Rory McKenzie hails 'best Kilmarnock squad' in his 12 years at the club after signing new deal

Rory McKenzie has hailed the current Kilmarnock squad as the best he has seen in his 12 years at the club after signing a new deal.

The 30-year-old, who has over 400 appearances for Killie, insists he is keen to finish his career at Rugby Park after putting pen to paper on a one-year extension – keeping him at the Ayrshire outfit until summer 2025.

McKenzie has only started three league games this season but came off the bench 19 times for Derek McInnes’ side who are currently in fourth spot and vying for a European place.

But he pointed to the strength in depth in the squad as one of the reasons they have been doing so well and vowed to take any chance he gets to force his way back into the starting line-up.

“There wasn’t thought put into it (signing a new deal), it’s all I really know to be honest, and the talks were pretty simple and straight forward.

“I love being here, it’s five minutes away from where I stay, it’s a great place to be, all the people behind the scenes are all good friends and especially when things are going so well on the pitch I was happy to extend.

“We have strength in depth this season and I can’t remember a Kilmarnock squad in my time here as strong as this one so when we’ve been doing so well you can’t complain too much (about not starting) and it’s just about taking your chance when it comes.

“I would love to keep extending my stay here, it’s a family club, everyone gets on with everyone and I think what the manager has done in the last two and a half years is he’s built a squad of very good players and a squad that all get on really well together. So I just want to stay here as long as I can.

“Even if you look at our bench just now, where we have Greg Stewart, Gary Mackay-Steven and Kevin van Veen, if you had said that four years ago no one would have believed you.

“The club is going in the right direction and think if this time we can, having had experiences of where it has went wrong in previous years, have learned our lesson and finish the season strongly.”