Source: Team_Talk
Cash does not equal success - Johnston
Michael Johnston says Kilmarnock are far from the lowest-paying club in the SPL despite Mixu Paatelainen having 25% slashed from his wage bill.[LNB] The 43-year-old former Finland international was announced as the new manager of the Ayrshire club at Rugby Park on Wednesday and will begin refurbishing a squad that has battled against relegation the last two seasons and has only 17 signed players.[LNB]Killie chairman Johnston, though, tried to put the spending cuts into perspective as he looked forward to Paatelainen's tenure.[LNB]He said: "It's no secret that we spent just over £2million on the player budget last season and we will knock off 25%.[LNB]"We had to honour contracts but there are players away and the new players that come in will be at a lower level.[LNB]"But we are not alone in that.[LNB]"All of the SPL clubs are reducing squad sizes and their player wage bills and we won't have the lowest player wage bill in the SPL by any manner of means.[LNB]"There will probably be three or four clubs with lower wage bills than us."[LNB]Johnston said that spending money does not guarantee success.[LNB]He said: "The most successful time I've had as chairman was when our wage bill was at its lowest.[LNB]"My first two years here as chairman were pretty easy when I look back on it.[LNB]"We finished fifth both times in 2006 and 2007 and when getting to the League Cup final in 2007, I thought, 'what's the problem with this chairman lark, it's great'.[LNB]"But the last three years have been a bit more of a struggle so obviously we want to avoid relegation battles and we want to have cup runs and Mixu is the man to achieve that for us.[LNB]"He is a very determined character, he knows so much about football and I want him to use all his knowledge to improve us."[LNB]Paatelainen is confident he can attract players to Rugby Park to take up the challenge set by his chairman.[LNB]The former Cowdenbeath boss, who signed a two-year contact with the Ayrshire club with the option of a further 12 months, said: "There are plenty of advantages of coming to Kilmarnock and we will use them.[LNB]"This is a traditional SPL club but every club has ups and downs and unfortunately in the last couple of seasons the club has been at the bottom end of the SPL.[LNB]"When I was a player in Scotland they were always in the top six and doing well.[LNB]"But nobody deserves anything unless things are getting done and hopefully I can bring things back."
