played in.
Ayr lost 2-0 at Raith Rovers, their 3rd loss in last 4 league games. Long way to go but reading above their top striker is likely out for the season not optimistic on their promotion chances. Stanger a full game.