Trust Quiz Night

The Killie Trust held their first fundraising venture a week last Friday, October 24 and, despite a disappointingly low turnout, they still consider it as a success. After a delayed start, they were soon into the swing of things and there was much scratching of heads over several questions. The hostess had them wondering how they were going to fit a game of 'Blockbusters' and 'Play Your Cards Right' into a quiz, but apparently it wasn't rocket science and they managed to cope without any problems.

The winning team was presented with a bottle of champagne plus a copy of "We Are The Champions" by John Livingston, which details the 1964-65 Championship winning season. A half bottle of champagne was also presented to the

Despite the low attendance the Trust will make a profit from the evening once all the costs are settled. The Interim Trust Committee would like to thank the following: John Gall of Brownings the Bakers for donating the pies and pasties, Kilmarnock Football Club for donating the signed Killie shirt to the raffle, Fitness On-Line for donating one months free membership as a raffle prize, Deborah Clark of Rawkstar Entertainment for creating and hosting the quiz and Karaoke, Belhaven Breweries for donating polo-shirts and last, but by no means least, all of the punters who gave up their Friday night to attend the event.

Goose Getting Fat

It's fast approaching the time to empty the bank accounts and treat your family to some cheesy Xmas presents. The first port of call for all Killie fans has to be Killie Connections at Rugby Park - Josie assures me that this year's Killie stock is better than ever. There's a huge choice of Killie merchandise and more will be arriving in the coming weeks plus of course there's a special bargain buy. The red away top has been slashed (no cheap gags please) to £15 from now until Xmas so get yourself along while stocks last.

Crowd Control

Following the shameful crowd scenes after the Celtic game in May there were many fans watching events in the stands as well on the field last Saturday. In the last few months the club and police held several meetings to listen to fan's concerns and ideas to remedy the situation. Celtic fans were not sold tickets for the East and West stands whilst there was an increased police presence in and around the ground. The initial reaction is a positive one with only a few isolated incidents to report and Killie fans being allowed to watch the game in relative peace. The club and police must remember that's only one game and the same amount of planning and effort must be made at all future games.

Saturday Night at the Pyramid

All roads lead to the Pyramid Club on Saturday night where the Travel Club lads have arranged a fundraising night in memory of Rab Miller who died earlier this year. Lots of hard work has gone into planning the event and we'd urge all Killie fans to head along and do your bit for a Killie legend. The action starts at 7.30 pm and we'd suggest getting there early as a large turnout is expected.

Dutch Courage?

The Kadikoi Tartan Army is off and running and it's only just over a week away to the big game against Holland at Hampden. The supporter's bus will be leaving the Kadikoi at 1.15 pm and there are a few seats left if you move fast. Book your seats via Colin Boyd 01563 533251 or Rab Robb 01563 544217.

Association Meeting

Last Thursday saw the first of Anne Reid's monthly KFCSA meetings (which will be every six weeks from now on in) and as per usual the attendance was pretty minimal. In fact it turns out that only five clubs have actually paid their annual subscription fee! Davie Mackinnon was at the meeting to represent the club and talked those there through a variety of subjects that are currently on going.

He has been disappointed that there has been a breakdown in communications somewhere along the line and he made assurances that he would always be available and attempt to reply to any correspondence sent to him (please note that his e-mail address is dmackinnon@kilmarnockfc.co.uk). He has persuaded the board to bring back a community coach and so far there are 30 applicants who will be interviewed around January, hopefully that will see a return of the soccer schools.

Staying with the community theme, Davie has been in contact with schools in both North and East Ayrshire and arranged to supply them with 200 tickets to each home game. This tie up will also involve Killie players going out and visiting schools again in an attempt to attract kids back to Rugby Park.

Mr Mackinnon explained how he had taken a strategic view on the way the club was currently being run and came to the conclusion that we were falling down on sales, marketing and public relations. With £500,000 off the wage bill the club was always going to suffer and the fans were not getting value for money. He has taken steps to re-dress this situation by re-organising how things are run and he went through the staffing changes, which were also reported in the Standard last week.

The youth academy, thought to be dead and buried at one stage, raised it's head once again and Killie have now officially identified a potential site to Sport Scotland and the SFA that fits the criteria required for funding. We were not told where the location actually was but the rumour mill has it down as the Centrum in yahooville (surely not!) or the old Monsanto factory outside Irvine. That of course is only speculation, its good enough news that the plans have been resurrected.

As for Rugby Park itself, the board are looking again at developing the ground at the back of the Moffat Stand, but that wont take place for a few years yet. Meanwhile plans are afoot for a major re-vamp of The Killie Club with the intention of converting it into a sports bar, hopefully that will attract more punters in and make the club a success once again.

The club was visited by UEFA officials about hosting some of the under 21 European Championship games, should Scotland qualify. Davie was pleased to report that Rugby Park was deemed to be acceptable and if all goes well for Scotland and the bid we will be hosting one of the semi-finals on our own doorstep, with the final being at Hampden. The only strange request was that we would have to re-locate the dugouts to allow for advertising space that has already been sold! They will be moved back from where they currently are if so required.

The evening finished off with a question and answer session and Davie did his best to accommodate everyone, not easy considering a lot of the stuff stemmed from before he came back. If you want a more detailed account of proceedings then the best bet is to go to the next meeting in the Park Suite!

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