Rangers icons reunite to mark 20 years since famous moment in club's history – including rarely spotted cult hero

He made a bigger impact at Gers than expected
OLD FRIENDS REUNITED Rangers icons reunite to mark 20 years since famous moment in club's history – including rarely spotted cult hero
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A GROUP of Rangers legends reunited this weekend to celebrate the anniversary of one of the most famous moment's in the club's history.
And among them was a certain cult hero who fans have rarely heard from - or even seen - since he left Ibrox.
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Can you name all the players in this picture?
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Rangers celebrate winning the title in 2004-05
Credit: Alan MacGregor Ewing - The Sun Glasgow
The year 2025 marks 20 years since Helicopter Sunday, when the Light Blues pulled off a miracle to snatch the Premiership title from Celtic's grasp on the final day of the season.
Heading into the last game of the campaign, Celtic were ahead on points by 92 to 90.
Gers beat Hibs 1-0 in Edinburgh thanks to a goal from Nacho Novo but with the Hoops winning by the same scoreline at Motherwell it looked like they would retain their league crown.
But two stunning late strikes from Scott McDonald tipped the race in the favour of Rangers, as Celtic went down 2-1 at Fir Park.
The famous line in commentary - 'The helicopter is changing direction' - was immediately etched in Scottish football folklore, as the aircraft carrying the league trophy was forced to about turn from Lanarkshire and head to the capital.
That day ranks as one of the most iconic in the history of Rangers and the players involved almost immediately gained hero status.
Five Stars Limited organised a tribute night and invited six players from the squad to the event, held at the Hilton DoubleTree in Glasgow.
The former stars appeared on stage alongside former boss Alex McLeish, each of them answering questions and talking about their own experiences of that odds-defying day.
Novo and McLeish were joined by Marvin Andrews, Thomas Buffel, Alex Rae and current interim boss Barry Ferguson, who had only just rejoined Gers in the second half of the Helicopter Sunday season.
And the final member of the group was ex-goalkeeper Ronald Waterreus.
Rangers fans defiant banner after tifo criticism
The Dutchman has scarcely been seen in Scotland since his departure from Rangers a year after Helicopter Sunday.
He initially joined Gers in the 2005 January transfer window from Manchester City due to an injury to Stefan Klos.
A member of PSV Eindhoven's Eredivisie-winning teams of the late nineties and early noughties, Waterreus eventually took over the No.1 jersey from German international Klos.
He left with a rising Allan McGregor ready to step in between the sticks and would go on to play for AZ Alkmaar and New York Red Bulls before retiring.
Now 54, he has kept a relatively low profile since hanging up his gloves, save for the odd media appearance and briefly venturing into the world of business with his own goalie glove company.
Waterreus also played in the testimonial for Rangers legend Fernando Ricksen, who was suffering from Motor Neurone Disease.
He looked barely recognisable from his time at Gers at the Five Stars event, his trademark messy and curly locks now ditched for a slick, wavy look.
Five Stars thanked the fans who attended and described the do as a "great evening".
The company said in a social media post: "A great evening spent with some legends of the club commemorating the 20th Anniversary of 'Helicopter Sunday'.
"Thank you to everyone who joined us. We hope you had a good time."
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Ronald Waterreus during his Rangers days
Credit: News Group Newspapers Ltd
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Waterreus can be seen in the second row, third from the left
Credit: News Group Newspapers Ltd
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• The Herald Scotland

Watching someone from your part of the world thrive is deeply moving

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Scotsman

an hour ago

• Scotsman

How Austin MacPhee became 'perfect fit' for Portugal as Aston Villa coach claims Scottish first

Former Hearts and Scotland coach helps Ronaldo and co to Nations League title Sign up to our Football newsletter Sign up Thank you for signing up! Did you know with a Digital Subscription to The Scotsman, you can get unlimited access to the website including our premium content, as well as benefiting from fewer ads, loyalty rewards and much more. Learn More Sorry, there seem to be some issues. Please try again later. Submitting... When news emerged that former Scotland set-piece coach Austin MacPhee had been recruited by Portugal following an international sabbatical due to his father's ill health, the initial reaction was to wonder whether he had signed up for the easiest job in the world – or should that be least enviable? Showing Ronaldo how to take free kicks? You're having a laugh, surely? 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Pic: Portuguese Football Federation | Portuguese Football Federation Such an achievement isn't to be sniffed at of course. However, what really counts as true football heritage, as the kids like to say, is the status now claimed by MacPhee as the first Scottish male to win a senior international football tournament. Ever. Put that on a tee shirt, why don't you. It's unlikely MacPhee will do that although he did wear his medal at breakfast with his family one morning for a laugh and then forgot to take it off as he went out to take out the bins, to funny looks from the neighbours. 'It is very heavy,' he reports. It's good to know such details given Scotland are a million miles away from winning international tournaments that aren't played in Japan, sponsored by a Japanese beer and involve just three countries, including the mighty Bulgaria. Advertisement Hide Ad Advertisement Hide Ad Simply qualifying for a World Cup for the first time in nearly 30 years will be the aim come this Autumn. Nothing is guaranteed in terms of Portugal, who are in a group with Republic of Ireland, Armenia and Hungary, but having beaten Germany – in Germany – and then Spain to claim the Nations League title, hopes are understandably high. Not simply to qualify. They have designs on winning the damn thing. 'Since I came into the camp for the Nations League it's been, 'Can we practice winning the World Cup?' says MacPhee. 'Right from my first conversation with Roberto Martinez it was about can we all contribute to trying to win the World Cup? That is what he said to the players: 'We have a week here (in Germany) to practice what it's like'. 'The trust you have in the depth of the Portuguese squad and the fact you have an icon in the world leading the team in the summer shows the kind of special generation that we have got and the absolute belief.' Cristiano Ronaldo and his Portugal teammates give their attention to assistant coach Austin MacPhee at the tactics board. Pic: Portuguese Football Federation | Portuguese Football Federation From Forfar failure to Ronaldo coach Ah yes, the 40-year-old phenomenon that is Ronaldo. A potentially tricky if talented customer, one might imagine. And yet he and MacPhee, who at 45 is nearer the veteran superstar's age than anyone else in the Portugal camp, appears to have already struck up a good rapport. The Scot by his own admission is a 'failed Forfar Athletic footballer', although does that even matter these days anymore? Martinez's own career was moderate. Advertisement Hide Ad Advertisement Hide Ad As for Ronaldo, there's an interesting piece of footage from the win over Spain, when the already substituted superstar is seen joining MacPhee on the edge of the technical area – recipe for disaster, perhaps? Memories stirred of the Euro 2016 final between Portugal and France, when some felt the injured Ronaldo had been disrespectful to Fernando Santos by being so animated on the sidelines, at one stage even standing in front of the head coach while issuing instructions to his teammates. In the case of his interaction with MacPhee, however, it seemed clear he was adhering to the chain of command. There was no sense of oneupmanship. 'He was just talking about the delivery, it was a free kick – whether Bruno (Fernandes) should shoot or Bruno should cross,' recalls MacPhee. 'There was no right answer in this particular situation.' MacPhee is already learning Spanish to help aid dialogue with his manager at Aston Villa, Unai Emery, so he might wait a while before downloading the teach yourself Portuguese app on Duolingo. He won't want to confuse things. Still, he has been witness to the force of Ronaldo's stirring dressing- room addresses, which, naturally, are delivered in Portuguese. 'You can see that when he speaks in the changing room after the game before the manager, it is very powerful,' he says. 'Also how he is in terms of respect for everyone. It's the little things. Everyone wears the same kit. Everyone sits down for dinner. No one stands up to get their dinner until everyone has sat down, including the kit man and bus driver, everyone. That has very much been driven by him and Roberto.' Advertisement Hide Ad Advertisement Hide Ad Austin MacPhee imparts some advice to Cristiano Ronaldo during a Portugal training session. Pic: Portuguese Football Federation | Portuguese Football Federation Scottish set piece influence MacPhee's influence can also already be traced. Eagle-eyed set-piece afficionados might have recognised an old routine in extra-time of the final against Spain, when both teams were striving for a winner while locked at 2-2. Neither side were able to find a goal but Portugal came close with a free-kick routine that Hearts and Northern Ireland have already employed to good effect when MacPhee was on the staff. For Fernandes, Vitinha and Nuno Mendes, read Sean Clare, Jake Mulraney and Steven Naismith, who combined to score the second goal for Hearts in a 2-1 win over Kilmarnock at Rugby Park in February 2019. The trick is successfully relaying a message to players of different skill - and perhaps intelligence - levels. The concept of space is the same in the Scottish lower tiers as it is on the highest rung of international football. Providing players can recognise this, MacPhee's own limited playing credentials are not a factor. "I go back to what I learned at St Mirren,' he says, with reference to his time coaching under Danny Lennon, who he also helped at Cowdenbeath. 'Every player only asks themselves one question, 'Can this person help me?' Of course, you have to be able to engage – set pieces is an area of football that is perceived as less entertaining. It is more enjoyable to play five v fives than it is to do set pieces. But sometimes an engaging physics teacher can make physics more fun. And a bad PE teacher can manage to make PE not very enjoyable, when it should be enjoyable. That's more or less my philosophy.' Fast forward to many of the world's finest footballers frolicking with MacPhee at the Allianz Arena as they celebrated Portugal's latest international crown. This was an altogether happier, not to say cathartic, experience for the Scot, who nearly a year earlier was in the dugout for Scotland's 5-1 humbling by Germany (Scotland's goal came from a set piece) in the opening game of Euro 2024, when Ryan Porteous was sent off just before half-time. Advertisement Hide Ad Advertisement Hide Ad It helps when you keep eleven players on the field, as Portugal did. It also helps when four members of their squad had won the Champions League with Paris-Saint Germain the week before, which highlights the company MacPhee is now keeping. Portugal head coach Roberto Martinez. Cr: SNS Group. | SNS Group How Martinez found his 'perfect fit' While the Fifer has now earned the right to be considered among the best in the world at what he does, circumstances do often play a part. Thomas Tuchel's appointment as England manager started a chain reaction that saw MacPhee approached by Martinez. Anthony Barry, who worked with Martinez at both Belgium and Portugal, was poached by Tuchel, with their relationship dating to Chelsea days. Martinez was now a coach short. It didn't seem impossible that Martinez and MacPhee might already know each other – the Portugal manager enjoyed a brief spell at Motherwell, after all, and is married to a Scot, Beth. It turns out they didn't, which seems novel in a world where positions are often offered on the basis of pre-existing relationships. Of course, Martinez was aware of MacPhee, who has overseen set pieces at Villa for four years, but his name emerged following 'an open search', which is how the Portugal manager himself described it to The Scotsman. 'We highlighted from a very technical point which areas we wanted the new staff member to focus on,' he explained via text message as he flew to the United States, where he is a member of Fifa's technical study group at the Club World Cup. Advertisement Hide Ad Advertisement Hide Ad 'We used AI to find the best performing team in Europe in those technical areas - and the answer was Aston Villa,' he added. The league tables spell this out. Villa currently have the best record in the Premier League for defending corners: they concede just one every 97 on average when the world average is one every 29. They lead the way in Europe's top five leagues in the past two seasons for goals scored from set-pieces, with 45. Martinez explained that they then started to find out more about MacPhee's career and 'his human quality'. Very quickly, he added, 'he became our perfect fit'. Some further investigation uncovered the fact that the only goal Portugal had conceded from a set play in their Nations League campaign last year had come against Scotland, when MacPhee was still involved. 'It made sense very quickly,' writes Martinez. He was appointed in February, before a 5-3 aggregate win over Denmark in the Nations League semi-final. Aston Villa set-piece specialist Austin MacPhee joined Roberto Martinez's backroom team with Portugal in February. (Photo by Nick Potts/PA Wire) Written in the stars Paramount above all this in the process was an improvement in MacPhee's father's health, which meant taking on further responsibilities became possible. Concerns regarding his dad's cancer diagnosis had led to him stepping away from Scotland in September. 'He has a letter saying he should be dead in November,' says MacPhee. 'He is now very much alive, swimming up and down the pool in the Fairmont (outside St Andrews) and playing golf and going to the pub and following Dunfermline – telling me about the poker champion who has bought Dunfermline.' Understandably, Villa were very keen for MacPhee to broaden his horizons and make some new, talented connections in the process. As he puts it, 'you have a relationship with some of the best players in the world who you might want one day to sign'. There could be no downsides. It also seemed written in the stars. When he was offered the post, MacPhee's son Dino, who was once on the books at both Hibs and Hearts, had just accepted a place at the University of Lisbon, where he will start studying business and entrepreneurship in the coming academic year. Advertisement Hide Ad Advertisement Hide Ad MacPhee couldn't say yes to Martinez quickly enough. It helped knowing that the majority of the Portuguese squad, including Ronaldo while in his second spell at Manchester United, had already felt the impact of Villa's set-piece proficiency, as have many of Portugal's England-based players. It's hard not to be slightly wowed by MacPhee's trajectory. Eleven years ago he had just joined up with Northern Ireland, having met Michael O'Neill at an Aberdeen game. He wasn't yet known as a set-piece coach per se but when 11 of the 16 goals Northern Ireland scored en route to qualifying for Euro 2016 were from set-pieces, it was clear something was changing in football. Now those such as Bernardo Silva are eager to reply to messages about MacPhee's influence. On the day he was named among the substitutes as Manchester City opened their Club World Cup campaign with a 2-0 win over Moroccan side Wydad AC, Silva responded by text to a request for some information on how the players have enjoyed working with MacPhee. 'As you know, set pieces play a major part in football nowadays,' he replied before taking his place on the bench. 'We are creating a lot of problems for our rivals since he joined, so honestly it has been a pleasure for all of us'. He added that the 'message and ideas are very clear - simple but at the same time very effective'. He referenced a photo that circulated on social media showing Silva pulling pints next to MacPhee following the Nations League victory. 'The one thing to say,' he added with a laughing emoji, 'is that he's not very good at pulling pints – I am better!' Advertisement Hide Ad Advertisement Hide Ad Former Scotland set piece coach Austin MacPhee with captain Andy Robertson during the match against Switzerland at Euro 2024. (Photo by Craig Foy / SNS Group) | SNS Group / SFA Switching from Scotland MacPhee, who played football in Romania, Japan and the United States, is not finding it strange switching from Scotland, where his heart clearly lies as a former Tartan Army member who travelled to support the team at France 98 in a Renault 5. 'I have been seven years with Northern Ireland as well,' he says. 'I think you become connected with a group of people with a common identity and a common goal. Of course, it is different. I am not Portuguese. But I think you can care more but you don't necessarily try any harder is the best way I can describe it. "I tried as hard as I could for Northern Ireland, I tried my best. I tried to do the same with Scotland. In the big moments there is slightly more euphoria and in the bad times there is slightly more hurt, probably, because you are thinking of all your family and friends from Scotland, there is an extra thing. It's slightly different. 'One of my dreams as a wee boy was to go to a World Cup,' he continues. 'I have never done that. I've experienced the Champions League, the Conference League, the Euros. This season we are playing in the Europa League. I've done the Nations League, worked abroad. The World Cup is the missing experience, the one I've not had.'

The National

2 hours ago

• The National

Ayr United chairman on Scott Brown, new pitch, and legacy

Not that the Honest Men aren't doing well enough. They finished last season in third place in The Championship, with the only real disappointment being a late dip in form that eventually saw them crash out of the Premiership play-offs to the aforementioned Maryhill Magyars. You could be forgiven for thinking though that the Somerset Park side have been rechristened 'Former Celtic captain Scott Brown's Ayr United', a phrase which, thanks to the modern-day need to kowtow to our search engine masters, has featured in just about every headline about the club over the past year and a half. Still, for chairman David Smith, it's a small price to pay simply to have Brown in the dugout. 'We will never beat that in the press, it's always going to be there,' Smith said. 'It's clickbait, isn't it? We were fully aware of that, and we were fully aware that he was a bit box office and so was [assistant manager] Steven Whittaker when he came in. 'We can deal with that.' Another thing both Smith and Ayr have had to deal with this summer has been their management team being linked with just about every vacancy in Scotland, bar the one at Ibrox, of course. What added fuel to that fire was an emotional post-match interview after the defeat to Thistle at Somerset, where a clearly seething Brown blasted that he didn't recognise his team, accused his players of not even trying to win the game, and said he would have to think about his future. That may have set alarm bells ringing among the support, but Smith was confident that a bit of distance would result in some perspective being applied, and Brown returning laser-focused on bettering their efforts next season. 'I think Scott's interview was taking a bit out of context if I'm honest with you,' he said. 'Things have calmed down and we've reflected on what I look at as a really successful season for a variety of reasons. (Image: SNS Group) 'Off the park, we had the new stand opening, and it did exactly what we designed it to do. We smashed the hospitality last year with record numbers. So, that was good, and there are lots of other off the park infrastructure projects we're working on too. 'The academy stuff that we're doing in the community was really good, and then you come to the team. 'When we do our board meetings, we break the season down into quarters and Scott gets the stats, and the first three quarters were amazing. The last quarter, we kind of fell off a cliff a wee bit, and we all recognised that. Read more: 'So, whilst that was disappointing, it was still our highest points tally in The Championship, so that's a real great stat in itself. 'I think there was a lot of good to come out of last season. The fan numbers were up, we played some really good football, and I think everybody recognises that the last quarter wasn't brilliant. 'It's been a tough couple of months, but still it was a really successful season, and I think the relationship I've got with Scott is stronger than ever. 'If I'm honest, I don't feel any pressure about Scott and Steven potentially leaving. They get linked with every job really, but every conversation I've had with them, there's no short-term approach to it. It's all long-term. 'I think what we've given them and what they've given us really complements each other as a club and as people, and I'm not sure you would get that everywhere. "We've not quite thrown them the keys and said get on with running the football club, but what we have done is said look, you know we'll obviously do checks and balances and all that kind of stuff, but the style of play, recruitment, training days, all that kind of stuff, how we're going to run the catering and all that, it's your call. 'We'll check and balance it and discuss it and we'll see what we can and can't afford and have open conversations about that stuff, and I'm not sure you get that anywhere else. They're fully aware of that. 'We try to promote Ayr United as a family club and a community club, because that's what we are, and Scott and Steven's wives and kids are at every game, their mums and dads come to the games and we know them all, and we've socialised with them all. 'So, I don't see it as a short-term appointment, and I genuinely don't think they do either. 'Don't get me wrong, if the right opportunity came along and it was a big draw we'd have a conversation, shake hands, say all the very best and give us some loans if you end up at a really good club! 'We're fully aware that that's the deal with Ayr United. Come along, make us as successful as you can, and if we happen to be a stepping stone for you to go on to bigger and better things, that's fine.' Moving the club on to bigger and better things, both on and off the park, has been Smith's mission statement since he took the helm four and a half years ago now. And looking to the setbacks of the recent past, particularly the poor form he references in the final quarter of the season, has helped both him and Brown to understand how they can avoid similar pitfalls next term. Recruitment has been going at a steady clip, with experience at the level being one of the main qualities that Ayr have been looking to bring into the club. While the likes of Mikey Devlin have left, seasoned campaigners like David Mitchell, Shaun Want, Liam Dick and Stuart Bannigan have been brought in, and Smith believes their Championship know-how could be key. 'I think resilience in the squad in The Championship is really important,' he said. 'We lost that in the last quarter, and actually all the defensive frailties coincided with when Mikey Devlin got injured and stopped playing for the season. (Image: Ross MacDonald - SNS Group) 'Having his leadership was vital. We had a young squad on the pitch and there was probably a little bit of a lack of leadership, particularly in the back five, so that is predominantly the reason that we fell away in the last quarter. 'I think Scott has probably learnt a few lessons over the last year in terms of recruitment. Who we recruited in goals, for instance. We've got somebody in [in Mitchell] that we wanted, somebody experienced, who is vocal, that's good with their feet, so that's what we were looking for and I think that's a real step forward. 'In terms of the rest of the recruitment, everybody's shopping in the same marketplace, so we've tried to break that in the past by bringing people up from England and we've had varying degrees of success. 'This season, we're very much focused on Scottish Championship experience, Premiership experience, that's kind of where we are. 'But the squad's coming together well. I think potentially we've got a stronger squad this year than we did last year.' Off the field (well, the Somerset Park one anyway), Smith is hoping the community ties the club have been working to strengthen will be fortified further when the training pitch they are well on the way to delivering near the stadium opens its gates, as he looks to bring the women's team and youth teams closer to their spiritual home. 'In terms of a status update on that, we're just waiting for planning to come through and we've got we need to do some ecology stuff for that, so we're working on that just now and we're waiting,' he said. 'We've had some good vibes from the 'Pitching In' fund and we're waiting for a letter to come through. If that comes in, then we're kind of good to go, and we're expecting some support externally for that too. 'So, the update is that I would like us to be on site for possibly September. That would be really good and would be pretty quick. 'I think it's important that the women and girls find a home, because at the moment they play in East Ayrshire. No disrespect to East Ayrshire, but that's not where Ayr United are from, so if we can get the home games in next to the stadium that'd be great. And the academy having a base for their games there as well would be really important too. 'We've got lots of other things going on too. There's lots of tie-in with South Ayrshire Council that we can do on the park as well, so actually the first team training there is probably a tiny percentage of what it's going to actually deliver when we get around to getting it built.' Such projects are, Smith believes, a key factor in fostering trust between the fanbase and the board, showing evidence that they are constantly looking to take the club forward. 'For some reason there's a lot of tyre kickers in football, and I've never really understood why,' he said. 'People come into clubs and say they're going to do x, y and z and don't deliver anything, and they haven't got the money to deliver what they say. 'I've never really understood why that is, but it happens a lot, so I think people seeing progress year on year in terms of infrastructure and progression up the league and stuff like that is really important, and it maintains the buzz, it maintains the numbers coming into the stadium. 'If I'm honest, I do think we're probably one of the best run football clubs in Scotland, and we run it like a business. We know when to invest and when not invest. 'I think the fans appreciate progress, but they also appreciate the way I'm trying to do it. People keep saying to me, if you build it, they will come, and I suppose that there's a little bit of that in there. 'When I took over four and a half years ago, there wasn't a huge amount of expectation around Ayr United other than staying in The Championship. Fast forward four years, we've got The Hub, we've got a big shiny new car park, we've got a new stand, we've bought the land behind the ground, and it comes with expectation. 'The expectation is that we'll be in the playoffs every year and vying up the top end of the league, but I like that challenge, it's good. 'Community buy-in has been brilliant. The stuff that the academy do is utterly fantastic and we complement that as a football club with as much as we can do as well. 'I do feel we're in a really privileged position as owners and directors and people who run a football club, and I don't think I really understood until I got heavily involved about how much of a focal point it is in the community. 'It means the world to an awful lot of people this football club, and it's not just what's on the park.' Smith knows personally, in fact, the power that Ayr United have to impact the lives of their supporters. 'My dad unfortunately has got Lewy body dementia,' he said. 'He's in a nursing home now, but before that, I was taking him to our Ayr United Memories events that our academy run, and they're fantastic. 'You get 80, 90 people there at some of them, and it is people who just want to relive parts of their youth and chat about games and chat about history. But for us and others, from a family point of view, you kind of get your dad back or your mum back for a little bit during those conversations. 'I've seen it first-hand how important the community stuff is, so we do embrace it, and we do try and do as much as we possibly can.' The focus then is on creating more of those memories for the current and future generations of Ayr United supporters, with Smith hoping this can be the season where his beloved team finally break back into the topflight for the first time since 1978. And not only that, make a real go of it once they get there. 'Infrastructure wise, there's absolutely no reason why we wouldn't be able to cope with the step up,' he said. (Image: Ross MacDonald - SNS Group) 'I genuinely think a lot of the Premiership teams would really enjoy their day down at the seaside. We market ourselves as Scotland's best away day, coming down to Somerset and standing behind the goals, and when it's packed it's an old-fashioned atmosphere and it's fantastic. It doesn't take 30,000 people for it to feel busy and intense, it takes maybe 8,000 people to feel that. 'And I think we could make a fist of it. Budgets would change and stuff like that, but we have got some really good quality football players under contract already and I have to say, most of them have bought into what we're trying to do. So, I think we would make a fist of it, I really do. 'I hope my legacy at the football club will be Ayr United in the Premiership, and lots of infrastructure improvements.' Over to you, Broony.