Bienvenue en Arriere Eric!

FIRSTLY let us offer an apology to each and every Killie fan who thought they had seen the last of class act Eric Skora. We wrote an article last week stating Eric's contract had reached an end and he would be returning to Preston North End. We wrote this in good faith as we fully trusted our information source, Eric himself! He told us during a recent interview for Killie TV he would return to Preston after the split but we are delighted to hear that he is hanging around until the end of the season at least.
Eric has loved his spell at Killie and his agent was at Rugby Park last Sunday for the Celtic game, however, we believe that Craig Brown is insistent that he returns south. Jim Jefferies is obviously quite keen for the midfield maestro to stay but you won’t read too much in the papers about us having talks with him…the club don’t want anyone else sniffing about if it transpires he is available. Sorry Eric, but as punishment for feeding us dodgy information you are ordered to sign a four year contract at the Theatre of Pies.

Last Hippo of the Season

THE final Killie Hippo of the season, issue 35, hits the streets this weekend. We aim to put out 10 copies every season although the erratic fixture scheduling makes it very difficult to plan when the issues should be printed. Issue 35 is the usual mix of controversy, comment and humour - I won't give too much away suffice to say I do not think Mike McCurry will buy it and the lawyers are on standby. Huge thanks to all fans, contributors, sponsors and distributors for their continued support and after a much needed two week break in Crete we'll be back for more next season.

Happy 21st Debbie

AFTER the Killie game this Saturday all roads lead to Cumbernauld for the 21st birthday bash of Killie babe Debbie Moffat. Debbie is a member of the hard working "Glasgow Killie" supporters club who organise travel to all Killie games. I understand there is a healthy number heading through but surely this is a shade confusing with Killie fans heading through to Broadwood? Have a good one Debbie and don't forget to keep spreading the Killie gospel in Cumbernauld.

Season Ticket Share Centre

NOW that the details of the 2004-05 season ticket deal has been announced (£280 as predicted) we thought we would bring back the Share Centre for use by killiefc.com punters who need to find someone to ‘buddy-up’ with. The Share Centre is un-official and is in no way associated with the club and killiefc.com do not take any responsibility for any transactions that take place.

B&H will NOT be running a full scale Share Centre this season as we are not in agreement with the way this season’s deal has been structured. That said, we still wish them all the best and hope that the club can market the deal well enough to emulate last season’s success. If you do go online to try and get a match then please be careful when giving out any personal details or arranging to meet anyone...you can never be too safe.

Killie Fans on TV Forum

WE'VE done a few wee interviews for BBC in the past and I'm afraid you'll need to keep the kids away from the telly again this Saturday lunch time. Jim Spence asked us to get a hold of a cross section of Killie fans (and let’s face it, there are plenty of cross Killie fans at the moment. Boom! Boom!) for the Sportscene Fans Forum this Saturday.

The fanzine, website, Supporters Association, Supporters Trust and Young Killie will all be represented and will discuss all the burning topics of the day. I'm sure you'll hear our views on the ground share issue plus the latest season ticket deal - I wonder who'll take the hump with our comments this time?

Another POTY

CHAS Galloway of the A*r & Prestwick Killie Supporter’s Club contacted us this week with the details of their Player of the Year Presentation which takes place this Saturday (1 May) at 1.30pm. The venue is the Wallace Suite in the Park Hotel and all members and friends are invited, but please note that due to the catering acceptances by phone must be in no later than Thursday 29 April. Apologies for the lack of notice, if anyone else has an event they want publicised, please make sure we have the copy by a Monday evening or it will miss our print deadline.

Back to the matter in hand, the price for a ticket is £10 and that includes a donation to charity. You get a finger buffet thrown in for your cash and the bar will obviously be open for refreshments. Expect a raffle and a few other fund raising activities before the presentation of the “Iain Thompson Trophy” by Karen Thompson and her sons to this years winner, Freddy Dindeleux.

You can contact Chas on 01563 830026 (e-mail: kfc@homechas.fsnet.co.uk), Matt McColm on 01292 479621 or Craig Jardine on 07762 882005 for more details or to book tickets.

Coach Kerr

LEGENDARY (so he’d have us believe and he’s not far wrong) left back Dylan Kerr is currently coaching ‘soccer’ in the good ol’ US of A. He recently sent us an article written about him by one of his students, the fantastically name Krys Ziolkowski, and we thought we’d share it with you. Take from this what you will!

“If you know anything about soccer, England has a reputation of producing some of the best players in the world. So when I learned that someone who was from the British Isles was coming here to coach in Arizona, I could not pass up the opportunity to play on his team. The man I met at practice, Dylan Kerr, was a very jovial character. He stood out of the crowd with is exceptionally short shorts and his Beckham-like haircut. His Scottish accent was very thick. I felt as if William Wallace himself was leading us onto the field.

The uncanny voice made every word sound like a foreign language that kept you captivated. The English slang he used was very different from the usual trash talking that commences in every sport including quiet games like chess and golf. Of course he dropped the occasional ‘f-bomb’ but he also used words such as ‘p*sh’. Its meaning is a bit of a mystery to me because of the frequency of its usage and the variety of contexts he used it in.

After I made the team, he not only began to influence me in my game but also as a person. His enthusiasm and positive outlook on life was as contagious as the common cold. In his peculiar accent, he would tell me to be me and have self-confidence in everything that I was doing. I have been told that many times before but for reasons unknown to me, his ideology appealed to me more and I took it to heart. He always told me to smile because in his eyes, I played much better. He also went on to add that if I smile, I would pick up more ladies. I can not say that such a small activity could get you all those things but smiling has improved my self-confidence.

I believe that without Dylan, I would not be as happy with what I am doing, who I am or who I am becoming. He is the prototype or standard of what coaching and sports is all about. The game of soccer is not about winning games or losing them, bit it is about the camaraderie obtained by the team and coaches that makes it such a beautiful game.”

Only in America! Truth has a tendency to be stranger than fiction and after we finished laughing about Dylan’s ‘thick’ Scottish accent we realized that there’s a lot more to our man in the States than meets the eye. Apparently he’s turned the teams he coaches from serial losers into real contenders and he’s loving every minute of it. The bold boy once let it slip to us that it was an ambition of his to be the Killie manager one day, a word to the wise old son, a beautiful game it may well be but Killie fans are no so keen on the ‘losing’ word in whatever context it’s used!

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