By Stephen Bark

A DEDICATED Kilmarnock fan is calling for his fellow supporters to get behind the Trust in Killie initiative from halfway across the world.

Stephen Hammill - now based in Hong Kong - is one of 200 Killie fans who have signed up to the campaign to raise £100,000 and have a fan director elected to the to the club’s board.

Having stayed in the former British colony for the past two decades, Stephen still manages to keep up to date with all the goings on in Ayrshire.

He said: “Living in Hong Kong for over 20 years has not diminished my support for Killie. I still follow them as best I can every Saturday via the internet, even although the coverage out here is usually limited to live text updates and twitter feeds.

“I do though get to see them when I come home each summer in August and it has been painful to witness the steady decline over the past five to 10 years. I want to still have a club to follow when I eventually return to Kilmarnock, but in recent years it has looked as if this might not be the case.

“However, I feel that with the changes now taking place off- the-field there is a renewed optimism around Rugby Park, and that we may have finally turned the corner on the declining fortunes of our club. I believe this is in no small part due to the efforts of the supporters and the trust who kept pushing for change against what, at times, must have seemed like impossible odds.

“There is though still a long and difficult road ahead to be travelled before we can get back to where we were in the 90s when we were truly a community club. Having a fan’s representative on the board will help to bridge the gap that currently exists between the board and the fans and that can only be good for the club, which is why I am happy to support Trust in Killie in any way that I can.”

Since the launch of the campaign in mid-April, the Killie Trust have raised over £37,000.

Supporters who sign up to help the campaign by the end of September will be entered into a draw, to be made in November, to win hospitality for two as guests of Trust in Killie to Liam Gallagher’s sold out show at the SSE Hydro on Monday, December 4.