Colin Ayre (born 14 March 1956, in

Ashington Ashington is a town and civil parish in Northumberland, England, with a population of 27,864 at the 2011 Census. It was once a centre of the coal mining industry. The town is north of Newcastle upon Tyne, west of the A189 and bordered to the ...

Northumberland Northumberland () is a county in Northern England, one of two counties in England which border with Scotland. Notable landmarks in the county include Alnwick Castle, Bamburgh Castle, Hadrian's Wall and Hexham Abbey. It is bordered by land on ...

) was an English professional

footballer A football player or footballer is a sportsperson who plays one of the different types of football. The main types of football are association football, American football, Canadian football, Australian rules football, Gaelic football, rugby le ...

, playing as a winger in the English, Dutch and Austrian football leagues. Colin Ayre began his career as an apprentice at

Newcastle United Newcastle United Football Club is an English professional football club, based in Newcastle upon Tyne, that plays in the Premier League – the top flight of English football. The club was founded in 1892 by the merger of Newcastle East End ...

, turning professional in September 1973. However, he failed to break into the first team at St. James' Park, leaving without making a first-team appearance. In the 1975 close season he joined Dutch side

Telstar Telstar is the name of various communications satellites. The first two Telstar satellites were experimental and nearly identical. Telstar 1 launched on top of a Thor-Delta rocket on July 10, 1962. It successfully relayed through space the fir ...

and scored twice on his debut on 17 August 1975 as Telstar won 5–1 away to

Excelsior Excelsior, a Latin comparative word often translated as "ever upward" or "even higher", may refer to: Arts and entertainment Literature and poetry * "Excelsior" (Longfellow), an 1841 poem by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow * ''Excelsior'' (Macedo ...

. He scored a further goal in his third game and was a regular until early November, after which time he played only sporadically. In September 1976,

Torquay United Torquay United Football Club is a professional football club based in Torquay, Devon, England. The team currently compete in the , the fifth tier of English football. They have played their home matches at Plainmoor since 1921 and are nicknamed ...

rekindled Ayre's hopes of an English league career, his league debut coming on 18 September against

Bradford City Bradford City Association Football Club is an English professional football club in Bradford, West Yorkshire. The team competes in League Two, the fourth tier of the English football league system and are currently managed by Mark Hughes. Th ...

Plainmoor Plainmoor is an association football stadium located in the Plainmoor suburb of Torquay, Devon, England. Since 1921, the stadium has been the home of Torquay United Football Club, who currently compete in the National League, the fifth tier of E ...

. This was however followed by only one more league appearance, at home to

Brentford Brentford is a suburban town in West London, England and part of the London Borough of Hounslow. It lies at the confluence of the River Brent and the Thames, west of Charing Cross. Its economy has diverse company headquarters buildings whi ...

a week later, before Ayre left to join his hometown side

. By 1979-80 he was back at Telstar and in November 1980, he joined Austrian side

Wacker Innsbruck FC Wacker Innsbruck was an Austrian association football club from Innsbruck, Tyrol. History The ''Fußball-Club Wacker'' ("Valiant") ''Innsbruck'' was established in 1915 by Jakob Hanspeter, Benedikt Hosp, Josef Leitner, Josef Albrecht and ...

, helping them to the Austrian second division title in his first season. He played 18 times in total, before leaving in February 1982, joining Austrian second division side SPG Raika Innsbruck.

References

1956 births Living people English footballers Newcastle United F.C. players SC Telstar players Torquay United F.C. players Ashington A.F.C. players FC Wacker Innsbruck players English Football League players Sportspeople from Ashington Footballers from Northumberland Association football midfielders English expatriate sportspeople in Austria English expatriate sportspeople in the Netherlands Expatriate footballers in the Netherlands Expatriate footballers in Austria English expatriate footballers {{England-footy-midfielder-1950s-stub