News, Rumours and Gossip

Point made: point one 27/10/97
Ayr's growing confidence was reflected in a fine performance at Cappielow on Saturday, but, like St Mirren, Morton escaped with a point. Djaffo troubled the scorers for the second time in three games. A match report is available.

A change is gonna come ... 27/10/97
Australian centre-half Richard Watson has been signed until the end of the season, and Swedish midfielder Marco Ciardi is expected to join the team on loan soon. Striker Steve Kerrigan looks likely to join Neil Warnock's Oldham Athletic; a fee of around 30k pounds has been rumoured.

Nearly ... but not quite 22/10/97
A fine second-half performance and Andy Millen's first goal for Ayr weren't quite enough to bring victory at St Mirren Park on Saturday. A match report is available.

Reserve Report 16/10/97
"Ayr reserves drew 1-1 with Greenock Morton last night with Colin McDonald scoring Ayr's goal. Ayr fielded quite a strong team , as did Morton, and a draw was a fair result. Robert Bell made his return after his knee operation and Isaac continued his recovery. Peter Weir made a return to Somerset as the Morton manager and it won't surprise many to hear that he is still as fast as he was the last time I saw him, and that was in the #11 jersey.

Team:
McKeown, SBonar, Newall, Hood, Burns, Bell, Kristensen, Hogg, Kerrigan, McDonald, English
Subs: Gilliland (for Newall), Bradford, Crilly (for English)
Attendance: 131

Djury out on Djaffo 15/10/97
"I am a supporter of Red Star 93, I live about ten minutes car drive away from the Stade Bauer, Saint-Ouen, so have seen the aforementioned Djaffo play on several occasions. Let me give my impressions.

"Djaffo arrived at Red Star 93 around the start of last season, and played a few times, before he fell out of favour and into dispute with the club. Arriving from Niort, he didn't really achieve a great deal, and to be honest, I can't even remember him scoring, although he might have scored our goal in a particularly sorry 1-4 home drubbing by the equally awful Louhans-Cuiseaux. The arrival of Yannick le Saux from the defunct Saint-Brieuc club limited his chances somewhat further.

"The byword for last season at Red Star 93 was inefficiency, especially in front of goal. Djaffo hardly contributed to the lifting of this blight, but usually tried very hard, often alone in attack. For the record, Djaffo managed to score a measly 3 goals in thirteen games; Red Star 93 managed fifty for the season, in which they finished twelfth, after at one point looking certs for the drop.

"At the end of the season there was a mass clearout of staff, including the coach, Abdel Djaadaoui. Djaffo was not retained by the club.

"I hope that this casts a bit of light on the background of Laurent Djaffo - I hope that if Ayr FC retain his services that he can bring success to the club and himself. I like imagination in football, and for a smaller Scottish club to bring in continental players like Djaffo it can only be good for the game."
John Hanson, with thanks to Callum Chau

Chinese challenge checks out Ciardi 15/10/97
"Marco Ciardi played in Monday's closed doors game against Vanguard Huan Doa of China and was described by Gordon Dalziel as a magnificent player, a superb player that we would love to have at Somerset. As expected, the stumbling block is the 120K that Vitoria want for his signature. Ayr are now looking at the possibility of signing him on a loan deal."
Kev McClelland

Stags Eye Kegs 15/10/97
"Striker Stevie Kerrigan, who has asked for a transfer after losing his place in the team, is interesting Mansfield Town."
Kev McClelland

Sonor, Djaffo sign 13/10/97
Sources within the club indicate that, further to our report of 7/10/97, Sonor and Djaffo have signed the offered contracts.

Ciardi checks in 13/10/97
"Today's Daily Record has Ayr interested in a 27 year old Swedish player called Marco Ciardi. He is currently with Vitoria Guimaraes of the Portuguese First Division having joined them from AIK Stockholm last season for 300K. His wife has failed to settle in Portugal and he could be available for around 120K. Ciardi played for AIK against Barcelona in last season's Champions Cup. He will play for Ayr in a closed-doors friendly this afternoon."
Kev McClelland

"West Bromwich Albion are giving a trial to a Swedish player, Marco Ciardi, who may have played in last night's 1-0 friendly win over Chester City. Ciardi is a left sided midfielder with a very good left foot; he played for AIK in Stockholm before he signed for Portugese club Vitoria Guimares in November 96 (a three or four year contract). He is 28 years old and was voted player of the year for 1995 in a vote arranged by the web site of AIK.

"He is known as an "tuxedo player" (an expression used in Sweden to describe those that are very skilful but not very physical, like Richard Sneekes, perhaps?) with the ability to set up goals for other players. I have no idea how Ciardi has done so far in Portugal, but I believe there are others on the mailing list who may know more about him."
Olov Nylen

Two out, two in? 7/10/97
"Top scorer Steve Kerrigan has slapped in a transfer request after being left out of the squad on Saturday.

"Gordon Dalziel is opening talks to sign Luc Sonor till the end of the season and Laurent Djaffo for a longer deal.

"Mohammed Sylla has returned home and it's doubtful whether he will return."
Kev McClelland

Back to winning ways 7/10/97
Ally Graham and Laurent Djaffo scored on their home debuts to give Ayr a 2-1 win over Stirling Albion on Saturday. Ex-Ayr player Gary Patterson was sent off for the visitors. A match report is available.