Cooperation Agreement | Ayr United & East Stirlingshire

We are delighted to confirm a Co-operation Agreement with East Stirlingshire FC. This is a new concept driven by the Scottish FA that allows players to move back to their parent club outwith transfer windows which encourages them to play match minutes, but still be available to play for their parent club in the event of injuries within the squad.

Graeme Mathie said “We’ve been involved in discussions on the concept of co-operation agreements since the Scottish FA started to explore it a number of months ago and really believe it can become a key piece of regulation that assists the development of young players and particularly the transition into first teams from academies.

The relationship with East Stirlingshire was started by Aiden McGeady in his Technical Manager role and they are perfect partners for us based on the way they worked with Dylan Watret, Ollie Ecrepont and Lucas McRoberts. Pat and his staff create a great environment for young players to develop and succeed and each of the players we’ve sent there has embraced the challenges of the demands in the adult game but also enjoyed the supportive environment that East Stirlingshire continues to create for them. We’re excited to send Lucas McRoberts, Jamie Hislop and Kenzie Mitchell as part of the co-operation agreement and will monitor their progress closely over the coming months.

Thank you to everyone at East Stirlingshire for all of their input into our young players and we look forward to working with them into the future”.

East Stirlingshire Director Andy Williamson said "We have built a good relationship over the last few seasons with Ayr United and we are delighted to extend this into a new formal co-operation agreement which benefits both clubs as well as helping in player development.

Over the past two seasons we have been fortunate to have Ollie Ecrepont, Dylan Wattret and Lucas McRoberts on loan from Ayr United and I think everyone could see the boys development during their stay and their growth as players during their game time with us.

We strive hard to run the club as professionally as we can and offer the best facilities and opportunity for player to progress so we are delighted to be welcoming Lucas McRobers, Jamie Hislop and Kenzie Mitchell to the club for the new season."

"Both clubs see the new SFA Co-operation agreements as a real step towards enhancing opportunities for young players to maximise game time while allowing clubs maximum flexibility while offering players the step into adult senior football"

#WeAreUnited