Killie keeper relishing new season
16 Jun 2009 - 15:55:25
While the 35-year-old recovers from an operation to solve a problem which plagued him in the last three months of last season, he has watched the Killie squad reduce in size due to continued financial restrictions.
The cash-strapped Rugby Park club will go into next season with a squad of just 24 first-team players - 10 less than last term - and will therefore not be renewing the contracts of experienced players Allan Johnston, David Lilley and Grant Murray.
Middlesbrough winger Graeme Owens arrived this week but the 21-year-old could be boss Jim Jefferies' only signing this summer.
Combe, who ended speculation over his future in January by agreeing a new deal with Kilmarnock which will keep him at Rugby Park until 2011 with the option of a further year, is as keen now as when he started out at Cowdenbeath in 1992.
"I am enjoying my football more as I get older and I'm still as enthusiastic," he said.
"I don't feel the pressure so much these days. If I make a mistake I get it out of my head for the Monday when I'm back at training.
"When I was younger, I would still be thinking about it on the Thursday and it meant you couldn't do your work properly.
"That just comes with experience and becoming mentally stronger.
"I had my operation a fortnight ago and I will go in to see the Kilmarnock physio tomorrow. Hopefully he will say it is okay.
"The surgeon seemed pleased with it but we just need to see.
"I was playing the last 12 weeks of the season with the injury and had to take painkillers before games to get through them.
"Hopefully the problem is solved and I will be back for pre-season training on July 8."
Combe paid tribute to his former Killie team-mates, saying: "With the way finances are, and with the size of our squad, it was probably always going to be the case that we had to cut back.
"But I was shocked to see David Lilley go. He was probably our strongest player in the last six or seven weeks of the season when he was under pressure to play for a new contract.
"And I have to say that Allan Johnston and Grant Murray are probably two of the best professionals I have played with during my career.
"They didn't play much last season but their professionalism shone through in the way they approached training, the way they looked after themselves and the way they brought on the younger players.
"They were different class and it was a pleasure to work with them. Any club who takes them on will get a bonus."
