KFCSA would like to extend our sincere condolences to the family and friends of Jim Haswell who sadly passed away after taking ill at the home game against Hibs.

Big Jim was a dyed in the wool Killie fan who had followed Killie faithfully since he was a young lad in Riccarton. Jim was a well known face in the East stand where his offbeat comments regularly brought a smile to the faces of the fans who sat near him. Jim worked locally at Glenfield Valves and loved a chat about the latest Killie game whenever I dropped in with his painting supplies.

The big man was a gentle giant and in all my years of knowing him I can’t remember him uttering one word in anger. Killie have lost a true gent but he will always be very fondly remembered by everyone that had the pleasure of knowing him…

RIP Jim

Sandy Armour

Below the article you’ll also find some interesting stats about games played, appearances and goals in Europe.

Our grateful thanks once again to Skydog for all his efforts producing such a splendid series of articles… cheers!

Killie In Europe – PART 9

SPL season 1999/2000 saw Killie finish a disappointing ninth but they did much better in 2000/01. Not only did the club finish in fourth place but they reached the final of the League Cup, unfortunately losing 0-3 to Celtic, the club’s fourth failure in League Cup finals. Were they destined never to win it?!

The draw for the Qualifying Round of the 2001/02 UEFA Cup saw Kilmarnock paired with Northern Ireland’s Glenavon. The clubs had met before, in New York in 1960 and in a 1968 friendly in Lurgan, which Killie won 2-0 and 7-2 respectively.

The first leg was at Mourneview Park in Lurgan on 9 August 2001. I gave the match a miss, having been at the 1968 friendly and knowing the lie of the land. A good Killie contingent of around 1,500 made the trip, making up about half of the crowd.

Having been eliminated previously by Coleraine and squeezing past Shelbourne in 1997, Killie should have been prepared for a close match and manager Bobby Williamson made all the right cautious noises before the match.

And a struggle it was for Killie, requiring a headed goal by Chris Innes in the third minute of injury time to ensure victory.

The return leg at Rugby Park on 23 August was scarcely more comfortable, a 67th minute Ally Mitchell goal separating the sides in front of 7,462 spectators.

No fewer than six players made their European debuts for the club in the match – James Fowler, Mickael Pizzo, Chistophe Cocard, Kris Boyd, Paul di Giacomo and Mark Canning.

The reward was a First Round tie against Viking Stavanger of Norway. A tough draw but surely not unwinnable. The first leg was at Rugby Park on 20 September. It had originally been scheduled for 13 September but had been postponed following the terrorist attack on the World Trade Centre on 11 September, which also kept me from attending the match.

Killie no longer had the likes of McCoist, Nevin, Wright and Durrant in their ranks but had the eleven-time French international Christophe Cocard, Andy McLaren, Freddie Dindeleux, the Spaniards Jesus Sanjuan and Antonio Calderon and emerging stars in Craig Dargo, Kris Boyd and Paul di Giacomo.

A crowd of 6,322 attended to see the impressive Norwegians take the lead on the stroke of half-time. This was the first time in seven ties that the first-leg had been at home for Killie and the novelty of trying to build a lead was proving a hard lesson to learn. Craig Dargo scored an equalizer in the 72nd minute but the match ended 1-1 to send Killie to Norway with a task as steep as that country’s famous fjords.

The second leg on 27 September was watched by 4,335, with another good Killie following present. They set up camp in a bar on the picturesque harbour while I explored the old town. As with Reykjavik, costs were prohibitively expensive and I was glad that my stay was a short one! Stavanger is a key centre for Norway’s oil industry and its wealth was apparent.

The match was in the old Stavanger stadium before Viking’s move to their impressive new ground. It turned out to be a one-stand ground with an athletics track – think of Meadowbank and will get the idea! At least the open space behind the goal allowed the planting of the first big Killie flag!

The match got off to the worst possible start with a first-minute goal for the hosts and, when former Manchester United player Erik Nevland doubled their lead in the 17th minute, the tie was as good as over.

Do you see a pattern here? Sigma Olomouc, 1.FC Kaiserslautern and Viking Stavanger had all killed off ties with two first-half goals! The drink-enflamed Killie support were in pretty angry mood as their side had once again failed to turn up when the chips were down. The Norwegians – players and crowd – pretty well took the piss for the rest of the match as the befuddled Scots – players and crowd – struggled and argued amongst themselves.

Viking were no mugs though; they lost in the following round to Hertha Berlin (another great trip missed!) but caused a sensation the following year by eliminating Chelsea in the First Round of the UEFA Cup.

It was a long and weary journey next day back to Heathrow via Oslo. The curtain had fallen on yet another Euro campaign after only two ties. The trend was pretty clear – Killie would get past a “minnow” with a struggle, then fail against the first decent team they faced.

The Viking match also ended Killie’s second European era. Will there be another? The club’s current financial difficulties militate against it. Yet the number of places available in the Euro League – another new format to be experienced – may grant this. I’m not sure that it would be a good idea, however. Killie may find that they are now a minnow and even a second tie might be beyond them.

But how many during the dark days of the 1980s could have envisaged that Killie would enjoy European football again? It would be wonderful if another generation of Killie supporters could enjoy the fun, camaraderie and perhaps even the cultural enlightenment of a third European era!

I hope those who have read these musings have enjoyed them. I have not been painstaking in attempting to be factually accurate but have relied largely on my memory of matches and the times they were played. Many will have attended more matches than I have and have richer memories.

I have tried not to rely too much on other sources but, where I have, Dave Ross’ excellent books and KFC match programmes have been very helpful and I am happy to acknowledge them.

UEFA CUP

Qualifying Round

09/08/01 – Glenavon 0 (0) Kilmarnock 1 (0) (Att: 3,000)

Scorer: Innes

23/08/01 – Kilmarnock 1 (0) Glenavon 0 (0) (Att: 7,462)

Scorer: Mitchell

First Round

20/09/01 – Kilmarnock 1 (0) Viking Stavanger 1 (1) (Att: 6,322)

Scorer: Dargo

27/09/01 – Viking Stavanger 2 (2) Kilmarnock 0 (0) (Att: 4,335)

STATISTICS

GAME STATISTICS

APPEARANCE STATISTICS

TOP GOALSCORERS

6	McIlroy McInally T McLean (2 Pens)
5	Mathie
4	Wright (3 Pens)

 

TOP APPEARANCES

21	King
20	McGrory & T McLean
17(1)	Beattie
15	McFadzean
14 13(1)	McIlroy Mitchell
13	McInally
12	Ferguson, MacPherson & Murray

Watch this video on YouTube.

County are currently 4^th in the table and could secure a top six finish with a win on Saturday. They are unbeaten in eight home matches and have only suffered two league defeats at Victoria Park all season. The good news for Killie is that the Staggies have yet to score against us in three previous meetings. Killie beat them 7-0 at Rugby Park in the Scottish Cup in 1962, and this season we followed a 0-0 draw in Dingwall with a 3-0 victory at Rugby Park.

Killie have not played on the 30^th March since 1996, when we drew 1-1 at Easter Road thanks to a goal from Paul Wright. We are unbeaten in our last seven matches on that date, winning five and drawing two. Our last defeat on 30^th March came way back in 1955 when Aberdeen beat us 4-1 at Pittodrie.

]]> http://www.kfcsa.org.uk/?feed=rss2&p=7813 0 http://www.kfcsa.org.uk/?p=7797 http://www.kfcsa.org.uk/?p=7797#comments Wed, 27 Mar 2013 11:24:20 +0000 mattw http://www.kfcsa.org.uk/?p=7797 Many of you will recall the two trips to Iceland and Germany almost 13 years ago. Skydog gives us his own personal recollections in the newest installment of his Killie In Europe Series.

Killie In Europe – PART 8

The club’s European history to date can be divided into two eras – 1964-70 and 1997-2001. During the first, I was at school and, by the time the second came around, marriage and kids had come along so my prime time for following the team abroad coincided with the club’s absence from competition. Such is life!

But the 1999/2000 UEFA Cup campaign would throw up two memorable trips for me. Despite the club’s excellent fourth place finish the previous season, finishing one point behind St Johnstone, they had not qualified by right for the UEFA Cup. Fortunately, a combination of good behaviour by Scottish football generally and Killie in particular saw them qualify via Fair Play.

The Qualifying Round took Killie to another new venue – Iceland, to face KR Reykjavik.

The first leg was set for 12 August, a date which was to have personal significance. I had bought my match and flight tickets before the news came through that we were to exchange contracts on our house move on 11 August, the day I was travelling! Through gritted teeth, my other half agreed that I should go but I felt thoroughly guilty the whole time.

The match itself in the national stadium or Laugardalsvöllur was totally unmemorable, Killie losing by the only goal scored in the 87^th minute before only 2,890 spectators.

Coming into the city on the coach from the airport at Keflavik, the first impression was the total absence of trees and the black volcanic terrain. For the middle of August, it felt like January on Pluto! A couple of hundred made the journey and “base camp” was set up at The Dubliner pub. I’ve never been one for spending overseas trips drinking solidly and would rather see something of the town or city while I’m there. To be honest, Reykjavik didn’t take a lot of exploring being so small. Situated on a peninsula and surrounded by snow-capped mountains (in August!), it reminded me of a much larger version of a fishing port on the Scottish north-west coast, say Ullapool.

There wasn’t a lot of local activity either, maybe the sky-high prices deterred much social spending. I saw the Höfði House where Presidents Reagan and Gorbachev held talks in 1986 on the way to ending the Cold War. I gave the penis museum a miss, though! Some of our party made the trip out to the Blue Lagoon to bathe in the hot spring water. I would have loved to have explored the interior of the country but I had pressing reasons to get home asap….

The return leg at Rugby Park was on 26 August. It was thought that the one-goal deficit would be recovered without much difficulty but that was optimistic. Reduced admission charges again paid off with 11,760 in the ground on what was the 100^th anniversary of the first ever match Rugby Park. Killie were repeatedly thwarted and it made matters worse that ex-Ayr United players Kristjan Finnbogason and David Winnie were prominent in the visitors’ defence.

Time was almost up when a Paul Wright penalty kick sent the match into extra-time. After only two minutes of the extra period, David Bagan scored his only goal for the club to take Killie through. It had been much harder work than anyone could have anticipated when the draw was made – further evidence that there is no such thing as an easy draw in Europe. For Scottish clubs anyway!

The First Round draw gave Killie a plum draw with a first-leg journey to face Bundesliga giants 1.FC Kaiserslautern on 16 September.

The Germans had finished fifth in the previous season’s Bundesliga and boasted full internationals in France’s Youri Djorkaeff, Bulgarian Marian Hristov, Igli Tare (Albania), the Swiss Ciriaco Sforza, Janos Hrutka (Hungary), Jorgen Pettersson of Sweden, Komljenovic (Yugoslavia), the Luxembourger Jeff Strasser and German strikers Marco Reich and Olaf Marschall. All under the management of the great Otto Rehhagel. The task was daunting!

Kaiserslautern president Jurgen Friedrich was not fooled by Killie’s qualification via Fair Play. On hearing the draw, he said: “The Scots are rough boys – that is well known everywhere!”

It was not a trip to be missed and an estimated Killie army of 700 made their way by various routes. I flew from Heathrow to Frankfurt and caught the train from the airport direct to Kaislerslautern. I remember the train pulling into the station and seeing the Fritz Walter Stadion high on the Betzenberg, a hill towering above the station.

Kaiserslautern is a small university city, 60% of which was destroyed by Allied bombing in World War II – unremarkable and prosperous with no evidence of any heavy industry.

After finding my hotel, I headed towards the stadium for a look, stopping off at the large and well-stocked club shop, at the bottom of the hill. Having got my bearings, I headed into the city centre and joined the Killie troops for a stein or two before we marched with bagpipe accompaniment up the Betzenberg.

I remember that a rock band was playing in the car park beside the stadium and there was much fraternising between the two sets of fans; to this day, a close friendship/ freundschaft – exists between the two.

There was a cracking atmosphere inside with 21,000 in the ground. Killie were without the injured Gordon Marshall, Dylan Kerr, Jim Lauchlan, Paul Wright and star French signing Christophe Cocard but they started well and had a couple of good chances but the match and the tie were effectively settled in a devastating 11 minute spell which saw Koch (28), Djorkaeff (35) and Marshall (39) scoring.

Facing humiliation, the only response was defiance and the Killie crowd for, I swear, the entire second half roared the side on with chorus after chorus of “We’re here ‘cos we love Killie”! Anyone flagging was encouraged by their neighbour to keep going. I think some Germans must have joined in – there was no excuse for not knowing the words!

No more goals were scored and a good evening in the town’s bars rounded off a memorable day.

The second leg at Rugby Park on 30 September kicked off at 5 pm for the benefit of German television. The club banked £250,000 for the privilege and responded by reducing admission prices and making season tickets valid. A crowd of 8,074 was reasonable in the circumstances.

There was probably much advance talk of Killie “doing another Eintracht” but the match was virtually a repeat of the Sigma Olomouc tie a year before, with two first-half goals from Djorkaeff (22) and Ramzy (29) sealing Kaiserslautern’s passage into the next round.

Watch this video on YouTube.

Just as defeat against Dinamo Bacau in 1969 had robbed Killie of a tie against Arsenal, their prize this time would have been a match against Tottenham Hotspur. To underline Kaiserslautern’s class, they overcame Spurs too.

Yet another European campaign had ended after two ties, but Killie had no reason to reproach themselves, having been beaten by a very good team. The target had to be to progress beyond the first two hurdles in future!

UEFA CUP

Qualifying Round

12/08/99 – KR Reykjavik 1 (0)  Kilmarnock 0 (0)  (Att: 2,890)

26/08/98 – Kilmarnock 2 (0)  KR Reykjavik 0 (0) AET – 1-0 after 90 minutes   (Att. 11,760)
Scorers: Wright (Pen), Bagan

First Round

16/09/99 – 1.FC Kaiserslautern 3 (3)  Kilmarnock 0 (0)  (Att:21,000)

30/09/99 – Kilmarnock 0 (0)  1.FC Kaiserslautern 2 (2)  (Att: 8,074)

Watch this video on YouTube.