DEREK McINNES as the new Kilmarnock manager – maybes aye, maybes naw; we'll wait and see. He certainly has a good track record in Scotland, but, as a long-time Killie fan, I feel the current board, like so many Rugby Park boards before them, hasn't thought this one through properly.
Take the length of Derek's contract – 18 months. What can he achieve in that time? Promotion, either by winning the Championship, or via the end-of-season play-offs, well, that has to be the first priority.
Assuming he does that, part two has to be getting Kilmarnock back to where we fans think the club should be, top six in the Premiership. That's going to be the hard part. If he can do these two things, which are the minimum I am looking for, ok, maybe he can get a new contract, or, and this might suit him better, he could maybe get a bigger job on the back of his success at Kilmarnock.
Derek's managerial record is interesting. He has been in-charge at three clubs: St Johnstone, Bristol City and Aberdeen. According to Wikipedia, he has managed 618 games, winning 290, drawing 142 and losing 186.
This gives him an overall winning percentage of 46.93% of the games managed. This is a good record for a man who has not had charge of a major club – one with presumptions of winning a league championship or national trophy regularly. In all he has onlywon two trophies as a manager, the First Division title with St Johnstone in 2008-09 and the League Cup, with Aberdeen in 2013-14.
However, winning trophies with Kilmarnock would definitely count as a welcome bonus, given our club's past record. What the fans will want, as a starting point, is for Killie to get back into the Premiership, then become hard to beat.
Given McInnes' record, we can harbour such expectations. His “not losing games' record as a manager stands at 69.79% - he has won or drawn 432 of the 618 games he has managed. Even when he “failed” at Bristol City, he won or drew 31 games, only losing 32.
So, if he can galvanise the team, get us promoted, we can look forward to better times ahead. From where the club currently is, I think that's all we are asking.
However, as a fan, I am greedy for more. Difficult though it might be to achieve this, I would love to see Kilmarnock back to where they were when I first began to attend Rugby Park, in 1959.
Back then, Kilmarnock had, under Malcolm MacDonald, been runners-up in the 1957 Scottish Cup. Willie Waddell then took over and his record as manager was:
Managed 389 – won 215 – drew 76 – lost 98 – wins percentage 55.27% - did not lose percentage 76.6%.
Under Waddell, the club's finishing positions in the old First Division were: Fifth – eighth – second – second – fifth – second – second – first.
In the Scottish Cup, under Waddell, Kilmarnock reached: Last 16 – quarter-finals – Runners-up – last 32 – quarter-finals – last 32 – semi-finals – quarter-finals.
In the League Cup, under Waddell, Kilmarnock reached: Quarter-finals – semi-finals – third in section, dnq for knock-out stages – runners-up – second in section, dnq – runners-up – second in section dnq – second in section, dnq.
Championees!!!
The Waddell Years showed what Kilmarnock could do, I would like to see the club back there.
Waddell was at Rugby Park for eight seasons. In the eight seasons prior to his arrival the club's finishing league positions were: Eighth in Division 2 (24th) - twelfth in D2 (28th) – fifth in D2 (20th) – fourth in D2 (20th) – second in D2 – promoted - (18th) – tenth – eighth – third. So, he joined a team which had generally been on the up – Killie had enjoyed a better league finish in each of the six seasons prior to his arrival.
In the eight seasons following his departure, the club's final league positions were: Third – seventh – seventh – fourth – seventh - 13th - 11th - 17th (relegated). That relegation, in season 1972-73, along with Airdrie, was followed by the same two teams bouncing straight back up in 1973-74. They finished 12th in 1974-75, so didn't make it into the inaugural top ten, when the Premier Division started in 1975-76.
So, the Waddell Effect didn't last long at Rugby Park. Under Waddell, they had been a full-time club, offering, with Hearts, the most-consistent challenge to Scot Symon's all-conquering Rangers. But, by the time Jock Stein's Celtic ruled the roost, Killie were struggling – they have never really looked like getting back to where they were during the Waddell Years.
Perhaps, if Stevie Clarke had stayed longer, Killie could have remained one of the leading clubs, but, Scotland's need was greater than Kilmarnock's. For me, Derek McInnes' biggest challenge will be to – once he gets us back into the top flight, seeing if he can bring about a 21st century version of the Waddell Years in the first half of that decade – the 1960s.
If I can offer some advice to Derek McInnes, take a leaf from the Waddell play-book, who always had a good number of Ayrshiremen in his first team. The Kilmarnock team which I first followed was: Jimmy Brown (Buckhaven); Jim Richmond (Blantyre), Matt Watson (Paisley), Frank Beattie ( Bannockburn) Willie Toner (Shettleston), Bobby Kennedy (Motherwell), Rab Stewart (Kilmarnock), Jackie McInally (Ayr), Andy Kerr (Lugar), Bertie Black (Lugar), Billy Muir (Kilwinning).
An all-Ayrshire forward line, and having locals in the side was a feature of the Waddell Years – look at the league-winning squad: Bobby Ferguson, Andy King, Jim McFadzean, Davie Sneddon, Ronnie Hamilton, Eric Murray, all Ayrshiremen. The best Kilmarnock teams have always been loaded with locals – let's get back to this, there has never been a lack of talent in God's County – find it, nurture it and watch Kilmarnock flourish.
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