Michael Johnston insists Kilmarnock are far from the lowest-paying club in the Clydesdale Bank Premier League despite new boss Mixu Paatelainen having 25% slashed from his £2million wage bill.
The 43-year-old former Finland international was announced as the new manager of the Ayrshire club at Rugby Park on Thursday and will begin refurbishing a squad that has battled against relegation the last two seasons and has only 17 signed players.
Killie chairman Johnston, though, tried to put the spending cuts into perspective as he looked forward to Paatelainen's tenure.He said: "It's no secret that we spent just over £2million on the player budget last season and we will knock off 25%."
He added: "We had to honour contracts but there are players away and the new players that come in will be at a lower level.
"But we are not alone in that.
"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.
"There will probably be three or four clubs with lower wage bills than us."
Johnston said that spending money does not guarantee success. He said: "The most successful time I've had as chairman was when our wage bill was at its lowest.
"My first two years here as chairman were pretty easy when I look back on it.
"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'.
Source: PA
