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COUSINS AND BHOYS

Celtic supporters are the “greatest in the world,” aren’t they? After all, we’re used to hearing them described in such terms. Usually - it must be said - by fellow Celtic fans.

Highbury, Old Trafford, it doesn’t matter. Show them a testimonial and the Bhoys will have the place sold out before the ink on the tickets is dry.

Except, that is, for Adams Park. Where?, I hear you ask. Well, Adams Park is the home of Wycombe Wanderers where Martin O’Neill started out on his managerial career.

O’Neill is still a revered figure in Buckinghamshire, having taken over when the Chairboys lay 10th in the Conference. By the time he departed for his short-lived stint at Norwich five years later, Wycombe were 6th in Division Two - a remarkable achievement.

One of his early signings for Wycombe, defender Jason Cousins, is owed a testimonial and O’Neill was happy to help out. Normally, this website frowns upon teams taking on extra games while moaning about having to play too many matches but there are always exceptions.

Cousins is one of them. He’s no big-name superstar but simply a hard-working pro who will turn 32 this month. He’s been released by Wycombe and is currently playing non-league football. In his case a game against Celtic doesn’t represent one last big payday but very probably his ONLY big payday.

The match is scheduled for next Tuesday and even though O’Neill will be missing players through international duty, he’s promised to bring his strongest line-up to Adams Park. That would include big names like Larsson and Lennon plus ex-Wycombe favourite Steve Guppy.

Thus far all well and good, you might think. But here’s the rub. Seven days before the game, only 1,500 tickets had been sold. Police have made the match an all-ticket affair and unless there’s at least 3,500 there, Cousins faces making a loss. The match may even have to be cancelled.

Wycombe play before an average gate of 6,000 so the response so far isn’t too bad for a player who’s turned out for the club over 300 times. But where are the “greatest fans in the world?”

Could it be that they can’t see beyond Sunday’s Old Firm game? Will they be too knackered after travelling back from a meaningless match in Lithuania?

Or could it be that they don’t give a toss? That they’re happy to turn up in their thousands when Thierry Henry or David Beckham are strutting their stuff for the opposition? Less so when ex-Ranger Chris Vinnicombe and former Dunfermline player Craig Faulconbridge are among their opponents better-known players?

Or is it that London and Manchester are party places for party animals while High Wycombe is more noted for its furniture and as the location of the BBC’s “Chucklevision?”

Who knows? Maybe it’s because someone has told them that the local council has a Rangers page on its website? Forgetting to add that these Rangers are the kind who work in parks. Parks, I should add, where there are no bears of any description either.

I’m not stupid enough to suggest that the trains south should be packed with Celtic fans. But High Wycombe is within easy reach of London. And the pubs of the capital are thronged every time Celtic appear on TV.

If you’re a Celtic fan - or a fan of any club for that matter - living in that area and you’ve got a bit of spare time and cash on Tuesday October 8th, why not give an unsung hero a deserved final bow on a stage he graced for over a decade. Phone this number for tickets: 01494 441118.

CRISIS KILLIE?

Half the board have resigned, their team has just been knocked out of the League Cup by a 2nd Division team and they’ve been humped 5-0 at Parkhead. It would be true to say that Kilmarnock supporters have seen better weeks.

The Ayrshire club (and yes, it is difficult to be impartial here) have been one of the success stories of Scottish football. In the past dozen years they’ve risen from the foot of the lowest division to not only reclaim a place in the top flight, nor even merely consolidate their position but to emerge as consistent challengers in the top half of the table.

The Scottish Cup was won for the first time in nearly 70 years. After an absence of close to 40 years, they reached the League Cup Final. And after almost 30 years of exile from Europe, Killie have played four times in continental competition since 1997.

There isn’t another provincial side in the land that can claim the same.

And they had good reason to be confident at the start of this term. Unlike most of his rivals, new boss Jim Jefferies was actually able to strengthen his squad.

It’s too soon to be shouting doom and gloom but the events of recent days must be a cause for concern.

Take the League Cup. For the eighth time in ten seasons, Killie were eliminated by a lower division side. In two hours at home to Airdrie they couldn’t score one solitary goal. Four days later, Stenhousemuir managed to score four in 90 minutes against the same opposition! The only consolation Killie fans can take is that at least this time they weren’t beaten by Scottish football’s other AUFC!

And the Celtic match! Even this grizzled and ancient hack was still thrashing about in the womb the last time Killie won at Parkhead. But while only the lunatically over-optimistic expect to see their team pick up full points there, everyone has the right to see a competition.

What Kilmarnock fans witnessed at Celtic was capitulation. Jefferies might trot out the old cliche about boardroom events not affecting performances on the pitch but no one will believe him. And once again, Kilmarnock demonstrated that without Freddie Dindeleux their defence is non-existent.

No one is a greater admirer of the Frenchman than your correspondent (in my all-time Killie XI he would share central defence with Jackie McGrory) but it’s not healthy to rely so much on one player.

Still, Kilmarnock have the players to finish in or close to a European spot again this season. Whether the off-field explosions will allow them to do so is another question. Boardroom splits are never amicable.

Bill Costley and two allies have walked away from Rugby Park after disagreements with Chief Executive David Heath. Heath was backed by the club’s biggest shareholder Jamie Moffatt.

It’s not necessary to go into the details here. In any case it would take far too much time and space. The upshot of it is that Costley’s shares are up for grabs.

The rumour mill is working overtime connecting every Ayrshireman with a few bob in his pocket with Kilmarnock. Tom Hunter’s going to dive in say some, David Murray’s jacked it in at Ibrox, observe others. We’ll see. Bill Costley put a lot of cash into Kilmarnock and it’s going to take a substantial bid to buy him out.

But the damage to the image of Kilmarnock as a friendly, family-oriented, progressive club has taken a battering. An apparent cock-up over a half-time draw in a pre-season match led to the club asking the police to make some enquiries into allegations of missing money.

Of course a police inquiry at a football club where the Chairman, Sir John Orr, is a former Chief Constable of the Strathclyde force is always going to be a news story.

To see it splashed all over the front page of the Scottish edition of The Sun must have been galling to a club that until recently prided itself on its PR savvy.

The upshot of it all is that a promising start is turning into an uncertain future.