The news that Killie CEO David Heath is quitting the club in the summer came as a surprise to most people, but it's not a decision that he has made lightly. He feels that all things considered, now is as good a time as any to move on but it was with a heavy heart that he broke the news to Sir John Orr and the rest of the board at a board meeting yesterday.
The reasons behind him leaving are twofold. Firstly it was his remit as the Chief Executive to drastically cut the wage bill at Rugby Park without leaving the club short handed or weakening the team too much. This was achieved by making cuts here and there and everyone involved at the club has had to tighten their
belts, but the major irony is in that by resigning his position as one of the clubs top earners, he will now have met the target budget set by the board.
The second reason was that he wasn't enjoying the cut and thrust of the job as much any more. He was finding it increasingly harder to wear the Chief Executive's and the fan's hat at the same time. Making hard business decisions at a football club that you support can never be easy and after two years of tough decisions Heath has decided that for the sake of his family, who stay locally, and himself, the time is right to move on.
Heath's departure will be a blow to the fans. He has built a bridge between the supporters and the board the likes of which has not been seen since the days of enigmatic chairman Bobby Fleeting. His main strength was his ability to deal with fans on a personal level and not through lackeys like so many of his counterparts. How many other SPL Chief Executives do you know of that check out what the fans are saying on a daily basis on their unofficial websites? How many would take seriously the prospect of half price season tickets and turn it into reality? Not many.
The question on everyone's lips now is...who will replace him? In light of the current financial situation it seems highly unlikely that the board will appoint another Chief Executive in a hurry. In fact Sir John Orr's comments in the press release about Heath's departure points to them not appointing anyone at all. This would be a major cause of concern as the lack of bodies running the Rugby Park operation is becoming more prevalent as time wears on. It's all very well saving money by cutting the wage bill, but when that means that there is also no one there to generate the club money then it can be construed as false economy.
Heath himself admitted that re-structuring would possibly be the best way ahead. He said:
"In the business world football clubs are pretty much small potatoes and maybe now the time has come for them to cut their cloth to suit. It's not really for me to say, but rather than pay out a lot of money for another chief executive the club could look at appointing a general manager and a couple of sales experts instead. That way the club could virtually get three people for the price of one. One to run the day to day club affairs and the other two to concentrate in increasing club revenue."
The final decision on what will happen will lie with the remaining board members, and as with choosing a new manager at the tail end of last season, the choices they make in the coming months will go a long way towards determining how successful Kilmarnock Football Club will be, on and off the park. As it turns out, despite much opposition, they played a blinder the last time in appointing Jim Jefferies. Under Jim's stewardship we are on the verge of breaking a myriad of club records for SPL success, much of which he puts down to his open relationship with the board. Hopefully they can come up with the goods again this time.
So what does the future hold for Mr. Heath? Despite all the speculation he will see out the next few months at Rugby Park making sure that the landmark season ticket deal takes off, and definitely not be heading up the A77 to fill the vacant position at Celtic Park...a suggestion that he laughed off. Nor indeed will be venturing into the realms of computing and IT as another daily rag would have us believe. The path ahead of him is still pretty unclear, which can be a good or a bad thing depending whether you get paid to clear paths or not! One thing is for certain, whether he ends up in the States or in Stonehouse, he will still have a season ticket in his pocket and he will still be Killie, and as such welcome back any time.
