Derek McInnes reckons Kilmarnock are in for a fan-tastic season if they can tap into the club’s incredible support.
Over 10,000 Killie punters packed into Rugby Park on the historic night they defeated Arbroath to win promotion back to the Premiership.
And with social media groups and pages flooded with requests to buy spare tickets, it’s clear that – with the right amount of success on the park – a big following can flock through the gates.
McInnes is hoping to reveal the true potential by getting Killie back to their best as they prepare to square off against Dundee United today with the Championship winners' flag to be unfurled.
The manager told the Kilmarnock Standard: “We are all excited for the Dundee United game. You’ve got to look forward to the start of the season.
“I know we’ve had the League Cup but I don’t think that really grabbed any club’s fans in terms of real interest. It’s all about the Premiership starting and at this stage last season, we’d have done anything to be here today.
“We’ve got the reward of last season’s work, the board got their reward for being strong with the budget to give myself and Tommy [Wright] the best chance to build our squads.
“When you go into that first game of the season there’s got to be that anticipation, excitement, passion and enthusiasm for it; that’s what we’re here for.
“I want as many Kilmarnock fans as possible in here for Saturday, the fans are so important.
“What we did have last season was knowing if we tapped into our support it would be crucial because no one carried our level of support.
“There is no doubt that the fans played a huge part in our success and I want that connection between the fans and team to be strong.
“I want us to try and be successful together and hopefully we can enjoy the season. I want Killie fans to wake up on a Saturday morning and be excited to come and see the team.
“I want to have a team on the park that they can be proud of, even if a result doesn’t go our way I want us to always have a competitive side to us.
“We know that we have got work to do to get that trust fully, but we want everyone to buy into it and help us along the way.
“We are certainly going to try and enjoy it. A season in the Championship was no good for anyone, but it shows you what can happen if you don’t do things right.
“We won’t get everything right in one transfer window. I think it’s unrealistic to think that.”
A break in November for the World Cup will impact the season – and McInnes reckons it gives him the chance to focus on three parts of the campaign, including the post-split fixtures.
He said: “Over the course of the season we’re looking for improvements as we go along. We will split the season into different stages.
“We will try and get to that World Cup break with a certain amount of points, and we will try to break the season into three parts and attempt to accumulate as many points as we can from the start.
“It’s particularly important for a newly-promoted team to get that first win as quickly as possible and try to get off to a good start.
“It’s a tricky start we have, but you have to play everyone, so it doesn’t matter who we play. We have to believe that we’re good enough to pick up points.”
McInnes knows how good it feels to return a team to the top flight after doing it with St Johnstone back in 2009. He admits it makes things feel “fresh and exciting” around the place.
He said: “I was in the Championship with St Johnstone and we managed to be successful. We broke a club unbeaten record which still stands.
“I remember how good that felt with St Johnstone being out of the top flight for a number of years.
“Last season it felt different during it, because there was more pressure to get Killie back up.
“I remember coming up with St Johnstone we had that confidence of being a winning team and picking up points most weeks. When you go up a level, you have to deal with losing more. But it certainly feels similar to then. It’s fresh and exciting.”
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