Winning one cup with one club and having the chance to lift another with a new club can be something worthwhile to look back on. Kilmarnock manager Jim Jefferies has already done the first part, leading Hearts, the club he supported as a boy, to Scottish Cup final glory at Celtic Park in 1998 when Hampden was being redeveloped. However, he believes the sense of achievement he would feel if his side win the CIS Insurance Cup on Sunday would top even that day. The Killie squad that walks onto the Hampden turf on Sunday will be made up of players who have arrived at the club for nothing. And for that reason the manager knows beating John Collins' Hibs teamwould be a more remarkable feat than any cup feats he achieved at Hearts.
Jeffries said: "If we win the League Cup then people will try to compare it with when I won the Scottish Cup at Hearts, but I have told them that I will never be able to do that. I supported Hearts as a boy, played for them for a long time and then managed them which made it very special. However, I think you can separate the circumstances rather than the glory side of things. The achievements are totally different, because although Hearts were struggling and that's why I got the job, in the subsequent two years we got to cup finals and earned some good positions in the league. That gave the club a little bit of money to go and get players such as Colin Cameron, Neil McCann and David Weir. But we still didn't pay a lot of money and the team who played in the final in 1998 against Rangers only cost £750,000, which is peanuts compared to what other clubs were spending in those days. This is totally different though, as at Kilmarnock I have had to cut the wage bill and even in getting into the top six for the last couple of seasons, we haven't been able to generate that much money. Not one penny has been spent on the players who will make up the squad on Sunday, from those who take to the park to the substitutes."
Kilmarnock have beaten Queen of the South, Livingston, Motherwell and Falkirk on their way to the final. Jefferies will give Hibs the respect they command - Hibs are just ahead of Kilmarnock in the SPL - but is eager to bask in more cup glory. Jefferies went on: "I will always look back on a fantastic day for Hearts when we won the cup, but the bottom line is that this has been done under different circumstances and from a sense of achievement this could be the best if we manage to pull if off. Sometimes we have to pinch ourselves given what we have done, not just given the financial side of things, but because we are trying to be successful under the philosophy of playing entertaining football." | Editor
Ger Harley (ger@scottishfitba net)
Admin Team (admin@scottishfitba net)
This is ScottishFitba Net |
