Fan agenda to ‘drag Kilmarnock into administration’

KILMARNOCK owner Michael Johnston last night accused supporters of attempting to drag the club into administration after a 200-strong band of fans staged a demonstration demanding his removal outside Rugby Park ahead of yesterday’s 5-2 loss to Celtic.

Georgios Samaras finishes off his hat-trick against Killie yesterday. Picture: Robert Perry

The Kilmarnock Supporters’ Trust’s long-running campaign to oust Johnston has been ramped up this week after his botched ticket offer that meant some Celtic supporters were given the chance of a £6 reduction on the £26 admission fee that SPFL rules prevented him extending to his own supporters. Johnston said: “There are people who have their own agendas who wait in the wings and jump on any perceived error and then create as much hysteria as possible.

“Their leaders advocate withholding revenue from the club, forcing an insolvency event to try to achieve their objective.

“The main lesson is to get your offer out to the home supporters before the away supporters – but we had a very small window of opportunity to catch the Celtic support at their League Cup tie. It was unfortunate timing that the offer to the Celtic supporters went out before we had announced [the incentives to Kilmarnock fans] the following morning.”

Kilmarnock manager Allan Johnston, who opined that it was “amazing” yesterday’s encounter ended 5-2 despite a decent showing from a Kilmarnock side still to post a first Premiership win, denied that off-field ructions are impacting on his efforts on the pitch. “We’ve just got to concentrate on the football,” he said. “It is easy to make that an excuse, but it shouldn’t affect the players.”