Season Diary 55

Entry #55: Saturday 31st January 2009

Ta da! i took this picture off the BBC website but there was something similar in the record and the sun which i read yesterday. Happy days. I have also found out he will have number 16 on his back, taking over from Rhian Dodds. Incidentally both papers i read had interviews with Kyle and in shocking news he has a positive outlook! He has come up here and wants to do well for Killie and put himslef about, no one will get an easy time of it agaisnt him. All this positivity i hope will be infectious and we will start afresh this afternoon and scud St Mirren at their house warming party!

Last night i watched a bit of the SPL magazine show on Setanta, Booth and Lovell reading autocue is quite hard to take but some of the pieces are good. Christopher Brookmyre (good author) the St Mirren fan went to look at Love St one last time and also the new St Mirren stadium and the presenters took Killie players Gary Locke and David Fernandez clay pigeon shooting. Turns out Ferdy isnt his nickname, its Dav. Every days a school day.

Got a text last night also from my brother telling me Mark Roberts has signed for Ayr United. Good luck to him i suppose, At times in this past month i have thought we could resign him, for someone to hang about the box instead of dropping deep to pick up balls he could have fitted, but maybe that was just the sheer frustration of watching Killie recently which made me think such despewrate toughts. Anyway back to Kyle, i was looking for a picture to put in this post and actually found a video courtesy of the Standards excellent online content, have a look for yourself here!

Right i better go get my lucky pants and that on because the train to Paisley is in an hour and i have to get fed and stick a few quid on a Kevin Kyle opener! Pretty excited about todays game, oh you know whats jsut struck me, what if they bring back the Paisley Panda for this game and this game only, that would be cracking. Fingers crossed.

Season Diary 54

Entry #54: Thursday 29th January 2009

The Sun is carrying news today on Kyle saying that the lure of a Scotland recall brought him back to Scotland. That positive if you ask me, i like those quotes, seems like we have signed a hungry player. it also says he scored 14 goals in a season about 4 or 5 years ago for Sunderland in the Championship. Dont remember that i have to say. Wonder what number he’ll wear, i am a geek for all that stuff. Alas no posed picture in todays paper so fingers crossed for tomorrow.
God now i am thinking though, is he fit? Will we have to wait a few weeks to see him so he can get up to the fictional state that is match fitness? And while he ascertains this match fitness will he be struck by the curse f the new Kilie signing? a broken nose caused by Mark Reilly (ala pat nevin and Christophe Cocard) or something? all stuff to worry about i should think. Also, where will he fit into our line up who are churning out one of the most inconsistent runs in memory? Drop Russell? Ferdy? God i know we have been crap but if we start taking out one player we could easily rejig the whole team.
actually, there's a idea worth investigating....

Season Diary 53

Entry #53: Wednesday 28th January 2009

flicked through yesterdays paper this morning eating my breakfast and noticed that Jim Jeffries might be missing from the dugout for Saturdays game at the new St Mirren stadium. He will under go a routine operation today (which i suppose was now yesterday) and its up to the doctors whether he will be even at the game. Get well soon Jim i say, actually, given my thoughts on having an eye in the stands at games this could be a blessing, JJ can see what a pigs ear we make of many things during each and every game froma more elevated position.

Anyway this news i have which is now a day old seems weird considering i was told at tea time that Kevin Kyle was in talks to sign with us. How if JJ is ill and in hospital can this be happening when he has been fit and on the go for the first 27days and we signed no one? I’m not complaining however, were crying out for a striker. Watching the League Cup semi final between Celtic and Dundee Utd (it could have been us! well if we werent so crap in our earlier round game that is) i decided to get my phone out and spread this news text style and score some opinion to pass the time.

21.00 RK: word on the street is that Kevin Kyle is having a medical at Killie.
21.14 D: heard he’s on the verge of an 18 month deal with us coz he got released early from Coventry. He’s better than nothing.
21.15 RK: Thats not very positive.
21.18 D: After sunday i’ve lost a lot of positivity and faith in those at rugby park. By all means i hope this guys a roaring success, after Simmonds i’d take anyone
21.21 RK: You not think that him and Simmonds would make a good partnership? him playing off Kyles shoulder?
21.23 D: I dont think anything involving Simmonds would be good. I’ve personally sen nowt from that boy. He’s pish.
21.26 RK: Fair enough! At least we might see a bit of brawn in the shape of the big Stranraer baggage handler, cannae see him as a shitebag. Though from what i remember of his Scotland career, a goalscorer isnt exactly his job description.
21.31 D: Nah what we dont need is someone who creates goals, we need someone in the box. too many times Fernandez and Russell come deep and there’s noone in the box for them to aim for as thats where one of them should be. Hopefully Kyle will be an aggressive forward for us. Better than Burchill i will also add.
21.34 RK: Have to agree there, i do fear for him amongst the Killie faithful however. Kyle doesnt rhyme with pish like Nish did though. I’m sure there are haters already!
21.41 D: Everyone should have a clean slate, in a ideal world that is. too many will rmemember his Scotland career, which is a few levels above us anyway. he’s played the majority of his career in the top half of the championship for the bigger clubs. He’ll have plenty of haters i agree but thats the joys of football fans , sure willo flood will have th same problem
21.44 RK: you wonder what goes through these guys heads, not getting a game at man city, to not getting a game at cardiff to getting a game at DU to not getting a game at Celtic. Weird, thats the way it goes i suppose. You think if we get Kyle that’l be the close of business at ruggers?
21.46 D: Aye. I’m surprised we’ve signed anyone at all. BB basically said in his column in the record today we’d be signing no one.
21.49 RK: Were playing like fucking coo’s and we have freed about 6 or 7 players, we had to sign someone, surely we should be getting more. A full back, a centre half? Some loans?
21.52 D: It would be nice but i’m not holding my breath. Is that idiot Morgan still on the books we signed form ICT? what a pointless signing.
21.58 RK: Er, im not sure, if he hasnt been freed then he has been told he can leave. A panic buy of this time last year. Surely the whole point of these windows is that you pick the guys you want and go for them. Man Citys youth set up gets rave reviews on talksport, why doenst JJ contact ol Leslie Hughes and see who wants to come up for some fitba? Though he doesnt want to play our own yins so why play someone elses
22.03 D: Hes playing Coventry’s young wans’s. Dunno why we never went for the old firm pair that Hamilton got. How come falkirk get Arsenal youth players and we get Simmonds. I’m picking on him i know. I’m getting angry the more i think about it.
22.07 RK: Never thought about that. We have to remember that he is carrying an injury, dunno whether that makes it worse though. Hope if Kyle signs we get a picture in the paper of him wi the strip or something, love all that stuff, nae doubt we’l get a wee soccer shorts wi 4 lines though.

Celtic won the semi 11-10 in penalties, never seen anything like it. Everyone hit one and Willo Flood missed on his second time round. Hoped agaisnt hope that Boruc would be the sinner and his big coupon would have a haunted look on the back of the papers the next day, alas he hit the best penalty of the night. Checked our fixtures to see if the Old Firm final would affect us, were away at Inverness though so it wont.

Season Diary 47

Entry #47: Monday 18th January 2009

Today Kaka turned down a move to Manchester City and frankly thank god. Let me put this into some sort of perspective. The wages that were reported, regardless of whether they were correct or not, were in the region of five hundred thousand pounds a week. half a million pound every week in a wee brown pay poke. Forgive me if i miss out my customary exclamation marks (which i do covet) when discussing this because as much as it shocks me, it is more sheer revulsion than anything else. In this time of a recession the fact that this is actually accepted makes the mind boggle.

the perspective? Killie havent paid five hundred thousand pounds in transfer fees for any one player in their history. It is frankly scary that we are playing the same game under the same rules set down by the governing bodies like UEFA and FIFA, scary.

In fact a while ago, a few seasons maybe, i wrote a piece for the Killie Hippo fanzine highlighting the gulf in money and how that money is ruining football, when West Hams new Icelandic owners (oh the irony) were throwing about mega money about paying 5.5million fines like it was pocket change due to transfer discrepancies in their buying of Tevez and Mascherano (oh the irony again as the Hammers seem in the shite a wee bit as that transfer debacle still rumbles on) i attended a Sportsmans Dinner for the Killie Trust which was raising money to keep afloat the Kilmarnock Youth system, a youth system which will provide most of our players one would assume in these credit crunch days. That fundraiser raised something like six thousand pounds and i highlighted the major differences and how there is a seeming lack of justice in this football world.

Today just shows that, despite the signing not going through, the gulf which i spoke of merely a few years ago has been blown even wider. Its obscene.

See Think Tanks? They are pure and utter think tank!

Article Appeared in Killie Hippo Issue 85 (available from 17th January 2009)

Every so often the same crap appears, summits come up, think tanks or whatever they may be are arranged, and the great minds of our game discuss (obviously no actual end product occurs) what should happen to football in Scotland. It usually happens around the time of a SPL championship petering out too early or in this seasons case our two biggest (and seemingly the only ones who are actually important) exit from Europe before Christmas so in early December it happened. Its well documented that our own JJ was omitted from this meeting of the minds, unacceptable in my mind that any SPL boss was left out never mind someone of his experience, not to mention the fact he has been in a job the longest. But I wont dwell on that, we all know it was wrong, rather I will dwell on some of the things that came up and were reported in the papers.

first the not so stupid, merging the SPL, SFA and the SFL, that has to be done, they are all just names, they mean nothing, at the end of the day everything comes back to the SFA so why not just revert to it, put everything back together and lets do it quickly.

League reconstruction into a pyramid system also has to be embraced, our present system is squeezing the life out everything, there is no peril for the bottom league, finish bottom? Who cares. Everything is so stagnant, there are clearly clubs who want in, the Gretna debacle last year showed this so why not give the chance, if as was mentioned above, the governing bodies amalgamated this could be done with ease, get the juniors and highland leaguers involved too, in fact get the amateur game into it too, the pyramid should stretch all that way so that anyone who starts a club in the bottom league potentially can make it to the top, surely that would be good for the game. For me that wouldn’t be where it stopped, the Spl needs to be bigger, 16 teams maybe, making a thirty game season, every fan is sick of playing the same teams more than once a season, even the new teams coming up are sick of it. Give the league cup a champions league makeover to increase the games quota for fans if needed maybe. Also why not add some teams to kick it all off? Three leagues of 16 maybe. I don’t know.

Ken whit? If they just get rid of the ridiculous split then that would be a start.

Right, now for what to my mind is the ridiculous. Summer football. What a load of crap, what would it solve? It rains all year for a start, football should start at the end of summer and finish as it begins. It works. Why risk changing it, for my money aligning ourselves with Ireland for example tells its own story, cos regardless of what Conor Sammon says, irish fitba is pish. I like going to the football in the winter, I like putting on my big jacket and scarf and plodding over to rugby park. I like to see long sleeved strips, I wait eagerly to see my next orange ball getting used, basically its good. I also like it when we get a busy festive period of football, its part of Christmas. What I don’t want to happen is to miss part of the season because I have a fortnights holiday in july. And I cant see how it will help international football in any way. God they all clamour for a winter shutdown now but what god forbid we had summer football and we made a championship finals? Do we have a summer shutdown in the heat of our season? I think its all preposterous and would mean our stock in football which currently is worth as much as a pound note down to something more like some high street shopping vouchers. The only way to keep any standing in football to me is to keep our season in the same time frame as the rest of the main football world, kinda like how it is actually. Plus would we ever get a break, it would be wall to wall football, our season would be ending as the English one starts, no in between, personally I think our league would suffer as a consequence, all those who already have English allegiances (a reall irritation of mine actually) would see those allegiances solidify and possibly at the detriment of our game, in fact I could honestly see those who want summer football making a pilgrimage to a premiership match during their Christmas holidays thus making a mockery of the situation. Plus why would you want to waste a good summers day going to the football? True story here, I had a teacher at the school (Mr Thomson) who only went to Rugby Park on crappy days, he had better things to do when it was nice, you know, I can sort of see his logic now.

If anything, youth football should take place in the summer, kids should train and play with the sun on their backs and on dry solid surfaces, they will learn so much more this way rather than snotering and slevering and their mums not letting them go to training because they might get the cold or they already have the cold, but then hay fever is a problem in the summer, god I have backed myself into an argumetal corner here somehow, need to find a away out because I have made an arse of my pint, think, think, think, wait, I have it. Andy Murray. This is a man who is no longer Scottish, how can he be, he is successful, how can any Scotsman think to identify with Murray what with him being they way he is. How did it happen? Well the talent was there but also he wasn’t doing it in the Dunblane equivalent of the back of the Henderson Church tennis courts, no he was doing his thing is Spain working with good coaches in the high heat and good conditions. We have good football coaches in this country, so lets just improve the conditions. Lets see to it that the next batch of Scottish stars transcend being Scottish in the best Andy Murray tradition.

Sort of went off on a tangent with that one, oh well back to business, they also discussed referee performance, sorry think tank lads, are you all not a bit late for all that, should you not maybe have looked at the men in black (or more usually luminous yellow or blue, or red, or….) and their on field doings before giving them a wage hike earlier this year? Surely that would make sense. For me what doesn’t make sense is them asking for more money to do the same crap (or possibly now worse) job as they did last year and the year before for more money, was that not the opportune moment to say, yes we will increase your already pretty good second income wages but to earn it why not put it on a sliding scale of performance or something? You know? Make them perform to a high standard to get the bucks. But they didn’t and we are suffering the consequences. Killie sit top of the bad boy league in the news of the world and I cant see how, do we have a dirty player? I don’t think we do. We have plenty of petulant players certainly but its not all down to them, surely not. The referees are crap pure and simple.

Actually I don’t really believe that, I actually think that our games needs a good look at itself and when it does include the players, I think referees actually have it made harder for them by cheating players, take the penalty v Falkirk at rugby park earlier this season (I have wrung that particular incident for all its worth I feel, I use it as an example all the time when talking about players cheating, but I feel its justified, so there) the way he went down for the penalty didn’t make it easy for the referee, if the player had some morals and did the right thing then the ref would merely have to concentrate on refereeing the game rather than first having to decided if some player is trying to con him first. So players of Scottish, English, European and world football, stop bloody cheating because its making it hard for the refs and so affecting us as fans, it’s a vicious circle. (of sorts)

Or is it just me that thinks all that?

Sorry if that was all a bit general this issue but its pertinent to the here and now. Worry not readers, I will be back to writing of Killie issues such as strips and ways of improving attendances and other Ruud staples soon, just thought I would get some stuff off ma chest.

Cheers for reading.

Ruud Kerouac
Killie Beat Writer

Season Diary 42

Entry #42: Saturday 10th January 2009

Wasnt plannign on posting this morning but when i got up and stepped out into the back garden i noticed a strange purple hue to the morning. Dont know what it was but it definitely felt like i was watching Steven Soderburgh's Traffic only this must be some sort of follow up sequel set in Ayrshire and my colour of gel on the lens is purple. That might not make sense, no matter today is the day and the reason i felt a need to log on and update this with the purple hue information regards my feelings about our strip choice today. Is it an omen?

Probably not, i am more likely reading something into nothing. Best log off as got to get myself ready.

Season Diary 40

Entry #40: Thursday 8th January 2009

weather has sorted itself out, that horrible freezing monday has been put behind us and lookig at different weather sites a mild weekend will mean the game should be on. Should.

Season Diary 39

Entry #39: Wednesday 7th January 2009

I hate Wednesdays, Wednesdays and Thursdays really. I like Mondays though. I am weird that way. The reason I don’t like Wednesdays (and Thursdays) is that it feels like the week is almost over and generally I haven’t done anything, another one wasted so to speak, Mondays seem fresh to me and it feels like anything is possible, this wee is different as the week cant pass quick enough, Wednesday is the turning point where we turn the corner and now were in the final straight headed for Saturday.

Right today I will look at my personal record at the fiery (but sludge filled) pit of hell that is Somerset. I have been there six times in all, my Dad never took us when we were playing in the same divisions during the 80s and early 90s, I always felt that this was because it would be dangerous for young kids as me and my brother were at the time, but it may have been so he could go and enjoy himself, I have never asked him for the actual reason but if what I think is close to being right I can see his point either way.

Anyway, all those wins that others saw and reminisce fondly about (Tommy Burns’ goal being a prime example) I never seen. My first Killie game down in South Ayrshire was the forth round of the Scottish Cup the season after we won the cup (a wee reminder of our glorious cup win of 97) and in the teeming rain we got beat. In fact it was the shitiest day I can remember and we were stuck in the open at the side of the ground you enter at, horrible day. Two nil we were beaten and our cup was surrendered in the worst of places. My programme was ruined that day as well.

Next was a season later and a round earlier, and Andy Walker broke my heart. Suppose the less said about it the better, except that it was teeming, AGAIN, and after Walker scored that f-ing chipped penalty I left. Now my Dad wasn’t too pleased that I was leaving saying I should wait till the end, but I left anyway. So me Charlie and David Hill left and started walking to our friends house in Alloway. This shouldn’t have been that difficult but along the way we got lost and really we weren’t sure where we were going, if the truth be told our way of getting there was probably flawed. All in all, another shit day.

Next up was another cup game but this one was the league cup in 2001, myself and friends Ozzie and Grant plus Grants dad went down, in our lunacy we tried to get in a few pubs down in the Newton on Ayr area, we were duly turned around and ended up in what was then called Dantes and had some prematch beers. Surely this would be the one, the one where I broke my hoodoo, alas no, nil nil meant penalties and we made a major arse of it, big Johnny Bravo otherwise known as Chris Innes humped it right over their home enclosure if memory serves, and I mean humped it. Three defeats on the bounce.

Then in 2004 we played the second of the newly created West Sound Trophy games which replaced (sort of but not actually) the Ayrshire Cup, the first was played the November before on the same day as a Scotland game, the playoff versus Holland actually when McFadden scored in a one nil win, I was at that rather than the inaugural West Sound game at Rugby Park, which we won incidentally. No this was the second and the venue was Somerset in a kind of year about type thing and it was held in preseason so it was a July visit and so the chances of pissing rain were pretty slim (the last game in the league cup I should maybe mention was in early October and as I recall it was a mild night) so we headed out minus our jackets on the general service bus to Ayr. Getting off at the station we went to a place called Drouthy Neebors which myself and my brother ahd been to a party at before and remembered was alright, sadly it had changed hands and was pretty upmarket in comparison. I think we had one pint and went round to Dantes again, more like it. The game was a two each draw and so I saw my first Killie goals on enemy soil! David Lilley scored it. In fact we were up two nil and crusing then they scored two in the last quarter of an hour and pulled level and beat us on pens (again)! There was some bother outside the ground afterwards, really the first time I have any real memories of anything like that happening, suppose it was probably because I actually knew some people who were involved, I wasn’t though (not my thing) and I headed back into town. Myself, Blackie and a few others who exactly I cant recall, headed back to Killie after a few pints in a taxi and pulled up at the Howard as the Killie team were leaving, they were there post game for some sort of player of the year presentation, and we made out we were less than pleased to see them, scowling and telling each other that we were glad they were away and they should fuck off and think about the mess they made that day but secretly wishing we had been back in time to see them. anyway, when we went in the pub all those who were involved ins scuffles of varying degrees were in and had spoken to some of the players, they had jumped on some supporters buses going home the jammy gits, Gary Locke was the one that sticks in my mind because I up to that point was the lone voice in my love of Lockey but after that a fair few of the boys came round to him and his no nonsense style, every cloud as they say.

I said I was there six times and I wasn’t lying, that’s the four times I went to see Killie but I also went to a Ayr Dundee Utd pre season game years and years ago, in the away end I must add and finally I went to a Ayrshire Amateur Cup final to see my mate Mushy turn out for his team Newmilns Vesuvius. This was my happiest time in Somerset and I will tell you why. Free programmes were given out as you went through the turnstyles with a lucky number printed on the front, the winning number was read out over the tannoy and low and behold my programme was the lucky one! I was led through the main stand (“somerset is falling down” isn’t just a clever song its right on the money) to an office and handed a fifty pound note as my prize! Result! I went spent it in Parkers Niteclub in Kilmarnock that night.

Season Diary 38

Entry #38: Tuesday 6th January 2009

Tonight my mind turns to which strip we will turn out in on Saturday.

Will it be blue and white stripes, blue shorts and blue sock, i.e. our home kit or will it be head to toe in purple? what it wont be, I wouldn’t imagine, is our new white kit!

What with the rules and all that other stuff I would maybe imagine it will be the purple effort, the white on our home kit, in particular our patch on the back for the number, will probably mean the beaks will think it is a clash with Ayrs white home kit. All that sort of thing is ridiculous however, if people cant distinguish between our home kit and Ayrs home kit then they are probably blind. And if referees cant tell the difference between those two kits then god help us for when the have to make decisions! I always remember justifying kit clashes in years past by using black and white TV’s as the touchstone, for that I mean that if fans at home are watching on there old b&w telly the gradients of grey should be such that teams can be distinguishable. But that was years ago, surely this cant still be true (if it ever actually was!) actually, do they still do TV Licences for black and white telly’s?

I'm rambling.

So, to sum up, I am thinking that due to the madness of the rules these days, predominantly blue and white stripes clashes with white all over with black shorts and Killie will run out on Saturday giving it the whole Harchester Utd gig in purple from head to toe.

Season Diary 37

Entry #37: Monday 5th January 2009

Right, I am just in from playing five a side football out at the all weather pitches at Whitletts and it was absolutely baltic, freezing freezing cold. You would expect all weather pitches to be a bit Ronseal (I have been assured that this is now an official word in the dictionary and means “does exactly what it says on the tin” using it as an adjective however seems rather strange I have to say) but they weren't really, it was like a ice rink and the quicker the game was over the better.

It was so cold that the air felt thin and breathing was a real hassle. It was also my first outing in my new Wullie G style boots and I played like a donkey in them, you really do feel like so much more of a prize fanny when playing poorly in a pair of orange trainers than you do in traditional black, alas. Other new kit I had on was my Gigi Buffonalike neck scarf type thing. it went down a treat I must say and recommend it to anyone. Basically its the neck off a roll neck jumper with a extra bit down the front to keep your chest warm, its made from fleecy material, marvellous I must say. Was at the indoor skiing thing at Braehead on Friday there and say a snazzy cloth type neckerchief in camouflage and after tonight's outing in my own black one I may be interested in purchasing the camo type cloth one for when the temperatures pick up a little, they Italians have got it right, stylish but also with a point.

Whitletts to the uninitiated is a kick in the nuts away from Somerset so with me being there tonight I am think about whether or not the game will be on this coming Saturday, I know its only Monday but still. It is actually the first the thought of postponement has entered my mind, oh god I hope not.

Then again, if it is on and tonight's weather is the order of the day I worry about my extremities when they are standing for nearly two hours in the piggery, is there gloves warm enough to take it, and what about my feet, how many pairs of sock can I possibly get under my trainers. Actually if its this cold I can get my trainers on, if it thaws there is no chance I am risking ruining my good trainers standing in muck and pish in the railway end in deepest darkest Ayr.

I also worry, as I head for a shower, about the wee fella in that kind of cold.

Shrivelled walnut springs to mind.

Season Diary 36

Entry #36: Sunday 4th January 2009

Yesterday afternoon I was worked in the pub and Killie played our first game of the new year away at Falkirk. To be honest Football was the least of my worries yesterday, too much overindulgence (and work incidentally) during the festive period meant I slept in as long as possible and simply went to my work did a shift and came home, I had half an eye on the Killie score but I was simply too jaded, so jaded in fact that I never had a coupon on, which is some sort of miracle for me.

We drew one each and as far as I can gather from the people who were at it we played well in patches, and were unlucky but again, jaded as I am still, that is about all I was really interested enough to glean from it. I suppose a nice wee bit of info about yesterdays game was that we had ourselves a shiny new third kit on! This was effectively a negative view to our current purple away kit, where the white piping is on the away kit, purple is on this and its white. We wore it with the away shorts but as we wore white shorts with our purple top in Inverness earlier this season what we now have is a third kit! My feelings about this new strip is that it will never be sold, a typical Killie move, I will be making some sort of effort to maybe putting my hands on one of these white things however as they always turn up. If I remember rightly we wore an all red thing for one game only a few seasons ago against Dunfermline and it wasn’t sold in the shop as a kit, but as I sat eating a meal in a local family restaurant a few years later I a guy came in with his family with said red top on! somehow he put his hands on it and that’s my plan for one of these white fellas.

Oh, I have covered the afternoons entertainment yesterday but never mentioned the mornings, the Ayr tickets went on sale to season ticket holders at Rugby Park! I would like to regale you with a tale of standing in a massive queue to get my greasy mitts on the coveted briefs but the fact of the matter is that I gave my brother my stub from my season book needed to get a ticket last Sunday night so he went over and picked them up. He assures me that he simply walked in and purchased them with no real worries and I cant do anything but believe him but others that spoke to me today say that there was queues and they had to stand in them for an hour or more, most of these guys though went at opening time whereas my brother being the lazy arse he is wouldn’t have got out his bed to do that so sauntered over much later and was met with no queue shaped resistance.

So the tickets have been dealt with and anticipation to what should be the most anticipated game of the season (worst sentence ever!) begins, for the next week up to kick off I will report daily on the feelings and experiences as excitement reaches fever pitch. I might be hard to believe but this game is the equivalent to Barca Real, Rangers Celtic, the lot. It might not be high profile but its ours and basically you can stick your others up your arse as for the next week this is THE biggest game in football.

Season Diary 34

Wednesday 24th December 2008

Well the scum beat the juniors three nil or something last night, but whos really counting, they beat a junior team, big deal? What it does though is sets up the dream tie, the Killie boys are on our way to the piggery once again and i hope against hope that it wil be my first victory for Killie seen by me inside that shitehole. Please!

game isnt till a fornight on Saturday so i suppose i shall sit on my excitement for now. Last nights game was watched by me on teletext, i was in the pub with the teletext page up on the tv in the corner, what a step back in time that was i have to say, it was just static, no movement then the next time you looked up it was one nil, then three then i dont know, text was plunked off because basically it was game over. in the age of Jeff Stelling (god) or even Sportscene at half 4 on a saturday (not Setantas version, its weird) teletext is a weird one. Dont want to be all snooty and MTV generation about it but while going back to radio from time to time instead of TV is refreshing, giong back to teletext from information overload tv such as Sky sports news sucks.

Also its Christmas and i have a Christmas tree, i like white trees, always have since we had one when i was little, i vowed that when it came to me getting a tree that i would get a white one and true to my word i did. Oh and i decked it out in blue and white. heres a photos!

Season Diary 35

Entry #35: Sunday 28th December 2008

After watching that garbage last Saturday it can be expected that I thought very little of our chances away at Hibs yesterday (Saturday) so it came as a major surprise when we won 4-2. Its one of those things being a Killie fan in recent times, you really don’t know which team will turn up on the day. Even the game, which I followed while working on the Sky vidiprinter thing, went so topsy turvy there was no way to predict its outcome. We went two goals up early on and then were pegged back to two each. At two nil up I will admit to being slightly bemused but on the whole elated that we seemed to be thrashing Hibs, it all seemed so comfortable and another couple surely wouldn’t be too hard to come by since there was still 72minutes left! But then we lose two penalties in three minutes or so, the second of which sees Combe sent off and the score goes level I had the sinking feeling that it was all going to go tits up and that our form of late especially last Saturday at home to St Mirren was going to come back and bite us not to mention we have now got Damien Rascle in nets whom I am far from keen on. But then we score another two including one from, amazingly probably even to him, Garry Hay and the game finishes with an emphatic scoreline in our favour. Garry Hay goals are real collectors items, his first game for the big team (don’t know why I described it as this but still) was against Aberdeen and him and his curtains haircut scored two but after that they have been pretty rare beasts, yesterdays being his 8th in his career I think, I once had a bet with my mate Blackie about Garry Hay goals, I claimed that his two goals were his only for the club, Blackie said he was sure there was more, but I spoke with enough confidence that he backed down a bit, after that I did a wee bit of research and found out that at that time he had scored a further two or three, suffice to say I never mentioned the bet again and to this day haven’t paid out, oh the shame, not that I am using this as some sort of cathartic device to get that wee fact out my head or anything. Anyway, I suppose I could have saved myself a lot of words if I had simply wrote that it had been a rollercoaster ride today, all highs and lows with a feeling of satisfaction at the end. But I didn’t. Hopefully we can kick on from this.

Looking at the fixtures coming up it could be a busy time for me as a Killie fan, and now as a Killie fan with Saturdays free. After Falkirk away next week which I wont be at, the following Saturday is the Cup game versus Ayr which I will be at by hook or by crook, then it’s a midweek rearranged Aberdeen fixture from when our pitch was frozen and they wanted to claim against us for cost incurred or something, then on the next two Saturdays Hearts then Hamilton at home and then the early kick of at the new St Mirren stadium live on the telly but I will hope to have a ticket and take my seat as one of the first visitors to their new ground, and it doesn’t stop there because provided we beat Ayr (not a probability more a guarantee…..PLEASE!) then the following week is Scottish Cup day so home or away it will be in the grand scheme of my plan to be at that too and to top it off we then have another home game versus Hibs again which kind of brings it all full circle to yesterday I suppose.

The game after the Hibs game is Rangers and I would doubt I will be at that, been a long time since I was at Ibrox, so that will be seven on the bounce I think, good times!

Suppose I should say what I got for Christmas, well Killie wise what I got, a long sleeved home top, its quite nice actually and fits pretty well, well pretty well for a Killie top as some in years past have been some of the ugliest shapes imaginable, I think they think every strip wearing fan is square or something. After all the fuss I have made about dodgy kit makers and clamouring for adidas or nike or something the 1869 top is a pleasant surprise. Just wish it was hoops, it really is time for hoops. I also got the cracking new tartan scarf which though is a bit short for tying round your neck is really nice, and also a calendar which is always good, no Hollyoaks babes for me, its just Alan Combe and Gavin Skelton.

Last piece of info for today, conflicting stories about the selling of tickets for the cup game, some say they go on sale tomorrow, others disagree saying its just privileged seat holders that get a crack, basically I don’t know what to believe so I have took my season book and gave it to my brother tonight and asked him to deal with it as and when they go on sale, he is off work after all. How a season ticket doesn’t know when he can get his ticket is beyond me but I am not alone in that boat, noone seems to have the definitive details. One thing less to worry about.

Season Diary 33

Entry #33: Sunday 21st December 2008

I work Saturdays but i have an arrangement with my gaffer that i work around the Killie home games and also that any away games i would like to go to he tries to work something out for me, its a really fortunate situation i find myself in. So a Saturday when Killie are at home my usual 12-6 shift alters and is generally 12 till 5 to 3 then run round to Rugby Park, then straight back to work til 6 or 7, as i say, a fortunate situation. Looking at it that way my boss is doing me a good turn by letting me go, look at it another i am doing my utmost to make all home matches even if it means i miss out on wages. Pity my team doesnt take these sort of stories of what people do to come and see them into account as yesterday was a completely gutless performance. See i have highlighted my situation, my deal, footballers are supposed to train then turn up and play a match with the intention of winning three points, thats their deal, today from what i saw from my seat they reneged on their deal, gutless. In fact it is was so gutless i am not even going to waste my time filling you in on it any, except to say we got beat one nil, a goal lost in the first half after half an hour or so, we had plenty of time to get level but offered little in way of any attacking prowess and the game finished with me walking down the stairs from my lofty seat in the Moffat with a fellow in the front row of the upper tier shouting “gutless Killie, absolutely gutless” and that was exactly what was going through my mind and why i have overused it in the lines above this one. I went back to work afterwards because thats the deal, i get time off to watch pish like that and then i go and complete my shift.

Actually, i have got a bit more to say about yesterday, i have been going to Killie games for many a long year and always with the same core of people; my dad, my uncle Jim, CharlieHill and Stew when he came back from America till he went back plus the weans; me, my brother, charlies boy David, and Stew’s boys Jon and his young brother Gordon, always. Now were all a bit older we sit in different places at times and there is a bigger group of friends but still that core are still going, still faithful. Let me tell you where one of them was today, David Hill had to go on his works night out so missed the football, where he was was the matinee performance of the Pantomime at some theatre in Glasgow where he works. Surely he could have said he would meet them after or something but no he was sitting enjoying the show while we froze our arses off watching the football (term used as loosely as possible) I was told where he was so i text him and asked him where he was, he replied minutes later, Pantomime he said. I decided to give him a chance to crack an obvious joke, i replied, oh no your not! and waited for the reply saying “oh yes i am!” it never materialised, i hope i never pissed him off.

Bienvenue, Cliches, and Pasca: 3 Hippo Things

All Articles Appeared in Killie Hippo 84 (on sale 20th December 2008)

Bienvenue à equipe premier Killie, Dizzy!
Or welcome to the Killie first team Dizzy, a warm greeting from me that takes in Gary McSwegan, the Scoreboard and Michael Watt?!

Over the two Saturdays past, both home games v Dundee Utd and ICT, Killie trivia questions that I thought up over a month ago have been debunked, first of all two weeks ago my "who are the five players to have the number 9 squad number since squad numbers were introduced?" was crapped on because it turns out I had missed one, then the ten keepers since the cup win was rewritten due to a half time sub. And yes I am claiming creation of both these questions!

Ok, for the number 9 poser I had Paul Wright as a kick off, then by my recollection we signed big Michel Ngonge, however he didn’t want to follow Paul Wright as number 9, he wanted 18, the 18 we had was a utility player called Sean Hessey, Ngonge wanted 9 but didn’t want nine, he wanted 18, 1 plus 8 equals 9, Hessey said he would give up 18 if he got 9, he did and it was weird. Then I had the jersey going to Kris Boyd who wore it and scored a hatful before moving on, less said the better. Then it was Colin Nish and now its Alan Russell, all well and good, that makes five. Well no, I got a late night phone call to let me know I forgot one.

Gary McSwegan, cant believe I forgot about him, in season 2003-2004 he was number 9 after being 25 in his first season (the one before), Boydie wore 12 that year, when I was told I went home and checked, I had a wee inkling at the back of my head that it might not be, maybe they were mistaken, he was number 10 was he not? No, he was 9. Arse. Also the Kevin McGowne answer came up, as I knew it would but my actual question insulates me from this as squad numbers came to pass in the season 98-99 and McGowne doesn’t count. The reason they mention this is because Killie had squad numbers in Europe after winning the cup. I don’t know whose bright idea it was but they were allocated on alphabetical order so Big Kev was 9 ,but that falls outside of the time limit so doesn’t count. I always thought that the Hessey answer was the tricky one, the one that would have got people thinking, how was I to know that my own question would goose me when it came right down to it! Gary McSwegan!

See that’s what happens with these types of questions, especially if they are dreamed up by dumb asses like me. I came up with it to test the usuals in the pub; Wee Cuthbert, big Aldo, Jake Sharp, big Davie and Burnett on a Sunday and the like, good Killie boys and they all accepted the 5 man answer (this question I had first asked back in mid October time, I was caught out at the end of November) but then one would ask another person at some point down the line if trivia questions come up in another pub (they do, regularly) and eventually Sweggy came out, 6 instead of 5, so I got caught out and insult to injury they aren’t slow in letting me know, not content to the next time they seen me a phone call at half 10 on a Saturday night was how I was told. So cheers for that fellas.

The next Saturday, it was the poser, name the 10 goalies to have played for Kilmarnock since we won the cup in 97. That’s 10, not including outfield players who have went in ala Gus McPherson who most people name first as if all you want to do is trip people up. No the question regards actual goalkeepers and till that day there was ten. Here goes.

Drago for starters, he won the cup and played on till he was sold to some Spanish mob, he was replaced by Gordon Marshall (arguably Killie best ever keeper, in my opinion anyway), both these keepers had excellent scoreboard animations, Drago had a dragon which scrolled down to a smiling baby dragon or a face made out of the dragons knees or something, always confused me actually. And Gordon Marshall, he had "you've been halted....by the Marshall" Hands down my favourite scoreboard animation (2nd place goes to the three stooges) Melly was back up to both these guys and so makes three. François Duberdeau was in there somewhere (THE worst goalie I have ever saw) Craig Samson (goes to expo) played a game too, a defeat in what has been my only visit to Aberdeen, Colin Stewart played in a mauling we gave Hibs, and Michael Watt too, all in some sort of order which I don’t know off the top of my head. Then comes the recent ones Graeme Smith played before following the cash to Ibrox, Chad Harpur, who my dad for no reason calls Chud, and so now do I and my brother, again for no reason, just Chud as well too, not Chud Harper, just Chud, I was to put it in a sentence the sentence would be "god, I hope Chud isn’t on the bench today" And Alan Combe our current number 1. this meandering rubbish has a point as such though as that Combe went off injured and the answer became 11. Welcome to the Killie first team Damien (Dizzy) Rascale, in your 45 minutes on the park you became the second Frenchman to guard our goal and already the best!


Fitba Myths, Cliches and P!$h Patter Explained

We have all heard them, I think it started with a game of two halves (though it probably didn’t) and has continued on and on and on and on even down to a new word being entered into the dictionary. Bouncebackability? This is a word invented by Iain Dowie who is a man who should be remembered forever as that ugly bloke that played for hundreds of crap teams in England rather than someone who has added something to the English language. But of course there is loads and we are all guilty at time to time of uttering them regardless of whether we think they make sense so I am going to look at some of the best.

You haven’t played the game: This is a popular myth perpetuated by managers and players to defend their actions and tactics in matches. If they get a proper towing they can always reply that football writers or fans have never played to any standard so know nothing of the intricate intricacies of football. Well, ma hoop im afraid. All these up their arse footballing men can stick it cos they have never had to pay to watch the tripe they put out on the park themselves. Mark McGhee came away with this one the other week, claiming if Motherwell fans didn’t understand his decision to take off lasley then they know nothing about football, no pal, if you sign Bob Malcolm and try to pass him off as a player it is you who knows nothing about football! Basically fans are the best and purest thing about football, let us rejoice in our position as gid fitba fans!

They cannie score fae row z!: What pray tell is the point of this shout, sure the team cant score from row z, that’s a given, that’s because row z isn’t in the playing dimensions so why do we need to put it up there, especially as the resultant throw or corner is taken from the same place (the side of the park or just outside (personal gripe) that wee quarter circle at the flag) not from the aforementioned row z. given our defending of set pieces this year, (fat dwarves like Scott Macdonald scoring headers anyone?) surely a better shout would be “eat the ba’ Frazer, they cannie score if its in yer belly!”

Yes, he's doing well but can he produce it on a rainy Tuesday night in January at Fir Park: A familiar shout in the present climate of multi national line ups. It comes from the fact that teams get their new expensive foreign signing in the late summer and he turns it on in August and September Saturday afternoons lighting up the league and firing himself to the head of the Sunday Mail starcheck standings (actually, does this still exist?) However despite this blistering form the naysayer’s begin to have their doubts and utter that phrase of phrases. But is it relevant? Is it baws, who actually excels on a rainy Tuesday at Motherwell, no one is the answer because the park is generally a disgrace.

Stonewaller: We all know what a dodgy penalty claim looks like; Andy Barrowman up in Inverness earlier this season, Graham Barratt of Falkirk here at Rugby park also this season. By the same token we know what a definite penalty claim looks like; Paul Wright at Broadwood early in 1997 a perfect example. And that’s what a stonewaller is; it’s a definite penalty. Though exactly what a stone wall and the ref giving a penalty have to do with each other is anyones guess.

Should have went to Specsavers ref!: This particular piece of wit must have been uttered more times than anything in Scottish football. It was funny the first one hundred times granted but the following six million times we have all heard it, lets be honest it starts to grate. It is further supported by the fact the refs are sponsored by specsavers, nothing like telling a joke to death. In fact considering they are continuing to do the same substandard job despite having a wage increase this season surely the shout should now be “should have got laser eye treatment!” they can now afford it.

He just about got there: This is a common commentator shout when a keeper almost gets his fingertips on a Taouil free kick, or Willie Gibson nearly keeps a ball he has chased down to the by-line in the park, or for that matter any cynical tackle a Celtic midfielder makes when Killie try to break quickly against them. Now correct me if I not following the English language here my understanding is that if “he just about got there” then that tends to mean “HE DEFINITELY F-ING DIDN’T!” To reuse my examples, the keeper was nowhere near Mehdi’s free kick, Wullie G didn’t keep the ball in the park and more importantly, Celtic are cheating fouling bastards.

He's got a decent touch for a big man: When a taller player shows some neat touches and good control he is tagged with this particular epitaph (I realise this is a word used for the deceased but its true that these guys will carry this tag till their dying day) It is a surprising shout I think because why shouldn’t he have a nice touch, its his full time job, its all he does and basically all he has done since he was at school. To look at it from the other perspective is it acceptable for him to have a crap touch since he is tall? I mean he can make up for a crap touch in so many different ways, such as standing in the back row in the team photo, you always need a tall guy for that job. Conor Sammon seems to have taken over this from Nish at Killie, a big striker who shows more promise when the ball is played into feet rather than pinged at his head. Would it not make sense to utilise this skill of touch and give it into his feet instead of firing balls at his napper and expecting miracles all because he stands slightly taller than rest. Which brings me to…..

He’s six foot two but jumps five foot three: Ah Colin Nish, two mentions for you, I bet you wish you never rejoined your childhood heroes, especially as the fat Finn has brought back Deek and Jonatan Johannsen is returning to these shores in January, you would no doubt be playing every week scoring goals hopefully and winding up the boo boys who savaged you in your time here. Alas its 4th choice striker for you on the east coast, the upside for us Killie fans is we never need to here someone over our shoulder say he is 6’2 but jumps 5’3, one because it was annoying and two because its physically impossible. As an alternative I preferred “you couldn’t fit a Standard under his feet when he jumps” because its area specific and paints a better picture.

Goalkeepers that can’t kick the ball: Some goalies have a reputation of not being able to kick the ball very well. I cant fathom this, what exactly did they do in their lives, surely at some point when young they took a shot out nets and developed some skills in kicking the ball. There is no way they turned up with their goalie gloves, probably those nylon things with the rubber patches stitched on, and simply played in goals for their entire lifetime. One thing you notice if you spend any time sitting behind the goals is the positioning of the outfield players for a by kick. Our own goalie Mr Combe is a perfect example, when he takes one they all migrate to the left side of the park, WHY!? Can he not turn his body in any direction and kick it somewhere else? And if not? LEARN! Practice kicking balls in particular directions, that element of surprise may prove useful someday would you think. Or is it simply the fact that when a goalkeeper has limited kicking abilities its merely shorthand for saying the goalkeeper is pish.

The notoriously hard to please Kilmarnock fan: We have all heard it and some people now believe it, but no, wait a minute, all teams have their fickle supporters who pay cash every week to have a right good moan. Basically this is something that is perpetuated by lazy Scottish journalists, if they say it all the time them people will begin to think its true, well its not.

Q: Who’s the referee?
A: The guy in the black: Whoever says this just stop it. No uncovering here, just give it a rest.

And finally,
Mon you up here and sit wi me: Actually, I quite like this one, it has the perfect balance of humour and nonsensicalness (in you face Iain Dowie) to be shouted at the football. I think it means that the player who is having a nightmare should come up and sit in the stand and watch himself play like a big fat coo but then if he cant do two things at once, he cant watch himself play after all. Its generally shouted by the chap you don’t know but like to sit near cos he always comes away with some corkers.

And there we have it, Saturday wouldn’t be Saturday without all this mince I have just covered. Let me put this to you, if we had summer football you would never again hear the Yes, he's doing well but can he produce it on a rainy Tuesday night in January at Fir Park now would you, and frankly football would be a sadder place without it, but then summer football, that’s another argument.


Chuck Norris Wears Pasca Pyjamas

> After a day roundhouse kicking everyone he meets, world famous hardest man ever Chuck Norris then wears Pasca pyjamas to bed.

> Manuel Pascali was originally going to be a star in the latest series of TV show Heroes, however when the shows creators and writers put their heads together they couldn’t come up with a possible power that bad guy Sylar could steal that would allow him to elude Pasca’s power of the crunching tackle, they decided to cut him from the series. Pasca wasn’t too bothered though, plenty of time for TV later.

> When Pasca first saw the Pasca 20/20 flag at Love Street earlier this season he was overcome with a mix of emotions, pride due to seeing his countries flag, but also disappointment, after a chat with flag maker extraordinaire Gaz Stafford he realised that his disappointment was unfounded, 20/20 was a reference to an away day enhancer that comes in multi coloured liquid form not a prediction on how many crunching tackles and yellow cards he will get this season. Naturally, Pasca thought he’d get more.

> Pasca has a an acute sense of time, as soon as he sees the yellow card being pointed in his direction, he knows there is 85 minutes to go.

> Usain Bolt was sent a selection of videos featuring Pasca’s meaty challenges by fellow Jamaican icon Simon Ford as way to drum up some inspiration to run fast in the Olympic 100m final. “imagine your running away from dis!” was the note Jamaican national hero and reggae boy extraordinaire Si put in with the vids. It worked as Bolt broke the world record. However, you may have read that Bolt described his pre run routine a little different, TV and chicken nuggets? No mention of thanks for Pasca? Pasca read this too, but isn’t too worried, a three match ban is never too far away, plenty of time then to deal with the ungrateful beanpole, in his own immutable style you understand.

Ruud Kerouac
Killie Beat Writer

Season Diary 32

Entry #32: Wednesday 17th December 2008

Today Ayr drew away at Lochee. Tee Hee. So its still up in the air where we will be going when our Scottish Cup campaign begins. Sorry, our Homecoming Cup campaign!

Season Diary 31

Entry #31: Tuesday 16th December 2008


the name of the pub i watched the game in was Smiths, its not far from the bus station which was good because it was freezing and didnt want to walk to far (also my time keeping sucks, i was still on the bus when the game kicked off so the closer to the station the better for me or i would have missed a fair bit of the 1st half no doubt) plus it would be good for getting back home as today was the second day of my new job after all. Incidentally the buses between Ayr and Prestwick after tenish arent as frequent as i thought and i had to go into another pub and wait half an hour on the bus coming, did get to speak to an old uni friend who had recently had a child with his girlfriend and was looking forward to their first Christmas, also that pub had upside down christmas trees which was kinda cool. got home at 11ish which wasnt ideal but ok, in retrospect if i had been up at Motherwell (is it up?) i would probably have got back at a similar time. Maybe, actually now as i type that i doubt its validity, i will leave it all in now and show the internal machinations of my mind rather than take some time to find out if that would actually be the case.

Back the the football and my rather strange decision to watch Killie on the TV in an Ayr pub. the football was excellent, a two nil win away from home, Alan Russell grabbed his first for us and it was a belter, a really well taken goal and we got a clean sheet both big plusses. Motherwell are pure mince though. Thats six points we have taken off them this season, earlier it was a late Bryson goal which nicked it for us but last night it was just a good performance. Getting texts from thjose that were there and those who saw the first ten minutes that i didnt say that Pasca struggled at makeshift centre half but but in the 80 minutes i saw i thought he looked fine. Invincibile was taken off which is a blow but Flannigan came in and kept the shape. basically it was a great performance from us, considering the line up and the fact the postponed game last week meant that Fernandez's suspension rolled over a further week.

As i have mentioned i watched it in this pub called Smiths in Ayr, wheni got in Jon and his brother Gordon were watching it at the door with Gordons mate and his girlfriend, no sound so we we got punted through the the bar where the game was shown with the sound up. So the five of us were holed up in the furthest corner from the door out and also the toilet, after a few pints i needed a wee pee and i have to admit that i was a little aprehensive about going incase i got any hassle. What a shitebag eh? who in there right mind would hassle a tall speccy geek who just happens to support Killie. but alas i did have a tiny bit of worry in my mind. In fact as far as hassle goes all that there was was some nugget shouting "fuck the Killie" every once in a while i suppose aimed at us as well as the tv. Thank god we won because i wouldnt like to see how many people in the quite busy bar would have cheered a Motherwell goal. I suppose i better add that we all were cheering wildly when our goals went in but managed to contain myself from chanting Ayr Ayr fuck yer Ayr due to my current predicament.

Toward the end of the game we had some steaming local join us up in our wee corner, he must have been a Killie fan so the five became six for a while. I suppose i should also add that all five of us noticed at exactly the same time when he was shown in close up that Mark McGhee seemed to be wearing eyeliner but no website i have seen today seems to highlight it, i dont have apicture to show you but if five of us thought it at the same time then surely it must be true, surely? anyway, a good win and now a home game on Saturday versus St Mirren so a wee back to back win sequence would be swell.

Oh, and Smiths sells a delicious pint of lager.

Season Diary 30

Entry #30: Monday 15th December 2008


Tonight is the Motherwell game away. Its live on the tv hence the fact that it is Monday. I should be going, it was always my intention to go, even when it was announced to be on Setanta, in fact especially because it was scheduled to be on tv, the Monday meant it wouldnt interfere with my Saturday shift in pub. But now i have a new job and today is my first day and it is playing havoc. Not time wise, time wise its cool i finish at five o'clock so i can be up for the bus to fir Park easy, no to get to and from my job i need my motor and thats where my problem lies. Basically my car isnt in the best of health and its MOT is due in about a week and i dont want any extra journeys (such as to Killie and back) in case it packs in on the way and i cant get to my new job the next day. If my car can get throught those work runs then i will be happy. Plus my worries about my vehicle mean i cant go spending money going to an away game in case my MOT show i need to spend some serious dough in repairs, not to mention what i will shell out for the MOT.

OK, that was a bit of a long winded excuse for the fact that tonight i am not going the the football, in fact as i sit here and write this i have been sent a text to say that a mate of mine from Ayr is watching the game in a pub down there so i am going to throw on my jacket grab my book and take the bus to Ayr from where i am in Prestwick and watch it with him and his brother. Smert laugh.

Season Diary 27

Entry #27: saturday 6th December 2008

Games off. What happened to all the undersoil heating pish? can see us getting a bollocking for this as the SPL rules for heating systems is so things like this dont happen. A cold snap during the week puts off a game in the SPL, shouldnt happen.



Which is mince cos i was looking forward to the football today, booooooo!

Season Diary 26

Entry #26: Thursday 4th December 2008

On the right is Wullie G and his now famous pink boots, not that he is the only player to wear them this week, Nicklas Bentner for Arsenal and karim Benzama for Lyon wore them this week but it was Wullies on saturday at Hamilton which commanded the match reports in the papers yesterday. On Saturday i recall mentioning how atrociaous they looked, and basically how all those bright coloured Nike Mercurial boots were proper bloody hideous.

SO.....

yesterday as i mentioned in entry #25, i was in an Ayr charity shop when i learned of the cup draw, well i parked the car at the small comercial site beside the Police station so i could go through and go to the shops behind MFI (follow where i am?) anyway, i was kind of fearful of leaving my car in that car park in case there was someone watching and noticed i never used the shops (yes, its a weird paranoia but a paranoia nonetheless) so i ha to chose which shop to use, Lidl or Brantano. I didnt need any messages and who browses a supermarket so i wandered into Brantano and found these belters to the right! My new five a side trainers. So after all my Wullie Gibson boot bashing i have now jumped on the bandwagon.

I should add that though this is an admission that i will ease up on the boots, it is merely the colour and design, it wont halt my frustration at the size! (wullie g, size 6 feet size 10 boots, madness)