Remembering Ally
This time we look back at a player many will remember from the 90’s.
Ally Mitchell
Kilmarnock F.C. Legend
Born – 1968 Kircaldy
He started playing with his local junior side Ballingry Rovers after playing 2 seasons then was snatched up by East Fife . Ally spent three seasons at the club playing 87 times contributing a respectable 23 goals from midfield . He spent 3 seasons (88-91)at the Fifers before attracting interest from the mighty Ayrshire Killie in the summer of 1991.
Kilmarnock signed Mitchell in July 91 . Paying 100,000£ to East Fife for his services .
Ally would be joining a team with future club legends Ray Montgomerie , Gus McPherson and Tommy Burns within the squad . Ally made his first appearance for the Killie boys against Hamilton at Rugby Park in August 1991. This would be the first of a fantastic career at the club .
Scored his first goal for Kilmarnock away at Stirling Albion in October 1991 . Mitchell became a fan favourite at the club due to his hard work and bustling performances. He was given the nickname “Bully” by the Kilmarnock faithful .
At only five foot seven he gave what he got and more .
A versatile guy he played in a few positions for Kilmarnock over the years . Predominantly a central midfielder or wide player . Ally contributed to Kilmarnock F.C. promotion to Premier League in 92/93 finishing behind Raith Rovers . Joined in good company with charismatic Tommy Burns and Shaun Mcskimming in midfield with him .
Ally then played in premier league for next 11 years with Kilmarnock , amassing an exceptional 363 appearances for the club. In that time scoring 45 goals and creating many more for his teammates .
Myself having only been born in 1993 and never having seen us been out of the Premier league in my lifetime I can briefly remember an ageing Ally as I started attending games not long after our Scottish Cup success which he was part of .
My dad and papa think most Kilmarnock supporters took well to Ally in his decade and a bit at the club and enjoyed watching him play for us . A player when researching this I didn’t realise had played so many times with the club. A Fantastic servant .
Bully’s arguably most important goal of the 45 he scored in the stripes came at Ibrox on May 2nd 1998 . Scoring in what was a very telling game as it would be a winner at Ibrox 1-0 for Killie . Which stopped Rangers clinching ten in a row . Also attempting to achieve Kilmarnock a European place for the following season .
Ally spoke about this Goal saying :
“I still talk to people who tell me they can remember exactly where they were and what they were doing when I scored. You don’t realise how many people are affected by something like that. Celtic drew at Dunfermline the next day so our win effectively cost Rangers 10 in a row, which makes it easily the most important goal I’ve ever scored. The whole 10-in-a-row thing tended to overshadow the fact that we were also going for a place in Europe and we got that result for Kilmarnock Football Club, not Celtic or Rangers”
A dedicated professional only interested in one team his own .
In November 1999 Mitchell was given a testimonial match against Everton for a decades service at Kilmarnock .
In his time at Kilmarnock he played 13 times in Europe against Kaiserslautern , Nice etc and was part of the last team to win now defunct Ayrshire Cup against the great unwashed .
Super Ally would call a halt to his career at our beloved club in 2003 under the guidance of Jim Jeffries at the time . Making a final appearance against Dundee Utd from bench .
He would go on to play with St Mirren a dozen times in an attempt to get game time before returning and finished his career at East Fife where it all began for Bully .
After retiring he had a brief stint at managing
Lochore Welfare a local junior club in Fife . This spell lasted a year before parting ways in 2008 .
A Kilmarnock Legend a successful and honest player . Who travelled through some of the best moments of recent past with our club .
A tribute to him from limited information I know and found out about him .
We’ve got …Ally Ally Ally …
Confidemus93 