I fear for Killie .. if you’re in dogfight year after year you are bound to lose 1 of them
Pain of Rugby Park hero Pascali
MANU PASCALI wore his heart on his sleeve every time he pulled on the Kilmarnock jersey.
The 36-year-old might be almost 2000 miles away plying his trade with Serie C side Cosenza Calcio but a massive part of him still resides in Ayrshire.
Three years ago he memorably claimed he was willing to put his life on the line to help Killie stave off relegation.
And fear now grips the passionate Italian at the thought his beloved club could finally lose their top-flight status.
In five of the past seven seasons the Rugby Park side have finished in the bottom four.
And Pascali, who lifted the League Cup during seven years in Ayrshire, insists they can’t keep relying on great escapes.
The defender said: “It breaks my heart to see Kilmarnock struggling at the bottom.
“It is hard to see them in that position. I love the club. I don’t want to see them being involved in another relegation scrap.
“If you are involved in a dogfight every year then you will not win them all.
“I fear there will come a season when Kilmarnock eventually go down.
“The more you are down there then the more likely it will happen one day.
“Kilmarnock cannot keep escaping relegation every season. They cannot and will not win a relegation battle every year. It is not possible.”
Lee McCulloch’s men have suffered a nightmare start to the Premiership campaign, taking just one point out of 15.
But Pascali insists the former Rangers and Scotland star deserves more time to turn the club’s fortunes around.
He said: “For Kilmarnock to take just one point out of a possible 15 is a very poor start.
“It looks as if it is going to be another long season already.
“I read the Killie page online and I constantly keep up with what is happening at the club. Some fans were posting up messages saying that they wanted to sack the manager.
“That is not the answer as Lee needs more time to see if he can turn the club around.
“The team also have to play both Rangers and Celtic within the next five games which is not ideal.
“If the club brought in a new manager and he did not get results within those five games would they sack him too?
“Fans are always quick to react and say, ‘Sack the manager’ if he is not getting results.
“Managers know they can be sacked if their team does not perform.
“I don’t feel that sacking Lee would be the right way forward or the right course of action for Kilmarnock at this time.
“Lee has been there for a couple of seasons and is a very young manager who is still learning the game.
“He needs a bit more time to implement his own ideas with the players that he has brought in during the summer.
“When you are not getting results everything seems to go against you. Hopefully, Lee can turn it all around.”
Pascali was disappointed to read defender Gordon Greer’s claim Killie were beaten by Motherwell last weekend because they didn’t match the workrate of the Steelmen.
But he believes there was an ulterior motive for the Scotland stopper’s rant.
Pascali said: “I respect Gordon’s opinion as he is a very experienced player.
“Even when you are struggling as a team you have to match every opponent for effort, application and desire.
“Gordon has decided to get his point across in order to get some sort of reaction and fire them up for the next game.
“I completely understand why Gordon has said what he has because the results are simply not good enough. However, this is a time for everybody at the club to stick together.”