HE’S THE BOSS We’ll welcome back football like long-lost friend after lockdown

Sometimes we don’t appreciate what we have until it’s gone.

Over the last few weeks it has felt as though one of life’s most important crutches has been taken away.

It may only be a game but for me and so many others it’s so much more.

I don’t have all the answers, I can’t say when or how we will get sport back again.

But what I can say with no doubt is that absence makes the heart grow fonder when it comes to football.

Nobody knows that better than me as a former squaddie who spent three and half years in Germany.

My mum used to save a month’s worth of the Ki lmarnock Standard and post them to my barracks so I could read reports from the Killie games.

I would gorge on them, one month’s full of matches – it was about keeping that connection to the club I love.

This pause in football will allow many people to appreciate what they love about football and what the game means to them.

I’ve been thinking deeply about the situation over the last few days. What drives you to become a fan and where does that passion for your club come from?

What makes a Saturday – is it meeting your pals to go to the game?

When I was home on leave from the army, there was nothing better than a Saturday morning, getting a carry- out and being with pals on the supporters bus on the way to a Killie game.

Cheering your team on, moaning about it, being elated or raging depending on the result.

Then came the analysis, scrutinising the decisions – the hows and whys of the match.

All fans are managers after the game. Who should have played and who shouldn’t have been anywhere near the team, the debates and the arguments.

Didn’t you know that all of the best managers are the ones sitting wearing scarves in the stand?

Of course, winning was important – but it was everything else that made the day complete.

We would check our coupons as we were just about old enough to have a wee bet.

Then it would be a few hours in the pub and home to watch the game again on Sportscene. All of

MATCH DAY Holt has fond memories as Killie supporter