Biography
Sheffield born Bob Ferrier was brought up in Scotland and was a Motherwell winger from 1918 until 1937, captaining their First Division championship side of 1931-32. In 1945 the war in Europe was progressing so well that it was being reported that Ayr United may soon be back in business. On 14th February it was reported that Matt Busby was about to become Ayr's next manager and the fact that he had just been released by Liverpool added weight to the story. Ayr United denied the reports and on 20th June it was correctly reported that Bob Ferrier had been appointed.
At that time he lived and worked full time in Dumbarton and was part time manager of Airdrie. He didnt manage to find a house in Ayr until August.
As an aside, Matt Busby was appointed as Manchester United manager in October.
Somerset Park was very run down having had little use during the war, being used only for junior and respresentative matches. The Scottish league system was in tatters also in June 1945 and a 16 team league was re-introduced with Ayr United playing in in 'B' division.
Bob Ferrier begin the difficult task to rebuild the club after a five-year absence but he did well to recruit players of the calibre of Norrie McNeil, Malky Morrison and, a year later, Alec Beattie.
The team developed into a strong force in Scottish football under Bob but in December 1948 he tendered his resignation in the wake of a 7-1 defeat away to Stenhousemuir on 27th November 1948 although there had been rumours previously that he would be leaving.
