La Famiglia Killie

In 1977 a young traffic cop called Dan Marcolini sat in a bar in his home town of Verona, Italy and pondered the name Kilmarnock on a bottle of Johnnie Walker whisky. Being a football fan, and having had a few tipples, he decided to follow the fortunes of the Ayrshire Azzurri...and that's as good a reason as any! Dan wrote (yes, on paper) to Walter McCrae to ask about the club and to see if there was any way he could get some club merchandise shipped over. This surprised Mr McRae no end but he duly obliged and Dan was soon to be seen sporting the famous stripes around the strade of Verona.

It was not easy keeping up with everything that was going on at the Theatre of Pies in the early days, the BBC World Service didn't really rate us newsworthy. Dan persevered though, and via the wonders of the internet he often knows now what is happening before some of us locals do! It was to be 1988 before Dan made his first trip to Scotland to watch Killie in action and down the years he has met many of our fans and staff at the club. As well as home games he also went to the OGC Nice Euro tie in France and drove over 1000km on a scooter to see us in Kaiserlautern! We took him a tour of the stadium back in 2003 prior to a match againts Aberdeen, and he brought his wife and two youngest kids over for the KFCSA Player of the Year dance a year or two back, so it was great to hear that he was coming over to see the mighty again.

With Dan this time were his oldest boys, Enrico, Luca and Davide, who go and see Hellas Verona like their father (Shhh...Luca's a Chievo fan), but also like him, if asked...they are Killie supporters first and foremost. They tried their best at emptying the club shops shelves and the ladies behind the counter must have wondered what was going on as Peter Nederlof and the Dutch Killie supporters also arrived in at the same time. The club kindly offered the lads free tickets, a big thank you to Tommy, Joanne and Priti for organising that, it was most appreciated, rest assured the money saved was spent in the Sports Bar.

The least said about the weather and indeed the game the better, but it would take more than that to dampen the enthusiasm of these boys and they headed off to the Howard Arms to meet up with former gaffer Kenny Shiels and a few more refreshments before travelling back to Edinburgh where they were staying the night. They had spent the previous night in Irvine, and I did warn them the price of a pint would be a wee bit more expensive than the Porthead, but they were leaving from that airport anyway and Dan wanted to visit the cemetery to pay his respects to Bill Donnachie, author of the Killie Who's Who, a friend of his from back in the day.

Hellas are currently bottom of Serie A, Killie are heading in the same direction in terms of league position, we surely owe it to these brave souls to keep one of their teams from being relegated! Arrivederci Dan and family...and as the man himself always says...Up! Up! Killie!

Kerby - The Book

There is nothing we like more than being able to give one of our own a wee helping hand if we can and we have always been happy to promote any Killie fan's venture or indeed any local business. We previously gave the book 'Kerby' by Graeme 'Dillinger' Johnston a push on the Kickback Forums and we are spreading the net a bit wider now as he is apparently on the verge of getting into the Amazon top seller list for his hilarious first outing.

So who is he? The blurb says "Graeme Johnston failed to grow up in Ayrshire, Scotland. Having not yet matured into a proper adult, he thought it would be funny to write about the stupid things he got up to as a child: His first book KERBY: Funny tales from a 1990's Scottish childhood was the result. Graeme plans to write a follow-up, though is constantly distracted from doing so by a little 2 year old version of himself who calls him 'Daddy' and demands episode after episode of Peppa Pig".

You can buy the ebook or paperback version of the book HERE

Season Diary - Week 17

A draw in the East End of Glasgow may not seem like much to celebrate, but as someone who has witnessed one win there in my entire lifetime, I’m taking it as a moral victory! While Celtic fans (as they do when anyone garners points on their turf) cast aspersions about visiting teams ‘parking the bus’, they fail to understand that our whole squad get paid less than one of their top players, and by the book they should be scudding us without getting out of first gear.

It is a testament to the hard work and resilience of our players that we are able to grind out any kind of favourable result at all. Praise also should go to Gary Locke and his backroom staff for doing their homework and almost getting the tactics spot on, we were under a lot of pressure at times but we could still have sneaked all three points in the end which is admirable given we had a knife at a gun fight. Honours even with the reigning champs after two matches…Balatoni is so impressed he signed a 2.5 year contact extension!

Meeting Minutes

At the end of October, some members of the KFCSA Committee met Club Chairman Jim Mann and fellow director Russel Smith. In attendance for us were James Morrison, Chris Kyle , Jim Thomson, Allen Kyle and Iain Sherry. The meeting was constructive and the minutes are as follows:

The chairman stated that the new  ticketing system may have been brought in too quickly and that the reduced price will hopefully encourage lapsed fans to return to games. He also recognised that results are also a large factor in supporters returning.

The new pricing structure was not helped by poor journalism by a national paper who did not research the story properly. On the BBC "Cost of Football" website Kilmarnock were found to be one of the best value for money clubs in Scotland. It was pointed out that Kilmarnock need to be more pro active in "blowing their own trumpet" in the press and media.

Priti Trivedi is now the General Manager of the football club.

Negotiations are ongoing with the Trust with regard to them being more involved and getting a fan on the board and they were the only potential investor at the moment.

KFCSA have offered to help as much as possible to facilitate interviews for both KillieFC.com and the club's website; both Jim and Russel were keen to work towards a more collaborative approach.

It is hoped that surrounding villages will be allocated specific games where the club will be go into  that community and generate interest for that game from schools clubs etc .

Talks are ongoing with players who are out of contract but modern football players are always keen to keep their options open. In future, the club hope to tie up players before they enter the last year of there contract. The club does have a limited budget but players should look at the likes of the two Hamilton players and Steven Naismith who benefited from developing playing first team football.

The promoters of the Rod Stewart concert have insurance if the pitch was to be damaged by hosting the concert.

The chairman stated that the football club made money from the Park Suite and that following his statement bookings have started to rise again. This revenue is really important for the club going forward. The club are looking to revamp hospitality with various options.

KFCSA were asked if we would try and gauge what fans will be prepared to pay for levels of hospitality. This was agreed and KFCSA Chairman, James Morrison, said that at the quiz night on Monday he would try and see what amounts fans would be willing to pay for an altered product.

Want to write about Kilmarnock FC? Now's your chance!

As part of the ongoing changes to KillieFC.com, we're looking for volunteers to contribute their voice on all things Killie be it past, present or future.

You don't have to be the world's best writer, just have a passion for the club and a lot to say about it. We're looking for your opinions, memories and even gripes about the team and/or football in general! Whether you want to write weekly, monthly or even just every so often, we'd be delighted to hear from you.

If you're interested in contributing to the site, all you have to do is send some information on what you'd like to write about to Michael (michael@killiefc.com).

We'll also be putting out calls for submissions on a variety of subjects from your favourite away day to your all time Killie XI so keep an eye on our Twitter & Facebook pages for more information!

Season Diary - Week 16

You would think that with no match last week that the interest on the internet would also wane, but it was quite the opposite.

The new killiefc.com website is gradually being brought up to speed but with so much content it will be a long time before we can archive the legacy site for good.

Despite that, the social media side of things has really taken off on Twitter and Facebook and some of the stats given to us by our old pal Zuckerberg last week made for interesting reading.

Over 13.5 thousand people checked us out, which is an increase from last week of 755% and 1.8 thousand of those engaged with the site, which is incredibly 1828% more!

Craig Benson is the man driving all the traffic and we have brought Scottish Comedy FC’s Michael Park on board to consolidate all the fan organisations' online output... and they seem to be doing rather well with more changes in the pipeline.

We can but hope that the team can emulate such success at Parkhead next week.

Fixtures - Hotshots - League Table

Season Diary - Week 15

Looks like the players will not be getting as many days off as anticipated during yet another (needless) international break.

We got off to a great when Smith hit the opener within two minutes of kick off – but Saints proved too strong in the end and after scoring twice managed to hold on to their lead despite intense pressure from a Killie in all-out-attack mode at the end.

We can only hope that they put the hours in the same way they did during the last break and that Celtic and Partick pay the price. Maybe a bit of wishful thinking there!

With a blank fixture list this week would it not have made sense to schedule a reserve match at the Theatre of Pies?

It would give all us saddos something to do on Saturday afternoon and allow people who normally can’t make development league games a chance to see our up and coming players…plus it would probably put a quid or two in the coffers and to be honest we are desperately strapped for cash.

Match Report - Fixtures - Hotshots - League Table

Heat on Killie

We thought that this picture was worth sharing, Paul Heaton of Housemartins and Beautiful South fame embraces the might of Ayrshire Killie! He also gave an honourable mention to the Killie Pie at his gig with the talented Jaqui Abbott in the Grand Hall last night.

It was a good night for music in Kilmarnock all round yesterday with the Bellfield Tavern and Bakers Nite Club also hosting events. Unbelievably the Tavern had the original Rezillos on offer, backed by The Coffins and Killie fan Davie Orr's Outstandifold and the Wettygrippers...with The Vigo Thieves appearing at the John Finnie Street venue Bakers.

It has been a tough time for our town of late, especially in regards the news that there will be 170 job losses at Mahle, so it is nice to see that at least some things are on the up and that Killie is not dead and buried yet. In fact we have also been nominated for a SURF award...enter stage left the Beach Boys?

Our Provost Jim Todd said: "Kilmarnock has been shortlisted for a SURF award for the Most Improved Large Town in Scotland. This is great news for the town. It recognises all hard work undertaken by the many employees, residents, businesses and partner organisations who have contributed to the renovation and regeneration of the town centre over the years. We are promoting the town on our corporate social media channels - Facebook and Twitter. If you want to get behind this nomination as demonstration of the pride, love and commitment that exists for East Ayrshire’s largest town, please feel free to share, like and retweet from your own personal social media account."

That is what we are doing, we are proud of Kilmarnock as a town and a community, not just our football team. Why settle for just being #1 in Ayrshire?

Perth Preamble

Alan Milne of Barossa Street Saints has been back in touch with the KFCSA to offer their premises as a pre-match entertainment centre today. Those who used the facilities, in Perth's city centre, in February were made most welcome and we would encourage our fans to avail themselves of the kind offer if travelling through in the rain today.

On a much sadder note Alan had some bad news for us, he said: "I do not know if you are aware, but you remember Sandy Gardiner who collapsed at the Killie game way back? Well sadly he collapsed and died whilst attending St.Johnstone's away game at Morton -unfortunately despite another quick response he did not make it this time." Our deepest condolences go to Mr. Gardiner's family and friends at this sad time.

Barossa Street Saints Location - Barossa Street Facebook Page

Season Diary - Week 14

It is testament to the progress we’ve made in recent weeks that Saturday’s defeat at the hands of Motherwell was so disappointing. We seemed to be in control for the most part with ‘Well restricted to less than half the shots we had, but the true tale of the tape is that they still had more than double our amount on target…and one of them counted in the dying minutes of the game.

The problem for me was that Higgy was getting snuffed out of the game and Kiltie and McKenzie were too far wide of Magennis to be of any real service. I am no expert of course but I think I would have slotted one of the pair in a more central role and worked my substitutes in around that. Champ Manager has a lot to answer for! Well done to John Armer for winning the Cove Boutique drop lift on Saturday and kudos also to the Howard Arms and Kevin McHattie for their KFCSA quiz win at the Kadi.

The Steal-men Commeth

We woz robbed! That's how it feels anyway, and it's quite different from earlier in the season when we got beat and thoroughly deserved it. It wasn't a great day at the office for sure and I'm not convinced that the referee wasn't just one of the weans dressed up that got left behind after the half time shenanigans... but he certainly wasn't to blame for the defeat.

Sadly we were our own worst enemy at times and we have to get either Greg or Rory through the middle suporting Josh more or our goal chances are going to remain limited. The big man needs ammunition! David Shaw is our scribe this week and his match report has now been uploaded to the website. Sandy Ferguson's photos are all there for your perusal as well.

Match Report - Fixtures - Hotshots - League Table - MotM Vote