Kilmarnock Football Club is a Scottish football team based in the town of Kilmarnock, Ayrshire. Founded in 1869, “Killie” are the oldest professional club in Scotland. Home matches are played at Rugby Park. They are currently members of the Scottish Premier League and are managed by Jim Jefferies.
Contents
1
History
2 Club records
3 Managers
4 Notable fans
5
Honours
6 Current squad (season 2006-2007)
o 6.1 Players out on loan
7 External links
History
The club’s foundation dates to the very earliest days of organised football in Scotland, when a group of local cricketers looking for a sporting pursuit to occupy them outwith the cricket season formed a football club in 1869. Originally they played rugby rules, but the difficulty in organising fixtures and the growing influence of Queen’s Park F.C. soon persuaded them to adopt the association code instead. These origins are reflected to this day by the name of the club’s home ground – Rugby Park.
Although not amongst the founder members of the Scottish Football Association in 1873, Kilmarnock did join in time to compete in the inaugural Scottish Cup tournament in 1873-74. Their 2-0 defeat against Renton in the First Round on October 18 1873 is thought to have been the first match ever played in the competition.
Kilmarnock joined the Scottish League in 1895 and after winning consecutive Second Division titles were elected to the top flight for the first time in 1899. For much of their history they have been one of the most successful clubs based outwith Scotland’s major cities. They have reached the Scottish Cup final eight times, winning the trophy on three occasions. Despite four appearances in the final, they have yet to lift the Scottish League Cup.
The club’s greatest success was in 1965 under the management of Willie Waddell. On the final day of the season, they travelled to face Hearts at Tynecastle requiring a victory by two goals to nil (due to to the competition being decided by goal average at that period if teams were equal on points) to win the league at their opponents’ expense. A memorable 2-0 win saw Kilmarnock crowned Scottish League champions for the first, and to date only, time. This capped a period of tremendous consistency which had seen them occupy runners-up spot in four of the previous five seasons.
After a period of decline in the 1980s which saw the club relegated to the Second Division, Killie have returned to prominence, holding top division status since being promoted in 1993 and lifting the Scottish Cup for the third time in 1997 thanks to a 1-0 victory over Falkirk in the final.
The club have qualified for European competitions on nine occasions, their best performance coming in the 1966-67 Fairs Cup tournament when they progressed to the Semi-Finals, eventually being eliminated by Leeds United.
Killie finished the 2005/06 season in 5th position, after a tremendous season in which they were challenging for the 3rd place. However, after selling top scorer Kris Boyd to Rangers in January 2006 (who was the catalyst for the Glasgow club’s fine run), Killie had to rely on goals from young attacking midfielder Steven Naismith, striker Colin Nish and winger Danny Invincibile. After taking only 1 point in the first four games of the split, Killie beat Hibernian 3-1 to leapfrog Aberdeen into 5th place.
Club records
Biggest win: 13 – 2 v Saltcoats Victoria, Scottish Qualifying Cup 2nd Round, September 12, 1896
Worst defeat: 1 – 9 v Celtic, Scottish League Division 1, August 13, 1938
Highest home attendance: 35,995 v Rangers, Scottish Cup Quarter-Finals March 10, 1962
Most capped player: Joe Nibloe (11 for Scotland)
Most League appearances: Alan Robertson (484, 1972-88)
Most League goals: William Neill Culley (149, 1911-23)
Most League goals in a season: Harry Cunningham (34 in 1927-28) and Andy Kerr (34 in 1960-61)
Transfer fee paid: £340,000 for Paul Wright from St Johnstone, March 1995
Transfer fee received: £400,000 for Kris Boyd to Rangers, January 2006
Managers
Hugh Spence (1919-37)
Jimmy McGrory (1937-45)
Tom Smith (1945-47)
Tom Mather (1947-48)
Alex Hastings (1948-50)
Malky McDonald (1950-57)
Willie Waddell (1957-65)
Malky McDonald (1965-68)
Walter McCrae (1968-73)
Willie Fernie (1973-77)
Davie Sneddon (1977-81)
Jim Clunie (1981-84)
Eddie Morrison (1984-88)
Jim Fleeting (1988-92)
Tommy Burns (1992-94)
Alex Totten (1994-96)
Bobby Williamson (1996-2002)
Jim Jefferies (2002 – present)
Notable fans
Some information in this article or section has not been verified and may not be reliable.
Please check for any inaccuracies, and modify and cite sources as needed.
Alastair Campbell, former Director of Communications and Strategy for 10 Downing Street[citation needed]
Gary Holt, Scottish International footballer
Cathy Jamieson, Member of the Scottish Parliament and Scottish Executive Minister for Justice[citation needed]
Malky McCormick, Cartoonist and Caricaturist[citation needed]
Magnus Magnusson, Journalist and former presenter of Mastermind[citation needed]
Kirsty Wark, Scottish Journalist and presenter of the BBC’s Newsnight programme.[citation needed]
Kirsty McCabe, BBC Weather forecaster
Colin Hay, Australian-Scottish musician. Lead singer of Men at Work[citation needed]
William McIlvanney, novelist.[citation needed]
John Barnes, Scottish broadcaster[citation needed]
Danny Coffey, late mayor of Kilmarnock and Loudoun (district) Council
Honours
Scottish League Champions (1): 1964-65
Division Two (2): 1897-98, 1898-99
Scottish Cup (3): 1920, 1929, 1997
Current squad (season 2006-2007)
No. Position Player
1 Scotland GK Alan Combe
2 Scotland DF James Fowler
3 Scotland DF Garry Hay
4 Scotland DF David Lilley
5 Scotland DF Gordon Greer
6 England DF Simon Ford
7 Scotland FW Steven Naismith
8 Scotland MF Gary Locke
9 Scotland FW Colin Nish
10 Scotland FW Gary Wales
11 Australia MF Danny Invincibile
12 Scotland MF Allan Johnston
13 Scotland GK Graeme Smith
14 Scotland DF Frazer Wright
No. Position Player
15 Scotland DF Grant Murray
16 Canada MF Rhian Dodds
18 Scotland FW Paul Di Giacomo
19 Scotland MF Stevie Murray
20 Spain MF David Fernández
21 Scotland DF Ryan O’Leary
22 Scotland MF Peter Leven
23 Scotland DF Jamie Hamill
25 Scotland MF Jamie Adams
26 Scotland GK Cameron Bell
27 Scotland FW Thomas Coyne
28 Scotland DF Iain Campbell
30 Scotland MF Steven Noble
44 South Africa GK Chad Harpur
Players out on loan
17 Scotland FW Andrew Barrowman (on loan to Queen of the South)
24 Scotland FW Robert Campbell (on loan to Dundee)
31 Scotland DF Gary Wild (on loan to East Stirlingshire)
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