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No matter how hard you try to come up with
new articles it’s mostly something unexpected and out of the blue
that sparks the old “fanzine” button in the napper. Tuesday 5th
December 6.30am and I’m driving into work half asleep as usual. Alan
Brazil is on Talksport and the breaking news is that one of the
world’s richest families, the Maktoums, look like taking over
ownership at Liverpool FC. My initial reaction was why choose
Buckfast and kebabs in Merseyside when you can have champagne and
Brownings pies in Killieshire? Of course the Premiership is very
high profile but how long will it be before some slightly poorer
billionaires turn their attention to Scotland?
Over the last couple of years the English
Premiership has seen a huge influx of foreign investors with many
enjoying billionaire rather than millionaire status. In recent times
big hitting Yanks have taken over Man Utd and Aston Villa, an
Icelander has just bought West Ham and of course Abramovich
continues to plough obscene amounts into Chelsea...not obscene if
you’re a Chelsea fan of course. Other teams like Portsmouth and
Fulham have also attracted huge sums of money so will this happen in
Scotland and perhaps more importantly do we want it?
Your average SPL fan will look at the
Hearts situation at the moment and tell you they wouldn’t entertain
any money from the Eastern bloc. Like everything else there is good
and bad in all walks of life but Mad Vlad has a lot of work to do if
he is to win over the Jambos and football fans in general. He is
behaving like a dictator and won’t be happy until he is doing every
single job at the club…many would say just like Manson at Killie!
Seriously, the Hearts experience will have
put off many for life and there is definitely a strong case for
having a well respected local businessperson rather than a “Johnny
come lately” who has no obvious affinity to the club. On the flip
side, Chelsea have won two championships on the back of the
Russian’s cash and as long as measures are in place for them to
handle the “post-Abramovich” era then the club could be set up for
years and years.
One thing that Scotland doesn’t have in
place is an effective vetting system for individuals wanting to buy
clubs. It appears any Tom, Dick or Hugh Scott can buy a club if they
put some cash up front regardless of their background and regardless
of their true intentions. It’s high time the SPL/SFA put stringent
measures in place that ensures only suitable individuals can take
charge of clubs whether they are American, Lithuanian or from south
of Symington.
It may well be that the Scottish scene is
not high profile enough for some of these rich dudes however buying
clubs is probably just a “play thing” for many and there are only so
many English clubs they can invest in. All of which eventually leads
us on to the situation at Killie, we all know about the huge debt so
I won’t bore you with the detail. We constantly point out the
deficiencies of our two (maybe one) man board and how they have
failed to generate any serious money from fresh investors. The
bottom line is at some stage we are going to need substantial
investment and with the current board not having any success on this
front perhaps it’s time for the fans to give a helping hand.
Welcome to the “Killie Till I Die”
campaign, aimed at getting our club back on a sound financial
footing. As always we urge all fans to join the Trust, donate to
FFTF and use the club shop and facilities at all times. Hopefully
that will ensure we have a club to follow in the short term however
we are chasing the pipe dream on the basis if you don’t ask you
don’t get!
The difference with “Killie Till I Die” is
that it won’t cost you a penny. Here’s what we’ll be doing and we
hope many fans out there will help us along the way. Along with my
Killiefc.com buddy, Bluehand we are drawing up a “rich hit list” of
folk who we will write to. The letters will vary in content for each
individual however ultimately they will all be explaining what a
fantastic club and set-up we have here.
a) We’ll be explaining that Killie is the best
provincial team in Scotland and has been for many years.
b) We’ll be telling them the proud history of
the club and the success we have had over many years.
c) We’ll be telling them about the proud
“community spirit” that the club can generate, preferably through
the Killie Trust.
d) We’ll be telling them how these things are
vitally important to the future of not just the town but the county
and beyond.
e) We’ll maybe point out that we have the best
fanzine, fans website and pies in the world!
You get the drift, win over some
exceedingly rich individual who will fall in love with Killie and
we’ll all live happily ever after. There is a very slight
possibility we won’t get a single reply but we’re going to have a
hoot along the way. In each issue we’ll be letting you know how
we’re doing and we’ll print any replies we can.
Now I know you all want to know how you can
help. Quite simply we’re looking for suggestions for people we can
write to. We will be sending off stuff to the KFC organisation in
America, J.K. Rowling (Since Mrs Hippo used to work beside her
hubby) and on the suggestion of a “weel kent” Killie fan, we’ll be
trying to get an article in a prominent Dubai publication! We all
know about the local names like Tom Hunter however we are looking
worldwide and trying to do something totally different...if Tom H
does get involved (hopefully via the Trust) there will be nobody
more delighted than us all the same.
Let us have any suggestions, the wackier the
better. If you have a tenuous link to any big names then e-mail
killiehippo@aol.com and give us the
story. Get in touch by e-mail or any way you want and who knows, we
may just contact the right person at the right time. Please get in
touch and join the “Killie Til I die” campaign, as the motto says…if
you don’t ask you don’t get. |
