Killie stars on call to help ticket sales
Published 25 Jul 2012 16:30
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Skipper Manuel Pascali is doing his bit to woo back supporters.
THEY'RE usually told to get bums on seats by producing exciting, winning football on the park.
But footballers at Kilmarnock are taking a different hands-on approach to attracting supporters back to club.
Kilmarnock fans yet to renew their season tickets for next season will be persuaded back by first-team stars and manager Kenny Shiels rather tha faceless sales staff.
The Rugby Park heroes will be phoning exisiting supporters who have yet to renew for the forthcoming campaign.
Skipper Manuel Pascali is behind the 'Team Talk' scheme, which starts on Thursday July 26, and said: "I overheard the Gaffer talking about the need for the club to sell as many season tickets as possible to help make up for the loss of money due to us not playing Rangers at Rugby Park.
"They were saying how this was going to affect our plans for strengthening our squad and could also affect other areas of the club
."I asked if there was anything that the players could do to help out and they suggested that we could get involved in phoning the fans. I thought why not and put it to the rest of the guys. It was no surprise to me when they agreed to help out either in making the calls or simply being available to meet the fans as they arrive to collect their season tickets."
Killie attracted an average of just 5537 at their home games last season despite a successful campaign which saw them win the Communities League Cup.
The cash-strapped club expect to lose further income due to Rangers' departure from the SPL.
Boss Kenny Shiels has frequently campaigned for people from Kilmarnock to support their local team and he is delighted to be helping the campaign.
He added: "Clearly our club is going to experience some hardship as a result of the Rangers situation; one which was not of our making. However we are where we are and it's important that we look forward positively and address any additional challenges that we may face as a consequence
"Making up the shortfall in gate receipts will be a priority and when I heard that the club was planning to contact fans to encourage them to renew their season tickets I thought it was a great idea and I was keen to get involved."
This article appeared in Cumnock Chronicle 26 Jul 12
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