Kenny Shiels hawking them around the pubs in Killie on Saturday night according to the Sun
RUGBY PARK boss Kenny Shiels spent last Saturday trawling the boozers of Kilmarnock.
His monumental pub crawl took in 33 bars — and he finished up as sober as a judge.
The Northern Irishman wasn’t looking for pints — he was handing out season-ticket forms, attempting to drum up sales for the club.
Shiels will do whatever he can to help Killie as they strive to cope with the financial fallout of Rangers’ absence from the SPL.
His passion for the club impressed Alan McLeish, director of local engineering firm QTS, who have agreed a six-figure shirt sponsorship deal at Rugby Park.
Shiels said: “We want to embrace the community and bring the club to them and I hope there’s reciprocal positivity.
“There were a lot of people in the pubs who were surprised by my visit. We got a few extra sales from it. People came to me and said they would purchase a season ticket.
“I didn’t have a pint in any of the pubs as I was driving. There was mutual respect more than anything.
“People enjoyed the conversation about Kilmarnock and how much they want us to do well.
“We did it all on Saturday. It was either that or go and watch Hibs against Huddersfield!
“I’ve done it before in Northern Ireland. People have to understand we’re trying to provide entertainment for them.
“There is hatred in football which I’m not happy about. But I always think if you love something you strive to get better and the people around you strive to get better. That’s a great vehicle to have and we’ll continue to do that.
“There’s a great feeling of that about this time because people here love Kilmarnock and we have to reciprocate that love.”
Shiels has even delivered season tickets to fans in Edinburgh.
He added: “We delivered season tickets to people in Edinburgh for some fans who bought them online. Rather than posting them all out, we delivered some to their houses.
“The reaction was positive. It’s not about me, it’s about Kilmarnock.
“I made the decision myself to go to the pubs. The club and the hard workers at Rugby Park inspire me.
“The stalwarts of the club give me inspiration and hopefully I can pass that and encourage new supporters.”
Shiels is relieved the SPL have agreed a bumper TV deal with Sky.
However he admits his joy was tempered by Paul Heffernan’s injury and losing son Dean to Rangers.
He said: “We had two extremes in one day. On Tuesday we had great optimism with the Sky announcement, but that was coupled with the playing side where we lost all our goals in one day — Dean to Rangers and Paul to injury.
“It’s up to me as a manager to make the changes to help us get goals because that’s a massive void to fill.”
Killie chairman Michael Johnston added: “We had to put the signing of new players on hold because of the delay with the TV deal.
“We were at an advanced stage of discussions with Dean’s agent and if it had been a normal course of events he’d have been our player.
“We were going to have to push the boat out to match Dean’s terms, but we were prepared to do that.
“But Rangers stepped in and he’s their player now.”