2018-19 Diary Week 31

It is all about the Killie in the media these days, sadly not much of it is anything we really want to hear about.

The cup replay never really went to plan, our plan that is.

Eamon Brophy gets denied a stonewaller, Sevco run up the park and score.

Daniel Bachmann gets sent off for brushing off a defender, later rescinded of course when it is no use to us, and then we lost Alex Bruce to injury and had to put a midfielder in defence.

Understandably we were then overrun and the joy of the home support manifested itself in sectarian chanting directed at Steve Clarke.

The big man was shaking with anger at the post match presser, quite rightly too, cheated, abused and knowing fine well it would get swept under the carpet as it always does.

The Rangers Football Club officially apologised via Dave King latterly, but their fans just laughed it off and kept it up for their next match.

Obsessed?

Come the Saturday we were all looking to get back to football at Livingston, but a decimated team never quite got going and despite hitting the woodwork three times we lost out to a single goal and the three points eluded us again.

Nice to see about twenty Kaiserslautern fans over for a visit and also the new "Now we have a leader" banner making its debut...fantastic support from the fans yet again.

It has been a tough spell and injuries and suspensions have hit really badly, but if this is as bad as it gets, and we are still sitting fourth in the table, then there is nothing to worry about, it has still been a great season and it is not over yet.

2018-19 Diary Week 30

The focus on artificial pitches is getting beyond a joke.

The facts are that the majority of teams train on them, the majority of young players are fine with them and statistically it has been scientifically proven that you are no more likely to get injured on a synthetic surface than you are on grass.

100% of the people we polled agreed that synthetic pitches are absolutely fine (small print: we only polled players from Killie, Hamilton, Livi and employees of FieldTurf).

It would seem that Celtic have no problem with our pitch at all, certainly their fans didn’t when they invaded it after getting a lucky deflection in the last minute of the game on Sunday.

Not even mentioned on the telly or radio, unsurprisingly, as the thuggish behaviour of Scott Brown transferred seamlessly to the stands.

Coins thrown at Kris Boyd, fans running the length of the pitch for selfies, violence in the streets after the game…will the SFA or SPFL take any action?

Absolutely no chance.

KFCSA Statement

The committee of KFCSA are concerned and disappointed that a pyrotechnic was activated by Killie supporters in the East Stand during the cup tie against Rangers. This has previously been an issue with only away fans at Rugby Park and it is worrying that the good name of Kilmarnock FC and its fans could be tarnished by a small number of individuals.

We understand that some Kilmarnock fans also tried to ignite a device at Dundee, but it failed to activate. These devices have no place at football matches and it is only a matter of time before a fan or steward gets injured by the release of such a device; as Kilmarnock supporters please help us to make sure it is not one of our fans who is responsible.

KFCSA urge supporters to refrain from setting these devices off either at home games or away grounds. Let us continue to support the team during this fantastic season but with due respect and regard for the safety of all Kilmarnock supporters.

Iain Sherry
Chairman
KFCSA

2018-19 Diary Week 29

Talk about a game of two halves!

We got off to a terrible start midweek in Dundee and although Conor McAleny’s equaliser was a peach, we were guilty of some schoolboy defending.

The Broadfoot/Findlay partnership was a wee bit rusty with big Kirk being out recently, and to be fair they did not get much help from the midfield.

The second half saw us back to our best but a free kick into the top bin from Killie’s own Benjamin Button, Chris Burke, was as much as we could muster in goals terms, despite our dominance.

A decent point away from home and it was to be another deserved draw in the Scottish Cup on Saturday against The Rangers.

That will be seven times we get to play them this season, surely time for league restructure?

Steve Clarke has quite rightly been calling for some refereeing consistency in the press.

Sevco boss Slippy Gerrard assumed the comments were about his team and let fly with insults.

He could clearly learn a thing or two about class and decorum from a professional like Clarke.

Speaking of class, a quick mention for Daniel Bachmann for saving not one but two penalty kicks in back to back matches, the big man waited his turn and he oozes confidence and gives real steel to our back line.

2018-19 Diary Week 28

I remember what it feels like to lose now, and it is not a nice feeling.

The big difference now though is that even when we conceded the second goal, at no point did I consider that we might not at least peg them back for a draw.

As it turns out we never, and our title aspirations took a large dent, but we have new fuel in the tank and the juggernaut will roll on.

Steve Clarke toyed with us as usual and stayed tight lipped about potential signings, then brings in a striker from Liverpool and paves the way for the prodigal Mulumbu to return.

Wednesday at Dundee might be too soon for our latest acquisitions to make a serious impact but hopefully they will feature at some point.

We missed the bite of the Wolf up front on Friday with a minor hamstring problem, fingers crossed that he will be back on the prowl sooner rather than later.