Bowie planning a big splash
Chairman will hand McInnes the largest budget in Killie’s history as they prepare to make impact back in the top flight
WHEN the final whistle had sounded on a night of high drama at Rugby Park, Billy Bowie was already pondering what the next step might be for Kilmarnock. A top-six finish in next season’s Premiership would seem like the most obvious and achievable objective for the Ayrshire club upon their return to the top flight.
But Bowie is not content to stop there. The Killie chairman recognises the calibre of manager he has in Derek McInnes.
He intends to provide McInnes with the biggest budget in the club’s history as they look to re-establish themselves in the upper echelons of Scottish football.
Steve Clarke guided Killie to a third-placed finish in 2019, their highest league finish in 53 years, which then led him to Hampden to take charge of the national team.
No manager ever came close to replicating that sort of success, with Angelo Alessio, Alex Dyer and Tommy Wright all failing to make any appreciable impact.
The low point came last season when the club were relegated under Wright, who was then relieved of his duties in December of this season with the club sitting fifth in the Championship.
McInnes took the reins and, although it wasn’t always straightforward, he guided the team to the title at the first time of asking courtesy of Friday night’s dramatic 2-1 victory over Arbroath.
Getting the job done at the first time of asking in the Championship is easier said than done. Rangers, Hibs and Dundee United would all testify to that.
In front of a big crowd at Rugby Park on Friday night, Bowie insisted the atmosphere topped anything witnessed in victories over the Old Firm clubs under Clarke.
‘There was nervousness throughout but it was great when the winner went in,’ he said. ‘You could see the relief by our reaction to both of the goals.
‘In fact, relief would be a mild way of describing it. I’ve never known a response like that at Rugby Park before, from the supporters as well as ourselves.
‘Directors normally just applaud when we score during games but we erupted like everyone else.
‘Even when we were beating Celtic and Rangers here during Steve Clarke’s time in charge, it wasn’t like this.
‘There were 10,000 Kilmarnock fans in the ground. We’ve had bigger crowds before but you need to go back until 1995 until the last time we had more of our own supporters at a game here. It was fantastic.’
Ash Taylor’s late equaliser set the scene for Blair Alston to score a last-gasp winner for Killie against Arbroath. Cue scenes of bedlam and euphoria around Rugby Park.
A manager who consistently challenged at the top of the table and reached cup finals with Aberdeen, McInnes will no doubt look to steer Killie to something similar.
Insisting that he will be provided with plenty of cash, Bowie said: ‘We’ve already discussed the future with him (McInnes) and this summer he’ll be given the biggest budget in Kilmarnock’s history.
‘I’ve been here for nine years now and you get to know what’s right for the club and we know the budget we require to become a top-six club.
‘There’s a calmness about Derek which gives us confidence. He’s gone higher than top six before and that would be nice — but we’ll go for top six for starters.
‘We can enjoy the summer now, knowing we have an extra month in which to gather our thoughts.
‘It lets us know we can do more and go further as well. Had we pushed the boat out to come back up straight away? Absolutely — and it would have been tough if we had to go through it all again next season.
‘But we’re glad we’ve done it. We said we would and now we have.
Other big clubs haven’t been able to get out of the Championship at the first attempt, so we’ll just put that down to experience.’
After coming from behind to beat Arbroath, McInnes felt that his team’s second-half performance had fully merited the three points.
He also hailed the impact of veteran winger Chris Burke after he came off the bench with 20 minutes to go and swung the game in Killie’s favour.
‘The most important thing was the players didn’t think it wasn’t going to be our night. They kept going. It was no more than we deserved,’ said McInnes.
‘I thought that it was an onslaught in the second half, if I’m being honest. That’s when you feed off the crowd and you get the benefit of the crowd that turned up.
‘It was important that we had this occasion. We’ve only ever won two titles and we’ve never won one at Rugby Park.
‘It was important that the fans saw the teams delivering tonight.
‘The players deserve so much credit as they could easily have rolled over and felt sorry for themselves.
‘At half-time, I tried to settle them down a bit. We came out and played and passed the ball.
‘Even when the goal didn’t come we didn’t stop going. That’s the sign of a good team.
‘It was exactly the right time in the game to bring Burkey on. Arbroath were tiring and we were dominating possession.
‘Our quality from set-plays went up a notch as well.
‘And Burkey is the one you want to make that final pass and that final cross.’