They Think It's All Over...

LAST Saturday in the Howard Arms has to be one of the happiest days of our lives. After 10 gruelling weeks of no alcohol and lots of rabbit food the Fat Boys Slim diet was over. Don't let anyone tell you it's easy, but it has been a worthwhile exercise and educational to boot. Thanks to our visits to the Killie gym and our sensible eating we finally shed the following amounts of weight: Baz - 3st 2lbs, Hippo - 2st 7lbs, Bluehand - 2st 1lb, Oboab - 2st 9lbs.

A great achievement all round and hopefully we'll have raised a few grand for the club to let a large number of kids in for free. We'll be choosing a game at the start of next season and may well do some extra fundraising before then. If anyone has got sponsor sheets we'd appreciate if you can get them back to us as soon as possible. A big thank you to Dougie McCrone who came along for the final weigh-in and handed over a healthy sum for the campaign.

A final thanks to Marie at Klin Homes and all the sponsors who have supported us throughout, we couldn't have done it without you. Cheers folks - Klin Homes, Brownings the Bakers, Kilmarnock UPVC Ltd, Millennium Vacations International, J.R.D. Partnership (Accountants), Fortress Security, Goldsmiths, Millennium Beauty, The Cut Above, Duncan McLean Solicitors, Ritchie (UK) Ltd., Fitness First and finally of course Claire and all the staff at the Killie gym.

Happy Birthday Charlie

WE'D like to offer best wishes to Killie-daft Charlie Hill who hit the half-century mark last week. To celebrate this landmark Charlie was away cruising round the globe but some dodgy weather meant he was delayed and missed the Celtic match on Sunday. Don't worry mate, the performance of Mr McCurry would only have sent the blood pressure through the roof.

Kirklandside Supporters Club

IT’S great to hear about Killie fans all over the place and we heard a heart-warming tale last weekend. May Murdoch has reached the ripe old age of 80 years and her love for Killie is just as strong now as it ever was. May is resident in Kirklandside Hospital and ensures the nurses go out of their way to keep her up to date with what's going on at the Theatre of Pies. One of the nurses was at Rugby Park on Sunday and ensured May got her latest copy of the Killie Hippo. You're a star May and we suggest you start your own wee supporters club from Kirklandside - you'll never take the Killie.

New Killie DVD

YOU'VE got the videos, you've read the books well now its time to get Killie's first ever DVD. The "Kindred Spirit" video along with the Official History video have been amalgamated on to a brand new DVD that is now on sale at the club shop. You'll be able to purchase the DVD at the supporters evening tonight (Thursday 22 April), price £19.99.

Au Revoir Eric

LAST week's game against Celtic saw Eric Skora pull on the stripes for the final time. The Frenchman has added a touch of class since he arrived in January and his quality will be sadly missed in the middle of the park. We recently interviewed Eric for "Killie TV" which should appear on the official website soon, and he's a genuinely nice bloke as well as a class act. The B&H dressing room mole tells us he loved his time at Killie and was keen to stay but Craig Brown insisted that he return to Preston. Preston haven't been playing well recently so perhaps we should be looking for a change of management and a new manager who doesn't like Eric! Rest assured Killie will be keeping close tabs on the situation. (We were actually told this by the man himself but it since turns out that his contract finishes at the end of the season...expect a retraction next week!)

Into The Valley

THE Irvine Valley Supporter’s Player of the Year Dance we mentioned last week was a major hit with all who attended. We spoke to club secretary Irene Brown after the event and she was very pleased at the way things went.

She said: "I would like to thank Billy Brown and Anne Clark for making the necessary arrangements for the players to attend our dance and also to thank Ian Durrant, Garry Hay, Eric Skora, Colin Nish and Rhian Dodds for giving up their Saturday nights to come along. It was more than we expected and very much appreciated. The guys were really brilliant. (I hope Josie and Anne had a good night too). Thanks also go to everyone who came along to the dance and put their hands in their pockets for the raffles." Hopefully it won’t prove to be the last one.

McCurry Not So Hot

WE meant to put an article in last week prophesising what a disaster the Shellsuit game was going to be but in hindsight it was a good job we never. We weren’t convinced that the police and stewards were up to the task of controlling the large away crowd considering how they were boasting in the national press that they would get into Rugby Park no matter what. As it turns out though, despite there being a few minor incidents, the day passed with nothing major to report. Off the park that is of course.

On the park was a different kettle of fish. Between the histrionics of Bulgaria’s Olympic diving champion, Lennon doing anything but give peace a chance…and the excuse for a referee McCurry, Killie were cheated out of at least a point. How that perfectly well executed goal by Boydie was chopped off we’ll never know. Specsavers? We wish HE had! This is the same guy that sent Martin Baker off at the tattiedome for farting in the wrong direction…enough said.

We didn’t know whether to laugh or cry when reading all the tabloid phone-in pages. Utter garbage was being spouted and duly deemed fit for publication. How do they get away with printing such rubbish? Because it’s the same morons who buy their papers. One newspaper even awarded a Celtic fan a bottle of whisky for his quote of the week in which he intimated that he was going to ignore the segregation laws and buy a ticket for the wrong end of the ground. So much for setting an example and having a responsible attitude, didn’t they realise that other Celtic fans reading that would then deem it acceptable behaviour? Of course they did, but sensationalism is obviously far more important.

According to one of our exiles that watched the game on Celtic TV (sorry that should be Setanta but they are virtually the same thing anyway), Billy Brown lost the plot during the half time interview. Good on him we say! No doubt a hefty fine will ensue because he dared to speak the truth about the cartel that runs our game. There have already been pledges of cash on the website to help pay any costs incurred by BB’s statements and if it comes to it we won’t be shy in putting our hands in our pockets either. Honesty should be rewarded, not discouraged.

We are proud of the club and they way they handled the whole affair. We’ve set the standard that other clubs must follow by putting our own people before pounds and leaving seats empty if so required. We are proud of the playing staff who gave it their best shot and only tasted defeat due to inept refereeing. And last but not least we are proud of the fans, the majority of whom refused to be intimidated by the prospect of a rough ride and were not going to be hounded out of our own ground by one of the twisted sisters. Is it any wonder the English clubs don’t want the old firm to go down south?

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