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It's our club - not MJs


happy1961

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  • I am a killie supporter (54 year old) and have been all my days. I am a family season ticket holder and am accompanied by my father (82 year old), my son (25 year old), my daughter(17 year old), grandsons (9years old +6 years old). We go to all home games except the old firm games. We are not members of any supporter associations, and we are not shareholders but we do regard Kilmarnock Fc as our club. Like most who attended yesterday we were thoroughly disappointed with the performance of the team but unlike glory hunters from other clubs we will return the next home game to support "our team". I read with great interest most of the comments from fellow fans, some I agree with some I disagree with. 

The biggest problem, I see, is the lack of unity.  Amongst our fans, the in-fighting is as big a problem as MJ himself. Ban Ki Moon (currently General Secretary of the United Nations) would struggle to bring agreement amongst Killie fans. We have fans associations, supporters clubs and people like myself who are not members of any groups. Its no wonder that there is so much apathy within supporters – things have been getting worse for years and we should all accept we have been guilty of letting this happen. Most fans need someone else to take the lead – (this has been discussed on many threads – but we still don’t have anyone stepping up). Whilst it would be impossible to find a solution which suits all fans, that doesn’t mean that we cant work together to achieve what we all have in common – the need to see Killie survive and restored to where we belong.

I would add, the issue does not just lie at the fans door, we need to be together to successfully wrestle ownership of our club back into safe hands.

We have the Board (except MJ), who now need to show their allegiance to “our club” and if reports are to be believed they too want rid of MJ. They need to come out of the boardroom and start talking to fans. Tell us what they feel is wrong, tell us how they propose to resolve matters, let us know what help we can provide as fans and investors in the club. Stop all the “wishae washy” and give us honesty – tell us what our financial situation looks like to them. BB no longer wants to bank roll the club, thanks for your contributions up until now Billy, but where do you see the club going now. What answers/proposals do you have? The directors have a huge part to play in moving the solution forward. Refusing to sit beside MJ in the Directors box because you don’t like him, is not enough. Yes your hands may be tied, because MJ convinced you that signing a “no tell document” was a good idea, but if you are on our side and you want our help, you need to start talking to us.

We also have prospective investors who are willing to get involved in our club, but only if MJ disappears. Can these parties not get together and provide basic details of what they are willing to offer, and what they hope to bring to our club. They have an integral part to play in any attempt to regain control of Killie from MJ. Open dialogue with fans and rebel directors and see if we can help each other. Surely an element of transparency with possible investors, could help unite those who care about the club and help investors achieve their objective.

Read through my comments and like all other posters you will see there is no magic solution. That will only come about once we have unity with all interested parties. Its inconceivable that one man (with no money to invest) can defeat all of us (fans, supporters associations, disgruntled directors and potential investors). There are many good people on our side, against one bad guy, lets get all our heads together. Use the forums to find out who wants to help and I include unrepresented fans in this. Some people do not have the time to get involved, don’t exclude them they will have something to offer. Stop shooting down anyone who voices their opinion – agree to disagree and stay together.  Stop slagging those who put forward proposals, if you disagree say so but don't go to war with your own soldiers.  Lets get representatives of all parties and lets take the fight to MJ – if the board cant do it alone, what help can fans and investors provide. We need to get together and show MJ his time is up.  

A unified fighting team can then cascade updates to the fans, directors and investors who are not directly involved in top level discussions. While we continue to fight amongst ourselves, MJ continues to win. If we all unite and fight together we can rid our club of the bogey man and start to rebuild the community club we once were. Maybe we don't need a figurehead who takes all the flack - safety in numbers would suggest a team made up of all interested parties can do the work of one man.

Any volunteers? 

 

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Well said 1861 i like you have supported killie for a long time and this is the worst i,ve felt about the future of our once great club, which is now fractured and broken,in many  ways it might have been better to have gone bust than the deal that was done over the debt.We could have started again minus the drag anchor that our lawyer friend has proved to be, i remember great days climbing through the leagues and would gladly swap for that right now in conclusion if i can be of any help i would only be to happy to bo so.

 

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Agree with everything OP says.

As he / she says there will be many who want to help, but have other commitments. I include myself in that group but would like to think I can still make a difference in getting towards the goal of removing MJ.

Is it possible to put aside any differences, even if that is just until MJ is gone?

Remember, he may be a lawyer, he may think he's clever, but that does not make him untouchable.

A public meeting, attended by a board member or potential investor if possible, could be the catalyst to bring us all together, or a least a sizeable number. 

As it stands, MJ wins. 

The title says it all - It's our club not MJ's

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7 minutes ago, a1killiefan said:

Agree with everything OP says.

 

A public meeting, attended by a board member or potential investor if possible, could be the catalyst to bring us all together, or a least a sizeable number. 

 

 

Agreed, if potential investors don't fancy a public meeting im sure they could have a pint with baz etc at his local, possibly a board member turning up. After all we all want the same outcome

 

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Well said sir ! Quite possibly the most sensible item I have read on this forum in years !!! Having spent a large chunk of my 57 years never missing matches I find myself hardly going now. There are thousands like me. It does not mean we don't care or are no longer fans but purely we feel helpless, despondent unsatisfied and generally scunnert. I took a young lad 11 yesterday, fitba daft he is, but he is as Killie,but I am working on it. His words too me after 60 mins yesterday were. Peter ! Why are they so bad. ??? An 11 yo could see how unorganised and disjointed we are but noone in the club appears to! On and off the field the club we all love is dying before our eyes. Happy to help in an way shape or form !!!

 

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So has the question every been asked/answered by anyone as to whether part of the debt write off was that Directors could not make a profit on shares until a certain date. MJ says he cannot leave for another few years (I take it that means with a few quid up his jumper). Has Bowie etc ever come out and said that is correct/ incorrect?  Are we happy to get rid of him for over a million and have some of the debt back????

For our Directors being such great business men they seem very faint-hearted.  Their transition to the front row of the Directors box yesterday looked like naughty schoolboys pulling a fast one.

Edited by cs1
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Great post perhaps it will take someone like this to take things forward. Sorry but none of the other figure heads have managed to move things forward. I am of the same age group and have invested in all previous ideas to move the club forward you have my vote 

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Great post. As said we need to all work together and do whatever is required. I for one will be more than happy to assist whether it's organising a petition to start the ball rolling or something else. As you said, and I and others have said as well, we definitely need someone to take the helm and lead the way. Whether this an individual or one of the organisations doesn't matter. We need a clear strategy with the common purpose to get rid of M.J.

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Technically, the Club is 80%+ owned by Michael Johnston & Billy Bowie.

The fans, other than as shareholders, have no legal standing with regard to the Club.

Technically, we are customers paying the Club for a variety of services. For example, gaining access to the ground to watch a game.

We have no power other than to withdraw our custom.

MJ understands this.

We can protest all we like. Unless he gets an offer he can't refuse, he is going nowhere.

I gather from others on the forum that Billy Bowie will not be writing any more cheques whilst MJ remains.

If this is true, and MJ refuses to leave, then the ONLY possibility is an insolvency event (whether you like it or not).

If anyone can suggest an alternative, I would be pleased to hear it.

We can protest all we like - Michael Johnston doesn't give a f**k what we think. 

If the £1.9m offer has been refused by Johnston, can you imagine that anybody is going to come in with a an improved offer to enrich Johnston?

Edited by Dennykillie
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I've been saying for ages that a campaign doesn't need a figurehead and the OP makes a valid point that I've also made previously a figurehead gives MJ and others that don't agree someone to attack as has happened in the past. 

KFFC emerged from a meeting of fans with concerns over activity at the club and where it was heading with MJ in charge. Time to get another group f fans together and try to make change. 

The climate is much better now than it was in 2005 in that MJ was in entire control whereas now there are directors that want him removed. There needs to be discussions between the directors that want MJ removed and the fans. The directors need to work out what action they intend to take and how the fans can assist.

It may get very difficult and it may take an insolvency event to remove MJ. Folk need to work out whether they want things to continue as is with MJ involved or whether a new club without MJ would be preferable. I'd hope that if things get difficult financially that MJ would move aside. 

I wonder if BB is feeling naive and wished that he hadn't backed MJ. BB and the other directors have an opportunity to wright their mistakes.

 

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All this talk of £1.9M, come on get real.  I bought a pie,  bovril, crisps and an irn-bru on saturday so technically in a 5 minute spell on saturday I put 5 times more in to the club than MJ has in 10 years! (Add in the gate money for my daughter and i and we are in a totally different league from that parasite)For my £5 I got the food stuffs that I ordered, for his £1 how much do we reckon he has removed from the club? Not including his share of the hotel which seems to be a freebie! 

Surely the whole key in this is billy bowie. We know MJ has no money to invest so if BB was to stop writing cheques then as a result there is some sort of pre-pack administration where by MJ is removed as he cannot fund the the clubs exit from administration! This route would require the club to be in debt to billy bowie who would be able to call in the administrator and do his own deal.

The up shot is this that MJ's shares are worthless in this circumstance if he has money to invest! If any body is considering paying that parasite even £1 then they are being badly advised!

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KFFC started as an open meeting in the Portmann, IIRC, where we discussed what the aims and objectives of the group should be.

I for one would be willing to go along to see if I could help this time, and I think there's a lot more people in that frame of mind this time around.

However, in the interest of trying to get as many of us acting together on the same vector (and being wary of not stepping on other folks toes) is this something that the KFCSA could organise? We're all members of the KFCSA after all.

 

This action group could organise times and dates of protests, organise a petition to refuse to buy next years' season tickets until MJ is gone (and/or other suggestions to put pressure on MJ) etc., and crucially, keep fans updated.

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Fantastic. Yet another thread of navel gazing. In all the years this has rumbled on, the only thing which has proven to have any impact, is tricky Mickey running short of cash. Until fans, directors and the local business community act in sufficient numbers to reduce the cash flow, he ain't going anywhere. That doesn't require any meetings, petitions, protests or even a figurehead. All it takes is a bit of unity. 

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12 hours ago, Bobby said:

Just thought of something, surely if parasite has 1.9 million shares and he is paid £1per share , there is no profit in it. So should be no penalties. 

You are forgetting the amount of debt that was written off so he could keep those shares. Every penny is profit and more off the back of the bank's loss.

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seems there are a few like minded supporters who have either thought or expressed similar feelings on here, including Zorro who confirms unity is required. My OP asked for unity but also dialogue/communication from all parties. I have no idea who any of the posters are, so don't know if any posters are included in any of the supporters groups, directors or potential investors. I would not wish to step on anyone's toes either as this obviously works against any form of unity.

However I honestly believe much of the apathy is festered by the lack of real information. Most fans will have so many unanswered questions not just about how our club has reached these depths but also some of the shenanigans of how one day the club owned a hotel the next day we don't. There must be a way of even obtaining pieces of the jigsaw putting the information out there and allowing others to maybe add their knowledge/thoughts to obtain a clearer picture. Its not what we know that worries me - its what we don't know

If everything has been conducted above board, there is nothing to hide. I know that much of the information will be tied up in confidentiality clauses but not everything will be. A concerted effort by a working party representing all groups could surely exercise their rights to share information and allow a bit more clarity to the whole situation.

As stated earlier, to get people on side they need to know why they are fighting. Make the supporters feel they are important (this feeling is not coming from our club at present). Convince supporters we can make a difference.

Give them direction, be prepared for whatever comes - be that administration, relegation, withholding season ticket monies, whatever - and also please respect that we are not all the same - some fans will always want to watch the game others will protest outside or vote with their wallets. One thing we all have in common is we all support our local team whether that is financially, cheering on our team or a combination of both. I have children and grandchildren as do many of our fans - we want to be able to provide them with a club to be proud of both now and in the future.

Over to the fans groups, directors and future investors - can you help? and can we help

   

 

 

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15 hours ago, a1killiefan said:

I think if one of the potential investors were to call a public meeting it would give us someone to rally behind. We haven't really had that since the days of Bobby Fleeting.

we are crying out for a potential investor or a current director calling a public meeting.

I am still unconvinced that admin is the answer, the reason being I think it may play right into MJ's hands. he will still have the hotel and half the sale of the ground heaven forbid that happens.

could him & BB could wind the whole thing up and blame the fans?

I personally think some sort of sit in at the hotel is our next move though some might be uncomfortable with that we wouldn't be breaking any laws as long as we didn't cause any trouble.

bring your own Capri Sun & Crisps of course.

I was amazed the amount of Killie fans heading into the Sports Bar & the Hotel for a pint after the game on Sat afternoon, our work may be more cut out than we think if you add that to the fact only 100 or so turned up to the protest and thousands went home.

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