Welcome to an exciting, new era of coverage for the club you love, Kilmarnock FC.
I’m delighted to announce the launch of the Killie Chronicle just in time for the start of the 2024/25 season. This is your chance to sign up for the best reporting you can find on the mighty Killie.
It’s been a burning ambition of mine to cover the club on a regular and extensive basis so I’m delighted to be leading the site. The success of The Rugby Road Gates newsletter has brought about this new opportunity to provide unique, dedicated coverage of Ayrshire’s premier football club.
Fans up and down the country who don’t support either Celtic or Rangers are long overdue proper interest being taken in their team. There will be no token gesture coverage at The Killie Chronicle – we’re fully invested. As a fan, I’ve been frustrated myself at times. You see either half of the Old Firm everywhere on social media, TV and when listening to the radio. If it’s not Brendan Rodgers this or Philippe Clement that, then sadly, it will be way down the list of importance.
Of course, there is no denying that stories relating to the Old Firm gain the most views, deliver the most engagement and also dominate column inches in newspapers. There is no dislike towards the ‘smaller clubs’, that’s the furthest thing from the truth. The long and short of it is that the industry prioritises two teams. It's the lay of the land. And that’s where we come in.
My Rugby Road Gates weekly newsletter started a little shy of 10 months ago, with no idea of how well it would be received and was little more than an experiment as The Herald tried to offer greater coverage to other teams in Scotland. Fast-forward to today, and it has sign-ups well into four figures.
Over the course of the numerous weeks I’ve composed it, I like to think I’ve shown the best interests of Killie are very much in my thoughts. Fresh content has frequently been provided, from opinion to statistical pieces, exclusive interviews to travel guides – we’ve covered a lot of ground since its inception. The vast majority of feedback provided by readers has been hugely positive, and that’s from just one article each week.
The idea of the Killie Chronicle has been bubbling away under the surface for a while now given my obvious affinity for the club. With such a strong and supportive backing of the current format, we feel this is exactly the right time to take our Kilmarnock coverage to the next level. So, let’s take you through the details of precisely what that looks like with a few questions & answers.
What is Substack?
It’s a platform designed to allow journalists a digital space to publish content and establish a subscription-based audience.
How does it work?
By signing up to the Killie Chronicle with an email, you will receive one free article per week. To unlock all our content, a monthly subscription of £3.99 will give full access.
This will be accessible in two ways. Firstly via your emails, with content sent directly there. It will also be made available via the Killie Chronicle’s page on the Substack app & website if you prefer.
Why are we doing this?
With cuts across the media industry and sports news deserts forming, it’s the right time to ramp things up around this historic club. The number of sign-ups to our newsletter has shown there is a demand for dedicated, in-depth Kilmarnock coverage, and we’re now moving to provide that.
In line with the considerable increase in the output of high-quality material, we feel this merits moving to a paid-for subscription model. Good journalism comes at a cost and we hope you agree that less than a pound a week is a price worth paying to back us in our quest to bring Killie coverage into the 21st century.
What sort of content will be provided & how often?
We’ll have a minimum of five pieces per week for you to enjoy. This can be broken down into:
- Weekly opinion piece or exclusive interview
- Tactical analysis by award-winning journalist Gaby McKay
- Manager and player pre-match press conference full Q&A
- Instant reaction to every match
- Manager and player post-match full Q&A
This is just the basic plan, and there is plenty of scope for additional content, such as videos & podcasts. Of course, as has always been the case, I will be open to ideas and willing to listen to supporters and what they want to see.
How much does it cost?
Full access to the Killie Chronicle will cost £3.99 per month but all content will be free-to-view until the end of the first week of launch.
The Killie Chronicle will officially launch just in time for the first leg of the Europa League second-round qualifier against Cercle Brugge. I will be in the press box for the game before joining my fellow 2,500 Killie fans in the away end at the Jan Breydel Stadium next week while enjoying a few days off.
What’s the first piece I hear you ask? First up, we’ve got an in-depth analysis of the Belgians, before tomorrow morning we have a breakfast treat for you - an exclusive sit-down with the gaffer, Derek McInnes. Get ready for that to drop at 6am.
I hope you will join us on this journey and support what we do.
Thanks for your support,
Ewan Paton
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