Stu says club should look at Ajax for inspiration

STUART KETTLEWELL reckons ambitious Kilmarnock need to go Dutch - by copying Ajax's famed sell-to-thrive model.

- BY MICHAEL BALLIE

The Rugby Park boss wants to build a conveyor belt of talent in Ayrshire after flogging Corrie Ndaba to Serie A side Lecce for a tidy fee just a year after making his loan move permanent.

Kettlewell believes that kind of long-term planning is the only way to keep the club sustainable, by nurturing talent they can sell when the time is right.

He pointed to Amsterdam giants Ajax as the perfect blueprint, with their proven track record of turning academy prospects into top-dollar stars.

And the 41-year-old is determined to establish a similar pipeline at Killie.

Kettlewell, right, said: "We all want the best players at our club, but sometimes we have to open our eyes up in general in Scottish football to what this looks like.