Steven Naismith...

azzuri · Steven Naismith...

Rumours are flying everywhere over the past couple of days that a deal has been done with R**gers and the transfer has been agreed, especially since Jim Jefferies is now 'resigned' to be losing the wee man.

In my opinion, KFC have played a weak hand well but it is a weak hand nonetheless. Our two most saleable assets in recent years have both made clear there was only one club they would move to. In those circumstances KFC are pushing a pea uphill with their nose to get a decent fee. At the end of the day we will have provided the huns with a strike pairing which will serve them for ten years at a total outlay of around £2M - 200K per year or one Sebo or one-sixth of a Tore Andre Flo. They (Boyd & Naismith) have the potential to do more than £2M of damage to Killie by way of goals scored against us in league and cup in the next decade

The saddest aspects of it are though;

A) That there is nothing we could do/have done differently in either case which would have persuaded the players to stay (offered better/longer terms to both) or move south where at least they wouldn't have been scoring against us (bid for Boyd accepted from Cardiff, Naismith on trial at Arsenal)

B) Worst of all, these are two Ayrshire boys born and bred. Brought up within proximity to Rugby Park and whose formative years came at a time when KFC were a top-flight club, with a trophy success, reaching Cup Finals, playing in Europe and almost always finishing in the top six or seven in Scotland. Yet their primary allegiance - in both instances - has been to a non-local club, a club that represents all that is bad about Scottish football, a club steeped in bigotry and with an arrogance that knows no bounds.

Yet from being wee boys onwards that is the club these guys wanted to play for. Until local kids grow up supporting and wanting to play for the local side there is nothing we can do about it. And if kids like Boyd and Naismith growing up in the 1990s didn't want to support Killie when will similar kids ever do?

This is the century-old curse of Scottish football. It's rotten to the core.

parkhead_rfb

if i were you i would be more upset about the way der hun have conducted their business.

they have made silly offers knowing they were well under value (not even wanting to pay up front either but based on appearances) solely as a means to unsettle the player so they can then skeak in and get him on the cheap.

this has been typical of murrays dealings and watch as his monkeys in the media have danced to the organ grinders tune with the naiysmith unsettled headlines.

on the ayrshire note though thats a good one. ayrshire always has been a hun hole and theres a severe amount of hunish attitude at kilmarnock and at times the bitterness from the smaller teams like killie and motherwell is even more extreme than from rangers themselves so lets not try and make killie the noble little club hard done by.

Reluctant Hero

parkhead_rfb

at least celtic pay the price and thats that. he would give the kelly's from our old board a brass neck and believe me thats an achievement.

also celtic suffer when bigger european or epl teams come in for our players, thats football look at maloney and liam "the rat" miller.

on another note one look at kris boyd's forehead tells you he's from ayrshire he's got a dome like timmy from south park.

Rinty

"on another note one look at kris boyd's forehead tells you he's from ayrshire he's got a dome like timmy from south park."

And Glaswegians are what? Purebred? Master Race?

parkhead_rfb

Cymro

To be honest this is what football is like now. Its a business and inevitably almost, the biggest businesses (Rangers, Celtic) will use their power to shaft the smaller ones (Kilmarnock). Clubs in the EFL are all doing it too. Look at how many players are being bought for next to nothing from the Youth Systems of the smaller clubs.

Rangers, unlike Celtic are skint so as opposed to paying top wack for the likes of Scott Brown, Scott McDonald etc they have to dig a bit deeper and go after players who could cost less. For a club like Rangers, if you can utilise the fact that the player you are after is a Blue Nose, and would relish the chance of playing for them then you are going to do it. Whether it's right or not. Thsi is how they got McCulloch from Wigan and this is how they hope to get Naysmith from Killie. Its pure, sad and simple economics and Scottish football unfortunatly.

And truth be told, if the ball was on the other foot and Celtic where looking around for cheaper players they'd do exactly the same.

SLG

I think it's all press hype when they go on about players being desperate to play for Rantic. Scotty Brown was a die hard Hun who wouldn't stop till he signed for them according to Chick Young - then of course signs for Celtic. It's money and nothing more. It's sad that local kids don't support their local team, but I don't think it makes any difference in this case.

I think things have changed on the money front. The OF can soak up any player that's out of contract due to the extra wages, but partly because the other clubs are becoming a bit wiser and partly because of the rising stock of Scots fitba, they are having to pay out more. Hibs got money for O'Connor, Thompson, Brown and Sproule that they would never have got in the past. Hearts held out for a while before selling Hartley for a fair price. A few years ago and there's no way Hearts would have been able to keep Gordon for as long as they have - he too would have been away to Glasgow. We would probably have seen Anderson in Glasgow as well on a cut price deal.

Rangers have been pretty insulting with their offers for Naismith, but it's partly down to the fact that they're have a lot less money than they used to - a good think IMO, and partly down to them knowing Killie are skint.

It remains to be seen, but it looks like Killie will get a decent price for him, so I don't think any one from Killie can complain too much. But he's still got such a long contract that I don't see why they can't rule out any transfer for another season. You run the risk that he gets injured or loses his form, but chances are that his value will only go up. And Rangers are doing badly come January, they'll probably be willing to pay over the odds to get him just to appease their fans (as they did with Thompson).

SLG

http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/football/teams/r/rangers/6910785.stm

Rangers puling out apparently. Just posturing? He's on a three year contract, so don't see how Killie would have a problem with this.

Reluctant Hero

Looks like Naismith's agent is trying to stir things up now.

http://www.football365.com/story/0,17033,8652_2612133,00.html

Cymro

Agents are arses

Reluctant Hero

Hibs and Hearts are looking at Naismith now according to the BBC

http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/f...ll/teams/k/kilmarnock/6915131.stm

The Lithgae Jambo

SLG

No way Hibs will come up with that sort of money. The yams probably could get it together, but I'm not sure the Killie chairman would trust that any of the money would ever turn up and I doubt Naismith would risk going there with such an unpredictable 'management' team.

frank rizzo