It often seems that the space between these posts results in one contradiction after another. After a promising period, Killie have now went on a rather scary 6 game run of defeats. True, 3 of these have been against the Old Firm (including a Cup loss to Celtic), plus away games at Motherwell and Hibs – two teams competing for Europe; but the home loss to Hamilton is a truer reflection of our current form. This one hurt real bad and, at the time of writing, we sit second bottom of the SPL just 4 points ahead of Falkirk.
In a nice symmetry with my last post, attention now turns to a meeting with Aberdeen at Rugby Park on Easter Sunday. A game we simply must win. As fate would have it I cannot make this game. Its switch to the Sunday for TV leaving me with non-negotiable family commitments in its stead. (This will only be the fourth home game I’ve missed in over 20 years, although I’m not sure if that’s a boast or a curse…)
There’s been a thread on killiefc.com about what it would be like in the First Division. I wouldn’t have said this when we last got promoted about 17 years ago, but in many ways I miss watching football in those circumstances. Playing in the SPL you are running up a hill backwards with the only point really being survival. This more than anything is what has contributed to apathy amongst not just Killie fans, but fans of SPL teams in general. At times you really do wonder what the point is. At least in the lower league you’ve a chance of watching competitive football, striving for a goal that, at the time at least, seems worthwhile. Of course – you get promoted again and you’re back to survival mode…
On the way back from Parkhead yesterday, I came across a bunch of Inverness fans in Queen’s Street station. Their team had just beaten Partick 1-0 and – courtesy of that and Dundee’s draw with Ross County – went top of the league. They were absolutely delighted. The grim and ultimately futile fight against relegation last season seemed a distant memory. They were enjoying their football. In the final analysis that’s all we want really. In the SPL enjoyment is a costly and rare experience.
This idealism and nostalgia is all very well of course. The reality is that financially Killie would not survive a drop into the First Division. I don’t think anyone really knows exactly what would happen to the Club, but survival, if at all possible, would likely be by going to part-time football. That would in turn lead to almost certain demotion from the First Division back to the abyss from which we started to climb all those years ago under Fleeting.
We’re in a no-win situation. Stay in the SPL and continue to die by a thousand cuts or get relegated and fall in front of the juggernaut. The most positive outlook would be survival this term followed closely by reconstruction of Scottish football to give us more stability and more competitive football. The latter is maybe a pipe dream. At the moment we must focus on the final games of this season and, if nothing else, delaying the inevitable. Such short-termism might well be our undoing in the long run but I can’t see that we’ve any other option.
