Published: 16:27 BST, 16 August 2026 | Updated: 16:39 BST, 16 August 2026
There is a hierarchy in football royalty but in Ayrshire the Sloan dynasty speaks for the best in the Junior environment that obsesses so much of the local landscape.
There are great names to be invoked in Annbank. A series of conversations in the wonderfully appointed New Pebble Park cast out references to Dennis Bergkamp, Marc Overmars and a hero of Botswana in the Africa Cup of Nations. There is also the remembrance from one principal of victory at Anfield.
It is giddy stuff. But the Sloans, and those like them in the Junior game, are never far from thought, word or even sight.
Two of the clan, Lee and Tommy, play for Annbank. Their uncle Davie helps out the club with providing hospitality and so much more from his base in a bar up the road. Tommy, the players’ father, is the sage of Auchinleck Talbot, a manager who has brought a slew of Scottish Junior Cups to that club.
New Pebble Park is hidden behind the main street but directions are provided by a couple of gentlemen who are heading to watch the Talbot. They are about to pay homage to Junior royalty who are now in the Lowland League West. But they pass on best wishes to Annbank, who have left their amateur status behind to enter the West of Scotland league.
They were once a Junior side and they are again. They dismissed Lochar handily in the South of Scotland Cup on Saturday but their ambitions lie far beyond that sort of success.
The Lochar Thistle goalkeeper stands no chance as Annbank rifle another goal into the net
‘I have visions for this club,’ says Gordon Inglis, chairman, as he looks over the splendid green surface and on to the hills beyond. These involve sporting success. Annbank once transitioned from the Juniors and into the amateur set-up where they were very successful. The resurrection of the semi-pro ideal is but the first of a series of changes.
‘We want to make this the centre of the community,’ he says. ‘We want to provide free stuff for the community, for local youngsters. We want to give the youngsters something to aspire to. We are also interested in programmes for health in the community.’
His outlook is formed by experience in the football world. Inglis ran a successful football academy for 15 years. But he was also a player at Barnsley when they were in the English Premier League in 1997-98 and spent six years in the US with teams in Kansas, St Louis, Indiana and West Palm Beach.
‘My highlights in football include being part of the Barnsley squad that won 1-0 at Anfield and the American experience was wonderful,’ he says.
He recalls with a smile that when he came back from America he signed for Talbot and was plunged straight away into a derby with Cumnock. ‘Yes, the phrase baptism of fire comes to mind,’ he says.
Set behind the main street, Annbank's New Pebble Park ground is a hidden treasure for fans
But he was back home with newfound ideas. He joined Annbank a year ago and helped move the club from amateur football to semi-professional. He points out that there is interest in Annbank in Botswana.