KILLIE HIPPO AN UNOFFICIAL KILLIE FANZINE DECEMBER 2020
A KILLIE LEGEND
• THE KILLIE HOTSEAT • A WORRYING CLUB UPDATE • HOW IT ALL BEGAN
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SHOOTING FROM THE HIPPO Firstly let me apologise for the lateness of this issue. It should have been out the week before Xmas but things have been difficult at Hippo Towers for various reasons and the fanzine had to take a back seat. I do hope you have all had as good a Xmas as possible in the circumstances and here’s hoping we all get the jab ASAP so we can get back to some sort of hospitality. As we have said before this is a very difficult time for many so please don’t suffer in silence. I’m always happy to chat especially about the famous Killie…..email me at killiehippo@aol.com anytime. It’s been a frankly disastrous month or more for Killie and we can barely score a goal never mind win a game. We are tumbling down the table and if fans were in the stadia I fancy management, players and board would be getting severe grief. AD’s stats are simply not good enough and in a results driven business I’m afraid he should be gone by now. The support appears to be massively in agreement that a new boss is needed although in our financial situation I fancy it would be a case of give someone the hotseat until the end of the season and see how it goes from there. Of course the players have to take their share of the blame but they do look very low in confidence and although some are in the paper saying they back the manager, the performances suggest a fresh face and fresh ideas are badly needed. Our main front two are way off form, the midfield changes game by game and the lack of minutes for Mulumbu is baffling. Get him played to get his fitness up and he might be the one that can keep us up however if there is an issue there get him off the wage bill as he is probably the highest earner. The lack of youngsters coming through is another worry and the average of the main squad is too high. Young Connell is on loan at Airdrie and doing well apparently but Cameron is getting little game time at Scumerset and the likes of young Taylor get on the bench without getting any time on the pitch. Perhaps the biggest worry of all is our financial situation and I’m sure other clubs have a similar problem. It looks like fans won’t be in this season so all season tickets will be valid for next season. That means negligible income form ST’s this summer and if BB and Phyllis’s business ventures are affected by Covid I suspect there will come a time when they no longer put money in…..so what happens then?? We wrote an article a few months back about a scheme for fans to put in a monthly amount purely to help the club’s drop in income so we will do a full article on that next month. Relegation would be a total disaster for the club but that is where we are heading on current form. The racist letter to AD story has just broken so we will know more for the next issue but we stand side by side with AD on this issue. The guilty party should be swinging by his wobblies from the floodlights……..total scumbag. outstanding in this issue. Sandy
THE KILLIE HOTSEAT Around the mid-season point we always have a wee look at the managerial situation at each club in the Premiership. I was going to start this article but on the same day Gary Holt announced he was resigning at Livi so I gave it a couple of weeks to see how things developed. There were a couple of bosses coming under pressure like Lennon at Celtic, Kettlewell at Ross County and dare I say it Dyer at Killie. As a result I was frightened to start writing the article as the likelihood was I’d be made to look stupid (even more so than normal) with the probability of more managerial changes. Lennon has sort of turned things around with a few wins however McGregor at Ross County ran out of patience after a home defeat to Hamilton and the manager went in front of the TV cameras to announce he had been bagged…..a surreal interview. There were no signs of any messing about from McGregor with lengthy interview processes and time wasting to find the “right person”. They have had a plan B all along should the manager leave and Yogi was announced two days later. I do hope that Killie follow a similar path when we make our next managerial appointment. Anyway all these shenanigans meant I was still fiddling about wondering whether I should do the manager article with so much going on. In the midst of all this Killie were getting progressively worse and never mind winning games, we can’t score goals which will make it pretty tricky to get three points from anywhere. The fans are getting angrier by the week as we plummet down the table and it’s hard to find any defence for the manager. You normally get a fairly even split with the fans at times like this but it’s hard to find anyone wanting AD to stay….his stats are atrocious. Anyway the article was firmly hit on the head when the racist scandal hit the media so we’ll just give our thoughts on the Killie manager situation.
Let’s rewind over a year and when Angelo was punted and AD was given the role as caretaker it was seen as a move that would bring some stability. We were sitting in 5th but had been on a poor run and it was no secret that things weren’t very harmonious between management and (some) players. It is NEVER a healthy situation when players are dictating to the club so perhaps we should have seen the warning signs way back then. Dyer’s caretaker spell was bad with no wins and culminated in a desperate display in Paisley when it could have been a 8-0 gubbing and we couldn’t have moaned. Amazingly he was given the job on a permanent basis a few days later and the general feeling was he should never have been given the job but lets give him our full support as we all genuinely wanted him to do well. There have been times when we have looked ok but in general we are poor and very rarely look like a goal threat especially in the last couple of months. We have heard comments from players that they were happy with AD getting the gig and they were all fighting for the cause but that doesn’t even look the case now and rumours persist that some players aren’t too happy. Not so long ago we had Brophy and Findlay in the national squad but both have been a shadow of their former selves this season and I fancy they need a fresh face in to get back to their best. If you have read Cathy’s club update you will realise the financial situation isn’t great and that is a probable factor when BB assesses the hotseat occupant. With very little income to look forward to in the coming months and little or no ST income in the summer I genuinely fear for our current situation……more on this in the next issue. As I was about to send the fanzine to our extensive IT department news broke about the racist letter to AD. We’ll write more about this in the next issue but it goes without saying that we hope the fud is caught and never enters a football stadium for the rest of his days. This is a diabolical act but is separate from the managerial situation although it will impact on the boards thinking…..I fear for us if AD is here all season!!
MCCOOL LETS LOOSE PART ONE MCCOOL ON.... MOTHERWELL AWARDED TWO COVID WINS.. ... SPFL? GTF!!! Let's be clear from the get-go that these opinions have nothing to do with my footballing allegiances. They would be the exact same, regardless of the clubs involved. No, these opinions have their roots in the fact that the SPFL could only exist in Scotland. That, along with the SNP, they are the biggest rag tag joke outfit ever to be in power in this country and that it's amazing Scottish football even still has a game with this crowd running the show. Motherwell awarded two 3-0 wins at the expense of St Mirren and Kilmarnock, because both clubs were unable to fulfil fixtures against the Steelmen as a result of positive covid 19 tests?? The grounds for this nonsense being, that Kilmarnock broke protocols on the team bus and at a squad meeting, whilst St Mirren players were car sharing and failing to socially distance properly at training. Presumably, had their players all gone boozing in a city centre after a game like Aberdeen's did, or swanned of to Spain like Celtic's Boli Bolingoli, when both actions breached just about every single rule in place at the time, we'd be pencilling in replay dates for the two outstanding matches. How can even Doncaster and Co. fail to see inconsistencies like this right under their noses? Who am I kidding? If inconsistency was a person sitting next to them wearing a name badge, they'd still fail to spot it because this latest batch of half wittery sums them up to a tee. How is it fair on either Kilmarnock or St Mirren that their season is affected by the loss of three goals each and the potential of three more point? How is it fair on Hamilton or St Johnstone, who will now, rightly, feel that they should have been awarded 3-0 wins over Aberdeen.
And how is it fair on ANYONE that a rival club has had it's statistics boosted by six points and six goals, without kicking a ball? How is right that Celtic will still get to play the game they missed due to Bolingoli's galavanting? Not that anyone in the top division should expect too much sympathy, mind you. Especially from Hearts, Partick Thistle and Stranraer, who were relegated when football was curtailed in March, at which time, they still had eight games to save themselves. You were holding the parcel when the music stopped, so be good sports and down you go!! You couldn't make it up! Contrast all of this with the proper joined up thinking of other countries. While the English were playing out the remainder of last season's games behind closed doors, we were too busy with court hearings and recriminations, as we lurched from one chaotic megamix to another. Now we blame impending fixture jams for the decision to award results by a show of hands in a boardroom. Once again, you couldn't write it. The final league table used to be a template for where every club deserved to be, with financial rewards to match that. Due to the precedent that has been set here, that's gone for a burton now, just as it did last season, unless of course, the powers that be decided to change their tune again, which should surprise nobody if it happens. Will Scottish football ever just be normal and ordinary, with no big dark political cloud hanging over it? We'd need to vote on it first if the question is ever asked. >>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> Hippo says – Thanks McCool for another straight-talking article on the latest farce from an organisation that needs binned at the first opportunity. I won’t get involved in the political side of things, but the punishment dished out to both Killie and St Mirren is nothing short of disgraceful and football fans from other countries must be looking on in disbelief. Teams in every other country appear to have the support of their football authorities to support them through the pandemic whilst ours indulge in witch hunts at a time when we should all be pulling together. I’m delighted to see Killie and the Buddies are appealing their respective punishments, but I don’t hold out much hope that the “independent” panel will reverse the decision of their puppet masters.
HOW IT ALL BEGAN (from Scottishleaguehistory.com) We can rightfully claim to be the oldest professional club in the land however there were loads of folk beavering away in the 19th century to get some proper organised football up and running in Scotland. You may be surprised to learn that we weren’t involved in the initial organised structure…..here is a superbly well informed piece on the beginnings of Scottish football….read more at Scottishleaguehistory.com:
How it all Began The Early Beginnings In the 1860s, so the story goes, a group of young men, mainly from Argyllshire and beyond, regularly gathered on Saturday afternoons in a corner of Queen’s Park in Glasgow for sport and recreation amongst themselves. These men were said to have been well educated and had migrated from the Highlands to Glasgow in search of work away from toiling on the land or the burden of heavy industry. It was in the white-collar field of administration these men were employed. Given that they had all come from similar areas it was only natural that they banded together in friendship and through recreation. Looking for something different to occupy their free Saturday afternoons, they came across an evolving game called association football. This was a version of rugby football but with the major difference that the game was played with a round ball instead of an oval one. Association football was mainly played in English public schools and universities and the rules varied from school to school. In 1863 the Football Association was formed and adopted the “Cambridge Rules”, which became the “London Rules”; thereafter all member clubs played under a uniform set of rules. In the north of England, however, clubs played under a slightly different set of rules known as the “Sheffield Rules”. It was not until 1877 that a completely uniform set of rules was formally adopted across the whole of the United Kingdom.
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The friends therefore decided to try out this “new” game and in 1867 formed themselves into a club called Queen’s Park Football Club. Whilst much enjoyment was experienced and, indeed, people started to watch the men play this “new” sport, it soon became apparent that playing amongst themselves was not enough so they started to look for other opponents. Initially, this took the form of public challenges against other sporting clubs to play against Queen’s Park under the rules they had drawn up and then a series of exhibition games took place in an effort to spread the game. Gradually, over the next 5 years, other clubs were formed. These varied from participants of other sporting activities such as athletics and cricket clubs looking for a sport to occupy the winter months, villagers banding together to form a team, through to factory workers’ teams and even army volunteer groups. Swimming clubs, rowing clubs and YMCA clubs had all dabbled in association football. By the early 1870s things were looking rather bleak for Queen’s Park and for the establishment of association football in Scotland. The difficulty in persuading teams not to handle the ball made finding opponents hard. However, the publicity of several events suddenly changed the overall outlook. In 1870 Queen’s Park joined the Football Association and in 1871 contributed one guinea towards the cost of purchasing a cup. The F. A. Challenge Cup was launched for the 1871/72 season. Queen’s Park entered the inaugural competition and were exempted from playing until the semifinals where they were drawn against the Wanderers. The tie, played in London, ended goalless but a lack of funds meant they could not remain for the replay and had to scratch i.e. forfeit the match. This sparked interest, particularly in Dunbartonshire, with 6 new clubs including: Dumbarton, Renton and Vale of Leven; and Glasgow with 7 new clubs including: Clydesdale, Rangers and Third Lanark Rifle Volunteers. In November 1872 the first International football match between Scotland and England took place at Hamilton Crescent, Glasgow. Scotland was entirely represented by players from Queen’s Park and, although England were clear favourites, they played out a creditable goalless draw. This sparked another surge of interest and more teams were formed during 1873, including over 20 in Glasgow alone.
March 1873 saw representatives of Queen’s Park, Clydesdale, Dumbreck, Eastern, Granville, Third Lanark and Vale of Leven attend a meeting and form the Scottish Football Association. Kilmarnock did not attend but sent a message of support. At the end of the meeting a statement was issued: “The clubs here represented form themselves into an association for the promotion of football according to the rules of The Football Association and that the clubs connected with this association subscribe for a challenge cup to be played annually, the committee to propose the laws of the competition.” Other clubs soon became members and a subscription for a trophy raised £56 12s 11d. That trophy is still used today and is the oldest trophy still competed for in the world of football. 16 teams entered the competition that began in October 1873 with Queen’s Park becoming the first winners after defeating Clydesdale 2-0 in the final, held on March 1874. After a five-year struggle to establish the new game, suddenly the concept grew legs and by the end of the decade 140 teams competed for the 1879/80 Scottish Cup. During this period local associations began to form and with it then launch their own competitions. First off the mark was the Edinburgh Football Association, formed in 1875 and with it the Edinburgh Cup. The Ayrshire Football Association (Ayrshire Cup) followed in 1877 with the Renfrewshire Football Association (Renfrewhire Cup) next, a year later. The Lanarkshire Football Association and Cup was formed in 1879. Unsurprisingly Queen’s Park were the dominant team in Scotland and won the first three Scottish Cups – Clydesdale, Renton and Third Lanark, respectively, the beaten finalists. This dominance was about to be challenged though it would not come from Glasgow but from the Dunbartonshire villages of Alexandria (Vale of Leven), Dumbarton and Renton. Vale of Leven knocked out Queen’s Park in the quarter-finals of the fourth edition and carried on to win that seasons competition, as well as the next two, thereby emulating Queen’s Park. Rangers, Third Lanark and Rangers, respectively, the beaten finalists. Stung by their lack of success in the Scottish Cup (although they did win the first two editions of the newly launched Glasgow Merchants’ Charity Cup), Queen’s Park reasserted their authority by winning the next three Scottish Cups, Thornliebank, Dumbarton and Dumbarton again being the beaten finalists. They also won the Charity Cup twice in that period.
The early 1880s saw football across Scotland continue to grow. This can be demonstrated that by 1881 the north-eastern area of Glasgow had enough interest and support to form the Glasgow North Eastern Football Association and with it its own cup competition. 1882 saw the Fifeshire Football Association formed and in 1883 Forfarshire and Stirlingshire followed suit. Until this point Glasgow’s football interests were effectively administered by the SFA but this had now become too onerous for them and the Glasgow Football Association was formed in 1883. Surprisingly, however, for one reason or another, they did not launch their own cup competition until 1887. In 1884 another three association and cup competitions were launched – Dunbartonshire, Linlithgowshire and Perthshire. During the mid 1880s Queen’s Park once more entered the FA Cup in England and in 1884 went all the way to the final where they lost out narrowly, 2-1, to Blackburn Rovers. They repeated the feat the following year, again losing out to Blackburn Rovers, this time by 2-0. In the 1885/86 season Queen’s Park were joined by Heart of Midlothian, Partick Thistle, Rangers and Third Lanark but none progressed further than the Second Round. The next season saw Cowlairs and Renton also participate. Hearts and Queen’s Park fell in the first round and Third Lanark in the second. In the third round Cowlairs lost out to Rangers, and Renton, who defeated holders Blackburn Rovers in the previous round, lost to Preston North End. Partick Thistle defeated Cliftonville of Ireland 11-0 in the third round and eventually lost out in the fifth round but Rangers reached the semi-finals, losing out to Aston Villa by 3-0. This was the last time Scottish clubs played in the FA Cup as the SFA, perceiving a threat to their own competition, banned Scottish clubs from participating in the FA Cup from season 1887/88 onwards. Background Football in Scotland in the 1880s grew year on year, not only by participants but also by those willing to pay to watch. Although there was a lot of fluidity at this time as clubs folded for one reason or another, these were replaced by other clubs that were formed.
The only real competitive matches were Scottish Cup ties and local cup games, “ordinary” matches – games that nowadays are classed as friendlies; filled the rest of the season’s calendar. Interest in these ordinary games fluctuated depending on the level of the opposition and an early exit from a cup competitions could often lead to “blank” Saturdays i.e. a Saturday without a game because a fixture could not be arranged. Scotland also started to lose players to England and this “poaching” of players was starting to cause serious concerns amongst most Scottish clubs. At this time football clubs in both Scotland and England was amateur. Players were not paid for playing football but expenses for loss of earnings was permitted. Mostly players stayed with a particular club because it was local and close to their place of work. However, if a player moved area in order to secure a better-paid job it often led to a change of club particularly if he was of a certain standard. Clubs in the towns and cities, although not immune, had a better chance of holding on to their better players than those in the counties due to the higher availability of employment. Movement of players between Scottish clubs was frequent but at least they stayed in Scotland, the loss of players to England was not welcome. Scotland had become a nursery for the clubs in the industrial north of England – the prospect of better-paid employment being the incentive. If the prospects of better-paid employment alone was really the case then things might have stabilised, but for "amateurism" read “shamateurism”; as the more ambitious clubs in both countries were increasingly coming up with more ingenious ways to effectively pay players. To the clubs who could afford to pay players, amateurism was just a veneer and unless it was blatant the authorities were largely impotent. The not so urban myth was that clubs had two sets of account books, one for the SFA and one containing the real accounts. Furthermore, the clubs themselves rarely called each other out for fear of being exposed for doing the same thing. The game changer came in 1885, when the FA in England could no longer hide the hypocrisy and accepted the inevitable and legalised professional football.
Attempts for Scottish football to follow suit failed repeatedly. The SFA, driven by Queen’s Park, refused to endorse professionalism and were ably supported by the press. They held the view that “professionalism" was a dirty word, that football was an amateur sport that should remain pure in Scotland, and they backed the SFA’s stance with an almost evangelic attitude. In some ways, this attitude bordered on bigotry given the majority of players came from a working class background employed in menial through to heavy industrial and dangerous mining tasks, they should not have the opportunity to better themselves. The middle class administered football, the press was middle class and the working man should know his place and do as he was told. And yet the irony of the situation was lost on the administrators and the press – they complained about the loss of talent yet refused to accept the solution. English football at this time was the same as Scotland – the season comprised of national and local cup competitions “filled-out” by ordinary fixtures and the randomness this entailed with clubs having to arrange fixtures amongst themselves. From a professional aspect a more formal structure was needed if clubs were to survive and, more importantly, make a profit. In early 1888, William McGregor, an exiled Scot and director of Aston Villa FC based in Birmingham, formulated a plan that would guarantee clubs a set number of fixtures throughout the season. It would take the form of a league and each member club would play each other twice, home and away, with the winners of this competition becoming champions. McGregor wrote to other clubs, mainly based in the northwest and midlands of England and invited them to discuss his plan. In April 1888 the Football League was formally adopted with 12 member clubs and the first season kicked off in September of that year. The Football League was such a success that the following season saw three regional leagues being formed in England, the Alliance League, the Midland League and the Northern League. This, in effect, exacerbated the problem of Scottish players leaving for England. Such was their reputation for being skilful footballers, that this made the demand for Scottish players even higher and reached a point where there was a high disproportionate amount of Scots playing football in England. This reputation was not unfounded.
Between the first recognised international in 1872 and 1890, 19 annual matches had been played between the two countries. Scotland had won 11 of them losing only three times. Despite the loss of players, Scottish football was still flourishing. By 1890 another 4 regional associations had been established – Aberdeenshire (1887), Clackmannanshire (1887), Wigtownshire (1889) and Banffshire (1890). This meant there were now 17 regional associations covering just about the whole of the country and this had an impact on the Scottish Cup. The first competition in 1873 saw just 16 clubs enter, by the 1888/89 season a record 162 clubs entered. In season 1876/77, the draw for the early rounds became regionalised, thus clubs in local associations were drawn against each other. The upside to this was local clubs faced each other, thereby cutting down on travel time and expenses; the downside was that two top regional teams could meet in the first round with one inevitably knocked out. This left the loser, relying on a decent cup run for fixtures, with empty fixture dates in their calendar – and a potential reduction to their finances. It is often reported in the press today that the SFA is a collection of self interested parties with those who shout loudly and often enough getting their way mostly to the detriment of the game as a whole. It was no different 130 years ago as it is today. In the late 1880s and early 1890s there was a clear demarcation between the successful and ambitious clubs (supported by those clubs who had pretensions of joining them) and those who were content to survive and trundle along as social clubs. Presiding over all this was Queen’s Park who believed that as the founders and introducers of association football into Scotland, they were the sole arbiters of all that was good for the game. The battle lines were now drawn. In early 1890, Renton, one of Scotland’s top clubs, made it known that they would push for qualifying rounds in the Scottish Cup. The top clubs in each region would be exempt from the early rounds. Renton had previous with this proposal. Two years earlier they demanded that a qualifying round be introduced for the Dunbartonshire Cup. On that occasion they did not get the required support and the proposal was defeated. Renton withdrew from the competition as a result and did not play in it again until 1894. When this plan became publicly known, the sporting press were fully supportive as they saw it as a way to spike any attempt to form a league. They urged the SFA to get behind any such proposal. Anything that would halt a league and by extension, professionalism was a good thing in their eyes. How dare the working class aspire to better themselves!
CATHY’S CLUB UPDATE (A BIT WORRYING) Welcome to the December Director’s Update where once again I aim to let you know about some of the key developments in the Club and give some information on what is happening behind the scenes, while we can’t come together at matches in the stadium.
Update on Covid-19
The impact of Covid-19 continues to be felt by clubs across Scotland, and Kilmarnock is no different in feeling the impact of loss of revenue, while fans are unable to attend matches. At this point in time we are heading towards a significant loss for the financial year, and have continued on the business side to prioritise doing as much as we can to bring money in.
The Board is grateful to the Killie Trust for continued financial input which, along with personal commitments of finance from Billy Bowie and Phyllis McLeish, has ensured that we can continue to function. We are also immensely grateful to the fans who bought season passes, made purchases in the Killie Shop and/or Killie Club, used Pay-per-View, became shareholders or added to their shares, and subscribed to the Killie Cares Fund, all of which has helped see us through difficult times. The Scottish Government has indicated that there will be some funding for football made available, although for Premiership clubs this would be in form of loans. We have no further information on this but hope to hear the detail soon. We were disappointed by the outcome of the SPFL tribunal regarding Covid-19 breaches. We were pleased that it was accepted that our stadium arrangements were acceptable. However, the Club ultimately accepted that by following, in good faith, the general Scottish Government guidelines regarding bus seating and matchday meal seating in hotels while travelling to away match, this was not as a whole in line with what SPFL specifically required. We have asked that the SPFL revise and update guidance to all clubs, as we believe others had been following the same procedures. The Club was particularly disappointed at the sanctions imposed as we believe these were not proportionate, and we have submitted an appeal. We do not have a confirmed date for the Appeal hearing as yet.We have regular monitoring and review of our Covid protocols, which involves the Club Secretary, Health and Safety Officer, Club Doctor, Club Safety Officer, Safety Officer and Stadium staff, with update advice issued to players and staff on a weekly basis.
Route Map for fans' return to football
Since my last report, we are not any nearer to seeing fans return to the stadium. Directors have participated in calls with the SPFL on discussions with Scottish Government to try to establish a route map for this, particularly given the limited return of fans in EPL. Billy Bowie and I held a Zoom meeting with local elected representatives involving the main political parties and covering UK and Scottish Parliaments and East Ayrshire Council. As well as briefing them on the current position in relation to KFC, we sought their support to raise the issue and seek to find a way forward which would give a clearer indication of when and how fans may be able to return. This is particularly important as we move into the new year, when we would normally be starting to plan for the following season and our season ticket campaign. As things stand, we would face significant financial issues if fans were not able to return at all this season. All of the representatives fully understood the wider impact on the community as well as on the football club itself.
Fan Satisfaction Survey
Thank you to the 393 fans who took the time to complete the Club Fan Satisfaction Survey.
This is the first time we have used an online survey and the feedback has been very useful. In summary, this is what the survey results told us: Killie TV General feedback from fans was that match commentary has improved with the addition of former players, with overwhelming demand to see this continue. • Of the 274 people who replied to the question about the Killie TV support system: 32% Very Positive, 31% positive, 35% neutral, 1% negative, 1% very negative (1% equates to 7 people) • 92% of respondents said the PPV information was easy to find and follow. Killie Shop 344 fans answered the question about visiting the shop in the past three months and they were asked about the new range in-store and online. • 47% had a very positive experience, 34% positive, 17% neutral, 2% negative (equates to 5 people) • There was a mix of suggestions on what people would like to see next (including more retro tops, which will be coming soon! ) Match Programme • 60% of the 392 replies said they had not bought a programme in the past 12 months • There was a mix of replies to why people do and don’t buy the programme, which we are analysing further
• 69% of the 375 replies would not be in favour of the programme being digital-only
Killie Club • 264 fans replied with views on the refurbished Killie Club and the standard of the food with 40% very positive, 32% positive, 26% neutral • Of the 380 replies, 49% said the addition of the coffee shop element would make them more like to visit the Killie Club, 32% perhaps, 19% no A number of suggestions made in the survey will be explored further, including the match programme, as we would like to ensure the content and style appeals across all of our supporters, including our junior fans.
Retail As outlined in my introduction, the retail operations have been a crucial part of bringing revenue into the Club. During the level 4 lockdown, the shop was not able to open to customers, but continued to take online orders and operate a Click and Collect system. Sales have continued to be good, with a record-breaking sales in the Home & Away jerseys, supported by the great uptake on the Cyber Monday and Black Friday offers, which lead to almost 300 jerseys being sold in the 4-day weekend. You can visit the shop online here.
The Killie LTD clothing range, which was developed taking account of feedback from fans who wanted a modern, fresh take on apparel that wasn’t heavily club branded has sold over 500 units to date. The Ladies full zip hoody, which was introduced in the line early December has now sold over half of the stock levels. The commercial team have some great plans to enhance this line as we head into 2021. The Blue Bricks have been selling extremely well, with almost 250 sold to date. These will start to appear on the wall this side of Christmas, so if you got in there fast, keep your eyes peeled for you brick appearing very soon. The launch of our first book in over a decade with Kilmarnock FC: 150 Years in the Making has been a monumental success for us. The book has sold over 600 copies so far and we are on track to have most of our initial stock sold early in January 2021. Fans waiting to get their hands on it needn’t worry, as we’ll make sure there is enough stock as we head into the new year. This year we missed our annual Calendar signing, which is always a great event that the Players love as it allows them to interact with our fans. Sadly, due to the global pandemic, we have had to abandon plans for this event. To ensure fans didn’t miss out, we made sure that every copy would come signed and produced the 2021 issue with pre-signed signatures. This will allow fans the chance to show off their favourite player’s signature as it’s pinned on their walls. These are available in the Killie Shop instore and online for £10.
Killie Club With the Killie Club again having been impacted by the Covid restrictions, the decision was taken not to re-open when level 4 was reduced to level 3. This decision was taken based on previous experience of numbers using the facility and estimated takings. Going forward and depending on the future limitations as a result of Covid, we will review how best we can use the space – bearing in mind that it was originally developed to provide for a busy matchday, to accommodate evening events and to double up for players meals on training days. Killie Cares Fund (formerly Killie Lotto) 850 people on average are now playing on the Killie Cares Fund online platform. The commercial team is looking at how best to promote this to our supporters in the new year.
So keep your eyes peeled for some new incentives that are planned to be rolled out as we head into 2021. Killie Heritage Brand Another new partnership between the Killie Trust and the Club saw the launch of the Killie Heritage brand, where the Trust has become the latest officially-licensed partner. This has allowed the Trust to begin the sale of limited-edition prints, and have access to photographic archives, to develop more niche items than can be stocked in the shop.
Media and Communications
As well as working on the Fan Satisfaction Survey, the team worked with the commercial staff on our 12 Days of Christmas campaign. This was designed to thank various sponsors and partners and, as a result of their ongoing support, a number of prize draws were offered to supporters.
The We Are Killie Podcast with Manager Alex Dyer has been one of the most listened to in the series, and gave fans the chance to find out more about his background and interests as well as his football philosophy. In addition to daily social media and website updates, the team has continued to experiment with different feature formats for our Killie TV coverage including Stuart Findlay’s Breakdown of a Game and marking Kirk Broadfoot’s 100 Killie appearances. Additional input has given more publicity to the Women’s Team. The Head of Media has been working with City of Glasgow College to enable students to be involved in match reporting for Women’s Team, and ensure there is also cover for match photos. The Head of Media has also been working with the Killie Trust in relation to the Killie Histories podcast, and how we can ensure that they can be continued and given as much exposure as possible.
Football Department
The last few fixtures have not been as successful as we would have hoped and the Manager has been working with the players to address this as we move into the busy Christmas fixture list. Discussions are also taking place ahead of the January transfer window. The Board has tried to protect the budget for playing side despite overall finances being tight. The Football Department is working hard to ensure we are able to have the strongest possible squad available, however it is a reality that, like many other clubs, we do not have the ability to move outside of what has been budgeted.
The Youth Academy programme has continued in line with Covid restrictions, and we have utilised the Government’s flexible furlough scheme to support staff for whom their usual hours / duties are not available. The schools programme takes a break over the Christmas period and will return in January. Staff will continue on furlough either in whole or in part until programmes resume. Discussions have continued with the Scottish Football Association on the future shape of youth Academy football, as the requirements of Project Brave are proving challenging financially for many clubs. However, we have not yet received information on the detail of any changes, or the finances which will support youth academies going forward. As a Club, we have made clear that we are committed to having a Youth Academy which will provide best experience we can for young players, and which has positive links with KCST and young teams – boys and girls – going forward. After a long association with KFC as a player and Head of Academy recruitment/coach Alan Mahood has left the club to pursue other opportunities and we wish him well for the future. The Women’s team fixtures have now ended for 2020 and will return in 2021. Several new signings have been brought on board and the team hope to have improved results in the months ahead. It has been good to see more of our fans taking an interest in the women’s team and showing their support on social media.
Community Engagement
Covid restrictions continue to make it difficult to be involved in as many community initiatives as we would like. However, the Club was pleased to support and facilitate the annual Bring a Gift event, organised by KFCSA. This resulted in some 651 gifts and £125 in vouchers being handed over to East Ayrshire Churches Homelessness Action to help provide Christmas cheer to local children and young people. On the same day, the Killie Trust organised a collection for East Ayrshire Foodbank, which also had a fantastic response. Seeing everyone work together for the benefit of others, and the generous response of fans in these difficult times, was both humbling and brought a real sense of pride in our Killie family! Captain Conker came along to support the event, which was great given involvement of the Killie Trust, KFCSA and KCST in bringing him to the Club! More good work is being undertaken by KCST who have organised for hampers to be distributed to people in need as part of their Mission Christmas campaign. Thanks to the numerous club partners who generously donated to these. I look forward to the activity around this being released over the next few days. Sadly, the Players can’t visit the Children’s Ward at Crosshouse Hospital this year with our Charity Partner Crosshouse Children’s Fund (CCF), but the commercial and community team have made sure that they still got some Killie goodies and held a Zoom call for some of the Children to speak to a selection of our players.
Last but not least‌
As Christmas approaches, everyone at the Club would like to wish you all the best for the festive season and the year ahead. We very much hope that we will be able to be back together as the Killie family in the near future, but meantime please enjoy Christmas safely! I can be contacted in the usual ways: Email: cathyjamieson@kilmarnockfc.co.uk Facebook: Cathy Jamieson Twitter: @cathyjamieson Instagram: cathyjamiesonkillie Best wishes Cathy
MCCOOL LETS LOOSE PART TWO THE MCCOOL VERDICT........ ..... READ ON IF YOU DARE!! Steve who? Did it really all happen? Did we actually have team that feared nobody, and with good reason, because every team in this league, Rangers and Celtic included, genuinely hated playing against us? Did I dream that we capped it all off beautifully with a third place finish and a trip into Europe, before that famous Clarke speach on the pitch, on that glorious, sunny afternoon in May 2019, brought the curtain down amid a sea of emotion? Right now, I find all of the above hard to believe, and the fact that it was only eighteen months ago, even more difficult to fathom. Make no mistake, though, the normal service of hoping there are two teams in the Premiership worse than us, has been resumed. Like the playground dafty who got ideas above his station, the cool kids and hard nuts have put us well and truly back in our box. I've witnessed many ups and downs over the years like everyone else, but few have made me feel as sick to my guts as our recent batch of mediocrity, snatched from the jaws of the best spell the club had enjoyed in a generation. The way our club has nosedived since Steve Clarke cleared his desk really is a disgrace. Absolutely appalling. What an opportunity we had to build something, yet the manner in which we've blown it is almost impressive in a backwards sort of way. We couldn't have done it more effectively if we'd actually tried. Whatever the reasons - and there are probably too many to mention - I'm afraid to say Billy Bowie's role in all of it can't be ignored or understated.
Yes, the job he's done, both in bringing Clarke in to begin with, getting local sponsors and businesses back onside and putting together a proper board of directors, has given him plenty of credit in the bank, but this last year and a half has been an absolute stinker for him. Firstly, there was the length of time it took him to appoint Clarke's replacement, but if that was bad, his choice when it came to the crunch was horrendous. Out of fifty or sixty applicants, what the hell made him shortlist Allessio, far less give him the job, only he knows. Did he see the words 'Chelsea' and 'Juventus' on his CV and not ask anymore questions? If that's the case, it's been proven to be the most damaging of school boy errors, with a touch of a vanity project thrown in for good measure. There's nothing to be gained from me wasting anymore column inches talking about Allessio's time at the club, because frankly, if the Kirk Broadfoot situation alone didn't make his fan club members 'get it' then nothing will. Sacking the Italian is about the only thing Billy Bowie has got right in recent times, but sadly, he reverted back to more recent form by asking a rookie to come in and clear up the mess, and that's why we currently find ourselves four points from the foot of the Premiership table. I have tried to support Alex Dyer since he got the job. I've taken into account the morgue of a dressing room he took over and all of the covid related issues he's had to contend with, but there is no longer any case for the defence. He doesn't know his best team or formation, he's re-signed Mulumbu for no apparent reason and he can't seem to send eleven players onto the park and get eleven back off it at the end. Five red cards this season? That's a new one on me and a statistic that's likely to have the beaks interested and possibly relieving us of another fine, on top of the suspended one we already have on the back burner.
Admittedly, I'm using the benefit of twenty twenty hindsight in saying so, but the time to give Dyer the job, if at all, was when Clarke left, at a time when he would have been taking over a happy club. Right now, the team are in a freefall Dyer appears incapable of halting. His time is up, I'm afraid, simple as that. As far as I'm concerned, we are in as much danger of ending up in the Championship as we were three or four years ago and that's why it's more vital than ever that Billy Bowie finds his touch again - and fast! No more experiments, no more newbies, a solid, experienced boss, who knows the Scottish game inside out, is what is now required. For me, Tommy Wright is that man. He's available and wants to manage in Scotland again, but we have to act quickly now that another Premiership club are looking for a new manager. I can't speak for others, but what I want from a gaffer is a safe pair of hands. No unnecessary dramas. When the pundits are making their pre season relegation predictions, I don't want Kilmarnock to be a name on any of their lips. If we're a solid mid table side, who have the odd run in a cup and the occasional foray into Europe, same as Motherwell, St Johnstone and others, I'll be happy. Wright went there, did that and wore the T-shirt at a smaller club with a lesser budget. Word is, he's been overlooked for bigger jobs in the past, because he likes to run a club from top to bottom. He's not interested in directors of football and the like, and I say let him get on with it. Put a revolving door on the front entrance and let him lead the way. If this means there is no place for James Fowler and others, then so be it. Failing that, Bowie could simply leave Alex Dyer in place and hope for the best. Whatever call he makes, it has to be the right one - or the consequences might not bear thinking about!
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XMAS COMPETITION WINNER Massive well done to Stuart McDonald who was the winner of our £300 Xmas competition and we hoped it was a welcome boost at this time of year. Once again we’d like to thank Billy Bowie Special Projects for their kind sponsorship, we’ll have a new competition for you in the next issue.