Smith wants curtain to come down on off-field drama so players can perform

Stevie Smith feels Kilmarnock have endured enough turmoil in the last two weeks to last them a season but insists their new-look team can hit the ground running and win back the suffering supporters.

There is a battle in the boardroom with a plan in place to oust unpopular former chairman Michael Johnston, a curious story of Lee Clark resigning emerged last week and the performances in the Betfred Cup have been poor. The fans are not best pleased, but new club captain Smith says the squad will do everything in their power to banish the negativity and give the faithful something to cling to.

Smith, who was also caught in the corporate maelstrom during his second spell at Rangers, said: “We have to hope all the dramas have come now rather than during the season.

“Since I have been here there has always been a negativity about the place. You can sense it.

“But personally, what’s going on off the park I don’t take any interest. I don’t know if having

0 Stevie Smith: ‘Strange’ story. to deal with things like that at previous clubs has helped me but I just try to blank it out.

“It’s difficult to get rid of the negativity, but in the changing room the players and coaching staff have to stick together.

“I found the story about the manger strange as we haven’t had any inkling of anything. It is just something else happening that you don’t want going into the season.

“It’s not easy for the new players when the crowd starts getting om their backs but even if you have been here for ten years it doesn’t get any easier. It takes big players and big characters to deal with that.

“We just have to try to focus on the good things. We have 11 new players and there is a freshness in the dressing room. If they can play the way they are training then people will see a lot of improvement.”

On current form, Motherwell will be favourites to win at Rugby Park on Saturday when the Ladbrokes Premiership gets underway, but Smith believes Killie can prove the doubters wrong.

He said: “Some of the performances have not been great and we have to put that right for the start of the season.

“We have to start really well and that begins with Motherwell on Saturday

“We have to hit the ground running and, if we don’t, we will find ourselves in the situation we found ourselves last season.”