3 hours ago The Young Team 24/25 | Part 2: Corey Armour
The dream for every Kilmarnock fan growing up is to call themselves a Kilmarnock player.
Die-hard supporter Corey Armour is striving to do exactly that – and he’s heading the right way since signing a professional deal with his boyhood club last year.
He grew up admiring Cammy Bell from the stands, and since then he’s made it his mission to pull on the gloves in Kilmarnock colours.
He’s came through the ranks since the age of 11, and signing his first professional deal was an emotional day for his Killie-daft family.
The 18-year-old said: “I was a left back until I was about 11, one of my friends told me about a Killie Community camp so I went to that as a left back, and one of them brought in a pair of gloves. I said I want a shot of that.
“So, I put them on, I definitely preferred it, it was a lot more fun… and less running! I’d only been a goalie for maybe five or six months before they brought me on a trial at Killie and I then signed for the youth academy.
“That was amazing at the time, everyone in the family was excited because I was signing for Killie, but at the same time I was only 11 so it wasn’t major if you know what I mean.
Corey Armour sporting the Kilmarnock goalkeeper kit as a youngster
“But the longer the years went, I’m still here, so you start working hard to keep playing through the age groups.
“Then a year ago I signed my first professional deal, that was an amazing feeling. My mum and I had an emotional hug after it, we were delighted.
“All of my family are Killie fans, so we got everyone together to tell them and I was over the moon… it was pandemonium when they found out!”
Armour says that there’s a number of goalkeepers that he looked up to over the years – but none more so than Cammy Bell.
He said: “I loved watching Gianluigi Buffon, I’ve always just loved the way he played, just that kind of passion he has for the game.
“Cammy Bell too, I used to love coming and watching him and Craig Samson.
“Bell was my favourite goalkeeper here though; he made me dream about playing with Killie one day.
“I was there at the cup final in 2012 with my family, it was brilliant and one of the best days of my life, Cammy had an amazing performance that day too obviously.
Corey and Cammy Bell
“I am desperate to be a Kilmarnock first-team player one day, all my friends always ask when I’m going to get a game!
Armour admits there’s a lot of sacrifices to be made when you have dreams of becoming a professional player.
Being an 18-year-old, there are plenty of social plans that he needs to turn down – but he says it’s worth it as he works towards his goals.
He said: “The dream is obviously to play for Kilmarnock, my friends and family are all helping me work towards that.
“But sacrifices need to be made, working with Robby [McCrorie] and Kieran [O’Hara] shows what needs to be done, they have incredibly high standards and they’re so professional, they won’t let me slack and that’s a good thing.
“Fraser Stewart too, he has high standards and expects you to be the best version of yourself, and it was the same with Chris Burke and Craig Clark, they all expect a lot which is good.
“These guys are all so disciplined, that’s what I need to strive to be like too, a lot of sacrifices must be made when you have these aspirations.
“I don’t go out too much, some friends text asking if I’m coming out this weekend, and I say no because I’ve got a game in the morning, you need to stay in, you need to eat the right things, that is part and parcel of it.
“At the end of the day that’s for my future, I am happy to make sacrifices when it comes to being the best version of myself. I can’t let it slip for even one day.”
Armour had an eye-opening experience during his first ever loan spell with West of Scotland side Maybole Juniors.
After a disappointing debut he was pretty much cast aside and used sparingly as a back-up goalkeeper – but he admits he learnt a lot from that experience.
He said: “My debut was a horror show to be fair, and then I was dropped.
“That was a learning curve, because at academy football you’d still play the next week even if you had a bad game, but that wasn’t the case there – understandably so.
“I’d never experienced that before, so it was like, what do I do now?
“But then it’s a driving force, because you’re thinking, right, I need to get back into that team, I need to show them why I should be playing over the other goalie.
“I only played here and there after that, when the other goalie couldn’t make it, or he was injured.
“Looking back now, I’m glad I had that experience because it helps you deal with it, because it’s always going to be up and down in football, it’s never going to be just a flat line.
“I’m going to have it again at some point, there’s no doubt about that, but if I didn’t experience that, it would have happened at a higher level, it was a mental game after that just trying to see it through.”
Corey in action for Auchinleck Talbot (Pic: Craig McGhee)
Armour recovered just fine though and a loan to West of Scotland League Premier side Auchinleck Talbot was next – where he’s plying his trade this season.
“I was delighted when that opportunity came up, I know how big a team they are as I’m from East Ayrshire, it’s a huge club with a huge fanbase – and after speaking to Aidan Glavin about it he couldn’t recommend it highly enough.
“Auchinleck fans are used to good goalkeepers – Andy Leishman was there for 10 years so they have that expectancy, that’s good pressure to have though, it helps build me as a person.”
This piece was originally published in the Killie Magazine, which is available in the Killie Superstore and is packed full of exclusive content.
