Inverness Diary

7.10am - A bleary eyed B&H head off for a long day's travelling as we head to Inverness for the next leg of the "Killie are back" tour. The sight of wee Marc strolling down the street at that time of the morning with a case of beer must have terrified his neighbours.

7.32am - The train pulls out of Killie station with a healthy number of Killie fans in good spirits. The Killie stories start as wee Kevin reminisces about some fantastic European trips following Killie - how long to the next one we wonder

8.25am - Time is tight as we run/jog/wheeze to Queen Street station for the Inverness train. A wee lassie upsets the two fat lads as she takes ages at Burger King and denies us the chance of our first decent cholesterol of the day.

8.41am - The train leaves on time as the table fills up with beer, newspapers and the king size football quiz book. Please don't believe the vicious rumour that Hippo got his Killie question wrong - well okay he did but it was about a player from the 1920's. Big Michael wins the quiz as the Howard fatties moan about dodgy answers and crooked quiz masters.

9.55am - A quick change at Perth and we're on our third train of the morning. The place is packed so no more quizzes since we're scattered all over the place. The scenery is stunning, the sun splits the skies and the beers are cold - so this is heaven?

11.57am - Inverness at last and we head down to Johnny Foxe’s pub at the riverside to enjoy the beer garden and the local hospitality. A fine time is had by all and in no time it seems like we're heading for the stadium.

3.00pm - 4.45pm - A thoroughly entertaining game with Killie battling valiantly in the second period to grab a draw. Around 400-500 have made the trip (see above) and they give the team fantastic support for 90 minutes, some of it lager-fuelled we'd imagine! Wee Naisy is injured early on so best wishes to "kid goals" for a very speedy recovery, especially given that Boomer seems to be on his way to Cardiff (good luck big yin). Our only moan of the day is the £20 adults and £15 concession prices. Teams like Inverness need all the fans they can muster but they may need to review their pricing policy to attract more fans. Match Report Here

4.50pm - There are free buses outside the ground for fans heading into the town centre. Take note Killie and let's talk to bus companies to see how we can get free or cheap travel for fans from all over Ayrshire. We head into a wee boozer to kill some time as the train back is at 6.30pm.

22.15pm - After much beer, loads of singing and some in-depth discussions about the way forward for Killie, we arrive back in Glasgow tired but happy.

11.03pm - Last train of the day and it's time for Hippo to grab some sleep as we get chatting to Con, Tetley and the crew. Everyone seems satisfied with the point gained and we look forward to our next two league games at home.

11.55pm - Baz, Ian and Marc head for the Howard whilst Hippo heads for the Chinese - how predictable. It's over 17 hours since we got out our pits and all the travelling (and beer) are taking their toll.

We can definitely recommend a day on the train, it's a good way to travel if you are not that keen on the bus. If you're going to Aberdeen, Inverness or Dundee get the Friends Fare ticket that costs £40 for four adults from Glasgow - you still need to pay for your Killie - Glasgow tickets. You also need to buy them more than two days in advance so don't leave it until the last minute.
Finally well one to all the Killie fans who travelled through and gave the team some great backing. Incredibly another trashy Sunday paper criticise the number of Killie fans in attendance. It's nothing but cheap journalism and perhaps if they chose to do some proper research they would be able to write some truths.

Split's Still the Pits

KILLIE fan Davie Ross, webmaster of the excellent scottishleague.net sent us his thoughts on the SPL split…

“Wasn't the SPL split marvellous last season? That seems to be the cry of the media and the SPL itself. Look, they said, the split has produced a title race that has gone to the last day, a battle still raging for a UEFA Cup slot and a four-way fight to avoid the drop. Eight of the twelve SPL sides enter their final 90 minutes with something to play for. Every game has something at stake.
Hold on. The above scenario is accurate but what the hell has it got to do with the split? This lamentable intrusion into the game kicks in five matches from the end. It was the preceding 33 games which produced this year's intriguing league table. The top two would still be neck and neck regardless. Hibs would be fighting to fend off Aberdeen for a place in Europe in any case. And the teams at the bottom would still be there if no split existed.

Five games do not a season make. The only clubs directly affected by the split were the three in contention for sixth place and they were the only ones with nothing to play for once the split came into effect. Motherwell took sixth at the expense of ICT and Kilmarnock and finishing sixth after 33 games didn't give Motherwell a chance of Europe nor did it put ICT or Killie in any danger of going down. And that, lest we forget, was the intention behind introducing the split in the first place. Sixth place guaranteed Motherwell a bumper home gate against Celtic - nothing more, nothing less.

The split still produces the lunatic final table whereby teams in the bottom half can end up with more points than teams in the top half. It also brings home in dramatic fashion the sad reality that Scotland is the only league in Europe, possibly the world, where the authorities have to go out of their way to ensure the top two don't meet on the final day of the season.

Every other country would love such a title decider. No matter how fierce the rivalry a match between Chelsea and Arsenal, Real Madrid and Barcelona or both Milan clubs on the last day with the title at stake would have fans, press and TV salivating at the prospect. In Scotland such a scenario is to be dreaded. And to such an extent that even before sixth placed was decided one of the final batch of post-split fixtures was prematurely and deliberately announced. The date, time and venue of the final Old Firm match was publicly available two weeks in advance of the other 29 post-split fixtures. In truth even if it hadn't been, everyone knew this game would be the first post-split fixture.

That's the sad truth behind all the SPL trumpet blowing. We daren't let our top two meet with the title at stake. Ninety-six years ago after Old Firm fans rioted at the Scottish Cup Final a resolution was put before the SFA asking for a replay outside Glasgow on the grounds that “Glaswegians are incapable of behaving themselves.” The only thing that's changed in almost a century is that Old Firm troublemakers have extended their reach far beyond the confines of the Glasgow city limits as was demonstrated by the fighting which broke out on the ferry from Troon to Belfast after their latest hate-fest.

That's Scottish football 2005. Something to ponder on while the sycophants proclaim their sudden conversion to the joys of the split. One final thing. Every piece of apologia written about the split helps cement it as an accepted part of the season. Every encomium issued on this artificial abomination helps keep at bay the demands for change to a sixteen-club league. Think of the track record of those running the SPL and ask yourself if the exciting denouement to 2004-05 is part of their master plan? Or did they just get lucky?”

We agree wholeheartedly with Davie’s appraisal of the situation, even more so after discussing the issue with Killie’s Colin Fraser and realising what a nightmare it is for clubs to try and organise anything when they do not know where or whom they will be playing on the last five weekends of the season. If or when league re-construction does come about then this crazy split should be done away with, or even sooner if possible. It offers SPL clubs nothing but a major headache and lost revenue and as such should be scrapped forthwith.

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