Black Wednesday

THE KILLIE shareholders piled into the Park Suite for the club AGM last Wednesday but the main topic of discussion was not the agenda. The TV and radio had just reported that Rangers had increased their offer for Boomer Boyd and Tarbolton’s finest was expected to sign in a day or two. We were very disappointed but not surprised that he had chosen to sign for the team he supported as a lad.

Michael Johnston opened the meeting but before kicking off the dreary official business he gave an update on the Boyd situation. The chairman had been up at Ibrox during the day discussing the finer details of Rangers “substantially improved” offer. He explained the offer was less than Sheffield Wednesday’s £500k offer however the player did not want to go to Yorkshire and the club had to consider all options. The rules relating to young players leaving for compensation at the end of their contracts is due to be changed in January and Killie may well have lost a lot of money if they had allowed the player to stay until the summer. Through the information given by both chairman and manager it appears the deal is £400k made of £200k now and the same in a year’s time. There is also a sell-on clause that will see Killie profit from any future transfer. Apparently the ‘Gers are skint and cannot afford to do it any other way

We later found out there is no performance related clauses and at no time was there talk of Steven Thomson, or any Rangers player, moving to Killie as part of the deal. Michael Johnson told B&H later "You wouldn't believe the deal they first came up with, £200k up front and £25k after 50 appearances, then another £25k after 100 appearances...I told them not to bother sending it." Jim Jefferies confirmed that Boyd will not play for Ayrshire's finest again in case injury affected the deal, the strikers currently on our books will be given a chance to fill Boomer's boots but failing that JJ will spend the wages freed up on a replacement and will check out a few players during the January transfer window.

On to the meeting itself and the Park Suite was bursting at the seams as the chairman explained about the club’s financial position. For anyone who attended the fan’s open meeting in August the same presentation was shown giving a breakdown of where we made our losses and what our projections are for the year ahead. Murray Falconer, the club’s new Financial Director, gave a rundown on our recent trading and explained the club is still losing money although our operating losses are being reduced. The total loss for the year ending May 31, 2005 was £1.3m. Mind you the way the presentation came across you’d think we were loaded!

The chairman then took over again and did a bit of back-slapping all round. He thanked JJ and the players, he gave credit to the Moffat family for everything they had done and he thanked the Fifty for the Future campaign for raising the funds to help save the youth system. He stated the projected loss for the year ahead was £418k, however, there are many factors that can affect this figure. Gate receipts were the next issue and the chairman was pleased to report that we are 10% up on our projected figures so far.

The meeting moved on to the resolutions that had been proposed and these certainly caused some lengthy debate and disagreement, much more than usual. The main issue was the change to the articles of association (clause 10) that saw Jamie Moffat’s shares being 'sold' to Michael Johnston for a nominal fee. Former chairman Ronnie Hamilton spoke at length at how not all information relating to this issue had been given to the shareholders. He accepted that, due to one person having around 90% of the shares, the motion would be passed however he asked the shareholders to oppose the motion in the vote. Our other director, Gordon Jackson then stood up and gave some backing to Michael Johnston’s proposals explaining that clause 10 would be re-input at the next AGM or EGM. Many shareholders were far from convinced and a large number voted against the chairman however the majority voted in favour…strangely no mention was given to the other clause about directors standing down for re-election so that must have went through unopposed.

Former director John Dick expressed concern at the club’s financial position and stated it may be prudent to have a vote of “no confidence” in Mr Johnston. The chairman appeared a little shaken by this suggestion however the meeting progressed and the issue was not revisited. Hippo pointed out it was unhealthy for one person to own 90% of the club as we are effectively a dictatorship. It was pointed out that the Killie Trust was a well structured and democratic vehicle who would welcome the shares however the chairman remained silent and did not reply to any of the points raised. One shareholder stated that “Trusts do not work” as he has been associated with working men’s clubs where the same kind of thing failed! That flew a bit over our heads but if fan’s running the club works at Barcelona why could it not work at Killie…they are doing not too bad.

Sir John Orr, who only name dropped us once this year (we must be getting soft), stood up and asked for everyone to be positive rather than negative…we’d settle for a slice of reality. The former police chief pointed out that the Trust did not have the money to run the club. Sorry Sir John but the current chairman has told us on several occasions he has no substantial money to input either and we’d rather have a wide range of expertise rather than a one-man band. If the chairman was still a member of the Trust he could chair both! We don’t quite see why he has to own the club to do what he currently does…as Davie Mackinnon said the other week “the club would be nothing without the fans”, therefore what is wrong with the fans taking ownership?

There were many shareholders, including us, keen to point out what a great job JJ and the players were doing and the manager stated the fan’s support this year is greatly appreciated by the management team and players. He took several questions relating to the Boyd situation plus a variety of player related issues. He will be discussing new contracts in the coming weeks and has already contacted a number of agents. Ukranian midfielder, Dmitri Pronyvech had trained with us for three weeks and although he had looked a decent player he was not as good as our current crop. Jim is delighted with James Fowler and feels he has been man of the match for the last few weeks. It’s very pleasing to know that we have found someone else who can play that holding midfield role. The manager pointed out that Fowler was only one of a number of our younger players who has made excellent progress since last season.

The meeting finished around 9.00pm and all attendees had the chance to grab a free pint and steak pie (courtesy of Brownings the Bakers). Overall we are disappointed at the number of shareholders who simply seem to accept our current situation and blindly support anything the board says. To the extent of one punter actually standing up and saying “I don’t care what you do, I will support the board”. You couldn’t make it up! We appreciate Michael Johnston is working hard but the club’s overall structure is all wrong and we fear for the year ahead. We can only hope that we are wrong…and it wouldn’t be the first time!

Hand Out

THE FFTF board are looking for some help for the Hibs game, bizarrely re-scheduled for Monday, January 2. They will be handing out the Direct Debit forms we’ve been banging on about for weeks to everyone on the way into the ground, so they would appreciate some volunteers to help them with that. If you cannot manage to help out then the least you can do is hold on to the form when it is handed to you and give filling it in some consideration…would you really miss a fiver a month?

We know that there won’t be many fans who actually carry their bank details around with them, so please just stick it in your pocket (no littering now!) and hand it in to the Trust desk in the Park Hotel foyer the next time you’re passing. The FFTF board hopes to have a Killie celeb giving you all some spiel at half time about the forms but at the time of going to press have not yet had that cleared by the club…can’t see them having a problem with it though. Please contact baz@killiefc.com if you are able to assist.

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