Help OTIA

Hi folks,

The One Team In Ayrshire Podcast has been a labour of love. When it began in the summer of 2015, we wanted to provide a service that all Killie fans could enjoy and be a part of. We feel we’ve provided a good amount of free content over the years, but unfortunately that has came at a cost to those running the show.

The costs involved have increased as time has gone on, and with hosting charges for the shows as well as the other fees needed to keep things running we’ve hit a wall. We want to keep the podcast free of charge, but in order to do that we need your help.

In the coming weeks we’ll be creating a Patreon page where subscribers paying a few pounds a month will receive exclusive content that won’t be available to anyone else. This will be in the form of written pieces from our excellent contributors, extra audio exclusives and video analysis of matches and key incidents.

In the meantime, if you’ve enjoyed the content we’ve produced over the years and have a few quid spare after Christmas then please consider donating with PayPal through the link at the bottom of this article. Every penny will be put back into making the podcast bigger and better, but most importantly – running.

Once again, thank you to everyone for your continued support and here’s to a great 2018!

https://www.paypal.me/OneTeamInAyrshire

RIP Jamie

On Monday, I received the news from Teeside that my good friend and fellow One Team In Ayrshire podcaster Jamie McDougall had passed away.

I first met Jamie through Twitter, where our mutual love of Kilmarnock F.C. and wrestling brought us together. From that point on, we regularly travelled the country supporting Killie in his tiny red motor that wouldn’t look out of place on a Toys ‘R’ Us shelf.

I still fondly think back to the day when Kilmarnock visited Falkirk in the first leg of the play-off in May 2016. Jamie, the designated driver, met up with our group of friends in town around lunchtime and watched as we necked vodka after vodka. Then, around tea time, he disappeared and returned with his little red car as we all tried to figure out how five grown men would fit in it. That journey home after the late defeat was, how can I put it – fraught. That was until Jamie decided to lighten the mood, and pulled out of nowhere a CD of sporting TV show theme tunes. Nothing brightens the mood like a cramped car full of men singing the song from Big Break.

But that was Jamie. The only man in history who purchased all of Will Smith’s albums and listened to them regularly. I still maintain he played them just to annoy me.

When Jamie and I decided to start the One Team In Ayrshire podcast, it was an easy decision. We spent hours, sometimes days, breaking down every aspect of every game so why not do that on mic and see what other fans thought? He loved the Terrace Scottish Football Podcast and was determined to emulate their success, albeit it in a smaller, more niche way. Eventually, we wangled a meeting with the club about getting access to players and legends for interviews, and I don’t think Jamie slept for a week in anticipation.

I had just got home from work and looked terrible, when Jamie arrived – suited and booted and smelling like there had just been an accident at the Davidoff Cool Waters factory. He was for nailing this. The meeting started well, before the then communications officer pulled out a bundle of my own Tweets lambasting Killie and Gary Locke. She informed us that Gary listened to the show and was very upset at the negativity displayed on the episodes and on Twitter and was refusing to authorise our request. Instead of being angry Jamie kept having to hold back laughter, especially after passing the then manager in the corridor who lovingly called us “pricks”.

We must have laughed for ten minutes solid when we made it back to the car, and again – that was Jamie. He wanted to make the podcast better but not at the risk of losing our independence and ability to call it as we saw it. As he said to the communications officer – “Are we meant to pretend several 3 and 4 nil home defeats are a positive?!”

Jamie desperately wanted to make the podcast a success, but with him moving to Middlesbrough to study and other commitments life just got in the way. However, in honour of Jamie and his will to make a success of himself we’ll be returning to the airwaves soon and will strive to make OTIA everything he wanted it to be. The shows themselves though won’t be the same without his wit, analytical eye and terrible puns.

Myself, and all the guys associated with the pod will miss you tremendously Jamie. The next time a “short arse” wrestler wins a match or if Youssef Mulumbu ever makes his debut for Killie I’ll think of you and smile.

RIP big man.

Russell Abercrombie, Dec ‘17.

 

The Rumour Round-Up

It’s that time of year again.

Everyone you talk to has a source and is ‘in the know’. This guy was spotted checking into the Park Hotel; that guy liked Killie’s Instagram page.

So, let’s see what the latest rumours around Rugby Park are and try to split the fact from the fiction.

Greg Taylor in Polish Offer

The Daily Record are reporting that Polish Ekstraklasa minnows Piast Gliwice have offered a measly £120,000 for the services of Greg Taylor.

Despite the paper referring to Killie as “cash-strapped” *yawn* it seems like a pretty easy offer to turn down for a guy with two years left on his deal.

Piast Gliwice finished the Polish season in 10th place, and are managed by former Celtic player Dariusz Wdowczyk.

Souleymane Coulibaly

It has been widely reported that everyone’s favourite Ivorian has left Egyptian side Al-Ahly, after alleged breaches of human rights. Having sold Coulibaly for £700,000 (plus add-ons we’re now unlikely to see) last January, Lee McCulloch has said he’ll speak to Souleymane about a possible return.

The player himself wasted no time by taking to social media to claim he’d love to return to Killie.

However, as mentioned on the latest One Team in Ayrshire podcast episode this case is likely to rumble on for a while yet, and may even end up in the Court of Arbitration for Sport. Whether FIFA or UEFA would be willing to grant special dispensation for the player to continue his career until the outcome of any trial is concluded is up for debate, but what isn’t is the opinion he’d be a welcome addition back at Rugby Park.

A Rangers Raid

The ex-Rangers pair of Lee Hodson and Clint Hill are available on free transfers, and both have been linked to Killie.

Given our managers ties to the Ibrox club, and the part he and Peter Leven played in bringing Hodson here the first time round, these aren’t the most outlandish rumours you’re likely to hear.

Both would be welcome additions to a defence that needs patched up following the departure of Ajer and Hendrie, and would bring experience to a youthful Killie squad.

Whether Killie could match Hill’s wage demands remains to be seen, however a player/coach role has been mooted, which might help sweeten the deal as the ex-QPR defender prepares for life off the pitch.

A Second Chance for Faded Starlets

The football world is littered with ghosts of the ‘next big thing’. Those players talked up to high heaven, before failing at a club and seemingly vanishing off the face of the earth. Two of those players have been linked with moves to East Ayrshire this summer.

Firstly, we have Charlie Telfer. Poached from Rangers by Dundee United, Telfer ended up costing the Tannadice club £200,000 at a tribunal, but was released this summer after making 71 appearances. A neat and tidy midfielder, Arabs spoke of him vanishing in games and not turning up for weeks on end.

Hopefully a move away from the pressure of that tribunal might rekindle the career of a talented player who is still young enough at 21 to turn things around.

Secondly, Killie have been linked with Jack Grimmer. A right-back, he joined Fulham from Aberdeen in 2012 for £200,000 but made only 13 first-team appearances for the Cottagers.

Loaned out to Shrewsbury and Port Vale, he’s exactly the type of player we should be looking to attract. Dogged, aggressive and good on the ball, Grimmer should fit seamlessly into the spot left by Luke Hendrie.

 

Let us know what you think by Tweeting us @OneTeamAyrshire or by commenting on our Facebook page.

Clyde v Kilmarnock – A Preview

Kilmarnock kick-off their 2016/17 campaign on Saturday 16th of July, taking on Clyde in the recently revamped Betfred League Cup.

Lee Clark’s new look outfit travel to Broadwood with only one pre-season game under their belt so far- a 4-2 ‘behind closed doors’ win over FA Vase champions Morpeth Town… Nah, me neither.

Killie played two different elevens over the 90 minutes, and with the old adage about what goes on behind closed doors remaining true, we’ll have to wait until 3pm on Saturday to see what the new boys are made of. Promising noises have been made about Jordan Jones, a winger, and Souleymane Couilbaly, a striker, the latter scoring a stunning goal  in front of the watching plastic seats.

With the League Cup now providing pre-season match practice, Lee Clark will have to rotate his side over the four upcoming games in order for all of the squad to get enough game time. Personally, I’m a fan of the new set-up, although with it coming so early in the calendar I’d have liked to have seen the opportunity for managers to select a larger bench and be able to make a handful more substitutions – although I can understand the willingness to stop the competition’s early stages resembling one of your average pre-season kick-abouts.

So what of our opponents? Clyde, managed by Rangers legend and all-round fud Barry Ferguson, missed out on promotion from League Two last season. Ferguson has ditched his route one philosophy this summer, and has instead built a team more focused on quick counter attacking football. Out has went John ‘The Beast’ Gemmell (who Kilmarnock fans will unfortunately remember for scoring in Stenhousemuir’s 2012/13 League Cup win at Rugby Park) upfront, and he has been replaced by ex-Morton and St Johnstone striker Peter MacDonald. MacDonald, who boasts a very decent goalscoring record in Scottish football, will provide a focal point for any Clyde attack and will have to be marked tightly. His style of play can be best described as ‘Kris Boyd-lite’, and so we’ll do well to stop the ball reaching him in or around the area.

Elsewhere on the pitch, Clyde will look to former St Johnstone and Elgin City midfielder Dylan Easton to provide the creativity in the middle of the park and will hope to see former Dumbarton left-back Scott Linton push up the field regularly. Linton, in my opinion, is too good for League Two and will need to be watched.

In these match previews this season, we’ll hope to pick our preferred eleven for the upcoming games but with our current squad – who really knows yet? The team that started the first half against Morpeth Town was as follows:

so I wonder whether we’ll see something similar lining up at Broadwood.

No matter the line-up on show, it will certainly be an intriguing afternoon’s football, as the Kilmarnock faithful get their first look at our young and (hopefully) hungry squad. Clyde will provide a stern opposition, especially as they are one of the favourites for the League Two title. Their squad, filled with journeyman professionals, could be an eye-opener for some of the younger additions – especially those who have yet to play any senior football such as Cobain the right-back.

Stay tuned to the One Team In Ayrshire Twitter and Facebook for news of our first podcast of the new season, and for the next in the series of our match previews/reviews.

Match Details

All drawn games in the group stage of the Betfred Cup go straight to penalties, with the shoot-out winners receiving two points and the losers one point.

Admission: Entry prices for Kilmarnock fans are as follows: adults £12, concessions £6 (over-65s, under-16s and students with valid matriculation card). Season tickets are not valid for the Betfred Cup. We will be housed in the away section of the Main Stand and should enter via turnstiles A and B.

Car Parking: Car parking will be available in the West Stand car park (located at the rear of the stand opposite where our fans will be housed) at the cost of £2 a car.

Russell Abercrombie.

 

Well, hello there.

Welcome to ‘One Team In Ayrshire’, the first and only podcast dedicated to the weird and wonderful world of Kilmarnock F.C.

You’ll find links to all our shows here, and the occasional blog. Once the permanent website is up and running we’ll let you all know.

For now, if you have any queries or just want to chat to us about Killie then drop us an email at oneteaminayrshire@gmail.com

KTID