It'll take a bit of time to post it all up but I hope to complete it by August 1st 2019, 25 years to the day since publication. I hope it's of interest not just to the younger generation of Kilmarnock supporters who have never seen the original but to older fans too and - who knows - perhaps even to fans of other clubs who have an interest in football history.
I'm not going to take the blame for grammatical errors, spelling mistakes etc as I never saw the final proofs before going to print. Factual errors however (and sadly there are some) are my responsibility and mine alone. Where further information has come to light during the subsequent years I shall try to point this out and correct my previous errors along the way.
Over the course of the past quarter of a century it is inevitable that many of the supporters who cheered Killie on then are no longer with us now and I want to take this opportunity to acknowledge their role in helping the book see the light of day and to express my appreciation of their efforts.
Inevitably I will have missed out some who should be included here and I offer my apologies in advance for so doing.
From the 'Acknowledgments' page of the original book there are three I know of for certain who aren't around to read the online version. Gordon Allison who opened up a huge treasure trove of Killie memorabilia for me and who (along with the very much still living John Livingston and Richard Cairns) gave me invaluable assistance. Walter McCrae, trainer, manager and later general manager, who gave me free rein when it came to digging out old documents and photographs and who - a quarter of a century before that, at the time of the club's centenary when he was manager, - gave a guided tour of the ground and a boxful of old programmes and pennants to three cheeky kids (of whom I was one) who had turned up out of the blue demanding to see him. Tommy Burns who played such a pivotal role in the transformation of Kilmarnock from a club that had sank to the lowest level of Scottish league football to one that could hold its own with the best for the first time in over two decades.
I also want to take a little time out to mention some of those I knew personally who will never walk through the Rugby Park turnstiles ever again. Regrettably there may be more here too than I would care to mention and I ask pardon from anyone close to any old friend I have omitted. I would like to express my gratitude for the days spent on the terraces together.
Drew Duncan - Big Goo, generous and gentle, with a heart as large as his frame.
Bernie McCartney - Cairt, Killie through and through. Who would cheer up everyone on the bus, no matter how long the journey or how bad the defeat.
Iain Thomson - a man who would do anything for the club he loved. It was a privilege to have been able to call him my friend.
Robert Kirk - dairyman and Dundonald historian who always gave one particular milkboy plenty of time off to get to away games
William Ross - my Uncle who would take me to matches when my father was working and I was too young to go by myself
David Ross - my father, a Killie fan from the 1920s to the 21st century. The last photo of him ever taken was at Rugby Park
Stuart Ross - my brother, taken far too soon but wearing a Killie top to the very end.
While I want to pay proper tribute I don't want this to become a maudlin sojourn through the past, rather a celebration of those first 125 years. To kick us off though we have to open with a contribution from the late, great Tommy Burns.
Remember to click on all images to enlarge.
Next From Hurlford to Hampden: 1884-1899
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