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Are you prepared to help remove the barrier to progress?


killiehippo

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Apart from a hard fought draw yesterday, it was a fairly depressing sight at RP. If you look at the hospitality box it's nearly empty, we must be the only professional club who make SFA from hospitality. If you look at the directors box Johnston sits alone in the front row whilst the others ensure they are well away from the guy killing our club.

Fans withhold money by not attending (myself included) whilst others refuse to spend money in the pie huts or in the hotel/sports bar. We are a club fractured beyond belief yet nobody appears to particularly give a hoot unless we are struggling at the foot of the table then all the frustrations come to the surface. The reality is the club is gubbed in its current structure regardless whether we are second bottom or second top of the league. I could give a hundred examples of folk who have walked away, many of who are good business folk with a lot of money to invest if the club is properly run.

It appears the other directors have finally realised the problem needs removing although god knows how long it will take as these things tend to be messy and lengthy as lawyers untie the legal mess and make a fortune into the bargain. All is not doom and gloom, far from it as I genuinely believe that as soon as he has gone there will be a sizeable investment from several different people 

So the question is are we, as fans,  prepared to do anything to help the removal of Johnston? A few of us saw what was coming a number of years ago and although we had a lot of support there were many who threw abuse our way claiming we weren't supporting the club. The truth is we were trying to take action to stabilise the club in the longer term rather than just continually hand over cash to a business who had no interest in our great club or indeed the fans. I have noticed many of the fans who criticised us appear to now be of the same mindset so perhaps now is the time to get organised to help make meaningful change and I am firmly of the belief that once he goes our club will truly blossom and will have the infrastructure to consistently challenge in the top 6.

I'm not sure if KFCSA or any other groups would be prepared to take the lead or if it will be left to a group of fans but it needs to happen and happen immediately as the club is being immeasurably damaged for every day that he is still here.

Please let me know your thoughts one way or the other and lets keep it respectful.   

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I remarked upon the state of the hospitality section yesterday. Long gone are the days it was pretty much full every week. Pretty sad state of affairs.

It's been very well documented on here and in other places that there are varying levels of mistrust in regard to MJ. Some people are very very strongly in favour of removing him (myself included) and others don't seem to be too bothered, preferring to focus on the stuff on the pitch (no problem with that). There's been fractures and resentment over MJ, mostly born out of the fact that we all love Killie and want to support them in the best way we see fit. 

I do think it's reached a point that the support for MJ is non existent. Again some are more vocal about removing and others are apathetic. But we now really need to unite and ask "what is this man bringing to Kilmarnock FC?"

It would be bad enough if he was a neutral influence. The person in his role should be actively contributing in a positive way to the club, worse than that he is such a negative force around Killie. 

I, for one, would be in overwhelming favour of one United push to remove him once and for all. I really believe we'd see a tangible upsurge around the club if he was gone. We are probably lucky that it's not too late already and I would suggest that MJ himself is very lucky we haven't been relegated. I believe if we had been, emotions would get the better of many fans and life may have been quite unpleasant for him. I don't wish the guy any ill. I just want him to go do something else. 

Lets all move on from this. It's gone on too long. He needs to go and only we can make it happen. 

Edited by pmonty3
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just a suggestion but if something does happen, try and get a former player as focal point, will help with media exposure. think hibs fans have "one of there own" that they roll out when they want to be heard. Paul Kane maybe? 

Garry Hay, James Fowler, Gary Holt etc would all 100% unify the fan base, problem is they would potentially see it as an issue for future employment at other clubs, so maybe someone older thats not got that aspect to be concerned about. 

 

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Totally agree with the sentiment and idea

 

But there would need to be clear and open leadership , plans and focus from preferably the KFCSA or the trust or perhaps from a Director or 2 going public...and asking for backing 

during the past year fans have been told to be patient......firstly whilst the Trust where in long negotiations with the Board for a place on the board, then we were told to get behind the EGM and be patient for that process to take place....then there were the rumours that Kiltie and other Directors had plans in place that would bring changes "soon".......

Edited by Scouser2
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47 minutes ago, killiehippo said:

Apart from a hard fought draw yesterday, it was a fairly depressing sight at RP. If you look at the hospitality box it's nearly empty, we must be the only professional club who make SFA from hospitality. If you look at the directors box Johnston sits alone in the front row whilst the others ensure they are well away from the guy killing our club.

Fans withhold money by not attending (myself included) whilst others refuse to spend money in the pie huts or in the hotel/sports bar. We are a club fractured beyond belief yet nobody appears to particularly give a hoot unless we are struggling at the foot of the table then all the frustrations come to the surface. The reality is the club is gubbed in its current structure regardless whether we are second bottom or second top of the league. I could give a hundred examples of folk who have walked away, many of who are good business folk with a lot of money to invest if the club is properly run.

It appears the other directors have finally realised the problem needs removing although god knows how long it will take as these things tend to be messy and lengthy as lawyers untie the legal mess and make a fortune into the bargain. All is not doom and gloom, far from it as I genuinely believe that as soon as he has gone there will be a sizeable investment from several different people 

So the question is are we, as fans,  prepared to do anything to help the removal of Johnston? A few of us saw what was coming a number of years ago and although we had a lot of support there were many who threw abuse our way claiming we weren't supporting the club. The truth is we were trying to take action to stabilise the club in the longer term rather than just continually hand over cash to a business who had no interest in our great club or indeed the fans. I have noticed many of the fans who criticised us appear to now be of the same mindset so perhaps now is the time to get organised to help make meaningful change and I am firmly of the belief that once he goes our club will truly blossom and will have the infrastructure to consistently challenge in the top 6.

I'm not sure if KFCSA or any other groups would be prepared to take the lead or if it will be left to a group of fans but it needs to happen and happen immediately as the club is being immeasurably damaged for every day that he is still here.

Please let me know your thoughts one way or the other and lets keep it respectful.   

Hi buddy yes totally in favior mate something needs to be done . We all need to stick together. No fighting between us no bitching we need to stand together as one . We need to do it in a legal way no silly hate campaigns . We don't want people getting arrested.

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I think that if we are going to achieve change then the figurehead of the campaign needs to be from within. By that I mean somebody who still attends RP. No harm to you Hippo but we need to take as many people with us as possible and there are still people who can't get their head round the idea of killing the club to destroy the virus that affects it. That doesn't rule out arranging to boycott a home fixture where we simply don't attend but season tickets have already been bought so most season ticket holders will go to games.

Frankly, we have been sleeping since the AGM in April. A season ticket boycott should have been called for there and then. An EGM was unlikely to happen, and if it did the chances of success were remote. Now that we are into the season the tactics I would use would be to harry the individual concerned at home and away matches, forming a physical barrier to entry at RP, getting as close as possible at away matches and hurling abuse and generally making life thoroughly unpleasant for him, whilst staying within the law. We don't want supporters being arrested because that plays into his hands.

Realise that my first paragraph contradicts the second but if a season ticket boycott had been carried out properly the threat might have been enough.

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4 minutes ago, Wrangodog said:

I think that if we are going to achieve change then the figurehead of the campaign needs to be from within. By that I mean somebody who still attends RP. No harm to you Hippo but we need to take as many people with us as possible and there are still people who can't get their head round the idea of killing the club to destroy the virus that affects it. That doesn't rule out arranging to boycott a home fixture where we simply don't attend but season tickets have already been bought so most season ticket holders will go to games.

Frankly, we have been sleeping since the AGM in April. A season ticket boycott should have been called for there and then. An EGM was unlikely to happen, and if it did the chances of success were remote. Now that we are into the season the tactics I would use would be to harry the individual concerned at home and away matches, forming a physical barrier to entry at RP, getting as close as possible at away matches and hurling abuse and generally making life thoroughly unpleasant for him, whilst staying within the law. We don't want supporters being arrested because that plays into his hands.

Realise that my first paragraph contradicts the second but if a season ticket boycott had been carried out properly the threat might have been enough.

Agree with you mate especially the second paragraph .

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As mentioned in the OP this has rumbled on for what feels like an eternity. Everything tried just seems to have fizzled out along with a lot of the passion in the supporters, myself included. 

The EGM looked like it was gathering some pace but another false dawn? 

Yes, I'm willing to help but I think we're powerless. Need support of the boardroom but the fact the fans dislike of Johnston hasn't even been acknowledged suggests none of them will step up. There has been literally NOTHING reported in the media over the whole saga. What can we do? Fan power on its own doesn't seem to be working & we can't seem to muster up any heavyweight support. 

He wants £1m, nobody is going to give him it.

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As it takes 75% of shareholders to removed him from the board, and he own just under 40%, that route is pointless. We've tried the boycott route before with NAPM and that fell short. Other ideas have been brushed off by MJ. We need something public, with media involved, something substantial. Season ticket boycotts simply dont work.

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I'm not a huge fan of angry protest, being a pacifist and all, however, if there are no quiet means of affecting change (organising and being granted an EGM, working with potential investors behind the scenes, lobbying of other directors etc), then it's really down to going 'old school' or shutting up until he walks away with a big lump sum in 2019.  

The directors (at least some of them) have dumped a decent amount of cash into the club.  At the end of the week, they want to sit on their padded seats and enjoy the view of their manor.  It really wouldn't take long to cause meaningful internal friction if they were on the receipt of abuse for every 90 minutes.  Or at least, having 100s of fans turn their back on the game, stand up and just stare at them.  They couldn't have enjoyed the red card protests, that's for sure.  

However, for the millionth time, this whole thing would be a lot easier (particularly for those who can't be arsed with protests and just want to watch a game of fitba) if there was another horse to back.  At least have a pledge list from investors.  These pledges can be pictorially represented through those presentation cheques handed out by banks.  Waving £1m of pledges in front of them would give them something to think about.

 

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I don’t say any of this to put people off or suggest protesting etc isn’t a good idea. However…

I think for any action of that sort to work the biggest factor to get over is the apathy. There needs to be a strong figurehead that can get the message across to the wider fanbase.

I know a number of people, for very good and worthy personal reasons, don’t go to home matches. Yesterday’s game was a lively home match with a fairly good atmosphere, new pies which were generally liked, cheerleaders at half time and a match involving disabled footballers who got a fantastic ovation as they went off. On the pitch we saw a team with very young players trusted to start, a club legend scoring and a back flip from Coulibaly.

Point being – you’re average fan who doesn’t engage in the behind the scenes stuff can feel justified to an extent in saying that things aren’t that bad. They would be wrong – but that apathy or indifference has something behind it.

I’ll say this loud and clear – I am by no means suggesting everything is fine. There is a mess behind the scenes that needs sorted. The reason I post this is that the apathy added together with a generally decent match day experience is a massive barrier to get over. There’s a huge PR exercise required to get over that.

This place can be an echo chamber and I know a lot of fans who are hugely put off by a lot of the “MJ get to f**k” stuff. Whether that is through support for him or just apathy and wanting to just watch the football I don’t know. But that’s what we need to change.

A home match boycott where not that many people boycott would just be embarrassing. A season ticket boycott would be ideal, but again, it needs enough support or we just harm the club and do nothing positive.

Making life uncomfortable for MJ is an understandably attractive way forward. But he doesn’t care and it doesn’t make a difference. Lots of people on here will remember being at Partick not so long ago when MJ was in a directors box surrounded on all sides by Killie fans chanting towards him. He just sat and smiled.

I’ll repeat – none of this is to say do nothing. But we need to be very, very careful about what it is that we do. I’ll throw my weight behind a campaign for change but it has to be done right.

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I also think that it should be done under a different banner from the supports groups and such, if this is to be a real grassroots show of what the fans want it needs to be a separate working group, and use tactics to initially unite the support in the common goal. Start a working group to set out some easily achievable goals that will ramp up the pressure. 

KFFC - Killie fans for change 

a mandate - the removal of Michael Johnson from the club in all capacities and shareholding, and the attraction of future investment in the club. 

Break it down into achievable goals. 

Unification of support - flyers handed out asking all in support to turn there backs on 18th and 69th minute for one minute in the next home game.

place people at the door of the hotel, with banners etc - start hurting his pocket. 

publish directors email address and supply a template calling for action on the removal of Johnson, and get supporters to continually send the emails once a week. 

infiltrate the hospitality its always empty and make a big noise right next to him in the stand. 

Social media campaign, highlighting the decisions he has made hurting the club. 

Kilmarnock standard adverts showing the KFFC mandate and asking for support 

A pledge account - go fund me - asking for all these investors to pledge to it, and committing to invest once he is gone. 


I would be more than willing to support and help out with this or similar from an organising point of view and for acton on match days  





 

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As I have said on another thread I believe the fans will never make him leave, he has already shown that he has no interest in the fans views or the welfare of the club.
The only way to get him out is for the other directors to force him to leave and I think the only way this can be achieved is with a total boycott of season tickets and other club revenue streams. Fans have 8 months to get this organised and to give the message loud and clear to the board in early 2017.
Just look at how the boards of every club (apart from our own of course!) reacted to this threat when they tried to put Sevco back in the top league.
I do believe this is the only way forward - surely there can't be many fans left who believe that we can progress as a club with this man in place and as such the vast majority will be willing to support any strategy aimed at removing him. 

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