Killie back in the old routine and aim to Power on
It’s fair to say that Kilmarnock fans did not recognise their team last season. After almost three seasons of continual improvement, they slid backwards when manager Steve Clarke left to take the Scotland job.
Clarke and assistant Alex Dyer had guided the Ayrshire side to third place in the top tier, their best finish since 1966. That took them into Europe for the first time since 2001.
The appointment of Italian Angelo Alessio didn’t work out and chairman Billy Bowie pulled the plug on the failed experiment the week before Christmas.
Dyer, who steadied the ship after being appointed interim manager, was last month awarded the post on a permanent basis.
Now midfielder Alan Power insists that Killie are their old selves again and he’s looking forward to improving on last season’s seventh-place finish.
“The gaffer played a huge part in the success we had under Steve Clarke,” said the 32-year-old. “Consequently, he knows how fit we need to be to play the way we do.
“I don’t think Angelo was really to blame for what happened last season because every manager wants to impose his own style. But I think we’ll have everyone pulling in the same direction again with the gaffer.
“This is his first crack at management at this level but he’s always had the respect of the players here, he knows how to get the best out of us and the pre-season training under him has been great.”
Remarkably, when Dyer’s side begin the new season against Hibs at Easter Road in 13 days’ time, it will be close on five months since they concluded the previous campaign. Power, though, reckons this will be the shortest summer break of his career.
“You have to bear in mind that, when the lockdown started, we didn’t know whether the season was going to finish then or whether we’d be asked to come back and complete the fixtures,” he explained.
“As a result, we were each given programmes to follow and everyone kept themselves ticking over just in case we had to start playing again at short notice.
“The season was eventually called on May 18 and we knew that we wouldn’t complete our games. At that point we had five days off but, obviously, we couldn’t go anywhere. It was a different sort of rest.
“By then, though, it was pretty much time to start thinking about the new season. Like everyone else, we started back in short groups, with non-contact stuff and social distancing and that was mentally challenging for us.
“Fortunately, we’re back into the normal sessions now and we had a bounce game with Motherwell on Friday. The sessions have been good and lively because we’ve gone back to training the way we play and, hopefully, that will stand us in good stead.”