Hippo121

AN UNOFFICIAL KILLIE FANZINE

ISSUE NO. 121

HE SAYS WHAT HE WANTS.......

DEAR HIPPO .............

STRIPPED FOR ACTION ..........

£2.00

THE KILLIE HIPPO IS ON SALE AT HOWARD ARMS, GLENCAIRN SQUARE, KILMARNOCK FOG’S SNACK BAR, KILMARNOCK RUGBY CLUB CAR PARK KILLIE TRUST DESK (PARK HOTEL FOR HOME GAMES) MATCH DAYS AT RP + AT ALL AWAY GAMES

HUGE THANKS TO ALL ADVERTISERS, SUBSCRIBERS, DISTRIBUTORS AND KILLIE FANS FOR THEIR SUPPORT.  E-MAIL : Killiehippo@aol.com WRITE : 20 WITCHKNOWE COURT, KILMARNOCK KA1 4LF NO ARTICLES TO BE REPRODUCED WITHOUT PERMISSION BACK ISSUES 2–120 INCLUSIVE AVAILABLE GET IN TOUCH FOR DETAILS

SHOOTING FROM THE HIPPO I really must start this issue by thanking all the contributors who have put pen to paper, or fingers to keyboards, in the first two issues of the new season. It really is fantastic to hear the views of a wide range of Killie fans, much more so than reading my MJ must go rants. In this issue you will find great articles from Travis, Dillinger and you will also read how one Killie fan was driven to some beautiful poetry by our poetic League cup win……oh and in case you thing I am losing my marbles MJ REALLY MUST GO AND THE SOONER THE BETTER. Welcome to issue 122 and we are currently sitting third bottom of the league with two points from three games. I have to be honest and say I don’t think we have been rotten in any of the games. It’s just that year on year budget cuts will eventually have an effect both in the size of the squad and with the quality within that squad. KS has undoubtedly been unlucky with a long (ish) term injury to main striker Heffernan but without him it is difficult to see any other player who will contribute 15+ goals. Shiels leaving for Sevco was bitterly disappointing but our financial situation meant that we simply couldn’t afford him. Dean was excellent for us last season but I won’t be wishing him all the best at his new franchise.

Elsewhere in the team we have been looking a little shaky at the back and the two goals we lost against Motherwell were especially poor. Pasca will maybe take a wee bit longer than the rest to get up to speed but he may well be better utilized in front of defence rather than in the centre of it. O’Leary is a centre back getting used as a full back and quite frankly it shows. Maybe time to get him back in the middle and give Pursehouse or Barbour a run at full back.

We seem fairly well covered in midfield although I’m not too confident about the number of goals we will get from the likes of Kelly, Fowler and Johnson. I’m sure KS is well aware of the areas where we are short and I’ve no doubt he will be working his butt off to get a few in on loan before the end of August.

You will all be reading about the Trust’s Community Ownership initiative in the weeks ahead and I would ask each and every one of you to get involved. This model will see the long term survival of the club which is in its most precarious state in its illustrious history. There will be loads of info and details in upcoming issues and if anyone wants to learn more drop me an e-mail and we can meet up for a chat………that invitation extends to fans, businesses and Jessica Ennis.

By way of the fanzine helping the COG fund we will be contributing £50 per issue by paying for 5 Killie fans to become new Trust members,,,,,,,,the fund benefits and the fans benefit. If you want your name forward simply send me an e-mail to killiehippo@aol.com Sandy

HE SAYS WHAT HE WANTS (writes Dillinger) So rings the terrace chant in which Killie fans have delighted this year; but what happens when Kenny says something which we fans patently don’t agree with?

This is the dilemma we face in the wake of his recent comments to the Sunday Mail that there must be a second tier of the SPL established next season, with Rangers playing in it - as the Ibrox club should be competing against “professional people” and not “part-timers such as Albion Rovers and Stranraer.”

Any recent canvas of our supporters’ feelings will simply not bear out support for that notion amongst the Killie faithful. This time, in saying what he wants, Kenny has put himself on the opposite side of a line which has been drawn in Scottish football this summer; he’s in the Chadwick to our Moffat, if you will.

Of course, in celebrating a man who “says what he wants,” it would be remiss to chastise Kenny for doing just that. When his usual form brings about such gems as "Persistence is omnipotent" and “Believe to achieve”, surely the odd misstep can be forgiven? Simply, the man is entitled to his opinion.

Where it becomes complicated is in any perception that it is more than that; our opinion, and not simply his. The ramifications that his comments have for us fans and how the rest of Scottish football view our club. With supporters already talking of boycotts over our beloved chairman’s decision to abstain, do we need any more association with any perceived pro-Rangers agenda?

Kenny’s comments are so difficult to defend precisely because we have celebrated his love of saying what he wants.

This is our man, our champion. The man who, with the eyes of the SPL watching on, we have collectively put upon a pedestal as the manager who speaks for the fans; not in clichéd soundbites, not in uncontroversial and neutral platitudes, but very eloquently for and on behalf of the fans.

On 27th November 2011, after beating the SPL champions on our home patch, no Kilmarnock die-hard plucked from the crowd could have put into words what it meant as succinctly as our Kenny did: “I’m especially pleased for Kilmarnock folk who support Kilmarnock.

“People in Motherwell should support Motherwell, people in Paisley should support St Mirren and people in Kilmarnock should support Kilmarnock.

“I still cannot get my head around people in Kilmarnock who support the Old Firm.

“In Ayrshire you have a lot of Old Firm supporters, who, in my opinion, are not real supporters.

“I am delighted for the people in the town who have waited 17 years for this.”

Unfortunately, we have been defending ourselves for years to those insufferable bores who unthinkingly accuse us of harbouring any Rangers sympathies, for the simple, unfortunate fact that we hail from deepest, darkest Ayrshire.

Sometimes it is easy to bat off those accusations. When Michael Johnston abstained and then further embarrassed our fanbase with his ludicrous “36%” comments, most Scottish football fans accepted our defence that he is one stubborn man – and not even a Killie fan at that - airing his own views and misrepresenting ours in the process.

Deano’s decision to squander his talent in the Third Division – and the old song and dance about his Rangers background and how he’d signed for “one of the biggest clubs in the world” – was easily brushed off as one more footballer following the money to whichever dark corner from which it flowed.

This one, though, this one was different.

After months of backing his stances to the hilt, what should the outside world think but that we agree when Kenny opens his trap and says that The Rangers – a new company, starting in the Third Division as any other phoenix club would be expected to – should be fast-tracked in to a setup formed for their benefit?

What all of this has taught us – with Kenny’s disappointing comments surely the biggest and hardest lesson of all – is that the only people who represent Kilmarnock fans, are Kilmarnock fans. We alone will always be here.

Fans embraced online social media this summer as a platform on which to express opinion and thereby shape debate. Now comes the hardest part; lending our good old-fashioned, hand-in-the-pocket support to keep the club going. Last season it was relegation. This time round it’s administration that the media and rival fans have tipped us for. Hopefully, Kilmarnock fans have the stomach for this fight.

We may never find an issue on which every home fan inside Rugby Park agrees on, but there has been a strong sense of unity in recent months and we need to keep that going. The question of where Rangers should play had 98% of fans polled on the Killie FC forums in agreement. We have also banded together to organise fantastic card displays at the Ayr United semi and the Celtic final, as well as a massive flag proclaiming us “Ayrshire’s Finest” With the events of the summer fresh in our mind and statements from the club giving rise to disagreement and derision, perhaps it is evident that there has never been a better time for the recent launch of the Killie Trust's community ownership initiative. It is hoped that with the fans behind them, they can garner a majority shareholding in the club.

Kenny delivered us the cup and more often than not, sings from the same hymn sheet as the fans in the stands. His recent comments are simply a timely reminder that through the good times and the bad, it would be for the best if Kilmarnock fans were in control of Kilmarnock Football Club. It is time we act upon this togetherness amongst the fans and take charge so that we never have another abstention episode and never face the prospect of allowing cheats a fast-track to promotion through the leagues.

Hippo says – Thanks mate for your debut article and an excellent one at that. The Trust plan (COG) is up and running and we need every single Killie fan to get behind us. As far as KS is concerned he may upset us with some of his comments but he is far more entertaining than the rest.



DEAR HIPPO I can’t believe that its even been suggested that fans should stay away from RP just to "starve the chairman of cash".

What sort of a reward is that for Kenny Shiels and the players who worked hard to win the League Cup last year and are doing their best in difficult circumstances.

The amount of debt that Killie has for a club of their size is disgraceful and everyone that contributed to that should rightly be condemned.

However we are where we are with it and unless someone is able to come in with a realistic plan to deal with the debt then there is surely no other course other than to soldier on.

Ultimately the club cannot trade out of the ÂŁ9million or so debt that it has so insolvency at some point seems inevitable. Administration followed possibly

by Liquidation. Due to the debt the TV deal money is critical to keeping Kilmarnock FC trading so to speak and that would be where the chairman is coming from in trying to keep Rangers FC in the SPL. He is only looking after the best interests of Kilmarnock.

Rangers wanted to go into Division 3 because they will still have a winning team there. The worst fate that they could have suffered would be to remain in the SPL with a massive points deduction, transfer bans and fines etc. Their fans could not have stood being uncompetitive in the SPL with Celtic romping away with the title.

So you are not really hurting Rangers by putting them in league 3. They have just been given a cause and an axe to grind.

It is staggering that St Johnstone can offer superior contract terms to the likes of Beattie, Hasselbank and Vine when their core home support is around 2000.

That gives you an idea of the cash crisis that Killie are facing not helped by having an ill conceived loss making hotel hanging round the clubs neck.

Although people say that they want the chairman out nobody has yet come up with any alternative suggestions as to who can come in and deal any better with the debt how we can get people back into Rugby Park. Kenny

Shiels shouldn’t have to be travelling round pubs to get people to support the team. The community needs to decide as to whether they want a senior football club or not. If they do they need to come along to the home games.

Regards H.B. Hippo says – Many thanks for getting in touch and you make a lot of valid points. It seems there are a number of fans who, for the long term good, feel its best to keep money from MJ. Others feel they must still support the club even though they want rid of our chairman. Either way it’s good Killie fans who genuinely want the best for the club….they just have different views on how to do it.

With regards our long term sustainability I’m reliably informed by several business chums that we will not go into liquidation although administration can’t be ruled out. I share your concerns and the sooner we have a “proper” structure to the club the sooner we can start to believe that we do have a long term future.

You may already have heard about the Killie Trust’s Community Ownership plan…..that is something you will be hearing a lot more about in the coming weeks and it’s something we need EVERYONE to get on board with. >>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>

 

        



TRUST INTERVIEW My old mate Baz was recently asked to do an interview on a whole range of issues relating to his beloved Killie. Here is the interview in full with Baz giving both his own views as a fan and answering a few with his Killie Trust hat on: Being one of the clubs with the unfortunate geographical position of being stuck next to Glasgow, how are you going to cope without the visit of the large traveling support that Rangers bring to Rugby Park?

We’ve not been in the top six that much of late therefore at most we’ve had one or two visits from Rangers, although we were due two home games against them this year. The Dundee support helped make up for the first fixture, although not in its entirety, and season ticket sales are reportedly up, but we still have to hope that the average attendance from home fans increases to fully compensate.

That said, we don’t get the numbers through the away gate but we have a lot less to pay out in regards security and police fees etc. and in recent seasons the numbers of travelling fans from Glasgow has fallen away…and the “Armageddon” never came about with the TV which was only reduced by 10%, from which if we get a more commensurate share plus a cut of the YouTube money things are not as bad as they have been portrayed.

You had a very commendable attendance in your opening home match versus Dundee, but such a crowd is hardly sustainable. When the "sell-out Saturday" euphoria, slightly better weather and away fan numbers start to decline as the year heads into winter, what can Killie do to generate interest and revenue in a fairly apathetic local population?

The same things as always, while the current regime remain in charge. Our commendable attendance was purely down to the Dundee support, when you look at the figures in comparison to last season the number of Killie fans remained much the same, we appear to have encouraged walk up fans to buy up season books up front which no doubt helps in the short term but could hinder us later in the season if the revenue dries up. The club campaigned by

using the coach and players to call around Killie fans and encourage them to buy, but they didn’t target any new blood which was a mistake in my eyes.

Our fans are apathetic about the game in general due mainly to three factors…our own club being run in a dictatorial fashion by the majority shareholder who does not engage with the fans and apparently has none of the gravitas or skill sets needed to move the club’s fortunes in an upward direction; the failure of the powers-that-be to retain any sort of dignity while shamelessly pandering to the old firm teams (especially Rangers in recent weeks); and finally general boredom at the league structure and game in Scotland which is failing to deliver at so many levels, again which can be attributed to the likes of Regan, Doncaster and their old school tie brigade who see change only as a necessary evil.

Surely it is quite galling to see the manager of a side that won a national competition having to go around the pubs of Kilmarnock to get people interested in their team and encouraging them to renew season tickets?

It was the managers idea so only he could tell you if he found it galling or not. He fully understands that Ayrshire is steeped in “history” and Kilmarnock FC suffer as a result of failing to deliver the correct level of bigotry required to be accepted by much of the local populace…as the area of Northern Ireland he comes from (Magherafelt) is very similar. He is probably still reeling more from his sons statement when he joined Rangers that he was a fan of the club and from a Rangers “stronghold” in his native country…that after Kenny praised him for joining Kilmarnock for “football reason” and not money. Way to kick your dad in the proverbials.

Do you feel that the triumph of "sporting integrity" has the potential to become a Pyrrhic victory?

A victory for integrity, sporting or otherwise, should not be hailed as Pyrrhic. Without the integrity what have we got? Fixed leagues with results that are foregone conclusions and teams that can merit reward or promotion based not on how they perform in their field but on how many supporters they can attract and how much money they can bring to the table. The term “sporting integrity” has been banded around far too frequently and misused far too often by people who do not have a clue what its even all about, they are just repeating what they read in the popular press and expressing opinions based on the calculated ramblings from the succulent lamb school

of journalism. I have no doubt that there is an undercurrent of malice and ill feeling towards Rangers and their fans, you reap what you sew after all, and there was always going to be an element of revenge in the conclusion of events…but that’s just giving the likes of Charles Green the ammunition to try and act like the wounded party here and create a siege mentality to try and get the wheels back on the bigot bandwagon and ensure himself a tidy little earner in the near future when he cashes out and leaves the Rangers fans on their uppers yet again. They’ll never learn…I doubt some of them they even want to.

What do you feel about your chairman's stance towards the Rangers newco issue?

My own feeling is that he was totally hedging his bets and trying to keep Rangers fans onside so they would not boycott Rugby Park. He claimed what he was doing by abstaining from the vote was his “fiduciary duty” to the company where he is the chairman, majority shareholder and sole director (duty to himself then?) when it was abundantly clear with Rangers already promising to boycott every away ground and so many clubs stating that they were voting against them being readmitted to the SPL, that it was not in the interest of our club to go it alone and chance boycotts from all the other clubs as well. He claims he had his reasons and cannot make them public, I don’t think anyone will be surprised by that as it would be admitting a massive own goal as it was the last straw for many Killie fans who felt they were being treated as stupid with statements being released that were blatantly playing fast and loose with statistics. It was the latest in a long line of gaffes by Michael Johnston, potentially his coup de grâce if you will. It has been a very steep learning curve for him coming from a small solicitors firm to the hot seat at the Theatre of Pies and to be fair he’s had his moments which we have praised, but with no personal fortune, an inability or unwillingness to integrate with the fan base and no board of directors to support him he presides over a football club that has a structure which has proved unsustainable…and its doesn’t look like he wants to change things.

What are your hopes for Killie in the next few years - mere survival or progression?

The Killie Trust are in the process of setting up a fund to bring about community ownership for the club. That is the long term goal and there will be a lot of hurdles to get over along the way but it could be viewed as the

only kind of progression that we can make which will make a real difference to our team and our community. If we manage to achieve this in the next few years than that will ensure our survival at the very least, but we will have to bring together the fans, local business and the local authority to ensure any real progression both on and off the park. Running the club in a sustainable fashion might not sound very sexy but we won’t be winning anything if there is no club in the first place.

Let’s stop pitching survival as a negative, not everyone can win trophies and a lot of people will be happy just to have a club to go and watch football at with their friends and families.

Yes, it is fantastic to bring home silverware, but its all the sweeter for fans of clubs like Killie as we don’t have any expectations, we have belief, we have hope and we have faith…and these are things you simply cannot buy. >>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>

COMMUNITY OWNERSHIP GROUP (COG) I’ve no doubt you will have read somewhere about the Killie Trust initiative to set up a fund that will ultimately see the fans/community have a 51% majority of shares. A meeting was held for Trust members after the Motherwell game and COG was unanimously agreed as the way forward.

There isn’t a great deal of information in this issue as we are only setting out what may be a very long journey. I can assure you that in future issues I’ll be giving huge coverage to this whole issue and you will be so sick of reading it you’ll want to smack me in the chops……even more so than you do now.

All things being equal I will have some FAQ’s in the next issue that will help make things a lot clearer for everyone. I would like to address one misconception about the whole community ownership issue. In effect all that we are aiming to change is the shareholding so the majority of the shares is held by the people with the club at heart. When we finally get the change the board will be made up of people with the required skills to drive the club forward e.g. business folk, fan representatives, council representation and perhaps the odd billionaire……..everything we don’t have just now.



Music, Killie and Me....

Part 2 The last time I wrote about 1993…a special time to be a Killie fan in that we were back in the big time, and I wrote about how music and football so often went hand in hand in remembering periods of your life. I’m sure there are a few…in fact I know there are a few aging punks out there who’ll connect a pumping at Stranraer with a late night pogo at the Grand Hall (or wherever you aging punks hung about). Unfortunately (or fortunately) I’m far too young and handsome to go back that far so you’ll have to bear with me as I talk you through my years growing up as a Killie fan. And where else to continue but with a year we’ll never forget.

1997.....A strange year to be a Killie fan.

We were by no means….well…good in season 96/97. A constant battle with relegation meant we started ’97 with a caretaker manager in the rotund shape of my hero from ’93, Bobby Williamson. To be fair it wasn’t a great start for him and we were rank rotten at the start of the year, but somehow we managed to string a few decent results together in the cup, including a memorable game at Morton featuring a cracking John Henry hat-trick and another good win away to Clyde, which featured the most blatant stonewall penalty ever, which Wright converted to send us through.

Happy days, indeed. Though with our league form some thought we’d be the first team to be relegated and win the cup in the same season….

While all this was happening though, I was busy being an annoyance of a 16 year old, and like most 16 year olds at the time, my life revolved round the football and Oasis, with the arse end of my education flitting in between.

Oasis truly were a phenomenon, quite simply, a life affirming band for a generation, in the mould of The Smiths, Sex Pistols, Led Zeppelin that all came before them.

I now know I’ve lost most of you as there’ll always be this animosity towards them but for most of the 90’s generation they really were amazing.

Sadly ’97 was the year it perhaps started to unravel for them.

Off the back of the critically and commercially successful, What’s the Story… in ‘95 and two record breaking shows at Knebworth in ’96, it seemed the brothers Gallagher could do no wrong, and that was still the case when their third album, Be Here Now became the fastest selling British record of all time in ’97. I remember when the first single off it, D’You Know What I Mean, was getting its first play on Top of the Pops and staying in to record it on video. I remember getting the album home and the first listen through, the joy in the sing along chorus’ of It’s Getting Better Man, My Big Mouth and All Around the World.

Unfortunately for us fans, the critic’s love affair with them quickly wore off and within a few months and a few listens the knives were out. Overblown, overproduced and far too long were just some of the criticisms levelled at it, and in hindsight it’s probably true. Although it still has some high points and brings back some great memories, Be Here Now pretty sums up the whole Britpop era in a little over an hour, and from then on, Oasis never really had that same sense of invincibility that they had before. They were victims of their own success and the growing plaudits from the years before, coupled with visits with Tony Blair and the front pages of magazines, unfortunately, went to their heads and contributed to their demise.

Oasis will always be “that band” for a lot of us though, and gave us some great memories during the 90’s but ’97 heralded a wave of great albums that opened our eyes. The Verve’s, Urban Hymns, Radiohead’s, OK Computer and The Prodigy with Fat of the Land , to name but three, all came out this year and looking back, (definitely?) maybe ’97 was the year that my music tastes widened and moved on. It was certainly the year of my first gig proper, the aforementioned Prodigy at the soulless vacuum of the SECC. Proper mind-blowing stuff it was. That may have had something to do with the cans of Super me and my mates drank in the St Enoch’s centre car park all the same.

Back to the reality of the football though, and Killie’s Scottish cup bandwagon rolled on. A semi-final with high flying Dundee Utd beckoned and due to the Hampden refurb was played out over two nights at Easter Road. No one really fancied us and Utd were flying and hadn’t been beaten for ages so we were never really given much chance, but as we all know we proved them wrong.

Neither game a classic, the first a 0-0 bore draw which has very little memorable to recall, apart from a mini-bus journey home in which I held in a pee for what seemed a world record time, and the second a 1-0 win, Jimmy Mac tucking in from close range after a ball was fired in from the wing. Cue Easter Road going mental. This took us to our first Scottish cup final since Jesus wore short trousers and surprisingly, we would be facing Falkirk, after they knocked out Tommy Burns’ Celtic, and off to Ibrox we went.

Again it was far from a classic for the neutral. The first half was what the pundits would call “cagey”, with no real chances and the first division team holding their own up until the 20th minute anyway. Mark Reilly with corner, Macgowne with a flick, and Paul Wright sclaffing it home from about 10 yards. History made. After that we seemed pretty content to hold what we had, a trait that would become all too familiar under Williamson in the future, and it became a bit of a slog. We had another chance later on but the long limbed Andy Gray put in an amazing run and tackle to stop Macintyre in the box, just before he pulled the trigger. Falkirk also had a goal (quite rightly) chopped off with 5 minutes to go, Oliver, about 5 yards offside, smashing it home. At least that’s how I remember it. That was that then.

After only a few months in charge, Bobby Williamson had led us to glory and himself into the History books, along with names of Lekovic, Burke, Bagan Holt, Kerr etc etc. A day none of us will forget, John Finnie street jam packed with thousands and decked out Blue and White. Amazing scenes and ones we’ll probably never see on that scale again. The season ended on a high for us, well as high as avoiding relegation could be as a Gary Holt header against Aberdeen, gave us the point we needed to keep us up. A great moment for Holt, who was much maligned as a player up till that season I think, and he really kicked on after that and made a great career for himself. .’97 ended with my footballing heroes and musical heroes on different trajectories. The following few years as a Killie fan were great, European nights at RP, top end of the table, packed houses and some fine players coming in and out. Oasis meanwhile put out some run of the mill, turgid stuff, panned by critics and fans alike and as we all got older together, we both knew they would never quite recreate the magic of the mid-90’s. For a while, it felt like Killie would be the same, until a certain rotund Finn came to the club with an unknown Northern Irishman to give him a hand.

No one really expected much but we all know what happens when we’re not really expecting much at Killie. 2012? That’s another year altogether

  Remember how you got your football news in years gone by? A quick scan of the Daily Record in the morning and a bit of Shereen Nanjiani in the evening?

Why, thank you, don’t mind if I do.

Scottish football journalism had a strong tradition – from Archie MacPherson and Hugh McIlvanney to David Francey via grainy pictures of mud-laden pitches and dramatic commentaries filled with ‘whooofs’ and ‘stramashes’. A tradition ingrained in Scottish culture.

Journalism, at its best, is a crucial profession, from Woodward and Bernstein bringing down a president to the MP expenses scandal and The Guardian’s exposé of phone tapping. It shines a light on society’s darkest corners and challenges corruption.

But it has been a summer of shame – full of cringe-inducing losers but peppered with a handful of shining successes - for what was once one of the country’s proudest industries.

But before we look at Scotland’s journalism hall of shame it is worth pausing to celebrate a few notable successes, which give hope that all is not last, despite a traditional print media which is hemorrhaging readers and losing touch with fans.

A shining example of the fact that the mainstream media is not entirely beyond hope is Channel 4’s chief correspondent Alex Thomson, a man who has covered 20 wars, many tragedies and won awards, but who still faced a stream of abuse from Scottish reporters when he dared to come north of the border to investigate the Rangers scandal.

His clear, accurate, unbiased, questioning and fearless blog has been a perfect example of what Scotland’s journalists should have been doing years ago, rather than fawning over two-bit businessmen and accepting crumbs from their table.

Also fighting the good fight despite intense pressure from the mainstream, ‘rogue’ reporter Phil MacGiollabhain may well have been a little too ‘celtic’ for some people’s tastes, but he was setting the agenda and covering the story when most others were denying that the story even existed.

A success, too, which was led by the RangersTaxCase.com blog, a site which essentially broke the story then became the home of informed debate on the matter, leading to a richly deserved Orwell Prize for Online Journalism.

It is also worth giving some credit to the BBC, where Mark Daly’s investigation brought EBTs firmly into the national conscience, and where Richard Gordon, Jim Spence and Stuart Cosgrove have continued to fight the good fight of allowing football fans’ voices to be heard.

But after this short and honorable list of summer successes things start to go horribly wrong, and the BBC is far from immune from the general malaise of protecting the status quo, firmly closing eyes, sticking their fingers in ears and singing ‘la la la’. The loss of the online live commentaries is already sorely missed, particularly by Killie fans left scouring the media for the merest mention of Kenny and his boys.

The fact that it has been replaced by the increasingly chaotic old-boys-clubchumfest that is Open All Mics makes matters even worse. The sound of Richard Gordon attempting to control a crowd of has-been footballers and past-their-sell-by-date reporters as they squabble for airtime leaves bemused Killie fans wondering quite what’s happening every week.

The fact that it’s interspersed with painful in-jokes, woeful footballer nicknames and a herd of ex-players who are terrified to criticise anyone in case they harm their job prospects, really puts a major question mark over the BBC’s coverage.

And of course they remain plagued by the presence of the ‘dynamic’ duo of Chic Young and James Traynor, two dinosaurs of the bygone ‘succulent lamb’ era who have been firm cheerleaders for Rangers’ SPL survival yet find the media landscape shifting under them and diminishing their relevance by the week.

That Traynor, with his usual bluster (and no doubt an insistence that those who disagree with him should go lie down in a darkened room) is still trying to convince us all that he sets the agenda, in radio and in the ever-lessrelevant Daily Record, is the surest sign of all that his influence has all but gone.

Scotland’s newspapers have always lagged behind when it comes to embracing the importance of online news, and one of the clearest messages from this summer is that the print media has struggled to extract itself from its ties to the Old Firm – and readership figures show that fans are deserting the papers in their droves in favour of online.

One thing is clear – the mainstream media has failed Scottish football and its fans.

But the triumphs? From Killie’s own vibrant online community at killiefc.com through to the blogs which have laid Rangers’ excesses bare, it is by wholeheartedly embracing online journalism, reporting and interaction that success has followed.

While the likes of Craig Burley, Young and Traynor have spend the summer talking down to and railing against nutters, bampots and so-called keyboard warriors, they have all failed to take account of one crucial fact.

The very people they have spent the summer attacking are simply the rankand-file Scottish football fans who were once their listeners and readers.

Like a Killie fan searching for news coverage in a newspaper, Scottish supporters have given up on the mainstream media. They’ve gone elsewhere. And more power to them.

TRAVIS Hippo says – Another excellent article from Travis, a man who (anyone get that) knows journalism inside out as well as knowing some of the wallopers who work in the industry. I do believe that many journos have been shown up as OF apologists in recent months and hopefully when things finally calm down a few of them will have departed the media scene.

 

       •   •   •                 

SPL 4/8/12 KILLIE 0 V 0 DUNDEE KILLIE – BELL, O’LEARY, TESSELAR, NELSON, PASCALI, FOWLER, KELLY, JOHNSON (RACCHI 66), HARKINS, DAYTON (BOULDING 66), KENNEDY (MCKENZIE 78) SUBS NOT USED – LETHEREN, FISHER, MCKEOWN + WINCHESTER BOOKED – NONE – PASCA IS GAUN SAFT!!

GOALS – NADA >>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> DUNDEE – DOUGLAS, IRVINE, LOCKWOOD, MCGREGOR, BENEDICTUS, DAVIDSON, MCBRIDE (WEBSTER 76), CONROY, BAIRD, MCALISTAIR, STEWART SUBS NOT USED – BAIRD, MCCLUSKEY, GALLAGHER, REID + MCINTOSH BOOKED – LOCKWOOD + DAVIDSON GOALS – NAH REF – B MADDEN

CROWD - 6523

DICK OF THE DAY – GUY THAT COUNTS CROWD Another season and another dose of ridiculous dicks……sounds like a Channel 4 documentary!! There was great anticipation in advance of the opening Saturday, good to get back to normal after the sheer nonsense we’ve had to endure over the summer months. Dundee were obviously delighted to gain entrance into the world’s worst run league and were boasting they would bring close to 3000 fans. They probably did however something strange was going on with the crowd figures and it was announced they had 1800…….aye and I’m a nine stone fitness freak who has never touched lager and kebabs in my life!! >>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> Dundee’s ancient keeper Rab Douglas got MOTM and rightly so as he kept us out almost single handed. Killie didn’t play too badly however we don’t look like a team that is going to score a shed load of goals. We had the majority of possession and had far more chances than our hard working opponents but we didn’t seem to have a cutting edge. I hope I’m proved wrong but I suspect that is a sentence that could be much repeated unless we manage to bring in another striker.

Heff is out for a couple of months and with Shiels signing for Oblivion FC we have lost our two main goal threats for the time being. I’m remaining positive all the same as there are worse teams than Killie out there.

SPL 11/8/12 INVERNESS 1 V 1 KILLIE INVERNESS – SESSON, KING, WARREN, RAVEN, G SHINNIE, TUDUR-JONES, A SHINNIE (MORRISON 81), DRAPER, DORAN, SUTHERLAND (OSWELL 90), MCKAY (ROSS 67) SUBS NOT USED – MATHIESON, MEEKINGS, POLWORTH + LAING BOOKED – KING SENT OFF – TUDUR-JONES GOALS – A SHINNIE 8 >>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> KILLIE – BELL, O’LEARY, TESSELAR, NELSON, PASCALI, FOWLER, KELLY, JOHNSON, HARKINS (RACCHI 5), DAYTON (MCKENZIE 37), KENNEDY (BOULDING 75) SUBS NOT USED – LETHEREN, PURSEHOUSE, MCKEOWN + WINCHESTER BOOKED – FOWLER GOALS – PASCALI 45 REF – B COLVIN

CROWD - 3012

DICK OF THE DAY – BOOZEHOUND SAMO It was the Howard boozehounds first away jaunt of the season and it was another belter. A glorious sunny day and a run through some of Scotland’s most spectacular scenery….and that was just in the taxi from Bellfield!

It had all the hallmarks of a great day out and we weren’t disappointed. It was fantastic to see big Aldo with the “change the regime” flag in one hand and a 99 cone in the other. The ice cream van did a roaring trade although there is something not right about a cone and a Bovril!

There were several candidates for DOTD including our chairman who we had the misfortune to bump into at Perth services. However the award invlolves the penalty miss and I’m not giving it to Racchi. If you get the chance to see the highlights you will see Samo dancing about like a loony just as Danny is taking the kick. He may be Scotland;s finest scone maker but he probably scared poor Danny and caused him to miss the spot kick…….stick to the kitchen Samo and clean the ice cream from your dish when you’re on the telly. >>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> If you had offered me a point prior to the game I’d probably have grabbed it but in all honesty it’s a game we should probably have won. After a slow start we were the better team and the missed penalty and the failure to capitalize on our domination of the possession cost us two points. That’s us unbeaten in two games but being brutally honest we should be top of the league with six points.

SPL 18/8/12 KILLIE 1 V 2 MOTHERWELL KILLIE – BELL, O’LEARY (DAYTON 76), TESSELAR, NELSON, PASCALI, FOWLER, KELLY, JOHNSON (RACCHI 54), HARKINS, BOULDING, KENNEDY (PEREZ 54) SUBS NOT USED – LETHEREN, PURSEHOUSE, MCKENZIE + WINCHESTER BOOKED – KELLY + NELSON GOALS – HARKINS 30 >>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> MOTHERWELL – RANDOLPH, RAMSDEN (CUMMINS 44), HUTCHINSON, FRANCISANGOL, LASLEY, HUMPHREY (KERR 70), HATELEY, LAW (HETHERINGTON 88), OJAMAA, HIGDON, MURPHY SUBS NOT USED – HOLLIS, CARSWELL, MCHUGH + ERWIN BOOKED – HIGDON + HUTCHINSON GOALS – MURPHY 12 + 37 REF – S FINNIE

CROWD - 4969

DICK OF THE DAY – STEPHEN FINNIE I start every season promising myself that refs will only be a last resort for DOTD as they have a very difficult job blah blah. There are occasions however when the man in the middle is literally screaming out for the award and this plum was one of them. He put in one of those performances where everyone knows the ref is not in control of the game and is struggling to cope at this level of football.

He didn’t make any decisions that cost us the game however he was totally incompetent and almost every fan I spoke to after the game asked the question “what about that f……g ref?”. Killie fans…please be beware the next time you see this walloper is lined up for one of our games. >>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> A hugely frustrating day with our shortcomings there for all to see. Fair play to Motherwell, they probably edged it over the 90 minutes however we had enough possession in the second half, we simply lack a cutting edge in the final third. I suspect the smaller squad is going to cost us over the season especially during the hard winter months. O’Leary ain’t a right back, Pasca would be better in front of the defence and we need someone who is going to get us at least 15 goals. Heffernan may well do if he gets fit but other than that I don’t see where the goals are coming from.

ď€ƒ

Engineering Tools & Consumables etc..... is a customer focused engineering supplies and service provider based in Kilmarnock.

Our team of experienced and dedicated staff will respond pro-actively to meet our customer's

requirements.

etc..... provide a total engineering service for our valued clients both old and new.

Contact Details ETC Limited 48 Glebe Road Kilmarnock KA1 3DL Tel: 01563 523111 Fax: 01563 526888 Email: sandy@etc.sc Website: www.etc.sc

                            

                                

                                     