The Great Big Kilmarnock Thread

[deadasdillinger]

14 hours ago, C4mmy31 said:

Apparently Kevin McNeill has been called up as the new kitman for the Scotland U21's.

 

A bit of recognition for one of the guys who's been at RP doing a great job for a while now.

 

 

No one lays a kit out like Kevin does 

[Estragon]

4 hours ago, happyaccie said:

Kit men are appointed fella's not called up as you say.

Incorrect. 

Also leaps to the defence of ex-Rangers character. How woefully predictable. 

Edited March 25, 2018 by Estragon

[happyaccie]

10 minutes ago, Estragon said:

Incorrect. 

Also leaps to the defence of ex-Rangers character. How woefully predictable. 

The only call up involved in this appointment would have involved a phone call by a SFA stooge contacting the guy asking if he would be interested, and not in the context c4mmy intended.

[Estragon]

The only call up involved in this appointment would have involved a phone call by a SFA stooge contacting the guy asking if he would be interested, and not in the context c4mmy intended.

Lies.

[dafcburty]

For anyone interested, I conducted an interview with Lee Ashcroft for the Official Dunfermline Athletic Match-Day Programme recently. He spoke to me about his upbringing and youth career and his time at Killie amongst other things. The article can be found here.

Lee has been solid for us for the past two seasons. Rarely missed a game and has only been unavailable for the odd suspension or injury. 

I'd be happy for Lee to stay at EEP for longer but I have no doubt he will play in the Premiership again soon - whether that be with DAFC or A.N. Other. 

All the best to you boys between now and May! 

[DuntoiRab]

It's a good article m8

[killiepiemuncher]

Good read bud. I liked Lee Ashcroft when he was at Killie, a good kid who came through turbulent times at the club and worked hard to establish himself as a decent centre half.

[Fide]

https://www.expressandstar.com/sport/football/west-bromwich-albion/2018/03/22/qa-why-former-west-brom-and-aston-villa-boss-is-doing-the-business-at-kilmarnock/#Qz3iLd2zuSCfsmWl.99

[C4mmy31]

Greg Kiltie has signed a new 2 year deal......

 

 

[C4mmy31]

More good news coming out of RP......

Kilmarnock Football Club is pleased to announce the extension of its deal with shirt sponsorship partner QTS for a further two years.

As part of the agreement running until the end of the 2019/20 season, QTS will become the longest-serving shirt sponsor in the club’s history, with its logo adorning Killie’s home and away shirts for eight consecutive seasons.

The deal also ensures QTS will remain Killie’s shirt sponsor as the historic club celebrates its 150th anniversary throughout 2019.

QTS, one of the country’s leading railways contractors, has enjoyed a strong relationship with the club since 2012. As well as continuing the sponsorship with the first team, QTS is also a proud supporter of the Youth Academy and has also committed to another year as the main sponsors for FC Kilmarnock Ladies. The company’s bold orange and black branding will also remain as an instantly recognisable feature around the stadium. 

Alan McLeish, Managing Director of QTS commented: "QTS is very proud to be involved so closely with Kilmarnock Football Club and the longevity of our partnership shows the commitment that we have not only to the club, but also to the wider community.

"The team under Steve Clarke has shown incredible drive and determination over this last season. His leadership has revitalised the players, and also the spirit in the town, and we are thrilled to be continuing as main sponsor for the next two years, especially as it ties in with the milestone anniversary.
  
"QTS is passionate about sport and encouraging young athletes so it is important for us to not only support the first team, but to also invest in the up and coming talent in the club. This is why we have also committed to sponsoring the ladies and youth academy once again too, helping to nurture the Killie stars of the future."

QTS is also heavily involved in the Kilmarnock Community Sports Trust, with Commercial Director, Phyllis McLeish, a founding trustee. Through the corporate and personal generosity of QTS and Phyllis & Alan McLeish, KCST, has flourished since its inception in September 2015.

Its goal is it help to inspire the local community, young and old, to be more active in sports and to adopt healthy lifestyles. Through this backing, new cabins have been purchased to give KCST a much needed base in the grounds of the stadium.

A new portable street pitch has also been purchased which will help the KCST team run a series of fun activities for young people at Rugby Park and via an outreach program in the surrounding areas. An expanded program of KCST activities is to be launched next season and the club and the charity are now aligned in their desire to make a positive impact for their supporters and the wider community.

Kilmarnock Football Club Chief Executive Kirsten Robertson said: "We are delighted to continue our partnership with QTS as the club’s main sponsor for a further two years, which takes us through to our milestone 150th anniversary.

"This is an extremely exciting period for our great club as we celebrate our proud history and tradition as well as look forward to promising times ahead under Steve Clarke’s stewardship

"We place great value on the ongoing relationship and commitment shown by all at QTS and their support has proven invaluable throughout the years.

"QTS share our passion to see Kilmarnock Football Club thrive on and off the field and we look forward to seeing the club and the KCST continue to evolve and grow over the course of this agreement."

[C4mmy31]

There isn’t a week that goes by without a former professional talking up the job Steve Clarke has done at Kilmarnock.

While the Rugby Park faithful would rather his name was left out of conversations about Scotland, Rangers or any other team which doesn’t call KA1 home, you cannot argue against all of the praise coming his way. Everything about his time in Ayrshire has just been so impressive. He’s taken the club from relegation battlers to assured top six finishers, reigniting a spark among the supporters which had lain dormant in the previous few seasons before his arrival.

While some signings have helped - Youssouf Mulumbu, most notably - largely he’s managed to achieve this with the same bulk of players he inherited from Lee McCulloch. This is perhaps the most impressive aspect of the job he’s done thus far. It’s one thing to take a floundering squad and overhaul it completely. It’s quite another to take an unimpressive core and improve it to an extent where they’re one of the best teams in the country.Here are the eight players who’ve transformed the most under the former West Brom and Reading manager’s stewardship...

Alan Power

There’s every chance Alan Power wanted to go on holiday last summer and instead sent a non-football-playing lookalike to start for Killie in the Betfred Cup. There is little other rational explanation - apart from Steve Clarke’s magical transformative powers, of course - to explain how someone would look so out of his depth against League One Ayr United and then go on to have a sustained spell in the early winter months where he was literally Killie’s man of the match in every game.

Stephen O’Donnell

A plodding, cumbersome looking right-back has steadily reverted back to the player he was with Partick Thistle: a marauding powerhouse capable of influencing play consistently at the attacking end. He also looks like a more dependable defender than his days in Maryhill. Killie fans were recently calling for him to be included in the Scotland squad. Considering the nation’s dearth of options at right-back, it wasn’t the most ridiculous shout.

Kirk Broadfoot

While he still has his wild moments, he’s certainly more reliable now than at the beginning of the campaign. After several shaky performances he was banished from the starting XI following a daft red card against Hearts for pulling the hair of Esmael Goncalves. Between then and Lee McCulloch’s exit he only featured once more, coming on as substitute in a 2-0 defeat to Motherwell. As soon as Clarke stepped through the door he was a player transformed. The new boss didn’t even have to manage the team to improve his fortunes, as Broadfoot was one of the best players on the park as Clarke watched on from the stands while academy director Paul McDonald led the squad to victory at Firhill. He’s barely been out of the team since and can count himself among the best centre-backs in the league this season. Yes, that’s right - Kirk Broadfoot has been one of the best centre-backs in the league this season.

Kris Boyd

This is probably the most impressive transformation. While Alan Power was adjusting to Scottish football, and the likes of Stephen O’Donnell and Kirk Broadfoot were getting their fitness levels and match-sharpness back, Boyd had already been playing regularly at the club for two seasons. Fans wouldn’t have said he was terrible over that stretch, still chipping in with a goal now and then, but he was nowhere close to replicating the form showed in his talismanic season before his ill-advised return to Rangers in 2014. With eight games still to play in the current campaign, he’s only one goal shy of matching his total from his previous three league seasons - and one of those was in the second tier! More than his strike-rate, though, he’s no longer an ageing poacher hanging about the final third waiting on a chance. He’s contributing to the attack even when he doesn’t find the net, bullying defenders, holding the ball up and creating space for others.

Eamonn Brophy

Another attacker who’s been reinvented under Clarke. He always looked an intriguing prospect during his time with Hamilton, though he never quite put it all together. Often he would drift around the attack with little purpose or idea on how to influence play. Now he’s regularly at the centre of things. In addition to being a ruthless finisher in the final third, he’s shown himself to be an excellent link-man with midfielders and his attacking partner, a characteristic which beguiles his diminutive frame.

Lee Erwin

The gradual improvement of the former Motherwell striker has highlighted Clarke’s patience. It would have been so easy to pick out the most underachieving member of the first-team striking corps and look to discard him in January in order to get his own type of striker in. Instead, he’s tried to build Erwin’s confidence back up after it was slowly eroded during a difficult spell south of the border following an ill-advised exit from Fir Park. If recent performances are anything to go by, he’s returning to the player he was at Motherwell: dynamic, strong, direct and capable of scoring goals.

Rory McKenzie

The midfielder has always been willing to run himself into the ground for the cause, though sometimes he does so without discipline, simply haring around without actually influencing the game much. Clarke has used his stamina and work rate and channelled it in order to maximise his worth to the team. It’s no coincidence that McKenzie now tends to start most of the tougher games and you have to wonder whether he’s having cold feet about his pre-contract agreement with St Johnstone.

Stuart Findlay

The youngster started Clarke’s tenure on the left of the back four but has looked much more comfortable playing at his natural centre-back position. With his poise in possession and calm demeanour he’s the sober yin to Broadfoot’s raging yang. Getting the 22-year-old on a permanent deal
would be huge for Kilmarnock going forward as the other first-team centre-backs are all over the age of 30.

(Craig Fowler, Scotsman)

[Estragon]

Can anyone confirm that there isn’t a week that goes by without a former professional talking up the job Steve Clarke has done at Kilmarnock?

Ask us next week..

Sent from my SM-A320FL using Tapatalk

[Fide]

5 hours ago, Patrick Bateman said:

Can anyone confirm that there isn’t a week that goes by without a former professional talking up the job Steve Clarke has done at Kilmarnock?

I'll be able to confirm this in a fortnight.

[ayrshire_nomad]

Can anyone confirm that there shouldnt be a week that goes by without a former professional talking up the job Sir Steve Clarke has done at Kilmarnock and will continue to do for the foreseeable future?

FTFY

[Squirrelhumper]

Steve Clarke laughs off Rangers talk and insists he's focused on Kilmarnock

Steve Clarke has insisted he’s happy at Kilmarnock and won’t get caught up in the “nonsense” linking him with a move away.

The Rugby Park boss 
has been touted for 
the vacant post at Rangers by former Ibrox stars like Alex Rae after masterminding his second win in succession over the Light Blues.

But, after Killie majority shareholder and director Billy Bowie rubbished those links last week, Clarke insists he’s loving life in Ayrshire.

And he says going back down to his London home during the international break meant he avoided hearing any of the rumours.

He said: “One of the good things about going down south is you don’t get caught up in all the nonsense.

“The media like to say, especially when it comes to the Old Firm, you’re going to move here, there and 
everywhere. I’m happy at Kilmarnock, I’m happy with the job I’ve done so far and hopefully we continue that.”

After securing a top-six place in the last matchday Clarke insists the guarantee of Premiership football makes planning easier. With Gary Dicker, Rory McKenzie and Youssouf Mulumbu among others out of contract in the summer, talks are under way to tie players down. Greg Kiltie has already pledged his future until 2020 and Clarke is hopeful more will follow suit.

[BlueKillie]

Yes Stevie. FTOF

[DanMc99]

i'm not a kilmarnock fan but i fully believe stevie clarke is a miracle worker , water into wine? no problem. kilmarnock for the league? no problem

[Fide]

52 minutes ago, DanMc99 said:

i'm not a kilmarnock fan

It's never too late to convert, my child.

[dumpweed]

Alan Power has signed a contract extension until 2020.

http://www.kilmarnockfc.co.uk/Article?id=6996&ShowCat=

[C4mmy31]

Alan Power has signed a contract extension until 2020.
http://www.kilmarnockfc.co.uk/Article?id=6996&ShowCat=