Time To Talk

All the takeover talk and the rumour mills have been going ten to the dozen in the past few weeks and we felt that the time was right to approach the club to see if we could get some answers and if nothing else clear up some of the rumours and conjecture. With that in mind we sent the following letter the our new General Manager David Mackinnon for him to take to the directors of the club: -

"Davie, you will probably by now have read all the current posts on the Killie Kickback forum regards the Killie fans and their recent concerns. You will also no doubt have read of our intention to contact the club regarding said concerns. On behalf of the Killiefc.com website, the Killie Hippo fanzine and the B&H column in the Kilmarnock Standard we

would like to offer the current board a platform on which to express their feelings on recent events and rumours. Regards the current take over bid, we gave Klin Investment the opportunity to put their points across to the Killie supporters via the aforementioned mediums, and we feel it is only right in the interests of fairness to offer the same facility to the board.

We have a range of questions that the fans feel warrant answering and this is surely a good opportunity, while the club is being 'open' with the fans, to get things put straight. We have not made a secret of the fact that we hoped the Klin Investment bid would be successful, because as fans our only concern is that the club is the long-term winner, and Klin Investments seem to be making all the right noises. But if things stay as they currently are like the club has informed the media, then we need to make sure that we are all pulling in the same direction and hence certain questions need to be asked.

How we go about this is entirely up to the club. We can have a 'live' web chat or can conduct an interview that will be published on the website, in the fanzine and in the B&H column. The only thing we need to specify is that we will not be relinquishing editorial control to the club. The last thing the fans want to see is another 'press release', what they want are frank and honest answers from the 'stewards' of their club. If there are questions that cannot be answered then the club can reserve the right to take the fifth, but we do not want to be told anything 'off the record' just in case it gets out and we are blamed. We would rather not be told in the first place if it is not fit for public consumption.

We sincerely hope that the board takes us up on this offer, as this will prove to the Killie fans that the spirit of 'openness' is indeed being embraced. Then we can get back down to the important task of getting Kilmarnock Football Club back on track and in the black. "

We got an immediate response from Davie, as always, to say that he would take the letter to the board but so far the only response we have seen is the press release made last week. It does not seem as if they are going to be as open as we hoped! Come on Killie, let us hear what you have to say, how about another open meeting?

KFCDSA

Within the widespread Killie community there are numerous small clubs and organisations that promote the good name of K.F.C. in a positive manner. Young Killie is a classic example where Killie fans give huge amounts of time, effort and money to encouraging kids into a Killie way of life - a service that ultimately benefits the club. There are plenty of fans working hard at keeping supporters buses during very hard times and let's not forget to mention whoever invented the peppered steak slice!

However we'd like to give a huge 'up' to big Davy Boyd and his buddies at the K.F.C. Disabled Supporters Association. The association works very hard at helping its members get to Rugby Park and all over Scotland where they work hand in hand with disabled supporters from other clubs. We'd have thought that's a full time job itself however we received this lovely letter from Lesley Anne Chisholm last week. Lesley Anne helps raise funds for a Romanian orphanage (Rachel House) and can't speak highly enough of the KFCDSA.

She wrote: "I write this with thanks to the Kilmarnock Football Club Disabled Supporters Association. Karlyn, Denise and myself were fundraising to take money out to Rachel House and they gave us £300. What an amazing amount of money - In Romanian Lei that is worth 15 million lei! A lot of money out there! We are also very grateful to the supporters who gave us football tops to take out to the children who reside in Rachel House - a centre for recuperation. Without Rachel house these children would have been placed in an adult mental institution. During our visit to Romania we were given the opportunity to visit this orphanage and carry out programmes of work there with the children. Although conditions are improving greatly over the years there is still quite a way to go to bring these orphanages up to our standards. We also had the opportunity to visit a baby home, which again is improving greatly and there has been many big changes but there is still some way to go to be at our level of childcare. Yet again I thank the disabled supporters for their very generous donation and for the football tops. This money, vast in Romania, has made a difference to children's lives and has enabled them to have happy memories of their visitors from Scotland. The money meant we could go to the orphanage and play with the children there, give them a banana (a rare and expensive treat) and generally just show them some love. What a difference to a child who has little or nothing and what a difference a smile, a cuddle and a banana can make! Thank you KFCDSA! What a generous group of people you are!"

It's enough to warm the cockles of anyone's heart. Great work KFCDSA we'll find out details of where everyone can send donations to as soon as we can.

Joining The Killie Trust

After the success of the big launch it's time for the interim committee to sit down and plan the way ahead for the Killie Trust. With around 300 fans already on board it's been a great start but the hard work all lies ahead. We're trying to make it as easy as possible for fans to join up via post, website and on match days. There will be committee members in the Park Hotel before the Hearts game from 12.30pm to 2.45pm and after the game until 6.00pm. It's our intention to sign-up at every home game so pop into the hotel this Saturday and help the fans have a say in the running of KFC. More details can be seen if you visit the website at www.killietrust.org.

Big Match Winners!

When Killie announced the details of their Big Match initiative Davie Mackinnon generously put up his famous No.4 shirt for auction to kick things off in style. The online auction ran for several weeks with not much happening and about a dozen or so bids were made. Chris McMail of Microtech kicked things off and several other punters threw their hat into the ring along the way, including us, but the price remained under £355 until the deadline loomed at 10:15pm last Wednesday night.

All of a sudden there was a bidding war on and the strip 'changed' hands over a dozen times in the next ten minutes or so. Having never taken part in an auction before it was all pretty exciting stuff. Slim was watching the bidding screen from Hippo Towers and sending me messages every time someone else had topped our bid and I had to stand by with the password and the new bid.

We had agreed on a limit of £500 with Billy from the Howard who was backing us to get the strip for his Killie room and as the total edged nearer that figure we were in a bit of a sweat as the other two bidders did not look like dropping out. However, they too must have had the same limit because we decided to go that bit more and pay the difference between us and eventually triumphed at a grand total of £505.

Davie Mackinnon called us to congratulate us straight away as he was well pleased at the final total which will go into the fighting fund, but the praise should go to Billy and Annie who are the ones putting their hands in their pockets for the Big Match. As we said to Davie, we were just happy to know that the strip will take pride of place among the other Killie memorabilia on display and not end up hidden away in some private collection never to be seen again.

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