Supporter's Events

THE Irvine Valley Supporters Club are planning a quiz night on Saturday, November 1. They also hope to be presenting their player of the year award for last season to Stevie Fulton but as yet have not been able to confirm his availability with the club. The Riverside Inn, Newmilns, will be the venue and things should get underway around 7 pm.

If you've nothing planned for this Saturday night then why not head along to Mack's Bar for a great evening's entertainment. All proceeds will be shared between Witchhill School/Young Killie/ Macks Bar Supporters Club. Our wee china Jim Dick promises it will be a busy night and the action all starts at 7.30 pm.

Two Trusting?

A lot of people are getting confused between the Killie Trust and the Youth Trust, indeed there are many who think that they are one in the same entity, but nothing could be further from the truth. Both organizations are run by fans with the main beneficiary being Kilmarnock Football Club, but both are run entirely independently, which begs the question…what is the point of that?

The Youth Trusts first event was a race night the other week, which was very badly attended. There was a similar low turn out for the Killie Trust's quiz night which was a matter of days later. Could it be that the fans are all 'trusted' out? Although the club is trying to increase the fan base, we still have a relatively low hard core support, and with the club itself and both Trusts all trying to get a share of the same small cash pot, it is inevitable that all three will suffer to an extent.

Sadly, if you take the club out of the equation, it's looking increasingly like this town just aint big enough for the two trusts, but which one, if any, should be disbanded? We are going to be totally biased and say that the Killie Trust should continue and the Youth Trust should be abandoned in its favour. This may seem a bit drastic but when you weigh up all the pros and cons it's difficult to see the sense in continuing with both.

When we first set out on the road to forming the Killie Trust we made it clear to everyone that after the launch we hoped to hand over the reins to competent business people to carry on the good work, like most other football Trusts do. True to our word we resigned from our positions on the interim board, as did co-founder Colin Hargreaves, but there is a distinct lack of 'qualified' personnel who have been nominated for the up coming elections. The problem being that most prominent local businessmen who are Killie fans have all been co-opted on to the Youth Trust board already!

These guys have all the necessary skills required to run a successful trust and have a net work of contacts already in place…so why abandon their trust? Why not? The Killie Trust is totally independent of the club and as such can choose where and how any funds made will be spent i.e. the monies collected by the fans will go where the fans choose for it to be spent, not the club. The Killie Trust is also more community based and as such will hopefully be able to spread the Killie word more effectively, especially with all the expertise of the Youth Trust guys on board.

We don't mean to run down the efforts of the Youth Trust as Chris McMail and the Gall brothers etc. are doing a fine job, but we are failing to see what the end result is meant to be any more. When the Youth Trust was founded they were charged with raising a ridiculously high amount of money to go towards the new Youth Academy. Where is the money going to go now?

As far as we are aware there will no longer be any funding from Sport Scotland for the proposed academy at Townholm. They have changed their policies and are now going to build five muti-sport complexes throughout the country. We've been told that our local MP is trying to secure one of said complexes for our area (between Kilmarnock and A*r) but is not finding it easy to garner support. So have the Youth Academy plans been shelved indefinitely? No one seems to know, so what is the point in raising cash for it and who decides where it will go instead?

Surely it would be more beneficial for all concerned if we could combine the best elements of both Trusts under one banner, and that in turn would be more beneficial to the club. We are not trying to be controversial for controversy's sake. We fully realize the amount of time and effort that has gone into the Youth Trust, but would it not be better to wrap it up sooner rather than later and concentrate the fan's efforts to help the club from a singular source?

The club needs as much financial help from the fans as they can get and the poor response to their Big Match initiative and the flagging attendances at the supporter's functions are indicative of how things are going rapidly downhill. Apathy is rife among even the most loyal supporters and fans are getting fed up of there being someone with their hand held out looking for money every time they turn around.

Results

WE are not sure what match reports will be carried elsewhere in the paper but there were a couple of results for Killie teams at the weekend, which are worth mentioning. The bad news first…FC Killie suffered their first domestic defeat of the season at home (Blair Park, Hurlford) on Sunday to their main rivals Hibernian. The 3-1 defeat means that Hibs go five points clear at the top of the SWPL but Killie still have games in hand so it's not a total disaster.

The Under 19's had a much better time of it, beating the Edinburgh side 4-1 in a quite amazing match on Saturday morning. The first half was a no score bore but early in the second half Killie scored three goals in a four minute spell to liven things up. Kid goals Naismith hit the opener followed by a penalty from Hammill and a Boyle strike in an amazing flurry of activity. Hibs managed to get a goal back late on in the game but direct from the restart Naisy passed the ball back to Johnstone who spotted the keeper off his line and cracked in an astounding effort from his own half. Eat your heart out Beckham!

Win £250 in Hippo 29

The new fanzine hits the streets this weekend and includes a competition where one lucky reader can win £250 cash just in time for Xmas. Thanks to John Dick (Klin Homes) for putting up the prize that will help reduce someone's yuletide bills. Elsewhere in the Hippo there's an interview with A*r United loving journalist Bob Shields and a top article praising our wonderful stadium. Many thanks to everyone who buys, contributes, distributes and advertises - your support is very much appreciated.

One Tommy Adams

It was lovely to have a good old chinwag with Killie legend and Ayrshire's top DJ Tommy Adams after the under 21 game on Monday. It's not always easy following Killie home and away but Tommy tells me it's twice as difficult when you live in A*r! Tommy has helped out his beloved club in many ways over the years via running buses and volunteering to raise money for the club in whatever way he can. He is currently distributing and selling the Killie Xmas raffle tickets that he assures me are going like hot cakes. You can buy tickets from him this Saturday, as Tommy will be in the hotel both before and after the Celtic game.

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