Sacré Blues: Kilmarnock's French connection and where they are now
Bobby Williamson loved a bit of gallic flair and brought plenty of French players to Rugby Park
Much has been made of the fact that the current Kilmarnock squad doesn’t contain a single player who isn’t British or Irish.
There’s nothing wrong with that, indeed most would want the club to be represented primarily by Scots, preferably from the youth system.
There is, however, something enticing about the signing of a player from outside the British Isles.
Being foreign doesn’t mean they’ll be good - frequently they’re terrible - but just the fact you’ve never heard of them and they come from somewhere further afield than Glasgow is enough to spark excitement.
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Sure, you’ll get an Éric Joly and a Leon Panikvar here and there, but you’ll also get a Manuel Pascali or Alexei Eremenko once in a blue (and white) moon.
Then there’s the tenure of Bobby Williamson in the late 1990s and early 2000s where a succession of French imports gave the tabloids the opportunity to indulge in the noble tradition of dressing them up in kilts.
Today we’re looking back on those sacré blues, and if you’ve ever wondered what David Merdy is up to now we’ve got that for you too…
The first to join Williamson’s French revolution was striker Jérôme Vareille.
The forward had been on trial with Ayr United but admitted he “didn’t really enjoy it” and headed back to France and FC Mulhouse.
As luck would have it though, Vareille came up against Killie, who were in pre-season training, in a closed doors game and scored twice, prompting Williamson to offer him a trial.
He was joined by Jean-Claude Pagal, a Cameroonian international who had played for his country in their famous 1990 World Cup.
“He has won over 30 caps for Cameroon and has loads of experience,” Williamson said. “He’s spent the last few years in France and Austria but he fancies a change and we want to have a look at him.”