Ayr United F.C.

Ayr United Football Club are a Scottish association football team based in Ayr that play in the Scottish League One, the third tier of the Scottish Professional Football League. Formed in 1910 after the merger of former clubs Ayr Parkhouse F.C. and Ayr F.C. (the latter being a prior merger of Ayr Thistle F.C. and Ayr Academicals F.C. in 1879), their nickname is "The Honest Men", taken from a line in the poem "Tam o' Shanter" by Scotland's national poet, Robert Burns. They play at Somerset Park.

The club have spent 34 seasons in Scotland's top division altogether, though the last was in the 1977–78 season. The club have been the champions of the second tier of Scottish football on six occasions and of the third tier twice, but have not won any national cup competitions. The club's most famous and most successful manager is Ally MacLeod, who went on to manage the Scottish national football team. On 15 May 2012, it was announced that Mark Roberts would succeed Brian Reid as manager of the club, following relegation to the Second Division at the end of the 2011–12 season. In January 2015, Ian McCall was appointed as Ayr's new manager, taking over from Roberts.

Saint Mirin

Saint Mirin or Mirren, an Irish monk and missionary (born c. 565; died c. 620), is also known as Mirren of Benchor (now called Bangor), Merinus, Merryn and Meadhrán. The patron saint of the town and Roman Catholic diocese of Paisley, Scotland, he was the founder of a religious community which grew to become Paisley Abbey. The shrine of this saint in the abbey became a centre of pilgrimage.

A contemporary of the better known Saint Columba of Iona and disciple of Saint Comgall, he was prior of Bangor Abbey in County Down, Ireland before making his missionary voyage to Scotland. He is venerated in both Ireland and Scotland and in the Orthodox tradition.

History and Legend

The history of St Mirin has grown dim and much of what is known about the saint is difficult to separate from fable. However, it is believed that Mirin was of noble birth. While still a young boy, his mother took him to the monastery of Bangor Abbey in County Down in the north east of Northern Ireland, where he was placed under the care of St. Comgall. St Mirin later took oversight of the monastery and thus became the prior of Bangor Abbey, where he accepted visitors and sojourners.

Scottish Championship

The Scottish Championship, known for sponsorship reasons as the Ladbrokes Championship, is the second tier of the Scottish Professional Football League, established in July 2013.

Teams and stadiums

Listed below are all the teams competing in the 2015–16 Scottish Championship season, with details of their home stadium.

Promotion and relegation

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 winner of that tie then plays against the 11th-placed Premiership club. If the Championship play-off winner prevails, the club is promoted, with the Premiership club being relegated, otherwise the Premiership club can retain its position in Premiership with the promotion failure of the Championship club.

The Championship play-off system is consistent to its Premiership counterpart, in which the bottom club of Championship is automatically relegated and the 9th-placed club undergoes a play-off with the 2nd, 3rd and 4th placed clubs from League One.