Joly & JJ Sign New Deals

There was a Press Conference today at the club's training ground at Auchencruive to announce the signing of French midfielder Eric Joly and contract extensions for management team Jim Jefferies and Billy Brown. Chairman Jamie Moffat was on hand to make the introductions and "wur" Freddy Dindeleux was there to translate!

Jamie said: "We have a number of announcements to make this morning. First of all is to confirm the signing of Eric Joly for whom we have finally managed to sort out all the paperwork. Eric of course is Freddy Dindeleux's brother-in-law and we're delighted to maintain the 'French Connection' there. We are also pleased to announce that the board of Kilmarnock Football Club have agreed to extend Jim Jefferies and Billy Brown's contracts from the end of this season for a further two years."

"Tied into that, we've had discussions with Jim about the extension and one of the things that we felt was important to Kilmarnock Football Club was that Jim lived in the local vicinity. He's been travelling back and forth to Lauder and it's a long way. We think that it puts him under pressure and we think it's better for him and the football club that he lives near so that became part of the arrangement."

Jim Jefferies commented: "I'm delighted that everything has finally been sorted out with Eric this week. Several years ago with Hearts we watched a game in Belgium with Peter Houston to look at a striker and we came back raving about the performance of Eric. We made enquiries at the time but he was under contract there and they were in Europe and it was more money than we could afford so we never pursued it. It just shows you how things work out...at training last year Freddy turned around and asked me if his brother-in-law could train with us for a few days as he was over on a break and I nearly collapsed when I saw it was Eric Joly coming round the corner! Pure coincidence."

He went on: "We needed some experience in the middle of the park with a lot of young boys coming through. So we tried him out and he did extremely well so we decided to pursue the matter. We sorted things out between the two clubs so Eric had to go back and get his stuff sorted out and he just arrived back for training yesterday. He's severed his contract with Mons and hopefully having family here will help him settle in well."

"Eric probably wont play tomorrow because he's a bit behind in match fitness having missed some of the pre-season but it wont take him long to get back in the swing of things." Billy Brown said: "He's busy tomorrow anyway, he's got a bit part in 'The Three Musketeers'...and as you can probably see he's not the dark tan yin." Jim cracked: "Looking at the pair of them I'm not sure if it's the sisters who are related or them!"

Many fans see Joly as a possible replacement for Eric Skora but Jim doesn't see it that way, he said: "Eric Skora is a very talented but Joly is a different type of player. Put it this way, if we had Skora in the midfield making the runs and Joly along side him, well... Eric is more like a Stevie Fulton type who sits back and is able to hold the ball and switch play. He has a good range of passing, short and long, and knows the game inside out. He has experience and enthusiasm which should help with the younger players like Dodds."

On his own contract extension JJ said: "I've been thinking about it for a while and I agreed with the board that the best thing for me to do was to move closer. I've been travelling for two years now and I'm getting too old for it now!" Jim Moffat added: "We're delighted that Jim agreed to the move and secondly we are delighted that he wants to stay at Kilmarnock for at least another three years. I think that endorses the board's view that we are very lucky to have Jim on board."

He continued: "We think he's a very good manager and a very shrewd operator in the market place at the moment which has changed. Jim is always in touch with his contacts and he's out and about all the time looking at different players and we think that benefits the club. We've been fairly active in the summer, with quite a few away, so we've had to look at replacing them. We've had several players in on trial and there's likely one more position that we need to fill and we're looking at a number of options in that respect."

Finally, through Freddie, we got to hear from the man we were all there to see, Eric Joly. Eric said: "I'm very impressed with the club and that is why I decided to come here. It is a good squad of players and they are good lads to work with. I'm not yet sure about Scotland or Scottish football but if things turn out well hopefully I will stay on for a few more years. I have know Frederic for many years and we played football together when we were small. I introduced him to my wife's sister at a christening and things just went from there....it will be good to play beside him again." (aye we believe you Freddie!)