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There were thirty-two people at last Thursday's Supporter's Association, not exactly Sauchiehall Street but still an improvement on the last one for sure. The occasion must have been that chairman Colin Hargreaves was standing down after doing his stint as the fan's chief, plus he'd promised to take the fat lads for a Ruby Murray!

Colin explained that he had attended a meeting with the police and the club about forthcoming games against the twisted sisters. After the fiasco at the Shellsuit game on the last day of last season it was imperative that the whole situation was looked at in more detail and something done before we play any of them again, hence the meeting.

Among other things they talked about keeping the

The club have also adopted a strict policy on flags, a copy of which can be found on the official website, and for the most part they will be confiscated on entry to the ground. How well these new measure will be enforced remains to be seen, the old 'match day commander makes the final decision' cop out (excuse the pun) is still an option. However, Colin seems pretty convinced that Chief Inspector Corrigan is genuinely doing his best to keep on top of things so hopefully scenes like the last time will become no more than a bad memory.

A debate then ensued about the validity of the Supporter's Association in this day and age with the club unwilling to guarantee a representative at meetings and seemingly leaning towards the Killie Trust more despite it currently having a lot less members then the KSA. One side of the argument was that it was disgraceful that the club didn't send anyone and that they were paying more attention to the Trust because of the financial side of things. The other side of the argument was that the club don't rate the KSA any more because of the poor turn outs and general apathy from the fans. They could both have a point there!

With nothing in the constitution pertaining to a Chairman resigning mid-season, Colin, on handing in his resignation, suggested that it would be prudent to elect an interim chairperson to preside until the next AGM. He put forward Anne Reid from Ardrossan as a possible candidate and she accepted the nomination. With no one standing against her, Anne was duly elected and will take over the chair from the next meeting until at least the end of the season.

We spoke to Anne and asked her what her plans were for the KSA. She said "One of the first things I have to do is open communications with the club, for example Davie Mackinnon and anyone else who is involved, to try and raise the profile of the Supporter's Association. Supporters have a feeling of apathy and that there's not much contact made with the club and if we raise our profile hopefully that will improve. We will have to wait and have discussions and see where we can go from there."

She continued by commenting on the Killie Trust: "I see the two organizations working side by side, it's still a bit early to say but hopefully they can work in tandem." She added confidently: "I would like to think that the Supporter's Association still has a future".

Killie's Tartan Army

It's well known that the number of fans traveling away from home these days is greatly reduced, probably due to the expense involved. When Killie came back up to the top league in 1993 we used to get an allocation of around 3500 for Ibrox where we'd fill the bottom of the Broomloan Road stand. You only need to watch the video of Bobby Williamson scoring that famous winner in the 96th minute to see a fantastic Killie support celebrating in style.

The drop in away fans is not unique to Killie of course as most clubs have the same problem however one team who appear to be gaining their traveling numbers is the national team. There was thousands of Scotland fans recently went to Germany and I know a lot of Killie fans that had a memorable journey, even though the result went against us. Many fans are unsure what to do on October 11th when we play Ayr whilst Scotland play Lithuania however if anyone wants to go to both games there's enough time to get up the A77 after Killie lift the trophy!

The Kadikoi pub has always been a good Killie boozer and the lads in there are keen Scotland fans as well as being Killie diehards. They normally run a bus to the Scotland games so now they are getting a bit more organised and are setting up a "Killie Tartan Army". There are a few seats left on the bus for the Lithuania game but you better move quickly as they running out fast.

The plan is to arrange transport and tickets (where possible) to all Scotland home games plus some selected away matches. Main man Rab Robb is looking to get 75 members to join as they would then be recognised as an official travel club so get on the phone and help establish Killie's own branch of the tartan army. To join up or for more information give Rab Robb a call on 01563 544217.

JJ Speaks To B&H

We hope some of you took our advice from last week and headed to the Theatre of Pies on Monday night to witness a superb 3-0 victory over Dundee United. The season ticket is great value anyway but you really do get your money's worth at some of these Monday night fixtures. McDonald and Murray scored before 17 year old 'kid goals' Steven Naismith added to his impressive tally with a cracker ten minutes from time. Greer and Invincibile impressed as they gained some valuable match fitness whilst Dillon, Dodds and Murray gave the manager food for thought when he's selecting his squad for this weekend's match against the less than dandy Dons.

After the match we took the opportunity to grab a quick word with JJ who has been the subject of much speculation in the last seven days. The manager only knows what he's read in the papers and was more interested in another fine under 21 performance. Here is what he had to say about a few of the players on display:

Danny Invincibile - His ankle is fine at the moment but he was taken off at half time as a precautionary measure as his groin was feeling a bit tight - should be fine for the Aberdeen match.

Gordon Greer - A good solid big centre half who is a good talker and organiser at the heart of defence. Played well tonight after the first fifteen minutes when he was trying to impress too much by playing 50 yard passes.

Rhian Dodds - A very neat player on the ball who also put in a good shift tonight - he'll improve even more when he learns to be more positive when going forward.
Francois Dubourdeau - The big keeper has come in and taken his chance very well. He displays plenty of confidence and that has a very positive effect on the defence as a whole.

Steven Naismith - Only just turned 17 but has a great attitude to the game and could have a big future. He never stands still and is always looking to make intelligent runs that make him hard for defenders to pick up. He's a natural goal scorer but needs a bit of time to develop physically before pushing for a first team place.

Finally JJ is delighted that Craig Dargo is back in full training and the wee striker may get 45 minutes in the under 21's next match at Pittodrie on Monday. There were signs at Tannadice on Saturday that we are heading in the right direction again - we'd urge all Killie fans to give the team plenty of vocal encouragement come 3.00pm on Saturday.

Hippo 28 Hits the Streets

We don't have a lot of spare time on our hands these days and the ol' fanzine takes up lots of time, just ask Mrs Hippo! There's been a few close run things in the past where it nearly never made the printers on time however issue 28 is without doubt the hardest yet. All the articles were ready in the nick of time however the PC printer decided to pack in at an unfortunate moment. Huge thanks to our old chum "Bluehand" who rescued the fanzine in the 96th minute so to speak and you should be able to pick up your copy this weekend. One piece of breaking news that missed the fanzine deadline concerns David Blaine and his world record attempt down in London. The American illusionist is expecting to get his name in the record books by standing around in a box doing nothing for 44 days. Apparently he isn't even close as Mike Jeffrey has been doing the same thing for 10 years!

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