Football Season Guide

Kilmarnock survived in the Scottish Premiership by the absolute skin of their teeth, having to come through a playoff against Falkirk, eventually winning 4-1 over two legs having lost the first game. It was the culmination of a dismal season for the Ayrshire side who saw manager Gary Locke leave midway through and was replaced by Lee Clark who struggled to find his way, taking 7 games to find a victory and then only managing another one after that. They might point to injuries to key players throughout the season but in truth they were extremely poor and are lucky to still be in the Premiership. There has been a mass exodus over the summer of many of their first team players including Mark O'Hara, Tope Obadeyi, Kallum Higginbotham, captain Mark Connolly, Lee Ashcroft, and Craig Slater, so it doesn't look like things are going to get any easier for them this year. Manager Lee Clark has used his English connections to scour the lower leagues down south to bring in fresh blood but so far has mostly only managed to bring in a host of youngsters and it remains to be seen if they'll have what it takes to handle a relegation battle. Callum McFadzean and Souleymane Coulibaly are two who seem to offer some experience but they'll have big shoes to fill and this season will be a true test of whether the fairly inexperienced Clark has what it takes to make it as a manager. He'll surely hope to make a few more signings before the start of the season as they have struggled against lower league opposition in the early stages of the League Cup.