Kilmarnock midfielder Gary Dicker has rebuffed suggestions that there is unrest in the Rugby Park dressing room following the difficult start to the campaign by Angelo Alessio’s side.
It has been a sobering opening month for the Italian with Kilmarnock suffering an embarrassing Europa league exit at the hands of Welsh minnows Connah’s Quay Nomads while there have been whispers of disharmony among the Killie squad.
Dicker, however, has insisted that it is too early to judge the Rugby Park side just yet and maintained that there is unison at the club as they seek to maintain the success they enjoyed in recent seasons under Steve Clarke.
“It’s quiet with the Old Firm with not much to write about so people probably have a go at us,” said the Irishman. “Listen, I’d be the first to tell you and people would find out if stuff had gone on, but there’s no one at the club, players or staff coming out and telling stories.
“There’s nothing in it – we are all on the same page. We have a really good dressing room, everyone knows it, and we are all in it together. There’s no hiding place in the dressing room or on the pitch. We are all looking forward to the game this weekend.
“A defeat like that can put you under pressure. I remember we lost on penalties to St Mirren last year and it was carnage. The fans were going mad.
“It’s the industry we’re in now. Managers and players don’t get time anywhere any more.
“People can jump the gun after a couple of games.
“It’s always going to be hard for a new manager coming in and he’s not had a lot of time with the boys. We still need to get players in as quite a few left, so there are probably a million things going on. It’s gone crazy, but that can happen in one game. I think he’ll learn from it, like we all have.
“You’ve got to enjoy the good times, whether it’s players, staff or anyone at the club, but you also need to keep a level head when things go badly. We are out of Europe but there are worse things happening in life than losing a football match. We are devastated but you’ve got to move on and not feel sorry for yourselves.”
Dicker lunched with former team-mate Jordan Jones last week but has warned the new Rangers player not to expect any quarter to be given when the teams meet on Sunday at Rugby Park.
Jones signed a pre-contract with the Ibrox side back in January before teaming up with Steven Gerrard’s side in June. He netted the winner for Kilmarnock just weeks after his Rangers deal was made public but he can be assured of a particular welcome when he returns to his old ground.
“I was out for lunch with him the other day but I already told him I won’t be so nice to him on Sunday!” said the midfielder.
“Fair play to Jordan. Nobody wanted him when he came up here and in the first six months I wanted to kill him – he was a disaster!
“He was just an angry teenager. He didn’t want to listen but it was his first time away from home and his family. He’d come out of academy football and in to the first team and could have easily fell away. But eventually the switch flicked and he was brilliant for the club. He got his head down and fully deserved his move. I hope he does well, apart from Sunday.”
Why are you making commenting on The Herald only available to subscribers?
It should have been a safe space for informed debate, somewhere for readers to discuss issues around the biggest stories of the day, but all too often the below the line comments on most websites have become bogged down by off-topic discussions and abuse.
heraldscotland.com is tackling this problem by allowing only subscribers to comment.
We are doing this to improve the experience for our loyal readers and we believe it will reduce the ability of trolls and troublemakers, who occasionally find their way onto our site, to abuse our journalists and readers. We also hope it will help the comments section fulfil its promise as a part of Scotland's conversation with itself.
We are lucky at The Herald. We are read by an informed, educated readership who can add their knowledge and insights to our stories.
That is invaluable.
We are making the subscriber-only change to support our valued readers, who tell us they don't want the site cluttered up with irrelevant comments, untruths and abuse.
In the past, the journalist’s job was to collect and distribute information to the audience. Technology means that readers can shape a discussion. We look forward to hearing from you on heraldscotland.com
Comments & Moderation
Readers’ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers’ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the ‘report this post’ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules here