Kilmarnock: Guide to 2015-16 season
- By Adam Higgins
- Jul 26, 2015
- 3 min read
A profile of Kilmarnock FC as part of a comprehensive guide to the 12 top-flight teams ahead of the 2015-16 Scottish Premiership season.
After flirting in the top half of the table in the early months of last season, Kilmarnock will be disappointed to have ended up battling to avoid relegation to the Scottish Championship again.
The Ayrshire club were only assured of safety with victory on the final day of 2013-14 but enjoyed an excellent start to the following campaign as an impressive set of results saw them sitting joint-second in the top-flight in October.
However, 10 defeats in 13 league games contributed to Allan Johnston stepping aside in February and, although Gary Locke - the former Hearts manager who initially took over on a caretaker basis - steadied the ship somewhat, a wretched run of seven straight defeats saw Killie looking nervously over their shoulder during the post-split run-in.
Despite avoiding the relegation play-off place by five points, a 10th-placed finish can barely warrant success for a club who have not finished in the top-flight's top six since 2010-11.
As Locke's first full season approaches, a new-look strikeforce has been recruited, the coaching staff has had a shake-up and some dead wood has been removed as he seeks to propel the Rugby Park outfit above the cluster of evenly-matched teams who they will compete against once more to be in the upper half of the table come the annual April split.
LADBROKES SCOTTISH PREMIERSHIP TEAMS FOR THIS SEASON:
Aberdeen Celtic Dundee Dundee United Hamilton Academical Heart of Midlothian Inverness Caledonian Thistle KILMARNOCK Motherwell Partick Thistle Ross County St Johnstone
KILMARNOCK:
Resigned: Allan Johnson, 41, was Killie boss for 18 months and won 20 of his 66 games in charge before being replaced by Locke (Picture from Sky Sports)
Manager: Gary Locke Assistant Manager: Peter Leven Captain: Mark Connolly (Defender) Chairman: Jim Mann Star Player: Josh Magennis (Forward) 2014-15 player of the season: Josh Magennis (Forward)
Two of a kind: Rugby Park is one of only two Scottish Premiership grounds which have an artificial surface, along with Hamilton's New Douglas Park (Picture from Sky Sports)
Stadium: Rugby Park Capacity: 18,128 2014-15 Average Attendance: 4,530 This is the third largest stadium currently in the Scottish Premiership Last season's league finish: 10th (Won 11, Drawn 8, Lost 19 - 41 points) Last season's goals for/against: 44/59
New skipper: The 23-year-old centre-back takes over the armband from the departed Manuel Pascali (Picture from Sky Sports)
Discipline record in league (2014-15): 81 yellow cards, 3 red cards Last season's disciplinarian (2014-15): Manuel Pascali (8 yellows, 1 red)
First three fixtures (2015-16): Saturday 1 August v Dundee (H), Sunday 9 August v Aberdeen (A), Wednesday 12 August v Celtic (H)
Early visit: Killie welcome the champions to Rugby Park on matchday three for a televised midweek game (Picture from Sky Sports)
Other key fixtures (2015-16): 15 August v Partick Thistle (A), 26 September v Hamilton (H), 3 October v Hearts (A), 21 November v Celtic (A), 26 December v Hamilton (A), 30 December v Ross County (A), 30 January v Hamilton (H), 20 February v Dundee (H), 2 March v Ross County (H), 19 March v Celtic (H), 2 April v Partick Thistle (A)
Live TV games (confirmed): 12 August v Celtic (H), KO 7:45pm, BT Sport 1
Biggest league win of last season: 16 May 2015 - 4-1 win v Partick Thistle (A) Biggest league defeat of last season: 25 April 2014 - 4-1 defeat v St Mirren (A)
Best moment (2014-15): Reaching as high as third place with impressive early season form Worst moment (2014-15): Losing eight of their last nine league games to cling onto safety
Finding his feet: The ex-Bolton striker, 25, struck nine times in his debut season but no Killie player got into double figures for goals or assists (Picture from Sky Sports)
Top league goalscorer (2014-15): Temitope Obadeyi - 9 goals Top overall goalscorer (2014-15): Temitope Obadeyi - 9 goals
Most league assists (2014-15): Alexei Eremenko - 4 assists Most league appearances last season: Craig Samson (35 starts)
Gone: The 32-year-old Finland forward ended his second Rugby Park spell after failing to agree fresh terms with Gary Locke (Picture from Sky Sports)
Best signing (summer 2015): Kallum Higginbotham (from Partick Thistle, free transfer) Key player for 2015-16: Mark Connolly Record signing: Paul Wright (£340,000 buy from St Johnstone in March 1995)
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