Day 2 in CA

Right gang, Friday went as thus. we woke up really early for some reason and since were up and wake so early we took advantage of the great possibilities a city offers and spent the morning watching the telly and flicking about on the internet. It was only about ten half ten that we then went out and began walking about Toronto, it is massive, really huge and though everything is essentially walking distance away it is still a fair stomp. We went looking for cell phones, which is what they call them over here, I think it’s a considerably cooler word than mobiles but I will stick to mobiles because I am stubborn like that, so we went into all the retailers for each network in the same way we would go in the o2 shop or the orange shop we went into rogers and fido and bell and also the carphone warehouse type deals like the booth. Anyway, so far I am thinking that in some ways Britain is far better than Canada. For one you have to pay for bank accounts if they fall below certain levels, the one we spoke to said it was free unless 2k was in it, shocking, but mobiles are proving to be a right pain, pay and go is really expensive you pay to receive calls which is mega crap, we could probably get a con tract, and I think we will, but we have to buy phones, ours would take a week to get unlocked and even then, they don’t all use the sim card gprs or what ever it is system, they have some other system which I havent quite got my head round as yet. The phones were getting offered are, for the want of a better word, utter dungers, snidey cheap crap which you wouldn’t pay 10quid for back home but they want more than 50smackers for over here. Its irritating as anything. But needs must so we will soldier on.

So we went into places to see about mobiles and also to see about web cams, we came back with nothing. Alas. So we walked all the way down yonge street till we got to king street, check a map and see where im at, we then walked what felt like an eternity along king st west to find the offices of the company who sort out visas. Swap its called, there office was pretty cool, computers, job and accommodation boards and a cracking aussie guy who worked there who set us straight on how things worked and how to go about getting a social security number or whatever its called, maybe social insurance number. Also he told us what bank to use because one in particular did accounts which were perfect for us and they had some sort of link up, Canada trust is what its called, we had already tried HSBC but the guy in there was a pure sleaze ball in a purple shirt who basically begged us to take the account and then take a credit card, desperate is the only way to describe it. After walking all that way to the swap offices we made our way back and stopped by the rogers centre. If you look at a map, were right up yonge street, the cn tower and rogers centre is down at the bottom and along a good bit, well we walked a good bit farther than that so we more or less stopped by the rogers centre on our way home. We took some snaps and went into the shop so I could buy a hat, it’s a nice old fashioned one and it actually fits me, first time for everything. In the shop we were in it was the shop you can access from the stadium at the game so we looked out the window at the field, was cool.

I forgot to mention that on our walk back we stopped in at a sports bar to see if the showed sky sports news in the morning so I could follow the killie score, we were met by a girl who thought we wanted a table, when I asked about the sky thing she went and asked and the owner, a smashing wee foreign man came out and showed me the tv’s don’t think they got sky incidentally, while I did that Natalie spoke to the girl who it turned out was irish and was here on a work permit (same as us!) she gave us some info and that, most of which scared the living daylights out of me, she spoke of her difficulties getting a flat and a job, yikes. Natalie took it all in her stride though but it had me spooked.

After the rogers centre we got a nice wee ice cream cone, which was only the second thing we ate, a hot dog off a street vendor was what we had earlier, well good for 2dollars 50cents.

Then we headed back to the hotel because drew was picking us up at 5 and it was just past three. We got back up at 4 so had a wee hour to pull ourselves together, from getting picked up at 5 onwards we had a fantastic night, drew and carol (drews wife) took us for dinner to a wee Italian restaurant near their house in mimico which is a sort of suburb of Toronto. There was a picture beside our table of big pussy from the sopranos visiting the place which i thought was cool as anything, a big plus in my book. From there we went to drews boy daves condo which is where we’ll be staying the next few days, it is cracking but more on that later. We then went to a box lacrosse game, which is basically lacrosse but indoor, pretty violent sport actually, I missed the fight that went on in it however because I was out having a cheeky beer in the parking lot with drew and carols oldest boy sean, oh, he is absolutely nuts by the way, a cracking guy but really, nuts. He is enormous too, built like the old brick shithouse kind of way. I should add that if you know what king of the hill is like that kind of what the people of this mimico place are like, it is a very close knit community and we also had a fly beer before the game keeping it low so the cops never saw! We met a fair few people and drew and sean introduced us to everyone, we had more beer in the bar area of the lacrosse arena and afterwards went out to the local bar called the blue goose which was a great pub. There we met more folk, some of daves buddies from school too. I also met a fella who recognised me as he was over in September and was on the garage bus to brechin to watch killie he even talked about the paninaro flag that got burned. Unbelievable. From there we went onto another bar called timothys I think and by the time that was over it was too late to go back to the city so we stayed in daves condo.

Natalie got a phone number and a card about a job last night too, drew tells everyone that were here with working visas and looking for work and a person he spoke to last night gave Natalie something, im not too far behind, drews second youngest mike thinks he could get me out landscaping so hopefully something comes out that. But Natalie has possibly got herself a job so we will find out, prob Monday if that’s a goer. I was pretty drunk last night if the truth be told, beer is strong here. All the people we met last night were fantastic, very friendly and willing to speak to and help us out however they could, it was really good actually, felt good.

Oh Canada!

This will be a wee diary on our (my good self and my good lady Natalie) time in the great north American country of Canada. Keep looking in to get insight and more importantly photos as its far easier to upload them here than sending them via emails which takes time uploading and then downloading, major pain in the ass. anyway, whithout further ado

Day 1

hi folks, arrived no probs at all, had to do some immigration stuff when we went thru the csutoms stuff but both the people we dealt with were brand new which was great. drew bolland picked us up, natialie recognised him straight away, she says he looks like a bolland, im not exactly sure what that is but he seems cool, he took us round by his house to pick up his wife and then they ran us into toronto centre. our hotel is pretty good, its not as classy as the last place we were in but its fine. we sat about and watched some tv, just the sports news really, then went out a walk to get a adaptor plug for our electrics as neither of us had one. so we got that and now plug our phones intot he laptop to charge then, doubling up is brilliant. anyway, we walked down a bit of yonge street which is the main one and were just off it, round the corner form the gay area of town no less.

This is the view from our hotel room, what your looking at is the sears entrance of the Eaton Centre on Yonge street, well, all the adverts above it.

we came back from our walk about half 8 our time and got some subway peices for dinner, so prob bout 1am our own body clock time. we had a beer in the hotel bar, natalie had the most expensive can of cider ive ever seen and was steaming after it, no food and tiredness a rubbish combo. we missed the first period of the blackhawks ice hockey game but watched the second in the hotel bar and the third and overtime in our room eating our dinner. we got the computer up and running, free internet thru hotel wifi so we email natalies grampa and he phoned our room, which was cool.anyway the blackhawks won in overtime, davie bolland played a part in both the equaliser and the winner, natalie fell asleep while they were one nil down and missed both goals, i woke her up, she cared not a jot, she is now denying that wholesale! after that i plunked it over to the blue jays game but couldnt keep my eyes open. fell asleep bout half 11 so half four your time. trying to sort out any jet jag by knackering myself.

Howay the Killie!

If Killie were an English premiership team we would be Newcastle, yeah, I am pretty sure we are the Scottish equivalent of the Toon Army.

I say this because some of the similarities are glaringly obvious, we both turn out on most Saturdays resplendent in stripes and their fanatical fans hate Middlesboro and our fanatical fans hate Middlesboro, or that may just be me. We all have unexplainable hatred of different teams and mines is them.

Anyway, more seriously; we both made triumphant returns to the top division in the 90s after a fair spell in the lower leagues at the hands of a legend, a player who was made famous at more illustrious clubs certainly but were real legends at ours. If you don’t know who I am alluding to, King Kevin Keegan led Newcastle to the promised land of the English Premiership, he was a famous successful player for Liverpool but the Messiah on Tyneside. TB was a Celtic bhoy and hero of the jungle certainly but a but a bone fide Killie Legend all the same. RIP TB.

Since we both made it back to the top division we have had relatively decent success, at Killie we have had top four finishes, hell in one season we were even in contention of the league, at Christmas we were in with a real chance, sadly we faltered for a multitude of reasons but then we were a team with real SPL potential, one of the shining lights, we saw European football on more than one token occasion and our fans did us proud when travelling abroad. Newcastle too had great seasons, Champions league football has taken place on the Toon a fair few times and what about the famous “I would love it if we beat them” season when they blew a massive lead and gave Man U the title, as desperate as that looks now at least they had a chance, like we had a chance.

In the last few years our teams have also had similar paths, bottom half teams who seem to flatter to deceive, fail to deliver on potential. So on and so on. Our squads seem to be nothing like the ones we used to be able to assemble, gone is the extravagance of before and now we simply have to accept what we get. Newcastle once signed Ginola, Asprilla, Albert, now they sign Habib Beye (?) Cacapa (?) Xisco (?) signed on the most part by folk that arent the manager. Nowhere near the what they had before, or they get players, international players, who seem to be the real deal but they get them for nothing in January and so maybe you wonder why they arent costing a bean, mr Peter Lovenkrands please stand up. Look at us, Pascali; is he really what we always dreamed of in a tough tackling midfielder, Danny Invincibile is a vital cog in our machine but for the most part he seems to be nothing but the polar opposite of his second name. And our players seem to come on recommendations from strange sources, Pasca from Stefano Salvatori and we nearly had some chap called merlin who came highly recommended by Fitzroy Simpson! When we had a bit of dough we signed Iain Durrant, Ally McCoist, Pat Nevin, Christophe Cocard! Granted the financial restraints in Scotland put paid to that but still, I am beginning to think in the deeply depressed state im in that none of our present crop of signings could lace Jerome Vareilles boots! Oh and our Lovenkrands parallel could be Kevin Kyle, it cant all be everyone elses fault big man, if we got you for free and now your up here and cant seem to click with any other strikers or players it might just be you pal.

And now this season we both find ourselves at time of writing in 3rd bottom position, slightly more perilous for them than us as 3rd botom means you drop but nonetheless I feel we are eachy peachy, were both in a dog fight which contains a oddly large amount of clubs and all fixtures involving all clubs involved mean so much, 6 pointers appear weekly. Possibly a run of 2 victories in a row would see us safe, or three over the course of the remaining fixtures, afew draws in there too would help. And it is possible, it has to be. I mean for us, we havent won since the last fixture in December, surely history prevents us from sealing our fate, no team goes down with such a lack of fight, not one win in the second half of the year, I cant remember it happeneing, so if we cant get ourselves out this mess ourselves history surely (hopefully) will save us, were not that interesting to become a future quiz question I don’t think. Newcastle are pretty much ditto.

Were both in a situation where if we go down we wont be missed by those we leave behind, most premiership fans that I have heard from would be happy if a “big gun” like Newcastle went down. Same goes with us, it may not be with such vitriol but even still I cant see anyone being that bothered. Other wee similarities both our managers spent time off the sidelines due to illness, ours was merely a week or so while theres has taken the rest of the season off.

And in his place who do they get? Only Alan Shearer! Untried as a manager and only in for the last 8 games but as far as quick fix ideas go it’s a masterstroke, I mean if they stay up he is a legend and if they go down then who will really blame Alan Shearer? Chairman Mike Ashley has came in for some serious stick from his own supporters this season, the cockney mafia scenes from earlier this season regarding Dennis Wises part in transfers the walkout of King Kev again due to transfer dealings so much so that Ashley wasn’t seen at St James for months and months, even when Keegan took over and when he left Shearer was reported to say he would never work with Ashley, well this has changed and Shearer is in. Who would bet against Newcastle staying up with him in charge, at the very least he will gain the utmost respect of all proffesionals in his charge, and they will know what it means to play for Newcastle if they are playing for him.

Us? Could we follow that system? And if so, who? Monty would be a probable answer, and why not, if any sort of gimmick was going to work and if it was what fans wanted then he would be a fantastic choice. Like Kinnear just put JJ out to rest till the summer and try something fresh. I am sure that in training Monty could show even at his age that he is far fitter than our guff are, and he could have a word on Combes shell about his attitude toward the fans who pay to watch him play, that stuff wont fly anymore, and Simon Ford would get the rocket up his arse he def needs and all in all these guys would maybe get a feeling of the true meaning of wearing the squirrels on their chest because unlike it would seem us, they would have to listen to him because he would be the boss. It would be like having one of our own in there.

I suppose this brings it down to the main difference between us and them. Our chairmen. Both vilified for their own specific reasons, are what separate us from them. Mike Ashley for all his failings to the fans still wants to be liked and still wants to be respected and o right by his fans and team, so he has dealt with the Wise situation and took all the blockers out the way to allow Shearer to become temporary manager in the hope of steering them to safety. Mike Ashley wants his fans to love him and is doing all he can to secure that love. Our chairman seems not to give a shit about us and seems blasé about the fact that we could easily slip into an obscurity we may never come back from.

So there you have it, a thinly veiled pop at the chairman.

(an unapologetic) Ruud Kerouac
Killie Beat Writer

Season Diary

Entry # : Saturday 11th April 2009

In the great pantheon of football phrases some are bandied around so much that they begin to lose meaning, they are so overused that whaen something comes along that actually merits it it is instantly devalued because of what the phrase has been used for before.

Take legend and world class; two phrases that are used to describe a multitude of players who proably dont deserve it. Now take the phrase of today, must win. it is thrown around willie nillie in the strangest of places, Rangers and Celtic seem to have must wins every week especially the team who plays on the Sunday following a dodgy result for the other on the Saturday. Madness. But today, for Kilmarnock, today is a MUST WIN. We are sitting third bottom and three points above our opponents today, Falkirk who are bottom, if we get beat today we could be bottom by five o'clock and thats not good. Today i am excited, apprehensive, scared, confident and also slightly indifferent due to the perpetual nightmare that has been this season has worn me down to my lowest ebb. Basically a mix mash of different and contrasting feelings but to get back on topic, today is a must win.

In fact if i must be blunt, today is the Pele, Maradonna, Leo Messi and Eric Skora of must wins.

In Killie I trust.

The Metro from Central Station to Amsterdam ArenA

My trip to Amsterdam was fantastic apart from the result obviously. I managed to get a ticket due to the kindness of a friend and so i made the pilgrimage from the city centre to the Central Station and ontot eh Metro which takes the fans out to the ArenA, i filmed the whole journey for posterity, but i was thinking it was only maybe a wee 5 or 10 minutes, not the 19odd it turned out. so here it is in all its glory, the singing, the damcing, the rocking the train, from moderatley busy when we got on to rammed to the gunnels when we got off and also to cap it off my weary arms after holding the camera up for the 19 minutes (it was only a phone but it was 19 minutes, 19!)

enjoy



Cheers

Season Diary

Entry # : Saturday 4th April 2009

Well i have just got in from the bookies having picked out my potential winners for the Grand National and put on the radio and Killie are up one nil! Invincibile in the 8th minute i am assured by the commentator.

This is tremendous news and i am now typing away whith a big cheesey smile on my face.

I should probably clear a few things up, today is the return to domestic football after what has been a turmoil infused fortnight off in Scottish football as the International qualifiers took centre stage. Today we have Hearts away hoping to win our first league game since beating Hibs jsut after Christmas. Inverness play St Mirren today and Hamilton and Falkirk play Celtic and Rangers respectively so this could be a decent wee chance for us to put some breathing distance over Falkirk who sit bottom. But Hearts are 3rd and looking comfortable, but were up a goal and have beaten them already this season at Tynecastle so....

I am not there today as must be pretty obvious from reading this post as a week of over indulgence has left my pocket completely empty. Weekend trip to Amsterdam to see Scotland last week, midweek trip to Hampden to see Scotland v iceland and then the Premier League Darts at the SECC means i am an avid listener to the radio today.

Calum Elliot has just equalised for Hearts which is unsurprising really as since i started listening about ten minutes in any sort of Killie possession has been minimal.

that was on 21 minutes and on 28 minutes were 2-1 down, Elliot again, he hasnt scored for Hearts in more than a year, surely then a shoe in for a goal v Killie. See all the stuff i said earlier about hope and cheesey smiles, pretend i never said it.

doodling about the bbc website there is a live text type thing for this game which updates every two minutes with examples of the info on show being:

32:40
Corner taken by Mehdi Taouil from the right by-line to the near post, clearance made by David Obua.

its kind of like a twitter style commentary of a football game and when time is short sometimes its all you need, also on this is the teams and subs. Number 17 Willie Gibson features on our bench today does this mean he has apologised for his carry on at Pittodrie? If so i didnt know. It will be interesting to see if he comes on.

Reasons to be Fearful, 1,2,3

Article appeared in Killie Hippo 87 (out 21st March 09)

Well, I sit here typing with the Radio Scotland sport player thing pumping out the speaker, on it I have the Killie game v Inverness, as you can gather I am not there. Its not yet half time and were down two nil. If anyone is in any doubt yet (mr Jim Jeffries and your top six comments for the papers listen up) relegation is very much a reality for us this season.

This could be the end of our fifteen year stay in the Scottish top division, and some people think this could be good, premier league football has become boring and the novelty has long since wore off so a season in the first could be the thing that reignites the Kilmarnock fan, the thing that shakes off the apathy that is clearly cloaking our loyal support. In my opinion it wont, relegation my friends would be the first step into the oblivion.

Lets have a look at our squad, because the way I understand it, the people who have a wee feeling that a season in the first would be good also feel that just one season would be good, no more, a season in which we end it with a full Rugby Park celebrating a League Championship trophy clearly and then a triumphant return to the premier claiming that the first couldn’t hold us and it was merely a season to sort ourselves out. Well sorry but with what squad do we think that this could possibly be done with? Our stand out player this season, Craig Bryson, would be long gone, a tiny fee no doubt agreed due to the desperate need for cash due to our relegation.

I interrupt this article to bring news of Killie grabbing a goal back, and now its half time. 2-1 down.

Back to the squad, I could go through them all, player by player and show that we couldn’t afford to keep this squad (and why would we want to I suppose) we would need to sell a fair chunk for peanuts in a bid to stay afloat, Kevin Kyle, gone. Mehdi Taouil, gone. I would also see the likes of Hamill and Flannigan gone, plus Danny Invincibile would def be off, I am sure that since it would be a world cup year he would need to be playing in a top flight of some sort in order to put himself in the national managers plans! Combe? He would be off. Pascali? I really do think that our carcass would have the bones picked by any vultures circling and with our administration there would be no way for us fans to stop it. The players we would bring in I cant imagine would set the heather alight. Rascle, Murray, Hay, Ford and Lilley? A goalie and back four that any reader thinks could form the backbone of a championship winning team? I dread to think what would play in front of them!

Also would we keep our manager? I would like to think that they would fall on their swords and allow someone else to try sort us out but who would we get? Dick Campbell perhaps? Probably not as he has a contract, no, we would scour the market for some out of work punter who works a Sunday on BBC Scotland on the weeks that Celtic or Rangers aren’t playing (I am not particularly alluding to anyone more highlighting that this is a b it of a graveyard shift, I seem to remember Jim Lauchlan doing a bit of punditry on such days) as we wouldn’t want to pay an compensation. Or we keep JJ and BB but are they ready for the fight for promotion? my gut feeling is no, frankly I am of the opinion that they are past their sell by date for us in the premier so a drop and them staying at the helm for me is unthinkable.

Its not exactly a guarantee that we would go straight back up as well, look at the teams who have dropped before us, for all Dundee Utd and Hibs seemed to have a great time when down look at Dunfermline, St Johnstone and Dundee. They are teams with history like us who have struggled to get back to the top. I feel we would end up like them rather than the Hibs and DU’s. Look too, down south a similar thing happens, Southampton, Sheffield Wednesday, Coventry City god Wimbledon! This could definitely be us. What happens is when the money that you get in the top div dries up you either have a go or cut your cloth accordingly, frankly were in such a dire financial state that if we decided to cut our cloth accordingly then we would end up with a team of juniors and if we went hell for leather then we would end up playing in the juniors.

So lets say we do go down and we do get to play all sorts of new and interesting teams, visit places we havent been to in many a long year, plus the possibility with the scum riding high in the second of playing them four times next season, I mean after the excitement of the cup games this year surely sky would want to pick up all four matches since it has proven to be the best match seen on its channels so far this year. Would crowds really improve? Would we see a return of the fans who vowed never to go back? Would the gate reciepts get a dunt since the boring inevitability has been altered by our new 1st division status? I would say most probably no. the only thing that brings the fans back is a winning team and I for one would rather see that winning team in the Premier. There is no guarantees for it in the first. it’s a possibility yes but not a guarantee. The money coming in wouldn’t improve as some of the first division teams have the same apathy with their situation as we do with ours, I cant really see them coming through to us to follow their team, tiny crowds I would expect from Livi, Dunfermline, and more. We would no doubt end up hanging our entire cash flow form tickets on our two games at home to Ayr. No sorry, this wont work.

Final score is 2-1 against us.

Right I am going to tie this up as its depressing and writing stuff that is depressing isn’t good for the soul, especially on a Saturday night. Relegation after todays result is a reality, this season unlike others there is no Gretna, no Livi where they are teams with little or no history (Inverness excepted I suppose but they have proved their credentials as a SPL side more than Livi ever did) were in a dogfight and whoever goes down I feel would be missed from the league. In the history of the SPL we are the 4th highest point scorers (records from beginning of season, think were now 5th), this is one of the richest most successful chapters of our clubs history, relegation I think would signal that chapter ending. Sure I do see the good side of going down, a chance to regroup as a fan base, see different places and reignite in the young fans bellies a rivalry with our county cousins that they seem to think exists with us and the old firm. But really it can do us no good.

I have written this thing and tried to look at scenarios that would happen if we went down under the proviso that we would actually survive, but I suppose there is always the chance we didn’t. the fact is that our financial position is so dire that it would take some serious changes at the highest level for us to continue if we went down. That probably sounds alright, a big change, kind of like the last time we were relegated some 20 years ago on the final day of the season at Palmerston but sadly there is no one coming in like then, no Fleetings with big plans just a MJ looking into things. So that could actually be it, an end to all things Killie, we go to the wall and we all look for other things to do on a Saturday, other websites to check when were skiving from our work. It could happen and relegation is what could push it to the brink.

Please let us survive.

Ruud Kerouac
Killie Beat Writer

Season Diary

Entry # : Saturday 21st March 2009

Todays match is live on Setanta which means an early kick off, which means i am up early, which means i am now running late.

Today match with Motherwell has been described by everone who meets me that knows i am a Killie fan as a "must win" and i couldnt agree more, our situation of being four points off the bottom isnt the direst it could be however our zero wins in 2009 and no home wins since what feels like time began means that our form is that of a team destined for relegation and thus the tag "must win" is justified.

Some info about todays television game, Motherwell have only won one Setanta match, that being the day Scott Macdonald scored two against Celtic and Rangers won the league. So in the best Killie tradition that kind of stat usually means we are due to be on the recieving end of the end of their drought. It usuually happens, teams go on runs of defeats which apporach hteir records and who do they play next? thats right, Killie. I cant seem to remember our 12.30 on a Saturday record being all that hot though, a draw v St Mirren this season excepted i think all our fixtures at this time would have been v the old firm and our record versus them needs no introduction.

So anyway, early kick off at Rugby Park, our result today means everything, a win puts pressure on the other teams and a defeat gees them all up. Its in situtaions where i now look at the teams around us fixtures (generally i dont bother) and this week its 6 pointers all round, the teams with the same or more points face off St Mirren adn Hamilton and the teams below us face off also, Falkirk and ICT, if Inverness win and we win Falkirk fall 7 points behind us which would suit, however a Killie win and a draw in that match would be better, keep them both down. In fact a draw in the St Mirren game and a draw in Falkirk game would be ideal for us. I hate relying on other teams to do favours to help, i would rather we went on a winning run before the split but with our form that wont happen.

I am off to put on that good Killie combination at the bookies; Killie win, Falkirk and St Mirren draw then go and endure the 90 minutes at the football. Good luck Killie and good luck me.

It got better but turned to crap

Well following my super three day sucess of last week in europe i followed it up with a frankly cracking pick on Saturday. Preston were 10/11 at home to Cov so i had 9quid on. They went down one nil but i had faith and that faith was repaid 2-1 it finished and 17.18 was winging its way to me. I had a wee check at the eveneing euro fixtures but in a rare moment of sense i decided to stick, wait for Sunday.

And i did, Sunday i took AC to beat siena away from home, price was 20/21, almost evens for AC away the Siena! they won 5-1 and i cheered, not too loud though cos i found out the result in the toilet on my mobile internet. 13quid on returned just shy of 26.

But it all fell away on Tuesday just, 19 pounds pished away on Tranmere who took a good weekend result into their midweek match v bottom club Cheltenham and got beat 1nil. the goal was in the 3rd minute meaning they had more or less the whole game to rectigy it for me, they didnt. So i decided to keep my money in my pocket for the rest of the week, back in action tomorrow.

Season Diary

Entry # : Friday 13th March 2009

A whole week of nothing much happening. Not much mention of Killie in the papers and nothing much happening on the killiefc.com boards. Tomorrow its Inverness away and I for one am not going. Ticked that place of on my list so I will follow it from the comfort of my home thank you.

(imagine my pride of not mentioning the Scottish cup debacle in the above post)

The mention in the brackets above doesn’t count.

Oh, here is the video of Soccer AM’s newest hero Mehdi Taouil that was on TV last week, i watched it this week;



I now know what an aurelio is, its another one of those tricks in football i will never be able to do.

Starting Afresh

A lot of water has went under the bridge since i last updated my gambling experiment, by boxing day i was up past 130quid and blew it on Oldham and then again i was up past 140quid by late february and blew it big time.

So you find me today having strted again basically on Tuesday, its sstill the same basic cash from before, never put more in than the starting four quid but i had six twenty of it left after all the months of ups and downs.

So Tuesday had me going for Villarreal, £3 on, nervous as they were away from home to Panathinaikos, would you believe i was basing my bet on somethin Paul Walsh said on Gillette Soccer Special when teh first leg was played, he said even though it was away he would still take the yellow submarines, so i did and they duly obliged with a 2-1 win, shaky though, thought i was down to £1.50 when Panathinaikos drew level, they could have put everyone behind the ball for extra time and penalites but they didnt and i was fine. Funny how i am basing all this insight into the game on my watching the scores come in on the Sky vidiprinter, i havent even seen the highlights. 3 on 7.80 out.

Wednesday night and now i am back in business, i think anyway, i have 12quid so the process goes to half it and gamble it. so £6 goes on Barca to beat Lyon, i cant admit to the saem following of this result as the previous one, i listened to the Man U Inter game on the radio and fell asleep, I heard that Barca were up 2 nil so slipped into a slumber quite happy, i must still have been taking in what was being said as i woke with a thinking it was two all, so i flicked up the scores and it was 4-2 Barca, surely money in the bank. It was as it finished 5-2. 6 on 8.40 out.

Tonight i have been to collect my meagre winnings and added my totals, 14.40 is the current total and so i have £7 on Werder Bremen at home to St Etienne, which i have recently found out means St Stephen. Anyway, at half time it was 1nil to Werder so fingers crossed. Actually, just checked, final score 1 nil. back in action! 4/7 will pay 11quid so going into Saturday the running total will stand at £18.40.

Season Diary

Entry # : Saturday 7th March 2009

Is Saturday morning and this Saturday is a Saturday off the fitba, a Saturday off! And why is it that there is no football on for the mighty Killie this fine day? Cos we got humped up in Inverness a month ago that’s why.

Its Scottish Cup Quarter final day today, oh it would have been nice, if only we hadn’t been so terrible up north. If we had gone through it would have been a home tie against Falkirk, that would have been smashing. And if we won, well that would see us in the semis, a trip to Hampden, and Falkirk! They’re playing like donkeys just now, dropped points on Tuesday, relegation candidates, surely they would maybe be thinking that this cup run thing wont be too good for their survival bid and we could turn them over, actually I think I thought out the exact same scenario last month for the Inverness game. But im torturing myself because were out, which is sad.

This morning is also the morning that wee Mehdi’s soccer skills video is on Soccer AM. It is something that was mentioned when the papers weirdly picked up on the fact that Killie were going to be on the crossbar challenge, that being the part of the story where Mehdi got filmed doing his ball juggling tricks and all that other stuff he does when he should be crossing and shooting but never actually got shown on the same morning. I know this because I have been text to tell me its just been on, I am now wondering what the hell an aurelio is.

Oops, its not actually morning anymore, rather the afternoon I should get moving as instead of football today I am going to go play crazy golf at the X-Scape complex up at Braehead.

Season Diary

Entry # : Wednesday 4th March 2009

This is me home from tonights game against Celtic, I will tell all tomorrow just want to post right now for posterity that I am well aware that in the paper ratings Scott MacDonald will get man of the match awards for the match winning double he scored but Kevin Kyle was absolutely superb i thought tonight. He gave both Caldwell and McManus water on the brain and won most every header, he also got the sponsors man of the match award, which is often a total mystery how it is decided, but they got the right man tonight. If only big Sammon had put away that chance that Kyle put over for him after skinning McManus, if only. Also Craig Bryson had a cracking game in midfield, more than matching what Celtic had to offer. I am writing this proud after a good display, think we deserved a point in the end, we were hemmed in for most of the first half even still i felt we dominated for a bit in the second. Anyway, i will cover it next post. Just wanted to get in early and point out what i pointed out about Kyle.

Season Diary

Entry # :Tuesday 3rd March 2009

Gibsongate (I am probably the only person who calls it this) seems to have taken a left turn into a little town called interestingville. Apparently what was reported in the papers I have been told is at odds to what Jim Jeffries said on the evening news. In the papers Gibson seems to be apologising for throwing the jersey away, saying it was disrespectful, he didint mean to disrespect the club, the manager or the fans, the articles also mention that Gibson cites the good numbers that were at Pittodrie at the weekend and it shows what a good support Killie have, thats always nice to read. Its worth noting (in light of what i am about to say) that Jim Jeffries quote which features is the exact same as the quotes used in Sundays and Mondays papers meaning it may be simply a recycled one.

Meanwhile, in TV-land Jim Jeffries in his interview says that Gibson hasn’t opened his mouth as regards a apology to the players the fans or even him and his staff AND that he is until further notice training with the youth teams (or how they are known amongst fans, the weans). I am posting this even though i havent seen the TV coverage personally but i have it on good authority and thats fine by me.

Sadly the fact we have a game against Celtic tomorrow and then no game at the weekend since its Scottish Cup weekend, (a dismal reminder of Inverness, sorry) means that this story will probably be brushed under the carpet by the nations media for what they will deem more important stuff (oh please make it more stuff on Marc Crosas and Mo Edu being the greatest players ever to grace the SPL, as this has been rattled out to major amounts of column inches in the past few days, Crosas scored for Celtic and now says Barca have no chance of getting him back, AYE RIGHT! and Edu, he is being compared to Viera, Keane and Essien all in the same breath simply because he started against Hamilton) (The stuff in the previous set of brackets is all ironic by the way) and so the moderately interesting story probably wont be followed up.

Tonight Falkirk take on Dundee United at home and I as well most Killie fans will be following this with interest, what we dont need is them taking three points, this relegation stuff could get hairy.

Season Diary

Entry # : Monday 2nd March 2009

Big Pasca has added me as a friend! Result! I am know linked through the power of social networking to Killie’s captain. I was slightly concerned that it was some young Killie fan with more time on his hands than me who created a profile for a player so idiots like me would be so intrigued as to try add them but as Pasca has accepted my hand of friendship I can now look at his page and the abundance of messages written in Italian plus the candid photos in the albums means I have hit paydirt! If i am honest i frankly have absolutely no idea what i could possibly speak to him about mind you but even still, kind of chuffed. What next, Michael Johnston on Twitter? I can just see our chairman giving blow by blow accounts of the life of a SPL chairman for his clubs fans to read and keep up with, much like celebrity Twitter fans Jonathan Ross, Phillip Schofield or Stephen Fry. Or maybe I can’t, Pasca as my facebook pal will have to do me for now.

Season Diary

Entry # : Thursday 26th February 2009

In an odd twist the papers are reporting who will be on the Crossbar Challenge on Saturdays Soccer AM on Sky. Its Killie! Even odder is that it is reporting who actually succeeds in said challenge, its Mehdi Taouil. Really strange. Wee Mehdi is a bit of a Soccer AM darling after his sublime skills were on the showboat the Saturday after the Ayr replay was covered by their cameras and it says they filmed him doing ball tricks too, i saw him do some of his trickjs while he warmed up at half time on the Ibrox pitch on Saturday, they really are something, but you know sometimes, i want my favourites to be able to put a cross right on top of the penalty spot rather than do ten keepy uppys with their back heel and maybe even hit the back of the net rather than hit the crossbar.

But i am just being twisted, I actually remember the last time we featured on the crossbar challenge, we were rotten. Suppose its good that Mehdi and Killie in general made such an impact on the footballing public down south and all due to the fact they featured in the best game Sky have shown this year so far! No Sky tv for me so it will be youtube or the Soccer AM website for me to catch it.

Season Diary

Entry # : Tuesday 24th February 2009

How many times this season will this story be my only Killie news when i buy my paper in the morning? Danny Invincibile is being reported to be back from injury and is training again, this should boost Killie. Good news i suppose but how many time has this been reported in the papers this season? Every few months Danny comes back from injury and its reported as a major boost for Jeffries, seems almost like its the only news that we get.

It also mentions that Frazer Wright is back on the treatment table after getting injured at Ibrox on Saturday, now if i am not mistaken we took off Garry Hay and put Fright to left back and now he is injured, why not take off him and keep on Hay, what we had was a centre half overlapping who couldn't cross, and what's worse, an injured centre half who cant cross.

Season Diary

Entry # : Thursday 19th February 2009

9.20 RK: Fuck it Blackie, just get me a ticket for the fitba, though only if it really is £6.50!

Season Diary

Entry # : Monday 16th January 2009

Got a phone call from Blackie tonight offering me the chance to go to Ibrox on Saturday with him, he will go get the tickets if i say aye. They are 6.50 child tickets however, question is, do I take the chance on these tickets, no real chance to be taken really even though i am 27 i still look like a sprightly young thing, plus more importantly the ticket machine thing doesnt care what age you are, just as long as you dont get caught its no big deal. Really with our form and our record up there I am not keen to pay the going rate of twenty odd quid anytime soon.

But on the other hand, my plan to go watch the Scottish Junior Cup game at Auchinleck; Talbot v Beith could still happen, since it got psotponed last week the general way of things is that its scheduled in till its played, meaning every saturday its pencilled in until the match is completed.

It Hurts

Article appeared in Killie Hippo 86 (out 14th February 09)

Do you know, I am hopefully off to Canada to live for a year in the next few months, I have preliminarily sorted a visa and have the final forms and all that to fill out. I cant wait, I really cant. Anyway, I am going to make a confession, in the past few weeks and months since this Canada business picked up pace I had been thinking about the Scottish Cup final and us in it, and thinking about waiting off booking flights and even getting my forms away so that my leaving date coincides with the final or making sure I have enough money weaselled away without the girlfriend (travel partner) getting to suspicious so that if it came to it and I was away I could afford to bring myself back for a weekend to see us in the final. I had a wee sneaky feeling about it all, had almost convinced myself.

I was in Inverness on Saturday and now feel like a tit for thinking all that.

What a load of crap that performance was, a club from chairman down who seem not to care a jot about the fans who follow them in numbers big and small. Its time our Killie got behind us, the fans, for a change and stood up for us instead of continually asking for it the other way. Saturday Hurt.

Lets see who we are talking about here, the notoriously fickle hard to please Killie fans, yes that’s us, we turn out in numbers regular but never get any credit in the press. At away games we consistently turn out better than the fans who visit Rugby Park but get no credit (but who cares) when at home we are constantly (in my opinion) short changed by penny pinching club officials who for my money doctor the attendances as wee homers. What happens then is journos and pundits who weren’t there read the attendances for Killie home games and pigeon hole us as not turning out to support our team. that’s how I see it anyway. So that’s us, Killie fans.
This is beginning to read as totally disjointed and it will continue to do so till my name reads at the bottom, this is due to rage building as a write this and trying to get a million points across. Here goes, one at a time and briefly, starting at the top.

MJ
The club issued a thank you to the fans who made the journey and asked them to get behind the team v Hibs (today) so we can look to put our season back together. This pathetic attempt really shows the gulf between MJ and the fans. Really, was this supposed to appease us? Yer man must know what a fractured group we really are because this merely pays lip service to what actually was a black day for Killie. Our team is allowed to hide away in Glasgow all week training and there is no interaction with the life blood, the fans.

JJ
How many time do we have to hear that it was a dodgy refereeing decision that killed off our chances again? A penalty but the snow blurred the lines, was just the latest in a line of excuses, but wheres the apologies, apologies to the fans for such a poor poor performance from a team who have zero fear for their places, these fans who risked quite a lot to make the journey into the snow on buses and trains and in cars moving at fifteen twenty miles an hour for miles and miles along the single file road to the north of the country. Where is the reassurances that you will read the riot act, that you have read the riot act that this should never happen again. I mean our tactics, we sign a player who genuinely could be the real deal, his goal and play at St Mirren could see him show up as the best headerer of the ball in Scottish football and against ICT we feed him the sum total of no good crosses. We win a free kick (the penalty) and we let Gibson shoot instead of swinging it over. And why do we always have to hear about how its all done on a shoestring budget? As if that safeguards against questions of where money was actually spent? Promised a striker at AGM’s in December, signed one late January, the one we originally had, hit a snag, did we ever have a striker lined up or was this just a ploy to appease us idiots?

The Players
Underachieving the lot of them. Game after game the same bunch of guys, no-one seems to get dropped for poor displays (well except for Wullie G but then he gets back in the team without any real reason so why drop him) We have a squad who seen to think they have made it but what this season has proved and was completely crystalised in Inverness is that we have a petulant bunch, who fold when the going gets tough. They have talent, this has been seen at times during this season when we go ahead and look like a right good team but more often than not we go behind to poorly defended goals and spend the rest of the games going through the motions. Not good enough, seems like they don’t particularly give a toss about it either, or us for that matter. Too often it feels like they slinky off after defeats safe in the knowledge that they live miles away and wont have to see us for another week, games like Saturday, this all seems like a bitter and twisted attack and for that I am sorry, the first paragraph explains the misguided faith I put in my team this year and though I have no right to expect my wish to come true, flat performance after flat performance hurts.

The Fans
Do we expect too much? Well no would be the answer, no teams fans deserve success all the time but application and effort and a keenness to appreciate the fans they have and help improve our fan base by giving us something to be proud of when we get behind our team would be nice. Constantly we are asked to get behind our team, but when it comes down to it, this season possibly more than most, we the fans need our club to get behind us and as it stand they fail on all measures.