Over the years the history of Ayr United has been told in print.

During their jubilee year of 1960 'The Ayr United Story' was published by the Ayr Advertiser reporter Billy Hannah under the name of 'Carrick Hill'. The 52 page booklet, which covered the years from the formation of Ayr United until the end of the 1959/60 season, was printed on shiny paper with small black and white type with a scattering of pictures included.

There was a joint foreword by Chairman Matt Pollock and manager Jack Cox.
The publication has been out of print for some time although more recently some copies have come up for sale at auctions.

When Ayr United won the 2nd Division Title in 1988, Jim McSherry, former Ayr United player and journalist with the Ayr Advertiser published a magazine entitled ‘How the League was Won - The Full Story of 1987-1988: A Glorious Season for the Honest Men of Ayr United’.

The title was nearly as long as the publication which was 40 pages long and contained a detailed examination of United’s Title winning season in picture and story. well worth the £2.50 for any Ayr supporter at the time. 

The publication was under the auspices of the Ayr Advertiser.                Local football historian Duncan Carmichael then wrote .the second history which was published in two volumes - Volume 1 in November 1990 covering the years of 1876 to 1939, and Volume 2 for the years covering 1939 to 1990 in November 1992. 

Both volumes were published in both hardback and softback and both were introduced by Robert A. G Loudon, Chairman of Ayr United at the time.  The books are a superb record of Ayr United’s fortunes over these years with much insight into some of the backroom wrangles and they are rich with pictures of players, managers, league tables and views of Somerset Park.

Volume 1 contains 232 pages with a blank page at the back for autographs.

Volume 2 contained 318 pages.

The history was well written and researched by Duncan Carmichael.

This publication has sold out and is not available to purchase. Once again second hand copies may be available through the auctions (ebay) and second hand bookshops.

However, Duncan Carmichael was not finished there and his new ‘History Of Ayr United’ was published in August 2001. This book is a superb compilation of pictures from the archives,

I include here acknowledments to all of these productions for the wealth of information contained within them, some of which I have drawn on for this website

In 2002 Ayr United historian, Duncan Carmichael was at it again with another exciting book. The book depicts Ayr United's 50 best matches, a subject which formed many hours of conversation in Ayr pubs.

Another publication during this period was a second magazine type history, 24 pages in length published by Ayrshire News Limited.

The publication entitled Black and Blue was an excellent history and contained narrative, statistical and pictorial ( black and white pictures only ) coverage of ten 'famous' derbies between 1970 and 1992 each covered separately

The magazine was very well priced at £1

The cover has a now very familiar picture of Yogi's celebrations after Ayr's semi final win over Hibs last year.

The 128 page book, published in September 2002, was well priced at £12.00 and could be bought from Ottakers book store in Ayr or from the publishers Tempus Publishing Ltd, The Mill, Brimscombe Port, Stroud, Gloucestershire, GL5 2Qg.

Another Classic from Duncan Carmichael.

The irrepressible Duncan wasn’t finished there. two more classic publications followed in very quick succession in 2004 and 2005.

In 2004, he published a book which included the definitive view of a long held debate within the Ayr united fraternity. Who were the 100 greats ever to grace the black and white of Ayr United? Duncan revealed all this in another 128 publication from Tempus Publishing entitled ‘100 greats - Ayr United Football Club’. This provided full page portraits of the greatest 100 players ranging from the legendary Peter Price, Jimmy Smith, Jackie Cox the more recent Cutty Young and Henry Templeton. £12.99 was again the price of a now revered book.

Duncan, and Tempus Publishing, continued a short while later with a pictorial history of the club with a publication entitled ‘Images of Sport - Ayr United Football Club’. This again was 128 pages long and a bargain at £10.99.

The book contains some excellent pictures from the past and present.

There is no doubt about it that without Duncan Carmichael, the published history of Ayr United Football Club would be a sad tale indeed.