Colin Ayre (14 March 1956 – 10 September 2023) 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 lea ...

, 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 a professional association football club based in Newcastle upon Tyne, Tyne and Wear, England. The club competes in the Premier League, the top tier of English football league system, English football. Since th ...

, 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 refers to a series of communications satellites. The first two, Telstar 1 and Telstar 2, were experimental and nearly identical. Telstar 1 launched atop of a Thor-Delta rocket on July 10, 1962, successfully relayed the first televisi ...

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

Excelsior Excelsior may refer to: Arts and entertainment Literature and poetry * "Excelsior" (Longfellow), an 1841 poem by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow * "Excelsior", an 1877 picture book in verse by Bret Harte, published as an advertisement for the Sa ...

. 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 association football club based in Torquay, Devon, England. The team currently compete in the National League South, the sixth level of the English football league system. They have played their ho ...

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 club competes in , the third tier of English football, and is managed by Graham Alexander. The club was founded in 1903 and ...

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 F.C., Torquay United Football Club, who currently compete in the National Leagu ...

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

Brentford Brentford is a suburban town in West (London sub region), West London, England and part of the London Borough of Hounslow. It lies at the confluence of the River Brent and the River Thames, Thames, west of Charing Cross. Its economy has dive ...

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

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 ...

. 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 o ...

, 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. Colin Ayre died in Morpeth on 10 September 2023, at the age of 67.Colin Ayre
obituary

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* 1956 births 2023 deaths English men's footballers Footballers from Ashington Men's association football midfielders English Football League players Eredivisie players Austrian Football Bundesliga players Newcastle United F.C. players SC Telstar players Torquay United F.C. players Ashington A.F.C. players FC Wacker Innsbruck players English expatriate men's footballers English expatriate sportspeople in the Netherlands Expatriate men's footballers in the Netherlands English expatriate sportspeople in Austria Expatriate men's footballers in Austria {{England-footy-midfielder-1950s-stub