Rory’s siblings want third place and an away-day trip as reward for Killie
RORY McKENZIE reckons he’s getting extra pressure from his brothers to help Kilmarnock make it into into Europe.
The Rugby Park outfit are on the verge of qualifying for the Europa League with 90 minutes of the season remaining.
Killie lead Aberdeen on goal difference in the race for third spot and guaranteed progress on to the continent.
Fourth place may even be enough to dig the passports out should Celtic defeat Hearts in the Scottish Cup Final.
However, Killie want to do it on their own and winger McKenzie has plenty of incentives from within his own family.
It’s 18 years since the club were last involved in European competition and, having never had the chance to don their colours on foreign shores, McKenzie’s two kid siblings are on his case to make it happen.
He said: “I don’t remember the fans going away in the past when Killie qualified but the young fans especially are really desperate for it.
“My two younger brothers want an away trip and it’ll get more young fans coming along to the games and get more supporters into the club.
“I’ve never known so many Killie fans. Every second person you meet going down the street is a supporter.
“That wasn’t the case before and you enjoy talking to people. It’s a good place to be in at the moment.”
Success over high-flying Rangers on Sunday would make sure but Killie already surpassed their targets before the match kicks off.
With relegation avoided, the top six ticked off again and the best top-flight points tally achieved, Steve Clarke insists his men are playing without pressure as they chase their next target.
He said: “Finishing third would be a great achievement. Even finishing just behind Aberdeen wouldn’t be bad because they have a big budget compared to ours but there’s no pressure on us now.
“We’ve achieved our twin targets of claiming a second successive top-six finish and beating last season’s points BY CRAIG SWAN total. That’s not to say we don’t want to finish third because we do and we want to do it by winning.
“But that’s a target which comes without the pressure of, ‘We have to do this or that’.
“Post-split last year we picked up just two points so we’re still improving.
“Any football person will realise, particularly after recent events, you don’t know what’s going to happen.
“When it comes to the Cup Final, Hearts will fancy their chances but we haven’t budgeted for European football and if it doesn’t come then we’ll still have had a fantastic season.”
Killie’s success has already enabled the club to start building for next term with the majority of their stars tied down on new contracts.
No big alterations are needed in the summer as Clarke said: “I sat with Alex Dyer and went through the squad and pretty much everyone is signed up long-term, outside of the loan signings.
“We have a really good core of around 18 players, plus we have others coming back from loan spells.
“Greg Kiltie has done well at Morton, Innes Cameron has reached double figures in goals in his first loan with Stranraer, Iain Wilson is still involved with Queen of the South in the play-offs and Dom Thomas at Dumbarton was nominated for the PFA Scotland Player of the Year award.
“All four of them can have a role to play in our future.
“Jamie MacDonald has been champing at the bit to play. He’s only missed out recently because Daniel Bachmann has been outstanding.
“The spine of the team is there, then, with Jamie, Kirk Broadfoot and Stuart Findlay, Gary Dicker and Alan Power and Eamonn Brophy.
“What we have to do now is repeat what we’ve done in previous windows.”
RORY McKENZIE ON SIBLING SUPPORT