New era for Jags arrives

Oct 15 2008 by Paul Thomson, East Kilbride News

A NEW ERA beckons at East Kilbride Thistle this week after a consortium backed by property tycoon James Kean joined the Thistle board – with the aim of establishing the Jags as a professional football team.

The biggest announcement in the history of the junior club came on Sunday at a charity event in the Thistle Social Club where it was confirmed that James Kean’s brother Paul would be coming onto the board, as well as sports journalist and football coach Iain King.

King was hosting the event for his Jackton Boys Club when he announced he and Paul Kean would be coming into EK Thistle to not only inject cash into the club, but to inject a fresh impetus.

And now a site in Langlands has been earmarked as the new home of East Kilbride Thistle.

In an exclusive interview with the News new board member Iain King explained how he dreams of taking East Kilbride Thistle into the professional ranks.

King, who grew up in the Murray, said: “There is a consortium coming into EK Thistle, financed by James Kean and Kean Construction with various other investors behind it. The public face of it will be myself and Paul Kean.

"The aim that everyone has is a professional team in East Kilbride and to help East Kilbride Thistle build that team.

“The reason we are in this is because both James, Paul and myself have all been involved in football in EK for years. I played for EKYC from nine to 18, James and Paul both played for Claremont, James played for EK Thistle and I played for Thorniewood against Thistle.

“We are all East Kilbride people and everyone sat down one night when we saw what was happening with Gretna and we thought East Kilbride should have a pro team ready to go in there.”

And King went on to explain the plans for a new stadium.

He added: “James is at a stage in his life where he wants to have fun with something and this is it – and I'm the same.

"The big plan is to put a stadium on the outskirts of East Kilbride. There's three different sites we've looked at, but there's one near Langlands and the idea is to put a stadium there in the future that could hold 6000 to 10,000 people. At first though, we'd have one stand for about 1500.

“The reason we want to go there is because the infrastructure is there, the space is there for car parking and there's no traffic impact on the town.”

After last week announcing plans for a redevelopment of the Showpark, King explained that Thistle chairman John Drummond and club secretary Darren Waugh were always open to new ideas.

He said: “John tried unbelievably hard to make things happen at the Showpark. He's put eight years of hard work into the club, but he always had the vision to be speaking to other people if the plans didn't come to fruition.

“Both John and Darren have had the intelligence to look at another avenue, another option to take the club upwards and in a new direction.

“It's hard at junior level to keep the finances coming into the club and keep driving them on without new investment. And John's been doing it out of his own pocket for years now and I think he realises himself that there's a fresh impetus needed to take things on to a new level and we can provide that.

“They've spoken to us and they're really enthusiastic about Paul and I coming onto the board and we are going to work together.

“There's also provision for the Cattle Society in the Langlands plans and we are talking to them.”

King and Paul Kean’s roles will be defined later this week, but when they get down to business the club will be run as a charitable trust rather than a profit-making entity.

With the new parties insisting they are on board for the good of the club and the town, King also explained that the plans were in place to avoid a Gretna situation, after they ceased to exist.

King said: “It's going to be a trust where money will be coming in from the development around the stadium and into the trust. The trust will run so there's longevity for the club and so we don't have a Brookes Mileson at Gretna situation where if something goes wrong with the guy at the head of the club, the whole club goes bust.

“So, when the people that started the trust have gone, the club and the stadium will still be here.”

The plans outlined and the sheer scale of the task facing the consortium are huge, but King is confident the dream will become a reality.

He enthused: “I'm 100 per cent certain we can have a pro team here. I think we could have 1500 to 2000 fans there right from the off if we do things the right way.

“If you look at the gates in the Third Division at the moment, you've got clubs getting 250 or 300 people at their games. You can't tell me that if EK had a pro team we couldn't get five times that, because I think we could.

“East Kilbride is really a city now, it's a footballing hotbed and we should have a professional team here. If somewhere like Annan Athletic can have a professional team, why can't East Kilbride?”

Paul Kean said he was delighted to be part of this new venture.

He added: “I’ve been involved in football in East Kilbride all my life and, like everyone else on the consortium, the dream has always been to try and make a pro club happen.

“I played for Claremont and when I finished my pro career I managed EK Burgh all through the ages and I loved every minute.

“Now, because my business life has been a success, we’ve got the chance to try and help EK Thistle and take them onto a new level.

“In common with all the guys on the consortium, it’s at a time in our lives when we want to make a difference to football in our home town and have some fun doing it.”