My Jig debt to old pal Owen
KILMARNOCK boss Lee McCulloch admits Owen Coyle was one of the men who helped him become a Champions League and Scotland player.
As a teenager coming through the ranks at Fir Park, star striker Coyle constantly gave him advice and when McCulloch broke into the first team, the Republic of Ireland star talked him through games as well.
But he’ll get no thanks for any of that at Rugby Park today as Jig plans to wreck Coyle’s first match in charge of Ross County.
The Killie boss said: “When I was 17 I cleaned Owen’s boots. I occasionally played up front with him and he was a great help.
“He helped me progress, helped me establish a firstteam place and helped me get me a move to England.
“I’ve no doubt County will have had a lift but we need to be ready and match that. They’ll have players fighting for their positions, so we need to use what we’ve worked on in training all week and make sure we get a good start.”
Killie also need to solve the problem of their poor home form. Since putting down their plastic pitch in 2015, their win ratio against top-flight opposition is just 17.6 per cent, compared to 36.8 per cent in their last two campaigns on grass.
Full-back Stephen O’Donnell said: “There are times when the pitch may be a negative factor on the game itself. If it’s a dry day it can be a bit stickier and it might not be as good or as entertaining a match as it should be – but it’s the same for both teams.
“As for this hoodoo, it’s not at the back of anyone’s mind when we go into games. Obviously, afterwards, if we haven’t had a positive result, then it gets brought up.
“I haven’t been at the club too long but I haven’t approached home matches thinking, ‘Oh no, we haven’t won here for ages’.”