Be The Boss - Alan Walker

Our “Boss” this week…and next week for that matter as there is obviously an international break…is KillieFC.com moderator/match reporter/mathematician/friend of the (get in da choppa) stars and all round good guy Alan Walker. Without further ado, over to the man himself...

‘Member when Killie would have a go at the likes of Celtic? ‘Member when Rugby Park used to be a fortress? ‘Member when Killie were a club who regularly chapped on the door of Europe? Well ‘member no more with this insanely optimistic 4-4-2 line up to knock the league leaders down a peg or two.



GOALKEEPER
Jamie MacDonald is the easiest pick of the bunch. A solid performer and one I hope to retain for many more years.

DEFENDERS
The defence was a tough decision. The easiest of the four would be Luke Hendrie at right-back. He has shown himself to be more than capable and not too shabby at coming forward either. At left-back, we have the choice of a hard-as-nails, young, home-grown talent, or an old, weathered, weak utility man. Greg Taylor gets the shout. In the centre of defence I have opted for Miles Addison and Jonny Burn. While Addison is slow, I reckon that the midfield (see later) will keep Celtic so busy they won’t even get a chance to test the big man’s pace. I feel that Burn has done well every time I have seen him, and so he gets the nod ahead of Ross County’s Boyd, who is a little error-prone for me. No, having a MOTM performance against Hamilton doesn’t hold much gravitas.

MIDFIELDERS
The midfield has been a problem for Killie all season. We are desperately missing two key individuals; a playmaker and a workhorse. I’ve dumped Dicker on to the bench as he turns slower than a Billy Bowie Tanker, and replaced him with Adam Frizzell, who did more in ten minutes against Hamilton than Dicker and the aforementioned Smith, combined. Beside Frizzell is Martin Smith, who was unfortunate to be dropped for his namesake in the last two games. Martin is more aggressive and with more to prove. On the wings we have Jordan Jones and Rory McKenzie. Jones is picked for his pace, which we will need to unlock the Celtic defence, and McKenzie is picked because I couldn’t think of anyone else to fill the right-wing role. I feel sorry for McKenzie this season, who is playing in roles not 100% suited to him and hence is being targeted by many of the support for ‘not doing anything’. However, watching him play it is obvious as to how much organising he does for the team. Captain material, but with a lot of pressure on his shoulders.

FORWARDS
My 4-4-2 insanity is completed with Nathan Tyson and Soulimayne Coulibaly up front. Coulibaly is almost the first name on the team-sheet each week, and while he performs ‘no-bad’ on the wing, I’d like to see him up front to piss off the Celtic centre-backs. All I ask is that he is a tiny wee bit less greedy, when it really matters. Beside Coulibaly is Tyson, who had a great game against Hearts. While he hasn’t been scoring much, that hasn’t been due to poor shooting or positional awareness (see J. Magennis). Tyson is creating chances and with Coulibaly beside him, I’m positive there are goals in that partnership.

Eric Murray RIP

Symington-born Eric Murray, who has died aged 74, was right-half and the only ever-present in Kilmarnock’s League Championship winning side of 1964-65.

Although only 5’ 9” and dead-on 11st dripping wet, Eric started his career as a centre-forward with Saxone Amateurs before joining Killie in the close season in 1960. He spent some time farmed out to Dreghorn Juniors before making his debut as a number nine in a League Cup tie against Hearts in August 1961.

But with Bertie Black and Andy Kerr vying for the chief striker’s role, first team chances to play up front were few and far between. Manager Willie Waddell decided to convert him into midfield and it was with a number four on his back that Eric played in the first eleven towards the end of 1961-62.

That position was normally filled by the accomplished Ian Davidson, but when Davidson was transferred to Preston North End it provided an opening in the team which was fought over between Murray and Pat O’Connor over the next season.

Murray started out as first choice right-half in 1963-64 but injury to Bertie Black saw Waddell move him back up front and it was as a central striker he played most of that season, scoring 14 times in 29 league appearances.

It wasn’t until the emergence of striker Ronnie Hamilton towards the end of that term which saw Murray finally move back into the right-sided midfield role for which most of those old enough and privileged enough to have seen him play remember him.

It’s surprising to recall that Eric, who became one of the mainstays of the title-winning team the following season, had hitherto made fewer than two dozen league appearances in that role.

Yet he went on to become the only ever-present in that legendary team. And by ever-present I mean every minute of every match, this being before substitutes were permitted. Eric wasn’t flash or showy. He was a solid, dependable player, capable of fulfilling either of the two positions he was picked for with unflappability.

He continued to play with distinction for Killie over the course of the next three seasons, notably scoring the opener against Lokomotiv Leipzig in the Fairs Cup quarter-finals in 1967, levelling the tie on aggregate, before Killie went on to claim a famous victory.

His last match for Killie was the final league game of 1967-68, away to Hibs, and it says a lot about the regard in which he was held by Killie fans that his successor struggled for a long time to win them over. When you consider that his replacement was the equally legendary John Gilmour that tells you just how highly Eric was rated.

Eric moved on to St Mirren where he spent three seasons before winding down his career with Cumnock Juniors.

In those days it was a common enough sight to see first team players in the street and while I can’t say that I ever noticed Eric walking down King Street, I can recall my father coming home from the pub one Saturday night to breathlessly exclaim that he had just had a pint with Eric Murray in the “tap shoap” in Dundonald. Such was the proximity between supporters and their idols half a century ago.

All told, Eric made 205 appearances for Killie, scoring 32 goals.

League - 145A - 26G
Scottish Cup - 16A - 2G
League Cup - 32A - 2G
Europe - 12A - 2G

Eric McIntyre Murray 12/12/41 - 7/11/16 RIP

By David Ross (@RossFootball)

Season Diary - Week 14

The most important thing on Saturday was getting back on track after a good run of results and then a bad defeat.

A draw with boring time-wasters Hamilton, in hindsight, was probably a fair result, although we could have just shaded it.

 We did get a clean sheet despite losing Tank Addison early doors, Burn deputised well although he was a wee bit late for Halloween with that mask!

These international breaks are becoming a real pain when it comes to putting a run together.

The Trust AGM was due to take place on a Tuesday at the end of the month but they have moved it forward to Saturday 26th November as the match at Aberdeen has now been moved.

You can join or reactivate your membership on the day, every Killie fan should be a member of the Trust so they can have a say in how our club is run.

The meeting will be in the big hall at the back of the Crown and the KFCSA will meet immediately after to propose changes to their constitution.

Following that will be an opportunity to talk about the current situation at the club and have a look at the viability of any protests or boycotts which would seem to be the way things are shaping up.

One thing is for sure...be there if you care...and lets show a unified front moving forward.

CLICK HERE

Be The Boss - Alan Taylor

The boss this week is Alan 'Bullitt' Taylor who is a regular on our Killie Kickback forums. We don't know anything about Alan at all so its quite difficult to do a wee intro blurb...let's just assume with a Steve McQueen like (thanks Gordon) handle like that he is an international man of mystery!

GOALKEEPER
Jamie McDonald: Easiest position on the park to fill. Made some great saves at Ibrox saving us from another Celticesque doing!

RIGHT BACK
Luke Hendrie: Of the five signed fullbacks he's been the most impressive (how to be a winner and loser at same time!).

CENTRE BACKS
Miles Addison: Was really poor at Ibrox but since his return he's added much needed stability.
Jonny Burn: Prior to his injury he seemed to be performing really well. Accies have a little bit of pace up top and I'd go for mobility over Boyd's experience.

LEFT BACK
Stevie Smith: I would move Stevie back to full back to make up for the experience lost in central defence. Imrie likes to drift into wide areas and Smith can nullify it a little more than Taylor at this stage.

DEFENSIVE MIDFIELDER
Rory McKenzie: No doubt the main man at Accies is Crawford. I'd stick Rory behind Dicker and Smith purely to harass Crawford. There are similar qualities with Rory and 'The Fow'.

CENTRE MIDFIELDERS
Gary Dicker: Our only natural central midfielder is Gary and his combative nature makes him an easy pick.
Martin Smith: I've been impressed with Smith in spells...mobile and never hides. The type of player that could thrive against Hamilton.

ATTACKING MIDFIELDER
Adam Frizzel: Changed shape for this match and getting Friz in behind a front two is a must. We are the home side and need the points.

STRIKERS
Kris Boyd: Tyson unfortunate to miss out, but we need goals. Boyd has a knack for scoring against the so called 'bottom six' clubs.
Souliymane Coulibaly: As easy as selecting McDonald. The wee man performs better as a striker rather than on the wings. As with Boyd let's get two up top and give Hamilton something to worry about.

Season Diary - Week 13

We had one good result last week, and one not so good.

The midweek game against Hearts was one of the best performances we’ve seen from a Lee Clark side and the fans were raving about it…which set us up nicely for a fall against Glasgow’s newest team.

I am not going to go off the deep end about how bad we were at Ibrox; similarly, I didn’t go wild about the midweek win.

We have to find some middle ground, in terms of the team’s consistency, and the fans expectations.

We shouldn’t want Lee to get the keys to the town for a couple of good results, equally we shouldn’t want him removed when things are not so good, he has a lot to deal with and many before him failed to cope with a basket case board.

It seems some of the media are finally waking up to our club being slowly killed, not before time.

There is talk of a season ticket boycott for next term if MJ is not gone by the end of the year, its not something anyone wants to do but it could be the last throw of the dice if we ever want him gone and the club to be saved; if someone organises this this properly they can have my £300 right now, not just a pledge.

Season Diary - Week 12

We could have made it two in a row at Inverness on Saturday, but hesitation in defence cost us two points with only four minutes left on the clock.

Killie started brightly and when Coulibaly was bundled over the in box in the seventh minute, he stepped up and rattled home the resultant penalty.

I think it is fair to say that we had most of the play with Jones and Hendrie impressing again, but we sat too deep at times and that eventually cost us.

Having hit the bar twice in the second half we still had every right to feel aggrieved on the long journey home.

There was one bus traveled and a smattering of fans came via train and road; all this off field stuff with Johnston has really affected our support, which is probably why more than half our average home crowd has signed the petition for him to resign already.

Be The Boss - Allan Auld

Today's Boss is KillieFC.com's own founding webmaster Allan Auld. A lifelong Killie fan who hails from Dundonald, and today resides in Atlanta, Georgia in the US of A. Allan started KillieFC.com back in 1999 as the “Killie Experience” and changed the URL to KillieFC.com in 2000, around the time that Baz was enlisted to come on board. The "Boss" attended his first Killie game back in 1969 (a 5-2 home win over Morton) and has been hooked ever since, including not missing a home game from 1971 thru 1982 (the year he left for the States). Since 2000 (sixteen years ago!) Allan has missed less than 10 matches where we have updated KillieFC.com in “real-time” on match days. Enough of Allan’s background...here’s what he’s thinking...

Inverness is never an easy place to go for Killie, and we haven’t won there since 2010 or thereabouts. The club, from an outsider looking in perspective, appears to be a complete shambles at the moment! With MJ hanging on for dear life to get his payday, he is creating a huge roadblock for fresh ideas, and much needed new investment into the club. So it is clear to see MJ puts himself first and NOT the club, hence all the petitions. I am just sick of all of it, and it disheartens me greatly. MJ please GTF! Sorry, got a bit off topic there! Back to Caley away this weekend.

Lee Clark has had few comments in the press as it relates to the backroom troubles at Killie so I don’t imagine our latest club director defection (Russel Smith) will have any impact on how he runs the team. That said with Kiltie being out one would have thought that George Green would have been “ready-made” to fill Greg’s role. Unfortunately, the scuttle butt on our forums have George back with his parent club Burnley in England, and none to chuffed on how he was treated at Killie by the club! Be on the look-out for his club suit (that he alleges players were made to pay for, although the club say different) being “up” on e-Bay soon! This could be Clark’s first two game winning streak since he arrived back in Feb, so I’m looking to keep changes to a minimum for this weekend’s Caley clash, although I’d like to find a way to bring in Boomer & Frizz!

KEEPER
Jamie McDonald: First name on the sheet. Gary Locke’s legacy lives on!

DEFENCE
Luke Hendrie: Workman like.
Miles Addison: Like the Bob Seger song… “Like A Rock”
Scott Boyd: How can you drop last week’s match winner?
Greg Taylor: Getting better all the time. Should he want to retire right now he’s already in Killie folklore after that Barton tackle!

MIDFIELD
Rory McKenzie: Seems like he’s getting back to a bit of form, needs a goal soon to get him 100% back on track.
Gary Dicker: Tends to finish games stronger than he starts them, and that will definitely not work this week, so Lee needs to give him a boot up the arse at 2:55pm on Saturday.
Adam Fizzell: Played a blinder against Newco (not the 1-1 draw but the mid-week development game) and should be looking to become an automatic name on Clark’s team sheet.
Souleymane Couilaby: Going to tuck him in behind Boomer, and give him a number 10 freedom role.
Jordon Jones: As he can operate down either flank, I would have him switching sides with Rory all afternoon to drive the Caley defenders crazy!

STRIKER
Kris Boyd: Needs supply and more supply! Five decent balls into the box should yield at least one goal for Ayrshire’s finest!

Agree with Allan's team or not? Talk about it on the Kickback Forums