TALKING KILMARNOCK

BY THE time May ticks round, Kilmarnock’s unbroken stay in the top flight will have become an even quarter century. Five years ago, they were beating Celtic to lift the League Cup. Yet sometimes it feels as if the Rugby Park club exist in a state of perpetual crisis.

There was certainly a wearying familiarity to the news which broke on Sunday that the services of Lee McCulloch were being dispensed with and the Ayrshire side would spend the international break searching for another new manager.

Lee McCulloch’s departure means the new man will be the club’s eighth permanent boss in seven years. The only novelty factor this time around is perhaps the fact that no-one can blame traditional hate figure Michael Johnston for it all.

Instead, the buck now stops with Billy Bowie, a self-made man who left school at 16 and now owns his own tanker services and waste disposal business.

With plans for a new £2.5m training complex on the way, there were hopes of brighter times ahead at the club this summer. But instead, by the start of October, here we are, stuck in the same unhappy pattern of frustrated ambition, dressing room turmoil and a disaffected supporter base.

To be fair, results haven’t exactly been great. The club’s only wins during this campaign came in the Betfred Cup.

Nine matches had come and gone in the league, harvesting just three draws, even if one of them came recently at Pittodrie.

They sit rock bottom of the Ladbrokes Premiership and the final straw was a home defeat to a struggling Ross County side who had just changed their manager.

McCulloch, you may recall, was somewhat reluctant to take the post in the first place, and the doubts appear to have magnified in the last few months.

Bowie said in a radio interview last night that a meeting called for Sunday to see how the board could help quickly deterioriated into a scenario where the manager felt he had taken this group of players as far as he could.

For once, this may actually have been the ‘mutual’ decision which all these statements usually claim them to be.

According to Bowie, McCulloch had been too close or too soft on the players.

“It is a big thing to go from being on the ground to being a manager, giving out the orders, being strict and sticking to your guns,” said Bowie.

“I think he felt let down by the players. I felt he was saying there is not much more I can do here. That is what it really came down to, what was the best for the club, at the end of the day.”

First-team training was taken yesterday by academy boss Paul McDonald, Under-20s manager Andy Millen and striker Kris Boyd, with the players called in afterwards, informed that the club hoped to find a new manager by the time they meet Partick Thistle next Saturday and told collectively that it might be wise for them to up their game.

The issues at Kilmarnock appear to run deeper than the manager’s office, even if a manager churning out results on the pitch can disguise such matters. The stadium can feel a giant, soulless place at times, and the artificial surface wins few admirers.

But in excess of 20 applicants, some of them high quality from all across the UK, had registered an i nterest, and the next manager would be an experienced, “strong-willed” figure.

Former Ross County manager Jim McIntyre, an early front runner by dint of his availability and legend status at the club as a Scottish Cup winner 20 years ago, had not applied to his knowledge, but would be worth an interview in case.

THIS is a fair shout, considering he and his assistant manager Billy Dodds have already delivered the unthinkable in the Highlands, by taking the Staggies to a domestic cup win. But there are other possiblities as well, not least Paul Hartley.

“We’ve more or less received applications from all over the UK,” Bowie told Radio Scotland. “More than 20, good calibre names as well, some very experienced ones. To be perfectly honest, he [Jim] has not applied to myself directly ... but he would be well worth an interview anyway.

“I feel we need a very strong willed manager, very experienced in Premiership football. Someone with a good piece of history behind them to carry out the needs of Kilmarnock Football Club.”

Asked if he had an ideal manager in mind, he said: “There are actually two or three at the moment – there is one which is in work, the other two aren’t. We could pay compensation, as long as if it was reasonable.

“Myself personally with the amount of applicants that have come in, we will have a meeting on Wednesday and whittle it down to who we want to start interviewing.

“I have kept my diary available every afternoon this week. It is not a deal breaker but I would like to have a manager by our next match.”

The last word went to veteran player Kris Boyd, who said: “A manager has lost his job but it’s us as players that need to take responsibility because it’s been way off what is expected at Kilmarnock.

“The manager takes the training and picks the team, but once we cross that white line it’s up to us to go and perform.

“Thats the challenge that us as a group face now but it’s sad to see not only a manager go, but a close friend.” jobs after four games you think there’s no point in going down that route – or you start to wonder is that the right route to go down because of the circumstances they find themselves in.”

A trip to fellow strugglers Partick Thistle is next on the agenda after the international break as the Ayrshire side look to kick-start their campaign.

Smith reckons it could be time for an experienced boss to be handed the Rugby Park reins.

He said: “I think all fingers would point in that direction. We’re in a difficult position and we need some stability.

“Experience would help but we have experience in the dressing room.”