Killie fans blast Johnston over newco 'no' vote
Published 6 Jul 2012 09:30
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KILLIE fans have slammed Michael Johnston for failing to cast a vote on the crucial decision to expel Rangers from the SPL.
The under-fire Johnston was the only representative from 11 top-flight clubs to abstain on the vote at the end of Wednesday's crunch meeting.
And while the other 10 club chiefs were saying NO to newco Rangers, Johnston refused to do likewise.
He claims he wasn't given a clear mandate by his fans to vote against a newco entering the SPL and insists he had the club's financial interests at heart.
But the Killie Trust see it differently.
A spokesperson said: "The Killie Trust would like to disassociate themselves from the actions of the Kilmarnock Football Club Chairman at the SPL meeting on Wednesday. It was important that we, as a club, were seen to be taking a moral stance as opposed to acting in self interest, and it is felt that we have been misrepresented by our majority shareholder and sole board member in this case.
"His refusal to vote was clearly not in the best long-term interests of the club as it cast a shadow of doubt over our own integrity in this sorry affair.
"We hosted an open meeting in conjunction with our Supporters Association last week which Michael Johnston attended and a unanimous show of hands from the floor should have left him in no doubt that Kilmarnock supporters were not in favour of any new club being allowed entry directly into the top division based purely on financial reasons.
"This was also backed up by various online polls which indicated that 98 percent of those whom voted were also of the same mind, and we are more than certain that the "consultation", which the club paid for and then apparently decided not to act upon, would have reflected the same; although the results of said "consultation" were kept out of the public domain and not made available to those whom voted."
Next season will be the first time in 122 years that Rangers, in either of it's guises, haven't been in the top flight.
SPL chief Neil Donaster and his SFA counterpart Stuart Regan have claimed that's a disaster for Scottish football.
But the Killie Trust believe this is a chance get our national game back in order.
The spokesperson added: "We have the opportunity over the coming season to start getting our house in order and we hope that Supporters Direct and fans in general will be given a say in the direction that Scottish football will take. The major stake-holders in our game cannot and will not be ignored any longer because without the fans there would be no clubs and the time has come for us to reclaim our place at the table and ensure that commercial greed and self interest no longer dictate the decisions that have to be made. We are all in this together and together we can get Scottish football back on its feet, from the bottom division to the top, anything less is simply unacceptable."
This article appeared in Cumnock Chronicle 06 Jul 12
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