WHEN IT comes to deciding about his future, Kris Boyd at least has the advantage of knowing where he wants to go in life. Where else, but the team he has supported for the whole of it? The rumours persist that Rangers will open talks with the Kilmarnock forward in January ahead of him being out of contract next summer. Nothing is concrete yet, but Boyd is not against paving the way. “If a chance like that comes, I’m going to have to take it,” he reasons. And why should he be ashamed to admit that? Boyd only turned 22 in August, but yesterday surpassed Paul Wright’s club record of 58 top-flight league goals achieved between 1995 and 2001. Boyd has done this in quick time, but then it needed to be: he is not going to be at Kilmarnock much longer. He has already informed the club he will not be extending his existing deal. He has gone as far as he can at Kilmarnock and, by the look of it, Kilmarnock is by no means as far as he can go. How good is Boyd? That is what he can answer only by leaving.

“If the chances come I believe I’ll put them in the net, it’s being in the right place at the right time; some people are born to do it and I believe I’m one of them. I want to see if I can do it at a level above what I’m doing now,” explains Boyd from a quiet corner of Kilmarnock’s Glasgow training base. He is

a complex character, considered arrogant by some, diffident by others, but proves a less difficult interviewee than envisaged. Even when his responses are clipped, Boyd never trims back on his honesty.

This time last year, Ian Murray was the one who kept being asked about joining Rangers before his Bosman switch from Hibernian was eventually confirmed. Boyd’s move is less certain, in part because Alex McLeish’s position as Rangers manager, is not, but the reported interest in him has not been denied. The speculation has had an effect on him: he is playing better than ever. “It’s a pleasing thing to have,” he reasons. “Other clubs wanting you isn’t the worst thing in the world, is it? “Obviously, it’s in the back of your mind when it’s a club you’ve supported all your days. When I was a kid Rangers were the only team I wanted to play for, but circumstances didn’t work out like that when I was younger and I started at Kilmarnock. I was at Ibrox almost every game as a kid and if I wasn’t there I’d be watching it on television. I’d play boys’ football in the morning and head there for the 3pm kick-off. Only when I joined Kilmarnock did I stop going. Rangers would be my first-choice club in Scotland, but I need to wait and see what happens. I don’t know if Kilmarnock have spoken to Rangers, but I haven’t spoken to anybody and I’m not allowed to until January.”

Is there any possibility he could stay at Kilmarnock beyond the end of this term? “Ach, I think I’ve made it clear that if the chance comes I’ll be away. I don’t know where I could end up, but at this moment in time I’d say no to your question and that this will be my last season at Kilmarnock.”

In August, Boyd underwent a medical at Cardiff and seemed poised to commit himself to a £300,000 transfer. Only he didn’t. It was happening too fast so he applied the brakes. “I didn’t feel I could make a decision that was going to have an impact on the rest of my life inside of two days. I’ve moved on from there and I think the experience has really helped me. I’ve come back with a lot of pressure on my shoulders and I’ve answered all my doubters: this is probably my best season with Kilmarnock.”

He knows that means there are some who will question his loyalty to the Rugby Park club. Here is his answer to them. “If there are any Kilmarnock fans who don’t feel I’ve done much for them in my time here, fair enough, they can speak up and say that, but I feel as though I have. The majority have always been very decent towards me, they’ve backed me and hopefully I’ve paid them back. I’d like to think I’ve done my job. If anybody puts me down as a moneygrabber then they’re liars, basically, because that’s not my motivation at all. I could have gone to Cardiff and been on a lot more money, but I knew I wouldn’t have been happy there.”

Does he sympathise with Kilmarnock’s worst case scenario: losing him for nothing or next to nothing? “Kilmarnock could have got that money for me in the summer, but I decided to stay. If the goals I’ve scored after that get them into the top six then I’d like to think I’ve contributed money in that way instead. They might not get a fee for me in the end, but I’d like to think I’ve paid back what they’ve invested in me; that my goals for the club are payback enough. Not many strikers have got a record like mine and Kilmarnock aren’t really the first team you’d expect a goalscorer to emerge from.

“The big thing now is to build on my record, it’s alright having it, but that’s no use if you don’t build on it because you’ll soon be forgotten. At a new club you’ve got to start from the beginning again and convince a new set of fans, but I’m ready to make that step. I don’t think there’s much point joining anyone if you think, ‘ach, I’ll just be a squad player’, I don’t understand anyone willing to accept that. You have to believe in yourself otherwise you’ll be left behind.”

Not that he is getting ahead of himself either. The supposed Rangers interest could yet come to nothing, but even if it does not work out that way you would still back Boyd to make something of himself.

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