Heady heights

SEASON 2017/18 was a memorable one for fans of Kilmarnock Football Club.

Boss Steve Clarke steered the side to an 11-match unbeaten run after taking over in October, with the club going on to harvest a total of 59 points to finish fifth in the Scottish Premiership.

It was a heady time for Ayrshire hotelier, and one-time club chairman, Bill Costley, who quipped: “It was great season. I was getting vertigo there! He (Clarke) did really well.”

Mr Costley, who owns the Lochgreen House Hotel in Troon, did not venture an opinion on how far the team could go next season.

WEST windmills

AS Glasgow Green played host to two weekends of live music at the TRNSMT festival this month, local bar and brewery WEST got into the spirit of things by giving away 10,000 guitars… of the air variety.

Festival-goers on their way to see acts such as Blossoms, Texas, Liam Gallagher and The Killers could pick up an air-based six-string on stands dotted along the main thoroughfares to the Green.

And they were invited to take part in the WEST guitar challenge by uploading pictures of themselves and their friends throwing their best air guitar poses on Facebook and Twitter.

The winning entry has been promised a real Stratocaster guitar as well as brewery tour award-and a WEST gift pack

Rock on.

Wining on

ANOTHER JD Wetherspoon trading update, another exegesis from boss Tim Martin on the glory he fervently believes lies in store the UK when it finally breaks free from the shackles of Brussels.

The pub chain has been ramping up its preparations for Brexit in recent months by ditching EU-sourced beer and wine in favour of liquid made here and elsewhere in the world.

“The public instinctively understands the benefits of world trade, so let’s make buying non-EU a national goal for the next few years,” Mr Martin declared.

“It’s tough on our excellent EU suppliers, of course, but that’s the price the continent is paying, unfortunately, for a failing and undemocratic system, with unelected apparatchiks like Juncker and Barnier in charge.”

Beaujolais drinkers, you have been warned…

No contest

THERE has been no shortage of debate over whether Scottish football fans should have cast ancient rivalries aside to support Gareth Southgate’s England in the World Cup.

But the matter has not involved any soul searching on the part of hotelier Bill Costley. “Isn’t it interesting how the World Cup has galvanised England? I think it’s great,” he said.

However, amid reports that sports stores in Glasgow had sold out of Croatia tops ahead of last night’s semi-final, it would appear not everyone shared Mr Costley’s views…