Gary Dicker has apologised to Kilmarnock fans ahead of his Rugby Park exit – and has vowed they will bounce back to the Premiership.
The club’s soon-to-be former captain was ruled out of the Premiership play-off final second leg against Dundee and was forced to watch on as Killie were relegated to the Championship after 28 years as a top-flight outfit.
A 4-2 aggregate defeat left the Ayrshire side on their knees as 500 fans watched the club slip into the second tier of Scottish Football. Dicker admits he’s devastated and said Monday was the “worst day of his career”.
Yesterday, the ramifications of relegations started to become clear with 10 players released by manager Tommy Wright.
The midfielder said: “It’s hurting, I am just gutted to be honest with you. There’s not a lot you can say, we haven’t been good enough all season.
“You always get what you deserve in football, we will take that as players and I will take that as captain.
“We will get the punches and the kicks thrown at us now, but I am just gutted for everyone involved in the club.
“There’s a million reasons why we got here, there’s never one reason you’re down at the bottom, it’s collective, we haven’t been good enough.
“It’s upsetting how we’ve gone down, it was with a whimper to be honest with you. The game was near enough dead after 15 minutes. I am not pointing fingers at anyone, there won’t be one player in that dressing room who hasn’t made a mistake this season.
“I am gutted for everyone involved in the club, great people work here.
“The board are good people who care about the club, I am devastated.”
The 34-year-old added: “There wasn’t a lack of trying, people throw that out a bit.
“We just haven’t been good enough, we didn’t make the right decisions when we needed to.
“We didn’t win enough games. If we as players aren’t looking at ourselves in the mirror then we’ve no chance.
“We will accept the criticism, we need to as it’s on us as a group of players.”
A group of around 100 supporters gathered after the match to confront players after the club’s relegation.
And Dicker understands how frustrated fans will be as they face up to a Championship campaign.
He said: “The fans are hurting, they’re upset. It’s the fans who put the money in. It’s been hard for them over the last year, but they’ve kept money in the club with season tickets.
“As a group of players we can only apologise to everyone involved in the club, from the board to the fans, to Gal, to Yeti, to Gregg, to the media boys, everyone.
“It’s going to put everyone under a lot of pressure especially after what’s gone on in the world. The fans have been brilliant, as is the community, so the players have to try and use that as motivation for next year.
“It’s going to be a hard one to get over, it’s the worst day of my career.”
Dicker added: “Words are cheap, there’s only so much that can be said. But Killie will be back, that’s for sure.
“The club have to learn from it, it’s not a nice way to learn but they have to. It’s a sore one, it’s still raw.
“All we can do is apologise to those who mean the most to this club.”
Don't miss the latest Ayrshire headlines – sign up to our free daily newsletter here
