Kevin Kyle was the epitome of honesty yesterday about his desire to use his call-up for this weekend’s friendly in Wales to put himself in the shop window for a return to the Coca-Cola Championship, where he still believes he has unfinished business.
The Kilmarnock striker said: “I came to Rugby Park just to get games under my belt and get my career back on track. That has happened and I’ve scored lots of goals and been rewarded with a call-up for the national team.
“I’ve got a short-term deal at Kilmarnock and, if I do well for Scotland, people will obviously be watching and I could maybe put myself in the shop window to go somewhere else.
“I’m a player who wants to play at the highest possible level I can and I want to win things and achieve things. I’ve got that drive and ambition back. If I can do well for Scotland, that’s a great step and an added boost.
“I know that I had a bad time at Coventry in the Championship and I would like to get back there and prove that I was good enough. I’d like to go back there and prove a point and prove to myself that I am capable of going down to the Championship and scoring goals.”
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Jim Jefferies, the Kilmarnock manager, used the possibility of a Scotland recall to tempt Kyle to sign for the Ayrshire club but the big striker admits that he never believed it would happen until he received the call from George Burley.
“When I left Coventry I was really low on confidence and wondering where my career was heading,” he said. “It was like the start of the freefall. I had to go somewhere where most weeks I was going to be given an opportunity to play 90 minutes and get my game back on track.
“Jim Jefferies said he would give me that and that he would get me back in the Scotland squad. I’ve got to thank Jim Jefferies, he stuck to his word.”
It was revealed at the weekend that Kilmarnock players called in the players’ union after objecting to the club’s implementation of stringent new disciplinary measures that could result in severe financial reprisals for yellow and red cards. But Kyle said: “Morale is really good. We just seem to be getting the headlines in the papers for all the wrong reasons.”