More On The 135

We had a lot of correspondence after last week's article on the new season ticket deal, mostly about the nuts and bolts of how things will work. Here is a selection of the questions we were sent and, of course, the answers:

How do I share the cost of the ticket?
The main purchaser will buy his ticket and in addition will be given a voucher for a second 'free' ticket. The person receiving the free ticket must attend Rugby Park with two forms of I.D. (one with address and one with photo), they will then be given the ticket. If the two have 'paired-up' in advance they can purchase the tickets at the same time. The two parties can decide between them how to pay the cost, however, this would

normally be done on a 50/50 basis. It is important to note that the recipient of the free ticket cannot be a current season ticket holder, and this will be checked in the database at the time of purchase.

Are the season tickets transferable?
The purchased ticket is transferable, however, the free ticket will display the owner's photograph and is non-transferable.

Can we keep our current seat?
Yes, privileged seat holders have until 30th July 2003 to purchase their seat after which the seats will be placed on general release. Other current season ticket holders have until 2nd May 2003 to purchase their seat after which their seats too will be placed on general release. Please note that Moffat Stand season tickets will not be valid for Old Firm games and there will be an open seating policy, hence they are cheaper. Seats for new season ticket holders will be assigned on a first come first served basis i.e. those purchasing early will have the greatest choice of seat.

When and how do I pay for the tickets?
Season tickets are available now! You can telephone the club or drop in to the Administration Centre and pay for it straight away if you want, even before the big launch weekend. There are also two alternative payment schemes. You can pay via a ten month fixed interest loan at an APR of 29.8% or you can open a personal account that operates like a credit card. This will allow up to 56 days interest free credit and includes an overall credit limit for purchases not just of your season ticket but other club items like strips, fitness membership or meals in the hotel.

What's this about an official launch?
The official launch will take place on Saturday 22nd March and Sunday 23rd March, we will publish further details next week.

What if I cannot find someone to share with?
The club has supplied the mechanism for cheaper season tickets but really the onus is on us, the fans, to find a family member or friend to share the offer with. However, we realise that not everyone will be able to 'pair-up' and with that in mind Baz, Dougie, Ian and myself will be setting up a database with a bank of names for non-season ticket holders who find themselves in such a position. We will have a stall at the launch days for fans to come up and register their names with us, and there is currently a message board on the killiefc.com forums dedicated to pairing up ticket holders. We'd urge all current season ticket holders to use the bank only as a last resort because the more people that you find the less we have to match up. Let's try and make sure that NO ONE has to pay full whack!

A (St)Rip Off?

Parents worst nightmares will come true next season when Killie release another two, possibly three, brand new strips for 2003-04. What's bad news for them though will be good news for others because believe it or not many people look forward to the release of the new kit every year. Particularly this year as the collar on the current one is murder! Saying that, we were big fans (in every sense of the word) of changing the home and away kits in alternate seasons, so that there was only one new one every year. In this day and age however, it seems that clubs have to bleed every revenue stream dry in a bid to stay afloat.

Killie are currently negotiating with McLelland Cheese as to whether they will sponsor the club for a further year, but we are assured that if they don't then there are other offers on the table. If there is a new sponsor then that will mean changing the 'lucky' red third strip as well as new home and away efforts. It may look almost identical to the current one but try telling that to the weans…they'd rather be dead than seen in last season's threads!

The new home top is the standard blue and white stripes but the stripes are smaller than this seasons in a more traditional style. Depending on how old you are, some of you may see hoops as being more traditional, but us more rotund chaps don't really want to see them back! There is a V-neck collar that is white with a horizontal blue stripe round the back that changes to a solid blue 'V' about 3 inches from the front. The socks and shorts are both blue.

The away strip is mainly going to be navy blue with light blue panels at the sides and a light blue trim. The shorts and socks are also going to be light blue. Apparently it's very similar to the Argentinean strip that they wore in the World Cup, but we've not seen it yet. Our sources had informed us that we were looking at a gold away top which proved indeed to be the case, but we have since been assured it was 'hoachin' and will never see the light of day.

A new strip every season is something to look forward to, two is a pushing it, but we think that three is a bit over the top. With that in mind we chinned the man running the show off the park, David Heath, and he said: "Go away and leave me alone or I'm calling the police". You just can't get the staff these days!

Ardrossan Dance

Those Killie fans in the Ardrossan Supporters Club are a bright bunch. They have their annual Player of the Year dance before everyone else and ensure it doesn't clash with any of the other dances. It's always a well-attended event and this year it takes place on Saturday April 5th at the Ardrossan Indoor Bowling Club. Tickets are excellent value at £10 and include buffet, dance, prize raffle plus transport to and from Kilmarnock. I won't give away any secrets but the award will be won by either Greg Shields or Stevie Fulton! To book your tickets phone Colin Hargreaves on 01294 469578.

Attendances Fall!

Well golly gosh and slap my thighs, you don't say? And here's us thinking everything was going great guns as well! Talk about stating the obvious...the article in one of the daily newspapers last week must surely take the biscuit with their 'Special Report' on falling attendances in the SPL. How they get away with taking old news and regurgitating it as an 'exclusive' we'll never know...on second thoughts we do know, they'd print anything rather than good news!

I suppose we should be thankful in that they had one of their number crunchers dig out a whack of statistics, that should save us some leg work when it comes to publicising the two for one offer, but then again, with their 'record' can these figures be construed as accurate? Your guess is as good as mine. No matter how they have doctored the figures (and as much as they can slant things they probably have to draw the line at telling complete lies due to legalities) they don't make good reading. But did we really need three pages in the 'sports' section to tell us something we already know? We apologise for labouring the point here but as you can probably tell, when we saw the article it made our blood boil.

Big launch or no big launch, the press corps are well aware of Killie's two for one offer on season tickets, and yet they choose to ignore it. They highlight the falling attendances but refuse to mention the fact that we are the only club in the country who are making real attempts to reverse the trend. They include a one line quote from David Heath and bury it where no one will see it, when what they should be doing is making it back page headlines. Make no mistake, the venture the club is about to embark upon is unprecedented in the football world, and the first genuine attempt to get fans back supporting our national sport. Apparently it's still not as significant as Llama Lorenzo and his Scummerset shenanigans though which was given a thousand times more column inches in the popular (sic) press.

For the benefit of the hacks who trawl the independent football websites looking to pick up stories, here are a few thoughts to ponder. Half price season tickets! SPL football cheaper than SFL football! Every match for under eight quid! If they fail to see potential headlines there then things really are as bad as we suspect. As much as we appreciated (aye right!) the Scottish Campaign for Real Football that was introduced when the tabloids feared that the old firm were leaving the country, we'd appreciate more if they'd give our season ticket initiative more coverage and let the people of Scotland know that things can be done to improve the current plight.

The boards of the other clubs should not be exempt from criticism either. They seem quite happy to complain about the rescheduling of games and the demise of crowds on one hand while still accepting brown envelopes with the TV revenue in the other. That my good friends is hypocrisy of the highest order. They seem quite content to sit back and watch if our club's gamble pays off, without actually trying anything of any significance themselves. What's to stop them from doing a two for one deal with their fans next season? Nothing, apart from a severe lack of balls and an innate sense of self-preservation.

Hippo 23 Has Landed

The new fanzine is due back from the printers this week and will be on sale at the Dunfermline game on Sunday. It contains articles on the Killie 125 Diary, SPL - Time for Change, a competition to win Killie gift vouchers and plenty more witty stuff. Please note that due to the ridiculous fixture scheduling this is the only home game where issue 23 will be on sale so make sure not to miss out.

Read the B&H column in the Kilmarnock Standard every week