The manager of high-flying Ayr United lays his cards on the table in terms of what it all means to him right now. “It has been a kind of rehabilitation for me, in my career and in my life,” says Ian McCall. “I really want it to work. I want to make my players a success. I want to make this club a success. I wanted to prove to myself – and no-one else – that I could still do it.”

The proof, right now, looks overwhelming. Since arriving at Ayr United in January, and steering them to League One safety in May, the Somerset Park club is utterly transformed under McCall, sitting top of the pile and boasting the longest unbeaten run – eight wins, three draws – in Scottish football. Indeed, Ayr are among the four most in-form teams in Britain.

It is no longer McCall’s desire to be loaded with praise – he doesn’t invite it, indeed he bats it away. But a manager is the catalyst for everything. He was once the hottest young ticket in the Scottish game before various pitfalls – some of them his doing, some others just random events – got in the way. McCall was out of football for three years before Lachlan Cameron, the Ayr chairman, appointed this glaringly talented manager as the figure to lead Ayr out of the wilderness.

“I’ve evolved a lot as a person – mainly due to things in my own life,” says McCall. “I’m a lot calmer now than I used to be. Excepting one or two wee incidents, I don’t rage and leap about by the side of a pitch like I used to.

“I started out in management 17 years ago and a lot has changed since then. But a lot hasn’t changed. What I would see as the core values of football management – identifying a good player, making him better, creating a good environment at a club – these haven’t changed at all. These remain the fundamentals of good management.

“I’ve got nothing to prove to anyone. I just needed to prove something to myself: that I still had the appetite and the ability. I think I’m a decent football manager but the proof is in the pudding – can you get wins, can you be successful? I’ve found a very fulfilling place to work at Ayr United. I’m not hankering for any other job at all. I’m very happy here and I want to make this club a success again.”

It is worth investigating just what McCall has done to make Ayr rise again. He inherited a dressing-room with quite a bit of disenchantment in it. He went out – as he always has done – and identified skilful players who would bring improvement. More than anything, he believed in his own ability, even after years of being out of favour in Scottish football, and has shared his conviction with his team. In the old-fashioned way, Ayr’s players are walking tall again.

“Without sounding clichéd, I feel very proud of my players,” he says. “I said to them at the start of the season, ‘if you want to make something of your careers and go higher than this, then be dedicated, stay fit, do the right things.’ And we are a really, really fit team. As well as having ability, we have run the legs off some teams. It is a great credit to my team, borne out by results.

“Over the summer I did a lot of background on players I brought in. Guys like Ross Docherty and Jamie Adams had had injuries which set them back, but I knew they had ability. And the players that were already here have responded. Brian Gilmour, for example, was almost a hate-figure among some fans before I arrived. Last Saturday, there was almost loud wailing when we lost him to injury.

“We’ve fostered a real togetherness as a team. I also made Nicky Devlin – at 21 – the youngest captain of Ayr United in 100 years. I believe Nicky right now could walk into half the teams in the Premiership in Scotland and hold his own at right-back. Absolutely. So it has been about believing in the players, and making them believe in themselves.”

How high can he take Ayr? Everyone of a certain vintage thinks of this football club as something greater than 700 crowds in the third tier of our game. McCall believes a major step-up can be achieved.

“Ayr United is not some ‘sleeping giant’ but this is a real football town, and there is definitely a place for this club, say, in the middle of the Championship. That is where I want to aim for. That is my ambition for Ayr. I don’t think it is arrogant or unrealistic to aim for that.

“When I came here there were maybe 600, 700 at games. Last Saturday, despite the rugby World Cup final and even a local music festival, we still got over 1400 through the gates. This club lost a generation of fans years ago and when that happens it can be very difficult to win them back. But that is what we are trying to do.”

As for any personal endorsements, at 51, McCall says he is long past caring about that. He seems genuine in his wish that any good fortune coming should belong to the club.

“I’m happy flying beneath the radar,” he says. “The truth is, I don’t do much media stuff, simply because I want to get the job done, and concentrate on that. We are flying just now but I am very, very aware of how quickly things can turn.

“I want to repay Ayr. I am actually quite a loyal person by nature – Lachlan Cameron took a chance on appointing me as manager and I want to repay him for that decision. I feel happy and I’m still ambitious, but my ambition is for Ayr United. I’ll happily be here for years if – and I say if - we can find success again.”